HOW WILL WE EVER TRULY KNOW HOW MANY CALORIES TO EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT?

WinoGelato

saraann321 wrote: »

I think eating back exercise calories is a load of crap. And if you do, only eat a small amount back. I'd never lose anything if I ate all my excersize calories back.

Then you're doing it wrong. MFP calculates a deficit for you to lose even if you didn't exercise at all. If you log accurately and eat that many calories then you would be losing at or around the pace you selected during set up, setting aside natural weight fluctuation. If you do exercise, to keep the desired deficit, you should be eating back those calories, monitoring results to ensure the estimate you are using is not overinflated.

The fact that you believe you would gain with this approach suggests you are not using MFP correctly, likely not logging accurately to begin with.

Crowned_Clown

Don't go by the typical 2000-a-day rule. Instead, try to calculate your TDEE, which takes into account your gender, your age, your height, and your typical activity level. When I calculated mine, I got a TDEE between 1,400 - 1,500 calories a day.

Be honest about what you consume - liquid calories do count. If need be, measure out your food until you've gotten really good at guessimating if you're actually eating just a cup of cereal. (Most people are eating way more than that, since most use huge soup bowls for their morning meal.)

CICO (calories in, calories out) is very simple, but it's not easy. You can't lie - you might decieve yourself into thinking you only ate 1000 calories, but the body knows that your little nibbles here and there added another couple hundred.

jdwils14

The closer you get to your goal weight, (and therefore the smaller the numbers get), the more erroneous the data becomes. I am 230ish, and I often account for any error, such as overestimating food and underestimating exercise (I deduct calories I would have burned in some alternate universe where I didn't choose to work out).

Maybe that is the difference...if you are set to sedentary, are you deducting the calories you would have burned at BMR level? For me, I calculate I burn 120 calories or so just sitting. If I work out for an hour and burn 500 calories, I would deduct 120 and list exercise calories as 380, since the 120 is already accounted for in my daily energy expenditure.

Since you are closer to your goal, that could be the difference for you, and could be where you are overestimating exercise.

perkymommy

saraann321 wrote: »

I think eating back exercise calories is a load of crap. And if you do, only eat a small amount back. I'd never lose anything if I ate all my excersize calories back.

me either

AnnPT77

perkymommy wrote: »

saraann321 wrote: »

I think eating back exercise calories is a load of crap. And if you do, only eat a small amount back. I'd never lose anything if I ate all my excersize calories back.

me either

That's awful. I hear you.

https://examine.com/nutrition/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people/

Not true for everyone, though. I'm lucky: I vary in the other direction. I don't know why. Muscle matters. Energy flux might. Whole foods or macros (TEF) might (a little). Microbiome might. Other stuff? Dunno. I'm so sorry. That's hard.

Unknown

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estherdragonbat

Yeah, when I don't eat back some of those calories, I get hungry. And, as I said a page back, I'm still losing...

LizbethHeller

I wear a Garmin fitness tracker (like a fitbit, kind of) and just take its word on how many calories I've burned. It has my weight and a constant heart rate, so it's probably pretty accurate. I've noticed that when MFP takes the calories from GarminConnect (the sites sync) it cuts them by about half, and that's ok with me too. So far, I'm losing, so it must be working ok.

janejellyroll

saraann321 wrote: »

I think eating back exercise calories is a load of crap. And if you do, only eat a small amount back. I'd never lose anything if I ate all my excersize calories back.

Then you're either not logging accurately, your initial calorie goal isn't right, or you are overestimating your exercise calories.

When someone is eating at a deficit, has chosen the correct activity level, and is eating back an accurate estimate of exercise calories, they're still at a deficit and they will lose weight.

MelanieCN77

JerSchmare wrote: »

perkymommy wrote: »

saraann321 wrote: »

I think eating back exercise calories is a load of crap. And if you do, only eat a small amount back. I'd never lose anything if I ate all my excersize calories back.

me either

Way too many of you are ignorant of how this site works. It's sad because you are unnecessarily suffering more than you need to. If you follow it the way it's designed, it works.

I imagine the OP all caps crying out for help and they can't hear MFP off to the side going "well actually..."