For those that use a weekly calorie goal.......

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Emily3907
Emily3907 Posts: 1,461 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Quick question, when you go by a weekly goal, do you base it on your net calories or your total calories?

For example, I eat about 1600 through the week and then 1900 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I just logged the things I am sure of for the weekend (birthday party on saturday, dinner on sunday, etc.) and I am sitting at 51 calories over my total goal and 2518 calories UNDER my net goal.

I tend to work out during the week (swim, challenging treadmill workout and lift weights), but not eat many of the calories back. So, should I base my remaining "allowance" of calories off the net or do I need to do some planning since I am already over my total?

I am a bit fearful of eating back too many exercise calories because of over-estimation of burns.

Whats your thoughts/strategy?

Replies

  • Penthesilea514
    Penthesilea514 Posts: 1,189 Member
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    If you are not hungry and feel satisfied with your eating where you are, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to eat some of those exercise calories back, I would start low (1/4 to 1/3 of those exercise calories) and see how it affects your weight loss rate. I would not worry about 51 calories over goal for the whole week unless you are not seeing results and are worried about your logging accuracy.

    I don't strictly follow a weekly calorie goal, but I do pay attention to it on special occasions to deal with times I may over-indulge a little too much.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    If you're following MFP's goals whether daily or weekly, you should be following the net calorie goal. Because of said overestimations, many start by eating back half of their calories and then adjust depending on their loss rate over the next month.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    I tend to do weekly and it is based on net, buuuuut, it's best to assume you are overestimating your burns until you have got a handle on how much you truly burn (which may take months) eating back 50-75% of your burns is a good start. If you are losing at the (assuming sensible) rate you have set eg. 1 pound a week on average for someone with say 30 pounds to lose and feeling satiated chances are MFP is overestimating your burns so you shouldn't eat back 100%, if you are losing quicker and find yourself too hungry MFP may be estimating correctly and you need to eat back more of your burns.

    To answer your question though I assume you have 2518 cals left in the bank from exercise? Personally I'd just dip into them if I feel hungry and maybe leave a 6-700 cal buffer in case it's overestimating. You don't have to force yourself to eat them either. x
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I use total calories. I don't use net calories for the most part.
  • Emily3907
    Emily3907 Posts: 1,461 Member
    edited May 2017
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    Yes - my weekly exercise calories come in around 2800 on average. I have MFP set to lose 1 pound a week. For the most part, I don't feel the need to really dip into my exercise cals on average, but this particular weekend is becoming a perfect storm of parties and plans. So, I will have to probably dip into my exercise reserves.

    If I do though, it will only be like 700-800 at most, leaving me still about 1700 calories under my net.

    I recently changed my mindset about weight loss from "lose all the weight as quickly as possible" to "lose the weight sensibly and slowly and keep it off", so I feel like I am eating a lot of calories and trying to wrap my head around the fact that it is okay. :)

    I am still losing though!

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