quick question?

lml852014

I saw someone already asked a question similar to this but I was unclear of what it meant. So currently my weight is about 135-137 at 5"3. I would like to lose around 10 lbs and have my goal set at 1 lb a week eating 1250 calories a day. Typically I will have around 50-100 calories left at the end of my day. What I am wondering if I usually work out every day and burn around 250-350 calories. I always log them into my 1250 calories, so should I then eat back half of what I burned? Because then I would be going over my calorie goal everyday if I logged it. I guess I am just confused?

janejellyroll

MFP is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories. But how are you determining how many you burned? If those numbers are coming from the MFP database, many of us have found those are over-estimated. If you eat all of them back and they are too high, it may be too much. For that reason, many of us eat back only 25-75% of exercise calories.

lml852014

I typically use a walking/running app (brain fart as to the name right now) and it tells me I burn around 200 if I am lightly jogging/walking for 30-35 min, which I feel is pretty correct.

janiep81

The 1250 cals that MFP has allowed you is assuming a sedentary lifestyle (unless you chose a higher setting). Therefore, it doesn't factor in anything you burn over "sedentary," so if you have an active job in which you're on your feet, you work out regularly, etc., you can eat more and still burn 1 lb a week (give or take, and theoretically). So, if you're hungry and need to use some of the calories burned while exercising, then you will still lose weight. You don't have to eat them if you don't feel hungry, of course. I run 4-5x a week and often get my 10k steps in at work in a day, so earn a few exercise calories. I used to eat them sometimes and sometimes not, but recently I switched to a higher calorie allowance because that just felt better to me. I STILL earn over than sometimes, and I eat them sometimes.

Have you read the threads here about BMR/TDEE? That really helped me understand how my body uses calories and what to expect weight-loss wise.

Oh - and FWIW, MFP, most fitness equipment, ect., tends to overestimate calories, so most people only use 50%-75% of their calories.

I hope this helps.

My diary is open. Feel free to look if that would help you. I've lost 30lbs since June 1.

angelexperiment

It would not make you over bc it is automatically taken out when you finish your log for the day if you only eat back half you will still be under.

Liftng4Lis

You eat back a portion.

msujack

Just a heads up, the weight loss may be slower as a pound a week is aggressive with only 10lbs to go. 1/2lb is probably more accurate. And please remember, water weight due to retention can hide weight loss overall pretty easy when you are within 10lbs of your goal. I "put on" 3 lbs from yesterday eating higher sodium foods. Its water weight and I might drop 3.5lbs once the sodium levels even out for me. You are close to your goal, enjoy the journey and don't beat yourself up over it.

cocates

Based on the information you provided in your post + your profile (and I'm assuming you are a female), I've entered your results here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/#results

If you want to lose 1lb/week, you should be eating 1280 calories (I put you as 137lbs). That's the minimum you should eat. Eating back 1/2 of your exercise points seems reasonable. Try it and see if it works. If not, you can always cut back on the amount you are eating back.

I hope that helps!

I_Will_End_You

I wouldn't eat back more than 150 calories for a 35 minute walk. I walk my dog twice a day, about 3.5 miles and 50-60 minutes total, my Fitbit gives me about 200-250 calories per day extra.
(I'm about 20lbs lighter and 3 inches taller than you, which probably evens our stats out a bit)