Question on balancing exercise & caloric intake.

jetcone

Hello everyone
Just been on this for 15 days the first week I dropped 5 pounds which I thought was too much. My base goal is 2800 cal a day. This is my question on days of exercise at the end of the day I can end up with a bonus of sometimes 600 to 1100 cal . I don't want to trigger a starvation mode I'm wondering if I should try and eat up those calories to balance the 2800 even on exercise days. Or should I not eat and let the bonus calories stand that's my confusion on counting the calories. Jon

heatherheyns

I'd wait and see how the weight loss goes. Losing a lot the first week or two is normal, and doesn't necessarily indicate you need to up calories. I'd wait to see how the weight loss averages out over a few weeks, and then increase it if needed. Often exercise calories can be inflated, so if you change everything the first week, you may find that you increased the calories too much. I'm a big believer in seeing how the weight averages out and then using that to dictate what you do, as long as you are feeling good. If you feel weak or anything it's a good indicator the calories are too low.

psuLemon

heatherheyns wrote: »

I'd wait and see how the weight loss goes. Losing a lot the first week or two is normal, and doesn't necessarily indicate you need to up calories. I'd wait to see how the weight loss averages out over a few weeks, and then increase it if needed. Often exercise calories can be inflated, so if you change everything the first week, you may find that you increased the calories too much. I'm a big believer in seeing how the weight averages out and then using that to dictate what you do, as long as you are feeling good. If you feel weak or anything it's a good indicator the calories are too low.

This is what I would do. Maintain 2800 calories or close for 4-6 weeks and adjust based on actual results. I don't follow the MFP method due to the potential inaccuracies in exercise calories and rather follow a TDEE method. So I eat the same amount of calories and have a feedback loop every month and adjust as needed.

CorneliusPhoton

How much did you drop the second week?

BrianSharpe

First.....forget about "starvation mode", it's nonsense.

How did you come to a target of 2,800? Does that include a built in level of activity? Normally one would only eat back exercise calories if you had set your activity on MFP to sedentary (eg.....mine is 1,700 cal + exercise calories)

RoxieDawn

psulemon wrote: »

heatherheyns wrote: »

I'd wait and see how the weight loss goes. Losing a lot the first week or two is normal, and doesn't necessarily indicate you need to up calories. I'd wait to see how the weight loss averages out over a few weeks, and then increase it if needed. Often exercise calories can be inflated, so if you change everything the first week, you may find that you increased the calories too much. I'm a big believer in seeing how the weight averages out and then using that to dictate what you do, as long as you are feeling good. If you feel weak or anything it's a good indicator the calories are too low.

This is what I would do. Maintain 2800 calories or close for 4-6 weeks and adjust based on actual results. I don't follow the MFP method due to the potential inaccuracies in exercise calories and rather follow a TDEE method. So I eat the same amount of calories and have a feedback loop every month and adjust as needed.

OP this.. ^^^

ndj1979

are you doing MFP or TDEE method?

BeeerRunner

heatherheyns wrote: »

I'd wait and see how the weight loss goes. Losing a lot the first week or two is normal, and doesn't necessarily indicate you need to up calories. I'd wait to see how the weight loss averages out over a few weeks, and then increase it if needed. Often exercise calories can be inflated, so if you change everything the first week, you may find that you increased the calories too much. I'm a big believer in seeing how the weight averages out and then using that to dictate what you do, as long as you are feeling good. If you feel weak or anything it's a good indicator the calories are too low.

^^^ I did this as well and reached my goal weight. I lost weight faster up front, but as I got closer and closer to my goal weight, it came off slower and slower. As you get lighter, you don't burn as many calories doing the same exercises. I rarely ate back calories and if I did, I didn't eat back very much. The only exception is if I knew I was going out for dinner and/or drinks...I would exercise more to accommodate the higher calories. However, I didn't go out to eat very much when I was losing. I can make some of the same foods at home, but end up eating less calories because I'm not using all the butter or full fat cheese/sour cream, etc... that restaurants use.

sijomial

BrianSharpe wrote: »

Normally one would only eat back exercise calories if you had set your activity on MFP to sedentary

Nope - that's not true.
I would set my activity level as sedentary as I'm an office worker - my son would set his to active as he's a builder.

We both have heavy exercise routines which add to our different MFP activity levels.

BeeerRunner

sijomial wrote: »

BrianSharpe wrote: »

Normally one would only eat back exercise calories if you had set your activity on MFP to sedentary

Nope - that's not true.
I would set my activity level as sedentary as I'm an office worker - my son would set his to active as he's a builder.

We both have heavy exercise routines which add to our different MFP activity levels.

^^^Also true. When you read the activity level descriptions on MFP, they have nothing to do with how often or long you exercise. Instead they address your activity level for a majority of the day. Even though I exercise 6 days a week, I have mine set to Sedentary as well since I'm an Office Worker who only gets up to get water, coffee, go to the bathroom, get my lunch from the fridge, and go to the occasional in-person meeting. Based on the calories given by MFP, I'd say it's pretty accurate too. If I ate more, I'm sure I'd be gaining instead of maintaining.

BrianSharpe

sijomial wrote: »

BrianSharpe wrote: »

Normally one would only eat back exercise calories if you had set your activity on MFP to sedentary

Nope - that's not true.
I would set my activity level as sedentary as I'm an office worker - my son would set his to active as he's a builder.

We both have heavy exercise routines which add to our different MFP activity levels.

Good point, I stand corrected.....