figuring out how many calories...HELP!!

Hi all-

Quick question for u....

According to the Calorie Target tool...I need to consume 1215 cals a day to loose the weight that I want to loose.....Here is my question...does that mean it is 1215 cals I eat with out considering exercise (meaning that I only eat 1215 cals and then have a good workout (lets say that I burn 600 cals...so my total of cals I eat would be 615 that day)    OR does that mean that I would eat 1815 burn 600 and then 1215 would be my total for the day.

Confused!!!  Please help!!!

If you picked sedentary, and the tool told you to eat 1215, but you actually exercise, yes you need to eat more - the tool only knows what you told it, and so doesn't know that you are burning an extra ~600 cal.

You might find www.phord.com/cc a little easier, because it breaks the activity levels into number of days working out, and also does not suggest eating below your BMR.

Also, you can look at your Total Estimate on your home page (in the burn meter), and once you've logged your exercise, see how much you will burn by the end of the day. Then eat 500 less than that, as long as you are not eating below 1200 (assuming you are female and over 21).

If you are under 21, you need to use the teen calculators, not the CC calculator.

You can eat the 1815 if you burn the 600 to leave you at your 1215 total.

What you probably need to do is aim for a reasonable daily defecit of between 500 kcal and 1000kcal per day. So calories in - calories burned = 500 to 1000kcal daily

So instead of focusing on a minimum figure, enter your activity into the log, and see what your burn meter reads.  Subtract your required defecit to give you target calories. 

I don't know your age or height, or current weight but 1215 is a very low figure, especially for somebody doing 600kcals of exercise in a workout.  You should never eat less than 1200 kcals per day.   CC would only give a figure of 1215 kcals if you entered that you had a totally sedentery lifestyle, and clearly you dont.

Good luck

Follow Amethystgirl's advice and use the phord calculator - it will give you a maximum safe/sensible calorie deficit (so that you can avoid choosing a target that is too low and which will merely cause your body to hang on desperately to whatever fat stores it has).