New to this!

Options
Hi Everyone!

So, I've been following MyFitnessPal for a bit and I feel good and apparently I've lost weight. Just a couple questions that have been wracking my head. I'm new to calorie counting..I did the old Weight Watchers program and had great success, but at times felt like I wasn't eating enough just so that I could stay within my daily points value sometimes.

Just curious about the exercise calories. I do a Cardio Core Bootcamp about 3 times a week. It's a full body circuit training kind of deal for exercise. Each class is about 60 minutes long. Curious to how many calories you think I'd burn doing that? There isn't a Bootcamp option for the exercises. I've been putting it under high- intensity aerobics and/or circuit training. I just don't want to be giving myself more calories than I should be.

Also, with the calories burnt through exercise..they get added to your daily goal of calories. My daily goal for calories is 1200..so if I get a solid work out in that sometimes can add up to 500 or more calories to my day..am I allowed to eat those extra calories that I earned through exercising. OR am I still only supposed to meet my daily goal of 1200 calories consumed a day?

With Weight Watchers I would receive "activity points" and I would use the activity points that I earned during the day and add them to my point values for the day.

I just feel like I'm eating more counting calories. For the most part I eat fairly healthy and I seem to be losing weight, but the weight loss is SO SLOW that it can be discouraging. When I did Weight Watchers I was so used to losing like 2 or sometimes more pounds a week.

Anyways, hopefully this made sense and I would love some feedback to help me out!

Thanks & also, I'd love to hear some success stories about people who have used MyFitnessPal and seen results. I am a bit skeptical because I'm new to it..but I know it works, I'm just scared that I'm not doing it right and I won't lose but gain weight. I know, silly. But, it's how I am feeling right now.

Replies

  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Options
    There is a circuit training category under cardio that I use for programs like that. Try that and see if the calories make sense to you. If your particular class has a long warmup, stretch and cool down cycle, consider subtracting that from the total minutes. Up to tho. I count mine.

    As a rule, I eat all of my calories back and tend to go over most days. Still lose each week. I'm a large male that works out a lot so that probably gives me margin for error that someone 100 pounds or so smaller.

    We can all do things that would have us drop weight at a faster rate. I tend to believe slow and steady is better. Yes, it's going to take a bit longer, but when I get there, it will be much, much easier to maintain because I'm eating and working out a rate that's sustainable for the long term. YMMV, of course. Good luck!
  • chanbanan26
    chanbanan26 Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    Thank you for your feedback :) I appreciate your advice. Good job on your weight loss journey..that is a huge accomplishment!