Do you actually hold yourself to your caloric goal, or ...

Lounmoun

I eat all my calories. I usually eat some of my exercise calories.

jandw122912

I try to stay within 50 calories of my goal (up or down). I don't want to leave 150 calories sitting there! But I don't really worry if I have like 23 calories left...

BoaRestrictor

I have the grey area of "okayish". I consider a good day 50 cal over or under my calorie goal.

ilex70

That's not a bad idea (the color thing).

I like that too...maybe as a percentage, so within X percent amber, then over X percent red.

I try to at least get 1200, or close. Had to eat extra figs and popcorn last night.

OTOH, if I have a hungry day and I'm a little on the high side I don't sweat it too much, because I know I have the "not hungry" days too.

GillianSmith2

kettiecat wrote: »

I eat over my base goal of 1200 but I don't always eat my exercise calories back, mostly because I'm not hungry and don't trust those are the actual calories burned.

^^this^^
I eat my calorie goal and sometimes more, but because i exercise every day and I don't eat all my exercise calories it still says I have eaten under my goal. I am losing at a steady rate so I don't intend to eat them back unless I really feel the hunger.

VintageFeline

Damn right I eat my exercise calories too, it's how MFP is designed. I will never inderstand someone with a net goal of 1200, who doesn't eat their exercise and doesn't somehow pass out after a week. If I eat too low for a couple of days I feel it immediately. I want to feel in full on beast mode as often as possible when I workout and the only way to do that is to eat a good portion of my exercise calories (which I use an HRM and gym specific app on my smart watch to track so shouldn't be overly inflated).

I have though, manually changed my net calorie goal down from 1400 to 1300 to allow for overestimations of burns and underestimations of food intake. I've only recently done this so am tracking my data to make alterations in a month or so if needs be.

I also like the amber idea. So many people misunderstand how MFP works, why there's a minimum intake of 1200 and why it's really important to fuel your workouts if you are using the MFP method in its truest form. There should be compulsory reading or something when someone starts to address all of that.

chandanista

I eat over 2-3 times a week, under the other days. I love the weekly nutrition feature, to make sure everything's evening out.

StaciMarie1974

I do my own thing. Officially I'm set to maintenance, but I like a bit of a deficit (200-300) during the week. Then I tend to use them on the weekend.

And for many, when it comes to exercise calories, people err on the side of caution and don't eat them all. That is a way to try & avoid overestimating the burn as its hard to really know. So if exercise calories are added, its not unusual to see calories remaining I think.

But in general, it does become a mind set of trying to stay under I think.

nordlead2005

Over the course of the week I try to be within a few hundred calories of my goal. I tend to be under, but if I'm over, oh well. In the grand scheme of things, it means I might lose ~0.1lb more than planned per week, but some weeks I lose ~0.1lb less than planned.

According to my 34 weeks results I've actually eaten 41 calories per day more than planned. That is most likely due to errors in exercise estimation and food logging, not in intentionally eating over.

Honestly, if you aren't eating close to your planned amount, then your plan sucks. Fix it and do what you intended, instead of setting an arbitrary goal and then doing something else.

elaineamj

kettiecat wrote: »

I eat over my base goal of 1200 but I don't always eat my exercise calories back, mostly because I'm not hungry and don't trust those are the actual calories burned.

I worry about the exercise calorie estimation too. So I input that it burns half the calories of what MFP says. So if I do a 30 minute moderate walk for 111 calories, I log it as 55 calories burned.

Set at 1lb a week, I'm only allotted 1200 calories (very short here). I quickly found I was able to stay within it, but the whole "diet" mentality was so much better after I started eating half my exercise calories back. It allows for social meals and very occasional indulgences. Otherwise, 1200 calories is extremely strict. Now, I don't get too stressed if we have a staff lunch or if I have a larger dinner with friends. It blew my mind the first time I had a 1000 calorie dinner - and still stayed within my goal for the day. I had been so stressed before that meal. But planning for it, banking calories from the week before, and using my exercise calories all made a ton of difference.

I don't want to burn too much and then burn out. This is a permanent change for me!

Need2Exerc1se

No, I eat intuitively.

williams969

chandanista wrote: »

I eat over 2-3 times a week, under the other days. I love the weekly nutrition feature, to make sure everything's evening out.

I do the same. Typically, I "save" 200 cals on 5 days, then I have 1,000 extra wiyh which to indulge. I'm only set to lose .5lb/week also, which means that even if I don't use all of those calories within a week, I'm still at a modest .75lb/week loss rate (I don't care for drastic restriction and the associated dizziness and hangries ).

kshama2001

distinctlybeautiful wrote: »

... do you just consider it a maximum that you try not to exceed?

I'm not looking for advice! I'm just super curious because based on my newsfeed it seems like people are super excited about not reaching their goals. But the deficit should already be factored into the goal...

Because exercise calories tend to be inflated, I almost never eat every single calorie. But I never get super excited about it. That sounds a little...disordered. As if someone's calorie deficit is too aggressive or they rejoice in undereating.

neohdiver

oolou wrote: »

I aim for close to the goal and if I am under by a couple hundred, it tends to get banked and put forward/back to another day when I go/went over my goal. As long as it all balances out in the end, I'm happy.

The number turning red is discouraging, and may be it would be better if there was an amber zone for the first 50 cals over and under, with red also being used if someone goes far under too?

I agree.

Even if you are measuring everything you eat, the calorie count for what you are consuming is still only an estimate because of of inaccuracies in food data. It encourages undereating to have no penalty until you hit 1000 calories - but big red flags if you go over by even 1 calorie.

I eat close to my goal, and assess whether I am still hungry if I end up within 200 calories of my goal at the end of the day. If I am, I eat more. I rarely go over - partly because I find the red annoying, so it discourages topping off the daily calories when I'm close enough that eating much would make me go over.

TaraHancock827

Ive found that eating only 25g of carbs a day keeps me from ever getting hungry and I tend to not eat all of my calories. Still cant loose though...guessing im eating at maintenance. im not a strict calorie counter. oops

amyk0202

I try to hit my calorie goal every day. If I'm a little over or under I don't worry about it. If I end the day with a couple hundred calories left, I will try to eat something else. Usually, that means I'm short on protein. I know that my maintenance is 1400 calories. As long as I don't go over that, I'm fine.

rileysowner

It is the goal I look to reach. I really wish that instead of saying a person was under their calorie goal when the day is closed out, that instead it would give props for being within 50 calories plus or minus of the daily calorie goal.

lakshva

I find red color discouraging. As if I am caught red handed!
Just for my peace of mind, I have set MFP to maintenance cal. I try to keep a deficit of 500-550 daily so I know I'm on track for my lose .5kg/ week goal. And then on days I eat over my 'allowed' calories, I don't bash myself bcz I know I'm still below my maintenance!!

oolou

lakshva wrote: »

I find red color discouraging. As if I am caught red handed!
Just for my peace of mind, I have set MFP to maintenance cal. I try to keep a deficit of 500-550 daily so I know I'm on track for my lose .5kg/ week goal. And then on days I eat over my 'allowed' calories, I don't bash myself bcz I know I'm still below my maintenance!!

I like this system. I may consider adopting it.

Nachise

I don't pay so much attention to what MFP sets as to what my nutritionist sets for me. I pay no attention to what those exercise calories say I can have. When I ate back my exercise calories, I was on a 2-year plateau. Now I am starting to lose weight again.