Balancing calories

sticot

Hi! I'm quite new to MFP since this is my first post here, in the English section even though I'm French. Already lost 10 kg out of 25 since December. I hit my first plateau in February, that was hard, but I broke it!

I had two questions :

- Is it better to take the same number of calories every day or is it better to vary? I fear that my plateau was due to eating the same number of calories every day, my body wasn't "surprised anymore" (my intake was pretty low).
- How many calories do you usually lose during a single training? This question is just out of curiosity haha

Thanks you all for your replies!

apullum

There’s no such thing as “surprising” your body into losing weight. As long as you are in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. In general, when people say they are in a “plateau,” it means either:
1) they are unintentionally not in a deficit and need to log more accurately, which means using a food scale for all solid food and making sure exercise calorie burns are not overstated,
2) they have unrealistic expectations about the pace of weight loss, or
3) they’re experiencing normal water fluctuations, which happens for many reasons, including starting a new exercise plan, the menstrual cycle, eating more sodium than usual, etc.

You can eat the same number of calories per day or not. It doesn’t matter as long as you get the minimum needed per day (1200 for females, 1500 for males) and you hit your weekly calorie goal. Some people prefer to save calories for the weekend.

Exercise calorie burns are highly variable based on what your current stats are, what activities you do, the time you spend on them, and the intensity at which you do them. Most exercise calorie calculators, including the MFP database, estimate high for most people. If you tell us some more about your workouts, people can try to help you estimate your exercise calorie burn.

sticot

Thanks for the reply. I conclude that there is not any reason why one should eat the same number of calories every day.

apullum wrote: »

Exercise calorie burns are highly variable based on what your current stats are, what activities you do, the time you spend on them, and the intensity at which you do them. Most exercise calorie calculators, including the MFP database, estimate high for most people. If you tell us some more about your workouts, people can try to help you estimate your exercise calorie burn.

I know how much calories I burn (more or less) thanks to the technogym equipment at my gym. I just wanted to know how much calories would make a "good" workout and what are your personal habits I generally burn 400 calories (once again more or less) per workout

apullum

There is no number of calories that makes for a "good" workout. Exercise is for other health and fitness goals, so a "good" workout helps you meet those. Keep in mind that you should be eating back your exercise calories rather than using exercise to create a larger deficit.

Sharon_C

Just an FYI, the calories burned that the gym equipment gives you is wildly wrong. There is really no good way to estimate calories burned.

Also, there is no such thing as shocking your body by calorie cycling.

Athletes will calorie cycle simply because they need more calories on training days, but I don't think this is your case.

Eating the same amount of calories every day will not stall your weight loss unless you are eating more calories than you are burning. If you have plateaued for several weeks then I recommend lowering your calories by 100 and see if that helps.

stricklee11

Have you adjusted your daily calorie goal after losing 10kg? This could be the reason for your plateau

salburda

In my opinion try adding a few extra calories and then go back to your previous amount. It works for me.

angelsja

salburda wrote: »

In my opinion try adding a few extra calories and then go back to your previous amount. It works for me.

I did this unintentionally on Friday went way over my allowance I'm talking over 4k calories consumed the next day was the expected bump in the scale but then the day after I got a new low odd but I was happy next day another new low