Calorie Counting? Yes No? How has it Helped you?
StormiLu
Posts: 211 Member
The calorie counting on here is pretty neat I will say, But my Question is....You work out to loose weight to burn calories Right? Are you suppose to eat them calories back after you burn them or no?
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Looking for Friends to email with Motivation, Tips, Recipes and Laughs!! Lets make this fun! Check out m profile ad me if you like!!
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Proper diet is VASTLY more important than exercise when it comes to losing weight. It all depends on which method you use to calculate your calorie deficit when eating exercise calories back though.
MFP does not automatically adjust for activity, so eating back a portion of those calories is advisable. However, since calorie burning is an estimate at absolute best, it is probably not a good idea to eat back all of your calories. Most people that I see around here suggest eating back 50%.
The way I calculate my calories is by the TDEE method which accounts for daily activity, so I just make sure to stay under, and don't eat back calories.0 -
stormilumae2009 wrote: »The calorie counting on here is pretty neat I will say, But my Question is....You work out to loose weight to burn calories Right? Are you suppose to eat them calories back after you burn them or no?
Looking for Friends to email with Motivation, Tips, Recipes and Laughs!! Lets make this fun! Check out m profile ad me if you like!!
Nope
I work out to get fit and strong; achieve a mental balance and to earn more calories that I can then eat
MFP gives me a basic amount that I will lose weight on at a sedentary level ...I am encouraged to move more and workout more so that I can eat more0 -
People have all kinds of reasons for working out. For some, it has nothing to do with losing weight.
The popular idea is to eat half of those extra calories. You might try that and see how it goes.
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That's what I was thinking, Eating Half Back or none at all, Thanks for the input!! Really helped!!0
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goes to calorie counting site.....
asks about calorie counting and does it work for you??
expects..........___________________________????
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How has it helped me?
I've lost 70 lb.
In part. Mostly I do it to get healthier & stronger.stormilumae2009 wrote:You work out to loose (sic) weight to burn calories Right?
It's lots easier not to eat 500 cal than it is to exercise it away.
Nope, or at least not on a regular basis.Are you suppose to eat them (sic) calories back after you burn them or no?
My doctor & dietician told me not to eat them back, just aim for 10x my healthy goal weight as absolute calorie intake. I'm actually slightly under that because I drop 50-100 when I hit a plateau.
Most people underestimate what they eat,
and most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned.
Not eating back exercise calories offsets the intake error.
If I'm really hungry some night I'll have 1/3 - 1/2 of what MFP claims I burned that day.
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stormilumae2009 wrote: »The calorie counting on here is pretty neat I will say,
I like it too. It's fun and quite informative.But my Question is....You work out to loose weight to burn calories Right? Are you suppose to eat them calories back after you burn them or no?
If you are using MFP to set your calories (the guided option) then yes you are. MFP sets your calorie goal based on the assumption that you will not exercise (even if you say you plan to). Thus, to keep the goal where it should be, you input the exercise you do. Otherwise the calculations are off.
If you prefer, you can set your own custom goal that takes into account exercise (this is what I do) and then you don't eat the calories back (or log the exercise calories).
If you do eat exercise back, then you might want to reduce the counts since sometimes they are overestimated.
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Nope, or at least not on a regular basis.stormilumae2009 wrote:Are you suppose to eat them (sic) calories back after you burn them or no?
My doctor & dietician told me not to eat them back, just aim for 10x my healthy goal weight as absolute calorie intake. I'm actually slightly under that because I drop 50-100 when I hit a plateau.
I suspect she's asking about how MFP works, not some other method.0 -
stormilumae2009 wrote: »The calorie counting on here is pretty neat I will say, But my Question is....You work out to loose weight to burn calories Right? Are you suppose to eat them calories back after you burn them or no?
Looking for Friends to email with Motivation, Tips, Recipes and Laughs!! Lets make this fun! Check out m profile ad me if you like!!
No, you workout for fitness and because it's good for you. You're not trying to out exercise your diet with MFP.
When you set your activity level with MFP, you're supposed to do so using only your day to day hum drum. You account for exercise with MFP after the fact when you log it...it is "extra" activity and thus you get those calories to "eat back" (make sure you allow for estimation errors).
When you punch in your stats, etc and say you want to lose X lbs per week, MFP spits out a number that should be your theoretical weight loss calories WITHOUT doing any exercise...meaning you just eat that number and you lose weight.
Lets say you tell MFP you want to lose 1 Lb per week and that you are "sedentary" with a desk job...let's say MFP gives you 1500 calories. This means that MFP is estimating your NON-EXERCISE maintenance calories to be round 2,000 calories....so you have a 500 calorie per day deficit which equates to 3,500 calories per week deficit. Now lets say you exercise and burn 250 calories....you could now eat 1,750 calories and still have the same rate of loss because now your maintenance number would be 2,250 calories with the additional activity and 2,250 - 1,750 = 500 calorie deficit still.
The more intense and vigorous your exercise, the more important it is to properly fuel that activity...failure to do so can result in injury as well as recovery issues.
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Calorie counting and MFP has been the baseline for my 60+ lbs lost since June. Not only has it helped ensure a calorie deficit, but it also forces you to look at food in a whole new light. Now, when asked if I want a Coke at a restaurant....I say no...or I milk it for the entire visit without getting a refill. When going out with my wife, we always split a meal (and even then I end up using half my day's allotment). I wouldn't be doing any of this if I didn't know my exact calorie intake and what else I need to eat that day.
As for exercise, I haven't knowingly applied the 50% rule, but it sounds about right. I run about 4 times a week and usually try to end up with 200 calories left over on days that I don't run. I can't get away without eating some of those exercise calories back because my body tells me it can't function if I don't. Perhaps that's the biggest change...I now get VERY hungry at meal times and I really can't wait another hour when it's time to eat.
Lastly I'll say this...the MFP calculations have been extremely accurate for me. I have read a lot of people say that it overestimates calorie burns, and underestimates food, but my experience has been that it's really close.
I originally set it to 2 lbs/wk loss. For about 3 months, I lost about 24 lbs. Then, when I decided to add a little weight lifting, I decided to reduce the rate to only 1.5 lbs/wk. You can literally see in my weight loss graph a change in slope at that time.
My approach: if you're going to manually add exercise time to MFP, then ALWAYS set your lifestyle to "Sedentary" to determine your calorie intake. Using any other setting will probably have you eating too many calories.0 -
i eat a ton more calories when i'm not aware of approximately how many calories i've eaten for the day, so yeah, calorie counting is a great tool to stay around where you want to be.
calorie counting also makes me aware of portion sizes, something i don't tend to do otherwise. also, if i don't control my portions, then i end up eating more often until i can't eat anymore rather than eating a little and finding out i'm actually pretty satiated 10 minutes later.0 -
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Not sure what your title has to do with the body of your message but...
- No, I don't count calories. I've lost over 100 pounds not doing so.
- Yes, if I did count calories it would help me lose weight. It just wouldn't help me lose it in a way that's enjoyable or sustainable for me.
- No, I exercise for overall health and enjoyment. I don't like working out just so I can "earn" food.
The popular consensus around here seem to be to eat back your exercise calories. But if you stall make sure you're not overestimating your exercise burns. Some people just eat back only a percentage of their exercise calories in order to buffer against error.0 -
Everyone's Feed back has helped thanks so much! Things are a lot Clearer now and I will be doing things right and not for nothing!! 0
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