Not eating back your exercise calories OK?

hollen_carol

Hi,
This is my first posted question here and I apologize in advance if it has been asked before.

On my exercise days MFP gives me extra calories for my cardio exercises. I exercise every other day between 300 and 500 calories. Is it ok and healthy to NOT eat those back on those day? For instance, my limit per day is 1200. I do cardio for 300, so my net is 900. Ok to just eat 900 on those days?

I am losing weight at a really good pace but I really want to do it in the most healthy way possible.

Thanks!
Carol

glevinso

It depends on how you calculate those calories burned, but generally you want to eat back at least some of them. Your body needs fuel to recover from the effort. Not giving it food/nutrients and forcing it to resort to using just fat to fuel the repair is a recipe for eventual injury.

If you are getting that 500 calorie burn from the MFP database or off a cardio machine, you would want to at least eat back half of that number. If that number is coming off a heart rate monitor device then you should consider eating most of it back.

Unknown

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TeaBea

1200 is MFPs lowest default minimum. What that means is either you have an aggressive weekly weight loss goal or you are a petite, senior lady.

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

Now, if you have a long ways to go (weight loss wise) then don't worry about it too much. However, as you get closer to goal it becomes more and more important to eat enough calories to lose fat AND maintain existing lean muscle. This is why MFP is set up this way. 1200 NET helps to keep more lean muscle than 900 does (unless you are obese).

Calorie burn estimate given by MFP are generous. So, if/when you eat calories back, start with a percentage 50-75%

nossmf

Let's keep separate your daily calories from your exercise calories. If MFP has calculated you need 1200 per day for living, then eat your 1200 per day, EVERY day. These are the calories your body burns just existing. If you burn 300 calories in exercise, that means on that day you get 1200 + 300 = 1500 burned during the day. Whether you eat up to that 1500 mark or stay at 1200 is a topic which has generated much discussion, with people falling on both sides of that camp. So obviously you won't die if you stay at 1200 even on exercise days, and it would speed up your weight loss. But it can affect mood and body composition, so others choose to eat the exercise calories back. Totally your call. I just didn't like your analysis of dropping to only 900 calories on that day, you had your math backwards.

hollen_carol

Ok, nossmf......got you. I always eat pretty close to the 1200. TeaBea I am 5'3 and I am 52. Not sure if that is a petite senior lady. I am not in petite clothes for the most part (occassionally a dress) and I don't consider myself senior yet (although others might so if they are real young). I only have about 15.5 more lbs to lose. Do I have to change things up or can I just keep doing what I'm doing until I get down to my goal? I like going down 1.5 to 2 lbs a week. I have good energy and I feel great. Never feel crappy at all. But as I said originally I will do whatever needs to be done to accomplish this in a very healthy way. Once I get down to my goal weight (130 which is kind of heavy based on my height but I think I will be good with that) I will work on toning all the muscles that I want to improve (abs, upper arms, belly and back).

Thank you to all who replied. I am new at this type of thing as I never had to worry about my weight until the last 4 years or so.

TeaBea

hollen_carol wrote: »

Ok, nossmf......got you. I always eat pretty close to the 1200. TeaBea I am 5'3 and I am 52. Not sure if that is a petite senior lady. I am not in petite clothes for the most part (occassionally a dress) and I don't consider myself senior yet (although others might so if they are real young). I only have about 15.5 more lbs to lose. Do I have to change things up or can I just keep doing what I'm doing until I get down to my goal? I like going down 1.5 to 2 lbs a week. I have good energy and I feel great. Never feel crappy at all. But as I said originally I will do whatever needs to be done to accomplish this in a very healthy way. Once I get down to my goal weight (130 which is kind of heavy based on my height but I think I will be good with that) I will work on toning all the muscles that I want to improve (abs, upper arms, belly and back).

Thank you to all who replied. I am new at this type of thing as I never had to worry about my weight until the last 4 years or so.

You can definitely have an aggressive "goal" the whole way thru but MFP will not go lower than 1200 (default). That means don't count on losing 1.5 to 2 pounds every week. Here's why.....2 pounds a week translates to a 1,000 calorie deficit every day.

Per Scooby's the TDEE (maintenance) for a 52 year old, 150 pound, sedentary woman is 1623 calories....for a 2 pound weight loss she would eat 623 calories a day. People with calories this low are typically (morbidly obese) and under medical supervision.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I define healthy weight loss as lowering my body fat percentage. I'm trying to do that by choosing a weekly goal that is appropriate for my current size, by eating lots of protein, and strength training. A healthy body weight is not just one number on the scale.

retirehappy

hollen_carol wrote: »

Ok, nossmf......got you. I always eat pretty close to the 1200. TeaBea I am 5'3 and I am 52. Not sure if that is a petite senior lady. I am not in petite clothes for the most part (occassionally a dress) and I don't consider myself senior yet (although others might so if they are real young). I only have about 15.5 more lbs to lose. Do I have to change things up or can I just keep doing what I'm doing until I get down to my goal? I like going down 1.5 to 2 lbs a week. I have good energy and I feel great. Never feel crappy at all. But as I said originally I will do whatever needs to be done to accomplish this in a very healthy way. Once I get down to my goal weight (130 which is kind of heavy based on my height but I think I will be good with that) I will work on toning all the muscles that I want to improve (abs, upper arms, belly and back).

Thank you to all who replied. I am new at this type of thing as I never had to worry about my weight until the last 4 years or so.

130 is well below the top of the healthy weight for 5'3", I41 is the top of that range. I am your height so am well aware of the ranges, so it isn't "heavy", it is healthy. With less than 20 lbs to lose, .5 lb is considered the safe weight to lose per week on most of the health sites, I read a lot of those . At some point you will flatten out your loses, you will need to modify to continue being successful. Eating less than 1200 you run the risk of eating into muscle, a very unhealthy thing. And you will have to maintain below that once you reach goal because your TDEE has dropped so low.

I have had to lose several times in my adult life. I am finally learning what I have to do to get the weight off and keep it off. I would suggest as a new MFP user you read the following posts
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

hollen_carol

Thank you retirehappy. Only thing is that neither of those links are working when I click on them. I will look into them somehow though......I'll just trying searching a different way.

hollen_carol

Well, retirehappy. I cannot find those threads so any help you can provide would be awesome. Just tell me where they are, maybe that will help.

TeaBea, that just cannot be right because I do eat my 1200 calories per day (and I often wonder if I don't count enough for my portions). I think I must have a very high metabolism and at this point I am not sedentary anymore at all. But anyway, I do eat healthy snacks many times thoughout the day. And an occassional dove promise cause before this I was a chocoholic. Now from those two responses I will look into TDEE because I have no idea what that is.