Fearful to eat excercise calories.

kanerz14

Hi there,
MFP gives me 1800cals to maintain my weight. I've been eating between 1700-1800 cals daily. However I'd like a bit of flexability in this and will eventually try and eat back some (around 50%) of my excercise cals. the main worry is that I feel as if I have just been maintaing on this for aorund a month or two and have not lost any more, so I fear using some excercise cals in case I gain weight.

Any advice?

belimawr

You can start by eating back a smaller amount of your exercise calories, monitor for a few weeks, then bump up the amount you eat back if you think you can do so and keep at a pace you're happy with.

kanerz14

Yeah that seems a good idea, I just looked back at my weight diary and TBH it hasn't been as long that I have been maintaining on 1800 cals as it feels. Think it's more getting over that psychological hurdle. Thanks for the reply:)

cwolfman13

learning to fuel your fitness is important...fit and healthy people eat. As previously stated, up them slowly...your metabolism is probably a little dialed back right now if you've been dieting...essentially you will be reverse dieting to get your metabolism back to where it should be.

Also, be aware that if you've been dieting, your glycogen stores are chronically depleted...not fully, but they are not maxed out...as you increase your calorie intake you will top off your glycogen stores...that shows up on the scale. It's not unusual to put on about 3-5 Lbs of glycogen when you cease dieting and go to maintenance.

Lastly, if you're consistent in your fitness you may want to consider the TDEE method rather than MFP's eat back method given that it is very difficult to estimate calorie burn. With the TDEE method, your exercise activity is factored into your overall activity level and thus there is an estimate of those calorie requirements included in your goal.

SJHawkeye

Many questions. I'll start with these two. What is your goal? How many times a day do you eat?

kanerz14

Ahh yeah forgot about the old Glycogen replen. It's just really scary as have been gradually raising my cals for a wee while now. But would be glad of a bit of leeway.
I'm set to sedentary on MFP and usually get an average of 5000steps though sometimes more, sometimes less. I also do around15-20 minutes of calisthenics daily with some weights on other days. I think I'd on average get around 300 cals excercise a day and if I eat back cals at 50% it'd only be around 150 cals, so not too much. I use the fitbit fot calori burn guestimates:)

sijomial

"Fearful"?
What's the worst that could happen? Your weight starts to creep up very slowly over a period of weeks.

If it does you simply readjust your calorie intake.
You don't forget how to manage your weight just because your goal changes from loss to maintenance.

cwolfman13

sijomial wrote: »

"Fearful"?
What's the worst that could happen? Your weight starts to creep up very slowly over a period of weeks.

If it does you simply readjust your calorie intake.
You don't forget how to manage your weight just because your goal changes from loss to maintenance.

kanerz14

SJHawkeye wrote: »

Many questions. I'll start with these two. What is your goal? How many times a day do you eat?

I eat four times a day. I'm at a bit of a crossroads goal wise however; I defo do not want to lose anymore and deont wnat to put on massess of weight. eventually I would like perhaps a bit of muscle growth and aware I need to be in a surplus though it's just getting over the fear of weight gain and I suppose the loss of definition.

Thanks for the replys so far though.

kanerz14

cwolfman13 wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

"Fearful"?
What's the worst that could happen? Your weight starts to creep up very slowly over a period of weeks.

If it does you simply readjust your calorie intake.
You don't forget how to manage your weight just because your goal changes from loss to maintenance.

Yes, I suppose I'm fearful that I slip into old habits if I accustom myself to higher intake:)

SJHawkeye

You need to be wise with what calories you are eating to fuel your body. For example 150 calories is less than a serving size of peanut butter. Are your meals a balance of proteins, carbs and healthy fats? Men should eat 130-180 grams of protein a day. If you want muscle growth, you definitely need more protein in your diet. But you also need to do activities that would encourage muscle growth. How is your energy level? That will also tell you if you are eating the correct amount of protein's and carbs and healthy fats. I'm not a nutritionist, but I've been in a meal plan for a year now. I've dropped my body fat from 31% to 20% in 12 months.

sdirks

Checked your diary, noticed you're eating some higher-process foods (pizza, biscuits, yogurt).

Switching out these processed foods for single-ingredient foods (veggies, fruit, protein) or low-process foods (tofu, roasted nuts, oats) would make a big difference. You'll be eating a larger quantity of food without increasing your calories, so you'll feel fuller longer. Your body will start absorbing more of the nutrients from your food (especially important to get all the fat and protein from your meat, otherwise it escapes as waste and doesn't do your muscles any good).

@cwolfman13 has a good point about switching to TDEE method, providing your workouts are consistent.

Improving the quality of your fuel is going to give you better reesults every time.

