Calorie Counting + Fitness = Help please!

thunderchild007

Right, I was a long time slimming worlder and did hit my target of 11 stone (I'm 5ft 4in and 41). Once I got to target I found it quite hard too stay there and felt that the diet had become a bit restrictive, my leader changed and I generally wasn't happy. I was also hating my job so a few months ago decided I need a change. 8 weeks ago I quit SW and 4 weeks ago started a new job which has been stressful. My weight has been cr@p and I'm now at 11st 7lbs.

So after all that waffle this is where I need your guys help, I am now going this "alone" well as alone as you can be with MFP ;-)

I have done my TDEE and it says to get to 10st 7lbs (my new target) I need 1805 calories as I workout 3-5 times a week. So when I do exercise I average 430 cals (I use a fitbit). So I manually add these in. I also average 12k - 16k steps per day (In my old job I used to have a whole week when my daily average was 3.5k, so a big leap also) which I dont add in.

Now I don't understand about eating the exercise calories back? I try not too but on odd days I do. Should I be eating the full 2235 with the exercise everyday? If I don't would this hinder me???

I am away on a loooooong weeked this weekend until Tuesday night so I want to be 100% on it from Wednesday. 100% honest tracking as I will be away again 4 weeks later (the joys of a campervan) and I'd like to be near 11st (with the pounds I will be putting on this weekend) but I honestly have found that calorie counting is not as simple as it sounds.

I would appreciate any help please guys, feeling a bit thick with all of this.

TavistockToad

if you are using a TDEE calculation you don't eat exercise cals back.

or use MFP, and either set up your fitbit to add activity cals, or add your exercise.

Holly_981

Basically if you eat 1200 cals (as a deficit) and burn 200. Your total intake for the day is 1000. But if you eat them you're still at 1200 which is still a deficit. If you burn 400 bringing you down 800. Eat your 400 back to bring you back to 1200. Still a deficit. Hope this makes sense.

cs2thecox

It all depends what you've put in the TDEE calculator like @TavistockToad said.

If you told the TDEE calculator that you worked out 3-5 times a week, then you do NOT need to change the calories you get from that to account for your exercise.
(You might want to try a few different TDEE calculators to see if they give you the same numbers! Some have more fields than others to specify your exercise, some just ask you to say if you're sedentary/moderately active/whatever.)

If you let MFP do the calorie calculation based only on your weight loss goal, it will NOT include exercise calories, so you need to add (most/some of) them on.
MFP may give you a 1,400 calorie goal, and you know your exercise is about 400, so that would bring you up to 1,800 calories a day.
You can either link MFP up to your FitBit (if you believe those calories) so MFP adds them automatically when you exercise, or keep them unlinked and add them yourself.

If you choose to go the TDEE route, and get the calories figured out that way, then make sure your FitBit is NOT linked to MFP, so it doesn't add the calories again!
You'll also need to override the MFP calculation with your manual calorie goal.

If it's all too confusing, I'd try 1,800 and see how it goes!

(I'm slightly younger and slightly taller, with about the same daily steps but possibly lower exercise frequency, and my maintenance calories are about 2,000, so based on nothing more than gut feel, I'd guess that 1,800 should put you in to a slight deficit.)

tinkerbellang83

If you're using TDEE then you don't include exercise, this works best if you're doing the same amount of exercise consistently week in, week out.

If you're using MFPs calculation then it doesn't include exercise and is calculated like this:

snowflake954

You don't have alot to lose and so it will be slower. Log your food using a digital scale and learn from it. That's the only way you can maintain in the future without putting it all (+ friends) back on. Losing weight has to teach you something, as you've seen going off Slimming World. Unless you want to use it forever, it's time to change. Eat back your exercise calories or you'll be too tired to continue. Good luck.

thunderchild007

Food for thought, thanks all