Chocolate and snacks

gdfrew

Does anyone else find themselves just grabbing a bunch of chocolates or snacks just to fill up the calorie gap?
I feel like when I've had a healthier day of eating add in an hour or more of jogging and such. After dinner I find myself somewhere between 600-900 behind my calorie goal. And that's to lose 0.5lbs daily goal.

Am I doing this wrong? I mean I'm still losing weight, no problems there. Maybe I'll need to invest in some more protein choc snacks. A few days here and there after exercise mfp is asking me to consume around 200g of protein which I find difficult

MsCzar

I don't eat the calories deducted via exercise. Seems counter-productive to me. There are good discussions here about how to handle calories earned from exercise.

I do sometimes indulge in ONE very good French chocolate - OK - sometimes two, but only if it fits into my calories-before-exercise target. I avoid being tempted to fill any calorie gap by not adding the exercise offset until the very end of the day.

gdfrew

I get ya I understand. But I think otherwise I've been losing too much weight too quickly some weeks. And yeah it's at the end of the night I've been snacking. Don't want to over do it middle of the day. I don't eat all of my exercise calories back mostly only 200-300. Today's exercise according to my watch was 672 calories burned so I know they are overestimated a lot so I only do a quarter of that usually.

Oliveciabatta

I've found the past while I've often had to grab a chocolate or snack late on just to put me over the 1000 calories that allow you to save your diary. I dont naturally like to eat a lot everyday, maybe intermittent fasting would be more in keeping with my natural eating rhythm than a set daily calorie target. Some days i want to eat lots others im just not hungry. Although it is nice to be able to eat chocolate and feel I somehow have to. Guilt free lol.

Dogmom1978

Definitely eat back those exercise calories (at least a portion of them). Anyone saying you shouldn’t or that they don’t is hopefully not exercising much. Your body needs fuel for those exercises and fuel to recover from them.

As long as your losing, eat the chocolate. I work out 6-7 days a week (sometimes just cardio sometimes cardio and weights) and when I have the calories for it, I enjoy my dessert immensely. 😊

Fflpnari

I eat 2400 calories a day and usually 400 I save for ice cream. I love having extra room for sweets. It actually keeps me on track and not binge. Do what works for you. If your short on calories and dont want to eat unhealthy dressings, dips, oils are a quick way to add caloires

sijomial

200g of protein is overkill and unnecessary when you are only 161 lbs.
Somewhere between 1g per lb of estimated lean mass and 1g per pound of bodyweight would be plenty.

If you are consistently that far under your calorie goal by the end of the day you really need to plan better, maybe logging meals in advance might help identify the problem earlier?

Don't get stuck in "diet mode", would question why you are picking options like skimmed milk and light yoghurts when you are struggling to hit your calorie goal without a lot of snacking. You know you don't want to continue losing weight quickly so you have to change your mindset.

LunaTheFatCat

sijomial wrote: »

Don't get stuck in "diet mode", would question why you are picking options like skimmed milk and light yoghurts when you are struggling to hit your calorie goal without a lot of snacking. You know you don't want to continue losing weight quickly so you have to change your mindset.

I agree with this - been guilty of it myself and actually went on the forum a few months ago as I was struggling to go to the toilet (sorry TMI).
Incorporate fats such as nuts, avocado, olive oil. Yes they're relatively high in cals, but it helps me with satiety and I'm less likely to overeat, whereas once I start on the chocolate....

gdfrew

sijomial wrote: »

200g of protein is overkill and unnecessary when you are only 161 lbs.
Somewhere between 1g per lb of estimated lean mass and 1g per pound of bodyweight would be plenty.

If you are consistently that far under your calorie goal by the end of the day you really need to plan better, maybe logging meals in advance might help identify the problem earlier?

Don't get stuck in "diet mode", would question why you are picking options like skimmed milk and light yoghurts when you are struggling to hit your calorie goal without a lot of snacking. You know you don't want to continue losing weight quickly so you have to change your mindset.

Your advice is good thanks. I'm just going by mfp from Saturday past. Because I did some running/walking for 86mins. covered a good few miles with basically easy cardio. It upped my protein goal to 212g believe it or not. I missed the goal anyway.

sijomial

gdfrew wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

200g of protein is overkill and unnecessary when you are only 161 lbs.
Somewhere between 1g per lb of estimated lean mass and 1g per pound of bodyweight would be plenty.

