Calories consumed and burned?

sunflower505
sunflower505 Posts: 19
in Health and Weight Loss
Bit confused?

My recommended calorie intake per day is currently 1310. I am eating my 1310 cals a day but with my exercise I am burning +- 500 cals a day, so this brings me down to around 800 total.

Am I supposed to eat back the calories to have 1310 or is what I am doing right?

Help appreciated :)

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    When you do the MFP method, yes you should eat them back. If MFP is calculating them, then eat 50% of them back. On side note, I would recommend using the MFP protein and fats macro's as minimums.
  • tkbuc
    tkbuc Posts: 66 Member
    When you do the MFP method, yes you should eat them back. If MFP is calculating them, then eat 50% of them back. On side note, I would recommend using the MFP protein and fats macro's as minimums.

    Do you mean if MFP is calculating the calories burned via exercise, only eat 50% of the amount burned back? why?
  • melly_fluous
    melly_fluous Posts: 13 Member
    I just realized after reading this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
    that I wasn't eating near enough. 800 calories is way too low. See if the post in the link helps. :)
  • moment_to_arise
    moment_to_arise Posts: 207 Member
    your net calories should never be below 1200/day otherwise your body could go into starvation mode and hold onto as much fat as possible.

    example:
    you eat 1300 calories, you burn 400 calories, your net is ONLY 900.

    Which means you are only leaving your body 900 calories to run itself on. not good.

    so you don't necessarily need to eat back ALL of your exercise calories, but definitely make sure you eat back enough so your net is above 1200.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    When you do the MFP method, yes you should eat them back. If MFP is calculating them, then eat 50% of them back. On side note, I would recommend using the MFP protein and fats macro's as minimums.

    Do you mean if MFP is calculating the calories burned via exercise, only eat 50% of the amount burned back? why?

    For many people, MFP estimates high. This is why i suggest 50%. If you use a HRM, I would suggest eating 80% of the calories your watch tells you as not all the standard algorithms for them are 100% accurate. Essentially, we leave room for error. Personally, i much prefer the TDEE method where you estimate caloric requirements to include daily activity and exercise. This way you eat a daily goal and can adjust from there. For example, regardless of exercise, I eat 2500 calories a day. I do this because my estimate BMR is 2080 (I am 5'11, 31 yrs old, 187 lbs, 13% body fat), I have a desk job (sedentary) but workout 6 hours a week. This makes me moderately active. To my TDEE calc is:

    = 2080 * 1.55 = 3224 < essentially maintenance calories

    From there I form a deficit (20% is good since I am lean)

    Calorie requirements = 3224 * .8 = 2579


    Monitor progress for 2 months and figure out your true TDEE.


    So I set your goals to 2500 calories. In two months I lost on average 1 lb per week. So my true TDEE is

    2500+500 = 3000. So the formula is a bit high for me, I was able to determine my real TDEE. So now when I transition to maintenance, I will eat 3000.


    I understand the math can be confusing, so I suggest setting your MFP account to 1 lb per week, and if you exercise regularly, set it to moderate and monitor progress over a month or two.
  • MommyisFit
    MommyisFit Posts: 139 Member
    MFP has me set for 1200. I workout 6 days a week with an average calorie burn (per MFP) of 400. Some days, I eat back all of my calories, particularly strength training days (that makes me hungry!). Some days I eat none.

    My guess is that I probably net a between 1000-1100 most days. I am ok with that - I eat when I am hungry. I am small and I think the exercise calories on MFP are overestimated.

    I would probably maintain somewhere around 1500-1600 (though my calculated TDEE says 1780- I am sure that it is a little high for me).
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    MFP has me set for 1200. I workout 6 days a week with an average calorie burn (per MFP) of 400. Some days, I eat back all of my calories, particularly strength training days (that makes me hungry!). Some days I eat none.

    My guess is that I probably net a between 1000-1100 most days. I am ok with that - I eat when I am hungry. I am small and I think the exercise calories on MFP are overestimated.

    I would probably maintain somewhere around 1500-1600 (though my calculated TDEE says 1780- I am sure that it is a little high for me).

    If you maintained at 1600 calories, that means your metabolic rate would be less than 1000. Most likely that is not true unless you have a metabolic issue or medical condition.
  • ecw3780
    ecw3780 Posts: 608 Member
    If you are choosing an exercise from the MFP list, yes, only eat back 80%. If you are using some sort of device to track your exercise calories like a heart rate monitor, eat back all of them.
    When you do the MFP method, yes you should eat them back. If MFP is calculating them, then eat 50% of them back. On side note, I would recommend using the MFP protein and fats macro's as minimums.

    Do you mean if MFP is calculating the calories burned via exercise, only eat 50% of the amount burned back? why?

    For many people, MFP estimates high. This is why i suggest 50%. If you use a HRM, I would suggest eating 80% of the calories your watch tells you as not all the standard algorithms for them are 100% accurate. Essentially, we leave room for error. Personally, i much prefer the TDEE method where you estimate caloric requirements to include daily activity and exercise. This way you eat a daily goal and can adjust from there. For example, regardless of exercise, I eat 2500 calories a day. I do this because my estimate BMR is 2080 (I am 5'11, 31 yrs old, 187 lbs, 13% body fat), I have a desk job (sedentary) but workout 6 hours a week. This makes me moderately active. To my TDEE calc is:

    = 2080 * 1.55 = 3224 < essentially maintenance calories

    From there I form a deficit (20% is good since I am lean)

    Calorie requirements = 3224 * .8 = 2579


    Monitor progress for 2 months and figure out your true TDEE.


    So I set your goals to 2500 calories. In two months I lost on average 1 lb per week. So my true TDEE is

    2500+500 = 3000. So the formula is a bit high for me, I was able to determine my real TDEE. So now when I transition to maintenance, I will eat 3000.


    I understand the math can be confusing, so I suggest setting your MFP account to 1 lb per week, and if you exercise regularly, set it to moderate and monitor progress over a month or two.

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