Chieflrg

SJHawkeye wrote: »

You need to be wise with what calories you are eating to fuel your body. For example 150 calories is less than a serving size of peanut butter. Are your meals a balance of proteins, carbs and healthy fats? Men should eat 130-180 grams of protein a day. If you want muscle growth, you definitely need more protein in your diet. But you also need to do activities that would encourage muscle growth. How is your energy level? That will also tell you if you are eating the correct amount of protein's and carbs and healthy fats. I'm not a nutritionist, but I've been in a meal plan for a year now. I've dropped my body fat from 31% to 20% in 12 months.

Gender doesn't dictate how much protein you need, your LBM does.

The idea of more protein to build muscle is overly stated and not correct if you are consuming the correct amount while cutting weight. When bulking, carbs is the macros that should be raised. Protein is more essential to retain muscle when on a cut.

nxd10

If you trust MFP to figure your calories, trust them with the exercise. I have done this since I've started and it's been 3 years.

I love exercise calories. I don't always eat them, but it gives me enough flex that if I'm hungry, I can trust my body and eat.

kanerz14

Many thanks for all the replies. Its defo food for thought. I do find maintenance easier if I allow myself some processed food and treats. It's served me well so far and have got to around 9% body fat. I do feel satisfied and more likely to maintain if I allow myself some pleasures routinely. The pizza I had wad a low fat/carb protein pizza btw.

theconstantgardener

yep as long as you're living a healthy lifestyle and the processed food is in moderation I don't see any point in changing; it's the the little treats that can make this lifestyle much easier to maintain

kanerz14

theconstantgardener wrote: »

yep as long as you're living a healthy lifestyle and the processed food is in moderation I don't see any point in changing; it's the the little treats that can make this lifestyle much easier to maintain

Cannot agree more;)

PAV8888

kanerz14 wrote: »

Ahh yeah forgot about the old Glycogen replen. It's just really scary as have been gradually raising my cals for a wee while now. But would be glad of a bit of leeway.
I'm set to sedentary on MFP and usually get an average of 5000steps though sometimes more, sometimes less. I also do around15-20 minutes of calisthenics daily with some weights on other days. I think I'd on average get around 300 cals excercise a day and if I eat back cals at 50% it'd only be around 150 cals, so not too much. I use the fitbit fot calori burn guestimates:)

Haven't read the whole thread so if it's already been covered, sorry!

But be aware that activity equivalent to about 3500-5000 steps is already included in the activity level encompassed by MFP's "sedentary" setting. Thus I would not eat back walking steps below 5000 unless I was prepared to deal with slightly slower weight loss.

Any additional activity should probably be eaten back at 100% of true net. True net is difficult to estimate. Steady state aerobic activity is estimated well enough that 100% eat back is probably OK. For lifting weights the suggestion is to go with 50%.

ETA: I see you are trying to find maintenance. Best of luck on this dangerous part of the the journey

Best sounding suggestion I've heard to date is to slowly increase calories and to focus on strength/muscle building as you perhaps generate a very tiny surplus.

The idea being that if you stay at an extremely slow surplus for a long enough period of time your body will slowly reverse any adaptations that have taken place during your weight loss, with your body hopefully returning to a state closer to that of a person of the same height and weight who has never restricted calories at a very small weight gain penalty and with perhaps some extra muscles to boot! Can't wait to be in a position to try this... many months from today!

nxd10

PAV - If you use fitbit or other step program, their baseline estimates for steps don't even kick in extra calories until you're over 3500 steps or so.

PAV8888

nxd10 wrote: »

PAV - If you use fitbit or other step program, their baseline estimates for steps don't even kick in extra calories until you're over 3500 steps or so.

Ah, you raise an interesting point! But, I am not the OP.

I did not notice the OP mentioning a connected Activity Tracking program.

If he IS using a connected Activity Tracking program, the higher calculated TDEE between MFP and the other program "wins"

So he only gets a positive adjustment if his "base + steps + other entered activity" as per the other tracker exceeds "base + entered exercise activities" as per MFP.

In that case, absolutely true, he will probably not start generating a positive adjustment from MFP's "sedentary" setting till after he exceeds "about" 3,500 steps worth of activity.

As far as I'm concerned this positive adjustment (if mostly generated in 10+ minute bouts of steady state activity), would be 100% eat-back-able.

The OP would not have to "do" anything (other than walk and eat ) as the calculations are handled automatically by MFP and the other program!

If he is entering the activity manually into MFP; however, without using a connected all day tracker (for example by entering an exercise = xyz # of calories), then he should probably take care not count the first 3,500 steps as per my original post.

kanerz14

Thanks for interesting responses. I have fitbit for steps and walking activities only. I use runtastic for other excercise which uploads to MFP and displays on fitbit also.
Unfortunately I'm unwell today, so its unlikely I'll be getting anywhere close to my steps or excercise.

I do have negative calories on and see im sitting at about 1750 calorie allowance with the small amount of steps I've done today. So essentially when I have been eating 1800 calories (MFP for maint). I have been eating back at least my daily step cals if i average between 3500-5000 steps in my usual walking about days?