How many cals? And what about exercise calories?

Seajolly

I've been doing this WOE/lifestyle for 19 days now and feeling great. But I'm hearing conflicting things about how many calories I should be getting, and also about exercise calories. I am a woman, 5'4, and currently 189.2 lbs (SW was 199.6). I have been averaging 1200-1500 calories per day, sticking to around 100-120g of protein, 20-45g net carbs, and 86-134g fat. How do these macros look and would you adjust them? I have no health issues so I'm doing this for weight loss. Also, what is the deal with exercise calories on this WOE? Thanks!

mandycat223

Many of us got to our desired weight on this WOE without ever fretting about calories. Others have found through experimentation that some form of calorie control is required to get to goal. So I can't help you with calorie numbers. Your protein and net carb numbers look very similar to the ones that worked for me; I never bothered counting fat grams, just trusted to the magic of bacon and cream.

My own feeling is that, if you are going to include calories in your metrics don't confuse the issue with exercise calories. The number of calories burned through various activities is very much a SWAG, with too many individual variables to be useful. I'd say eat to your desired metrics and exercise purely for good health and good looks.

Working2BLean

MFP exercise calculator is wildly high!! I would gain if I ate half what it says.

Garmin is lower, so is strava, and Training Peaks too

I would eat back no more than 1/3

I exercise lots and sometimes very intensely. Getting adequate calories matters so I don't bonk on a long ride and run. If you want to have a better idea of nutrition and training, I would advise a training book, not MFP.

This is a great site and has an awesome food diary, but it is not Sony how geared to deal with much more than a moderate bit of exercise

Training and lower carb is a rarely discussed topic on MFP.

But my standard reply to those inquiry is to Google

Fat adapted mitochondria

Tons of actual medical research and peer reviewed papers on how it works and can help you burn more bodyfat as fuel. The holy grail of being Fat Adapted.

Good luck and best wishes!

kpk54

Calories as determined by MFP were fine for my year of weight loss and have been fine in 3 years of maintenance when set to sedentary (especially in maintenance)...and when I chose/choose to adhere to them. When losing, I never made it a point to eat back calories burned. I agree "calories burned" in mfp are higher than what is most likely accurate especially for my low impact activities. I consider calories burned a "cushion" for not weighing and measuring every bite I put in my mouth. Also the times I was hungry and ate over calories.

The only time I followed macros rigidly was the year I ate keto for a reason unrelated to weight or body composition. Other times it has been all about keeping calories where they need to be on average.

It seems what you're doing is working. Macros are fine if you're not craving, not hungry, losing weight and feeling well.

Freischuetz

watch this page, that should answer your questions and you will get quite good analysis:

https://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

mmultanen

As other's have mentioned, calories burned via exercise is notoriously hard to track and accuracy is almost nil, though some trackers are better than others. I don't track my cardiovascular exercise to determine how many calories I've burned. I track for speed, time splits, distance improvement etc. My calories are set based on some TDEE and BMR research I've done for myself but I do not live and die by my calories. I focus more on the grams of carbohydrates I've eaten and I focus on whole, nutritionally dense foods (I say that acknowledging the lunch of coke zero and pork rinds I had the other day) that leave me feeling full and satisfied.

I frankly, don't swear by macros either. I did pay more attention to them back in the day when I was a far more serious athlete and maybe I will again one day. I don't have serious health issues though I have noticed improvements in some small nagging issues I just put up with for years. This way of eating is a lifestyle for me to lose weight and keep it off.

so, I don't know if this helps you but the TL;DR version is: I don't fuss with macros or calories really. People do and you certainly can. Also, don't trust calories burned estimates by ANY exercise tracking devise.

hmikkola92

I'm 5'7, 252lbs and I just lowered my calories from 1400 to 1200 since I've lost 23lbs. I generally don't eat any more calories than my goal no matter how much I exercise.

2t9nty

I stick with the original macros and carb goals when I exercise. On a day when I have been for a walk, I don't feel guilty if I go over by 50 calories, but I am deliberate about not "eating them back."