calories burned are added to daily food allowance?

maggiemay530

My calories burned in exercise are added in my food diary stating that I've earned them and can consume that many in addition to my regular caloric intake... isn't that just going to maintain my current weight? (just started MFP today) Thanx so much for clarification on this... oops think I just got it! My plan is allowing 1200 cals. per day. So even by adding in the cals. burned, I'm still eating far less than I have been which got me in this (UGH!) shape in the first place... Have I got it right? Thank you all.

IsaackGMOON

I'll explain it in simple maths terms.

Your goal per day is 1200 calories.

Let's say you burn 400 calories doing some running. 1200 - 400 = 800 calories. This essentially means you've ate 800 calories for the day... that's not good.

You eat your exercise calories back. 800 + 400 = 1200.

Wahey, you're back to 1200.

debsdoingthis

Just keep in mind that the MFP calorie burned calculator is notorious for over estimating. Good rule of thumb is to only eat 1/2 those calories back.

Danixkm

debsdoingthis wrote: »

Just keep in mind that the MFP calorie burned calculator is notorious for over estimating. Good rule of thumb is to only eat 1/2 those calories back.

This ^

Lleldiranne

The calorie goal that MFP gives you already has a deficit built in, meaning you could lose weight without exercising at all. When you do exercise, it creates an even bigger deficit. Depending on where you are in your weight, that could be too big of a deficit. So the system adds those calories back into the daily allowance to put you at the approximate weight loss you told the system (1 pound, 2 pounds, etc). You don't want to burn yourself out!

I do agree that, for some people, the system overestimates exercise calories, so it may be better to try eating back only 1/2 of them, and see how you feel.

maggiemay530

All makes perfect sense... Thanx everyone.

PAV8888

Read the stickies included in the first post in this forum. in particular the sexypants post.

Chose a setting that has you losing at no faster than 0.5lbs per 25lbs you are currently above the bottom of your healthy bmi range, in other words do not chose 2lbs unless you are obese. based on your goal, about 1lb of weight loss a week instead of two.

Evaluate carefully whether you really are sedentary: sedentary is approximately 35 minutes or less of movement throughout the day (3500 steps or less). Most people are probably lightly active.

In the beginning and with a weight loss set at about 1lb a week, you should start by eating back about 50% of your exercise calories. If this eat back is too much, it will slow down your weight loss. If it is too little your loss will be faster than anticipated. You should re-evaluate in a few weeks what your pace of loss is, and compare it to the caloric deficit you believe you have. At that point you should re-adjust the % of exercise calories you eat back based on your real life results.

You may want to aim for up to 0.8g of protein per lb of bodyweight (or a minimum of 100g of protein) in order to preserve lean mass. This assumes you don't have kidney issues. When you lose weight you lose water, fat, and lean mass.

You should eat at least 0.35 to 0.45g of fat per lb of bodyweight. While minimizing saturated and trans fats. This is a minimum, not maximum.

The rest can be whatever keeps you happy and full longer (i.e. extra carbs and fats). A bit of fiber (is it 21g for women?) would also keep you happy!

Exercise for health, eat for weight loss, or something rah rah like that ;-)

oh yes, and lift weights, will make you stronger and help preserve lean mass!

Most weight variation on a day to day basis is caused by water weight. Salt, exercise, hormones can all affect water weight variation and such changes can be much larger than the underlying fat loss.

In order to better gauge your progress enlist the help of technology: use www.weightgrapher.com, www.trendweight.com, or happy scale on an iphone.

Best of luck!

maggiemay530

Thanks pav8888... lots in your post to study. I appreciate everyone's quick response so much!

Carmella9

debsdoingthis wrote: »

Just keep in mind that the MFP calorie burned calculator is notorious for over estimating. Good rule of thumb is to only eat 1/2 those calories back.

I agree

999tigger

Btw OP yes you got it right first time. The warning about MFP being over generous and eating back 50% is a good rule of thumb, but its not always that much out and for some people it works fine. What you are trying to avoid is eating back calories you have not burned. See what your results are and then adjust accordingly.