Do you eat all your suggested calories?

kimsko2010
kimsko2010 Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Do people eat all the recommended daily calories and lose weight? Seems like a lot. Curious what your experience has been!
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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I eat my calories and a portion of my exercise calories and have been losing weight consistently.
  • Altagracia220
    Altagracia220 Posts: 876 Member
    Everyone has a different calorie limit. Sometimes I eat all my exercise calories and sometimes I just eat half of them. It's different on a daily basis, it depends on how I'm feeling and it is working for me because I am steadily losing 2-3 pounds weekly.
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    edited April 2015
    "A lot" is very subjective :)

    I eat my calories + as many of my exercise calories as I need to feel full at the end of the day. I have a Fitbit Flex and have it synced with MFP to give me some extra calories to eat.

    I don't have much to work with as a 5' tall female so my weight loss is set as 0.5lb/week now. It was 1lb/week to start.

    ~Lyssa
  • crewbprice
    crewbprice Posts: 38 Member
    I eat around my calorie limit, then workout for 30 min and let that be a net negative. Thus I am usually 400 calories net loss from the workout and for the day. I use the calorie limit for losing a pound per week. Thus, I should be losing a little less than 2 pounds per week with my extra workout loss giving me almost a additional pound loss.

    So far I've lost 11 pounds in about 4 weeks, so I actually do better than what I should be according to the app. Hope this makes sense, I know it sounds confusing to me. Add me as friend and you can see my log, I log everything every day.
  • Rockin2014
    Rockin2014 Posts: 196 Member
    No. I don't eat my exercise calories back. I've been losing 2 pounds weekly.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited April 2015
    kimsko2010 wrote: »
    Do people eat all the recommended daily calories and lose weight? Seems like a lot. Curious what your experience has been!

    OP - does your weekly goal fall in one of these ranges? The reason for these ranges...moderate weight loss helps support existing lean muscle.

    Pound per week goals
    75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range
    Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range
    Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range
    Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range
    Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range

    Using MFP you will be given a deficit before any exercise is added in. That way people who cannot exercise will still lose weight. Eating back exercise calories ("rewarded" to you when you log exercise) is expected.

    HOWEVER, exercise calorie estimates provided by MFP and many machines are generous. Many people start by eating back a portion & tweek up or down is weight comes off too fast (muscle loss) or weight doesn't seem to come off.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    I try to stop short to make up for miscalculations (failed at that today), and I also try not to get into exercise calories if I'm not starving, as exercise calories can't be trusted.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited April 2015
    I don't use MFP's recommended calories (which would not be a lot, at least 1200 seems kind of low to me). I do eat all of my own chosen calorie goal, which are based on a .5 lb/week goal (I'm close to maintenance) and an estimate based on some of my activity being factored in even before I log exercise.
  • BicepsAndBows
    BicepsAndBows Posts: 197 Member
    I do not eat all of mine or eat back my exercise calories as I am trying to reach a certain goal by a certain date. I think it's a personal choice. MFP is set up so you CAN eat all your calories and about 50-75% of the calories you burn exercising and still consistently lose weight. It's really just trial and error. Eat the calories it suggests and about half of your burned calories from exercise back for about a week and see what your weight does and then go from there :)
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    I have a custom goal, but generally, yes.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,592 Member
    edited April 2015
    kimsko2010 wrote: »
    Do people eat all the recommended daily calories and lose weight? Seems like a lot. Curious what your experience has been!

    1200 calories is not a lot ... so yeah, I eat them all or close to it. :)

  • be_here_now
    be_here_now Posts: 9 Member
    It really just depends on what my body feels like on that specific day. Some days I'll eat my entire limit (just over 1600) or slightly (20~ cals or so) over, other days I'll eat around 1000 cals or a bit less. It's all about what my body wants that day, and some days it just doesn't want as much food.
  • DoneWorking
    DoneWorking Posts: 247 Member
    edited April 2015
    I try hard to stay within the numbers MFP doles out for me. I'm going for one and a half pounds per week. On Fridays, if I've lost weight, I allow myself a cheat day. What that means to me, is that I allow myself to go up to what my maintenance macros would be. Only been back a few weeks, but it's working like it did before. Originally, I lost 61 pounds doing that. I'm back, because I stopped logging and let myself get carried away. Tough price to pay for a lot of hard work.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
    Regardless of what I do a better question might be Is the MFP exercise burn rate correct for you and if not how much is it off for the exercise you are doing. Once you know that deciding if you should eat those calorie or not is much easier.
  • 7lenny7
    7lenny7 Posts: 3,498 Member
    crewbprice wrote: »
    I eat around my calorie limit, then workout for 30 min and let that be a net negative. Thus I am usually 400 calories net loss from the workout and for the day. I use the calorie limit for losing a pound per week. Thus, I should be losing a little less than 2 pounds per week with my extra workout loss giving me almost a additional pound loss.

