Outexercising Excess Calories

BreatheSweatEat

Im supposed to be at 1200 calories per day. However, i am in a very stressful period and cant eat less than 1900/2000 per day. Im making sure to burn at least 400 per day through exercise though and burn the other calories on the weekend. Is net calories really all that matters or is food more important than exercise??

missiontofitness

BreatheSweatEat wrote: »

Im supposed to be at 1200 calories per day. However, i am in a very stressful period and cant eat less than 1900/2000 per day. Im making sure to burn at least 400 per day through exercise though and burn the other calories on the weekend. Is net calories really all that matters or is food more important than exercise??

Calorie deficits create weight loss, exercise helps and is beneficial in other ways. With 15lbs to lose, you can probably eat much more than 1,200 per day. I'm assuming you have your weight loss set to 2lb a week, which is probably too aggressive for you. Change it down to .5lb/week; you'll get more calories per day (albiet with a smaller deficit, so your logging needs to be tight. Use a food scale if you don't already), but it may take the edge off of your daily goal.

Additionally, I look at my weekly deficit, over my daily one.

leahcollett1

I'm on 1400 a day but I like going for walks to give myself that extra couple hundred to play with its worked for me so far, I only look at net calories

terbusha

I set my calorie goal by how I'm progressing towards by goal. I completely disregard the calories I burn during exercise. I actually don't even keep track of them. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for 2 weeks. If you lose 1-2 lbs/week, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few cycles, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

juggernaut1974

BreatheSweatEat wrote: »

Im supposed to be at 1200 calories per day. However, i am in a very stressful period and cant eat less than 1900/2000 per day. Im making sure to burn at least 400 per day through exercise though and burn the other calories on the weekend. Is net calories really all that matters or is food more important than exercise??

Technically net calories are all that matter.

Though I'd question a couple things:
1. Is 1200 really a good goal for you? What is your height & weight? It's entirely possible that's simply too aggressive
2. Be careful relying on calculated exercise calorie burns - most methods give highly inflated values.