Question on balance: calories in vs out

4Hisangels

I am new here and am trying the AP for weight loss. The app calculated me daily intake for weight loss at 1200 calories. When I work out I do 20 minutes of elliptical and 20 cycling followed by 100 leg lifts. Which I don't count because I can't seem to find them in the exercise tracker.
My question is that it confuses me the way my 1200 calorie in plus excessive leaves me calories left over.... for example my 1200- daily intake of 1186 leaves 16 calories for the day. Add my activity for 582 calories and it tells me I can still eat some calories???? How do you lose weight if you eat extra calories????????

gamerbabe14

Because your 1200 calories is already putting you at a deficit. If you eat 1201 calories you won't gain weight. If you eat 1450 calories you probably won't gain weight either (assuming you have MFP set up to lose 2lbs/week). You'll still lose and be at a deficit.

malibu927

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation

Rebnurse1977

I feel your bewilderment! Im also doing 20-30 mins on the elliptical every day, but am currently NOT eating back those cals. Ive only been at this 2 weeks and I need to see some progress before I start eating them back. I'll surely start slowly eating some of them as I get the hang of what my body wants and needs. I feel great, feel full, and have energy to exercise!

lemurcat12

4Hisangels wrote: »

I am new here and am trying the AP for weight loss. The app calculated me daily intake for weight loss at 1200 calories. When I work out I do 20 minutes of elliptical and 20 cycling followed by 100 leg lifts. Which I don't count because I can't seem to find them in the exercise tracker.
My question is that it confuses me the way my 1200 calorie in plus excessive leaves me calories left over.... for example my 1200- daily intake of 1186 leaves 16 calories for the day. Add my activity for 582 calories and it tells me I can still eat some calories???? How do you lose weight if you eat extra calories????????

Few things:

MFP calculates what you would eat to lose your goal WITHOUT exercise. A large percentage of women who choose 2 lb will get 1200, because MFP does not go below 1200, and if you say sedentary (often wrong) and don't include exercise, most women will have a calorie burn of 2200 or less. Subtract 1000 (for 2 lbs per week) and you get 1200. That does NOT mean that you need to eat 1200 to lose weight or that the app is recommending that you eat 1200.

That aside, as I mentioned, it does NOT include exercise. If you exercise, your overall calorie burn increases, so what you need to eat to lose your goal per week also increases.

For an example: Say you like to run. If MFP says you would lose 1 lb per week at 1500 WITHOUT exercise, and you run about 5-6 miles and are told you burned 500 calories, you can eat 2000 calories and still lose that same 1 lb per week. How much you exercise makes a difference to the calories you burn.

This is why I don't understand when people ask if eating back exercise calories would prevent them from losing.
No, the idea is that you burn some calories through exercise and some from cutting calories rather than ALL from cutting calories.

The one issue is that depending on the exercise the numbers can be overstated. 582 calories for 40 minutes of elliptical and cycling would seem too high and unlikely to me (although it depends on your current weight, in part), so I'd probably log more like half that (say, 290) and see how it goes.

Eating back calories is more important when you: (1) log very carefully and accurately, (2) are choosing an aggressive goal (2 lbs, or anything that leaves you at 1200), and (3) if the exercise is hard or long (i.e., I wouldn't worry so much about some walking or light indoor cycling for half an hour). That said, eating back calories is NOT something to think of as a bad thing or only for the weak or only if you have to, as doing it before you feel like it's necessary can help ensure the diet is sustainable and avoid issues in the future.