    So far I've lost 11 pounds in about 4 weeks, so I actually do better than what I should be according to the app. Hope this makes sense, I know it sounds confusing to me. Add me as friend and you can see my log, I log everything every day.

    I could have written this nearly word for word, including losing 11 pounds in 4 weeks.

  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    kimsko2010 wrote: »
    Do people eat all the recommended daily calories and lose weight? Seems like a lot. Curious what your experience has been!

    I don't let MFP set my goals - I set them for myself.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Yes.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    I'm training for a half marathon so I'm eating almost all my exercise calories... But after that I plan on eating back very little of my exercise calories.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Until you log what you used to eat that caused slow weight gain, and perhaps with no exercise - it's really impossible to get a handle on "a lot" in comparison to nothing.
    Wouldn't be shocked if your MFP eating goal on your non-exercise days is 1/2 what you used to eat.
    And making that worse thinking that when you burn more you shouldn't eat more.


    I do.
    I enjoy hard workouts - and from years of experience, that can't happen if not eating enough.
    Oh, they may feel like hard workouts with a tired body - but again, in comparison, they aren't until body has something to recover with and build stronger with.
    I even got a Fitbit to monitor the daily activity so deficit wasn't too great, I manually log the other 1-3 hrs of the day that is exercise.
  • pinkteapot3
    pinkteapot3 Posts: 157 Member
    edited April 2015
    I eat all of my daily cals and all of my exercise cals.

    I log food with OCD accuracy - everything is weighed. For exercise, I only log my running and cycling, which I track using apps, so I have an accurate record of my distance/time/speed. I don't log things like walking 2 mins to the local shop!

    I had a goal of 1lb/week loss and I've lost 14lbs in 13 weeks. :smile:

    I've had a few days with special occasions etc where I log but try to stick to my maintenance cals. That way it's guilt-free. :smile:
  • mcibty
    mcibty Posts: 1,252 Member
    Rockin2014 wrote: »
    No. I don't eat my exercise calories back. I've been losing 2 pounds weekly.

    Um, why not?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    MCIBTY wrote: »
    Rockin2014 wrote: »
    No. I don't eat my exercise calories back. I've been losing 2 pounds weekly.

    Um, why not?

    probably quicker weight loss.

    Speaking for myself, it irks me to do all that exercise only to eat all that hard work back.

  • otheliemoor
    otheliemoor Posts: 50 Member
    I'm doing it a little differently. I've got my calorie goal set to maintenance and don't eat above that, but depending on the day I eat everything from 400 under to maintenance, if I eat back exercise calories depends on if I'm hungry after exercising.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    You bet I do.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    You bet I do.
  • ArkMom35
    ArkMom35 Posts: 225 Member
    edited April 2015
    Absolutely! I eat to my goal and then eat 50-75% of my exercise calories too.
  • ExRelaySprinter
    ExRelaySprinter Posts: 874 Member
    edited April 2015
    Yep, i eat back all of my exercise cals (plus i use a Heart Rate Monitor to make sure the cals i burn are accurate).
    I have a big appetite, so have to eat them all back to ensure i have decent sized meals.
    I've never been able to "eat like a Bird" (Lol) and to me, that's what 1200 cals feels like.
    I haven't got much to lose, but i've lost 1lb a week so far (after 2 weeks).
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    I don't, and never have, eaten back any exercise calories.

    For a long time, it was very rare that I'd eat as much as the "target" calories. As I've gotten closer to my initial goal weight, I've eaten much more consistently and very close to my target calories so that I can get a feel about where maintenance calories would be for me.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    edited April 2015
    kimsko2010 wrote: »
    Do people eat all the recommended daily calories and lose weight? Seems like a lot. Curious what your experience has been!

    So I'm going to do what I hate when other people do, but I'm going to answer your question with a question.

    Your profile says you love to eat, but maintenance has gotten harder for you over the years. Plus you have put in you want to lose 38 lbs, approx. If that's the case, and you think your recommended daily calories is a lot (which MFP will auto calculate a deficit for you) then how did you get to a point where you feel you need to lose 38 lbs? Maybe you don't realize the caloric values in what you're eating now, but when you look at it 1,400 1,600 1,800 etc calories can be a lot of food - depending on how you spend you calories - or it can be very little food.

    It's not a lot of calories - it's just enough for you and what you need. If you really feel you cannot eat the calories needed to lose weight because it's too much then I think you're probably eating more than you think you are because that number of calories is based on the stats you put into MFP, and is based on a deficit your stats would need to lose weight which mathematically is less than the calories you've been consuming to be at a point where you want to lose 38 lbs.
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
    Yes!

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