Caloric amt goes up with exercise?

castoridae1

Hi all, I'm confused about calorie amounts allowed. I'm a 71 yr old female, told to eat 1,200 calories/day.
My Fitbit syncs with Myfitnesspal so that when I go for a walk, etc the calories allowed on Myfitnesspal increases. I'm told to stay on 1,200 cals/day.
I'm confusrd. What do other people do in this situation?
Any advice would be very welcome. Thx. Castoridae1

spiriteagle99

MFP is designed for you to eat back some or all of your exercise calories. They may be inflated, so many eat back half.

cmriverside

What do you mean, "I'm told to eat 1200 per day?"


Who told you?

If you mean your calories on this site are 1200, then when you exercise you need more food. So eat until you have "Zero" remaining calories.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67USKg3w_E4

dewd2

MFP takes it's best guess at how many calories you burn per day. It then takes that number and subtracts some to create a calorie deficit (calories in vs calories out). When you increase the calories out side (through exercise), the calories in has to increase as well to keep the deficit consistent.

So eat back your exercise calories (or at least a portion of them since many times they can be wrong).

castoridae1

But the weight clinic that suggests this app said that we must keep to the 1200 calories. And so did my dietician, who has nothing to do with the weight clinic. That's why I feel frustrated and confused. What they're saying is 1200 calories per day period.

castoridae1

No. My MFP syncs with my Fitbit, so the calories spent should be accurate.

harper16

castoridae1 wrote: »

But the weight clinic that suggests this app said that we must keep to the 1200 calories. And so did my dietician, who has nothing to do with the weight clinic. That's why I feel frustrated and confused. What they're saying is 1200 calories per day period.

Mfp is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories. How much weight are you trying to lose?

If you eat 1200 calories and burn 400 from exercising you are only netting 800 calories, and that little is dangerously unhealthy. Eating back the 400 still keeps you in your calorie deficit.

AliNouveau

castoridae1 wrote: »

No. My MFP syncs with my Fitbit, so the calories spent should be accurate.

Nothing can be completely accurate.

If you are exercising you are burning calories. 1200 is a very restricted diet so you should eat some of those calories back. It's possible to eat 1200 calories, I know this, but it's really not all that healthy or possible to do over a prolonged period of time

MelanieCN77

castoridae1 wrote: »

But the weight clinic that suggests this app said that we must keep to the 1200 calories. And so did my dietician, who has nothing to do with the weight clinic. That's why I feel frustrated and confused. What they're saying is 1200 calories per day period.

Then why the Fitbit and why exercise? You need to ask your clinic, they will echo what you are being told here. 1200 cals eaten plus 200 or 300 or whatever cals eaten from extras from Fitbit is still 1200 net calories.

AnnPT77

castoridae1 wrote: »

No. My MFP syncs with my Fitbit, so the calories spent should be accurate.

That adjustment you're seeing - the increase in calories - is exactly the result of your Fitbit synching with MFP. You're supposed to eat back those calories, too, to keep the same calorie deficit as you requested in your MFP profile.

I see that on your duplicate of this thread, you said that your dietitian and the completely separate weight clinic told you to eat 1200, and only 1200. If that's what you want to do, then synching your Fitbit is probably not a compatible strategy, because linking it will give you more calories when it/MFP think you can eat more and still lose weight.

Frankly, 1200 is pretty standard advice given to women, and especially to women our age (I'm 64). That doesn't make it good advice for everyone, however. Sometimes, professionals seem to give this advice thinking we won't log food accurately (research suggests many people don't), so will actually eat more than 1200 anyway.

MFP gave me 1200 at first, when I signed up (then age 59). Even eating that 1200 plus exercise, I lost weight too fast, with bad results. That wouldn't happen for everyone. (I seem to be a mysteriously good li'l ol' calorie burner for some reason Even now, at 130lbs, I'd still lose fast at 1200 plus exercise.).

However, if your Fitbit is giving you a large additional calorie increment, it would be more conservative (in terms of sustainability and minimum health risks) to eat at least some of those calories, too.