If you are consistently that far under your calorie goal by the end of the day you really need to plan better, maybe logging meals in advance might help identify the problem earlier?

Don't get stuck in "diet mode", would question why you are picking options like skimmed milk and light yoghurts when you are struggling to hit your calorie goal without a lot of snacking. You know you don't want to continue losing weight quickly so you have to change your mindset.

Your advice is good thanks. I'm just going by mfp from Saturday past. Because I did some running/walking for 86mins. covered a good few miles with basically easy cardio. It upped my protein goal to 212g believe it or not. I missed the goal anyway.

That's a flaw in MFP's programming - setting macros in percentages would be more suitable for a TDEE site that has a same every day calorie goal. If you have set a gram goal for protein just regard it as a minimum goal that is OK but not compulsory to exceed.

kshama2001

MsCzar wrote: »

I don't eat the calories deducted via exercise. Seems counter-productive to me. There are good discussions here about how to handle calories earned from exercise.

I do sometimes indulge in ONE very good French chocolate - OK - sometimes two, but only if it fits into my calories-before-exercise target. I avoid being tempted to fill any calorie gap by not adding the exercise offset until the very end of the day.

If you use MFP to set your calorie goal, exercise, but don't eat back any exercise calories, you are not using MFP the way it was designed.

https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

Unlike other sites which use TDEE calculators, MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated for them and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

AnnPT77

It's important to get well-rounded nutrition, but after a certain point, when that's well-achieved, it's absolutely fine to eat less nutrient-dense foods in order to get a rational number of calories (to keep weight loss at a healthfully moderate rate, or to maintain a healthy weight, depending on circumstances). Of course those calories can come from chocolate or snacks, as long as you're not (joking here) snacking on rat poison or something. Heck, sometimes I spend available calories on craft beer, and that kind of is a step down the "less healthful" road.

Eating to our (suitably personalized) calorie goal is especially important for those of us who do activities that are good calorie burners, have fitness/performance goals for those activities, and should be losing weight slowly (if at all) given current body weight. *Underfueling* valued exercise is a fool's game. (In some scenarios, people can create their sensible deficit via exercise: That's a different matter from underfueling.)

Consider setting your protein goal in grams**, and ditto for fats. Eat to the gram goal. Beyond that, get a reasonable number of daily veggie/fruit servings (from varied/colorful sources). That's nutrition in a nutshell. (In free MFP, you can set percent to a value that comes closest at base calories or typical exercise, or just don't worry about the percent settings at all. I target 100g protein and 50g fats minimum daily because they're close to my estimated needs based on size/lifestyle, and are nice round easy-to-remember numbers. I eat to those, and if my MFP totals are a mix of red and green, I pretend it's Christmas.)

** This is one neutral research-based source of personalized estimates for recommended protein: https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/ (Note the link near the top of the page, on the words "Scientific Research", to their article about *why* they give these recommendations.)

MsCzar

kshama2001 wrote: »

MsCzar wrote: »

I don't eat the calories deducted via exercise. Seems counter-productive to me. There are good discussions here about how to handle calories earned from exercise.

I do sometimes indulge in ONE very good French chocolate - OK - sometimes two, but only if it fits into my calories-before-exercise target. I avoid being tempted to fill any calorie gap by not adding the exercise offset until the very end of the day.

If you use MFP to set your calorie goal, exercise, but don't eat back any exercise calories, you are not using MFP the way it was designed.

https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

Unlike other sites which use TDEE calculators, MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated for them and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

My weight has yo-yo'd in the past, I am post-menopausal, and have been obese (Class I & II) for a good portion of my life. So my activity/calorie number to lose and maintain weight will probably not be the same as an active woman in her 20's or 30's who has never been truly obese. I can only speak for myself.

I know from long experience that keeping my post-exercise adjusted calorie count to ~1000-1200 is what it takes for ME to lose weight. For that reason, I don't subtract my exercise calories. If I ate back the exercise calories, I know that the scale won't budge. Your mileage may vary.