Please help!!! Burning more calories than I taking vs eating more calories

HG3185

I have read and heard so many different things and need a bit of clarification.

Some people say burn more calories than you take in each day for weight loss.

Others say intake more healthy calories in the suggested guideline and if you work out then intake even more. This is very confusing to me. Please help clarify!!!

sijomial

Go to the getting started forum and read the sticky threads at the top - they have loads of good information.

Calories are units of energy not units of "food healthiness".

Azdak

sijomial wrote: »

Go to the getting started forum and read the sticky threads at the top - they have loads of good information.

Calories are units of energy not units of "food healthiness".

NOW, you tell me

cwolfman13

Burn more calories than you take in doesn't mean you go off and exercise every calorie. You burn calories 24/7...most of your "burn" is you merely existing. And yes, the more you move, the more calories you require.

For example...if I don't exercise my maintenance level of calories (what I burn in a day) is around 2,400 calories...this includes my BMR (calories I burn existing) of around 1,900 and then I burn calories just doing my stuff throughout the day. To lose about 1 Lb per week I'd eat around 2,400 - 500 = 1,900 calories.

Since I exercise regularly...with what I'm doing currently I burn around 2,800 calories...my BMR, my daily, and my exercise...so I would lose that same 1 Lb per week eating 2,800 - 500 = 2,300 calories.

It's good to get quality nutrition...I highly recommend lots of healthy calories...but if you over eat your maintenance level of calories, it's irrelevant...I eat very healthfully and eat a primarily whole foods diet and have recently put on 10 Lbs doing so because I was injured and wasn't able to exercise as much but didn't adjust my calorie intake...didn't matter that I eat really healthy.

CafeRacer808

When we're talking about weight loss, the notion of "healthy calories" is meaningless. A calorie is a calorie, no matter which food it comes from.

CICO (calories in vs calories out) is the key to weight loss. If you maintain a caloric deficit (eating less than you burn), then you'll lose weight. Your daily calorie goal that MFP provided for you already has your daily caloric deficit built into it, and that number doesn't include any additional calories you might burn from exercise. Exercise requires additional fuel and on MFP, exercise calories are meant to be eaten back. Make sense?

diannethegeek

HG3185 wrote: »

I have read and heard so many different things and need a bit of clarification.

Some people say burn more calories than you take in each day for weight loss.

Others say intake more healthy calories in the suggested guideline and if you work out then intake even more. This is very confusing to me. Please help clarify!!!

Start with your goals. Without knowing those it's hard to give any advice.

If you want to lose weight, then eating fewer calories than your body uses in a day is required. Remember that this is more than just the calories you burn through exercise. Your body uses calories all day long, even when you're sleeping.

If you used MFP to calculate a calorie goal for you, then you can eat up to that amount and lose weight at the rate you inputted into your settings. It sets that goal for you ignoring any exercise you told it you would do. The system doesn't trust you to exercise until you actually log it. That's where eating more when you workout comes in. It adds some calories to your goal because you earned them. Eating those helps fuel your activity and keeps your deficit consistent.

ccsernica

HG3185 wrote: »

Some people say burn more calories than you take in each day for weight loss.

This is correct.

HG3185 wrote: »

Others say intake more healthy calories in the suggested guideline and if you work out then intake even more. This is very confusing to me. Please help clarify!!!

This is also correct. The two statements do not contradict each other.

Calories in < calories out results in weight loss. Obviously, if you burn more calories by exercising above your normal activity level, you can take in more calories and still lose weight. MFP is in fact designed to work this way. Your "baseline" calorie burn is estimated by NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) based on what you say your normal activity level is. Calories burned from exercise you record is subtracted from your consumption to make room for more consumption.

Eating "healthy calories" is important for good nutrition overall, and perhaps to meet other health goals, but not really for weight loss. For instance, I need to keep my fat consumption relatively low, not because I'll put on weight if I don't, but because I need to control my cholesterol and I'd rather not resort to statins.

HG3185

Thank you all. With all of the insight and reading I have done I understand a bit more which should help in my success. Much appreciated!