Been bugging me
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angelsja
Posts: 860 Member
Ok so everyone says you should net a minimum of 1200 calories a day if your a woman but then people say mfp over estimates calorie burns so if your goal is 1200 and you burn off say 300 working out you would have to eat all 300 back to net 1200 or not eat them all to account for the over estimates which would put you under 1200 net
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It depends on what you’re doing. 300 for an hour of working out sounds pretty reasonable.4
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Well yes if MFP tells you 300 cals burned but you think they are less, let's say 150, and so you decide to eat 1350 in total for the day, but MFP will tell you you need to eat 1500 because it overestimated the burn. So MFP will say you are under 1200 net, but if you think it overestimated, then you will not be under in reality.
For me, I don't know if I'm doing it right, I decided to account for the eventual errors by imputting a smaller exercise time in the app, so I can eat all them back.0 -
You can set the exercise calories to what you think are reasonable (or to 1 cal if you use a different method that includes planned exercise already). Then you can keep the time and activity accurate if you want a record of that.2
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You’re running into 2 issues.
1) you should eat at least 1200 calories (1500 for men)
2) you don’t want too great a deficit because you can lose more than fat (and it isn’t sustainable and you’ll be miserable)
You need the 1200 calories because, below that, it gets really hard to get all your nutrients. Even at 1200, you need to make a lot of nutrient dense food choices and plan your food to make sure you’re getting enough protein, fats, etc. You also don’t want too great a deficit because losing weight too fast is dangerous. You’ll lose muscle, you’ll feel terrible and if you’re hungry all the time, you’re more likely to binge eat or give up on weight loss entirely. Also, once you stop, you’re more likely to regain the weight.
That said, you can address these two things separately. Say, for example, your BMR is 1200 and your NEAT is 300, so you’re burning 1500/day without exercise. MFP will say to eat 1200, to get your nutrients. If you then do 1000 calories of exercise on top of that (which would be a ton, but it’s just an example), you’d then be burning 2500 calories/day. If you were then to eat 2000 calories, as long as you were eating nutritious food, you’d have no problem hitting your nutrients and you’d have a 500 calorie deficit, which would be a steady and sustainable rate of loss. You’d net below 1200 on the app, but you’d be fine. It’s no different than changing your activity level to “very active”, just a different way of allocating them (included in your goal instead of separately as exercise).0 -
It doesn't always overestimate. That depends on the person and the type of exercise. You have to experiment for a few weeks and see if you are losing at the rate you are supposed. If not eat more or less of the exercise calories.2
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So if I have my Fitbit synced and I'm netting under 1200 calories should I worry or not
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nutmegoreo wrote: »
Mine over estimates by about 200-300 calories per day0 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »
Mine over estimates by about 200-300 calories per day
If you know that it's overestimating based on your results, then adjust your numbers accordingly. All fixed
The only thing I'm wondering now is about your goals and if they may be too aggressive for you, depending on where you are right now and how far you have to go. The main concerns with going below 1200 net lies with total calories that provide the fuel to keep you active and healthy along with the nutritional balance (macros such as fats and proteins along with micros such as vitamins and minerals) to ensure that your body is getting what it needs.0 -
So I should leave at least 300 calories left at the end of the day? If I burn off 400 I should just eat 100??0
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So I should leave at least 300 calories left at the end of the day? If I burn off 400 I should just eat 100??
I would really look at nutritional balance and reevaluate your goals (specifically rate of loss), before determining if eating less is a good idea.
How much have you been losing and how much have you been eating? How much more do you have to go?1 -
Don't let it bug you, that should be the goal of everyone. The best idea is to find ways to stay happy, but not crazy. So count your calories, try to eat at least your 1,200 and try not to eat over a certain amount. I would set an upper target of 10 percent less than what should be a max. It should be easy to stay in that range. Find things that work for you, even if it means breaking all the rules one hears. Most of it is just designed to sell a book or some theory. You are human and therefore be human and make the math work for you. When you find that your numbers are not working out, adjust your maximum number down if you are gaining weight and if you are losing too much move that 1200 up. Keep active and the more active you are, the harder it will be to lose faster because you'll have a more efficient body. As you get closer to your idea weight you might find that you have to do a few insane things to push the needle. Since you are close to the goal, let your mind and your enthusiasm take you there. Good Luck.0
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So if I have my Fitbit synced and I'm netting under 1200 calories should I worry or not
Just so we’re speaking apples to apples, your net calories should be negative. Like the amount your Fitbit says you burn (even [especially] if it’s overestimated) should be more than the amount you eat.
That difference should be your daily deficit. I just want to make sure when you say net calories, that we’re talking the same language. If you want to lose 1lb/week and your Fitbit says you burn 2200 (if it’s accurate), you should be eating 1700. If it says you burn 2200 and you know it’s really 2000, you should be eating 1500 for 1lb/week.
That said, if you’re linking your Fitbit and MFP, don’t log your exercise in MFP. The calorie burn will come over automatically.1 -
So if I have my Fitbit synced and I'm netting under 1200 calories should I worry or not
Just so we’re speaking apples to apples, your net calories should be negative. Like the amount your Fitbit says you burn (even [especially] if it’s overestimated) should be more than the amount you eat.
That difference should be your daily deficit. I just want to make sure when you say net calories, that we’re talking the same language. If you want to lose 1lb/week and your Fitbit says you burn 2200 (if it’s accurate), you should be eating 1700. If it says you burn 2200 and you know it’s really 2000, you should be eating 1500 for 1lb/week.
That said, if you’re linking your Fitbit and MFP, don’t log your exercise in MFP. The calorie burn will come over automatically.
Net calories should ideally be equal to the goal. Negative net calories means the person burned more through exercise alone than they ate.1 -
Net calories, when talking in terms of a Fitbit calorie count, would mean you burned more than you ate. I went into detail on that in the post.1
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If you are a short, sedentary, older women.
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So if I have my Fitbit synced and I'm netting under 1200 calories should I worry or not
If you are eating 1200/day, you are probably fine. Signs that you are not are fatigue, cravings (example:I crave ice when I am iron deficient), and/or absent-mindedness. If you are experiencing those, eat a little more back. I have found that eating back 2/3 of exercise calories works for me. Good luck!0 -
So if I have my Fitbit synced and I'm netting under 1200 calories should I worry or not
No you shouldn't worry, if the net is created thanks to a high number of calories burned. The best way to know how much exercise cals to eat back is to look at your results week after week and eating more if you are losing too quickly, more then you expected. If you are losing slower you can either decide to eat less back, or just keep losing slower, that's no problem in that. So if you are worried you can maybe start by eating back almost all and then eating less and less if you see no results, until you find your perfect balance. Don't worry too much, eating less then 1200 is especially dangerous if you're not calculating exercise and simply eating very little.0 -
I average around 1700 calories in per day I can burn anything from 2000 on a less active day to 3000 on a very active day in 5ft 8 28years old 168lb want to lose 28lbs but don't want to spend the next 6-8months trying to lose been at it since January when I weighed in at 188lbs0
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As a general rule, eat back half of what MFP says you've burned in exercise. Example: you're allowed 1200 c/day, you workout and MFP says you've burned 300 calories.
Eat the 1200 as you're supposed to, then eat back 150 for the workout. Giving you a total of 1350 for the day.
Interesting, I have a really fancy treadmill that I can upload my user stats (gender, weight, height, BF%, age, even measurements)and link it to my HR monitor. Today I did a 400 calorie workout per my treadmill, according to MFP, I burned 579....so I just change what it says on MFP for better accuracy. Point is, MFP is notorious for overestimating calories burned doing exercises.0
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