Calorie intake vs burn

nallie562

I want to clarify something.
My understanding is when trying to loose weight you lessen your food intake while increasing the number of calories you burn.
So do I "add" back in the calories I burn onto my original amount.
Like I eat 1300 calories, then burn 300 calories so I need to consume 1600 calories?
I eat fairly clean, drink tons of water, use coconut sugar in my one small coffee a day, and I do 5-7 days of cardio/week (3 runs, approx 14-20 mi/week & 4 bike rides, approx 30-50 mi/wk), plus 3 days of weight training

cwolfman13

your calorie targets already include your deficit for weight loss WITHOUT exercise...you don't have to deliberately burn anything...you "burn" calories 24/7...you "burn" a *kitten* ton of them by merely existing...then you burn more in your day to day goings on.

if you accurately log and eat to your calorie target, you would lose weight...the calculator has calculated that target for you based on your stats and other inputs...that number isn't a maintenance level of calories...that's why you put all of that info in...so the calculator can calculate your targets per your stated goals.

you get calories back because if you set your activity level properly as per MFP then you would not include exercise, just your day to day hum drum...suffice it to say that you have a whole level of unaccounted for activity at that point...you will note that none of the descriptors make any mention of exercise...that is because you account for exercise after you actually do it with MFP.

the difficulty here is accurately estimating those calories to eat back which is why many people take some % of those calories as an allowance for estimation error. also note that MFP's method works well when you're being accurate in your logging...a lot of people continuously choose generic and erroneous entries from the database, eyeball servings, etc....so they're logging, but they really have no idea as to whether or not their logging is remotely accurate.

sijomial

nallie562 wrote: »

I want to clarify something.
I eat 1300 calories, then burn 300 calories so I need to consume 1600 calories?

Correct - that's exactly how this site is designed to be used.
Would suggest that after four weeks you assess your progress (weight loss, exercise performance, sustainability, energy levels....) and adjust if necessary.

With that level of exercise suggest you eat back all your exercise calories and ignore the prevailing "group think" on here that all exercise calories are exaggerated (clue - they aren't!!).

Working2BLean

You have to see how the MFP calorie credits work for you

Use cycling as an example.

MFP owned Map My Ride has huge calorie burn numbers given. Nearly double what Livestrong cycling com give for a given speed, time, at a body weight

So.....

In some activities, eating back what MFP says you earned can wipe out your calorie deficit

I would see 3800 calorie burn for a 2100 calorie ride. That is 1700 calories in error by MFP. That wipes out my entire week of deficit to drop 1/2 pound per week.

If I used their numbers for 3 workouts to eat back my calories, I would actually gain a pound per week not lose weight!

Do not blindly believe the MFP numbers!

mbaker566

yes, eat some of your calorie goals back. I generally recommend 1/2 the burned calories. figuring inflated burn calorie numbers and giving me a cushion with food calorie reporting

Yi5hedr3

Only half.