I eat all 1200(sometimes more) calories of my daily intake,

SashaPalacio

I eat all 1200(sometimes more) calories of my daily intake, but after exercise I have calories left...

Yesterday for example, I ate 1229 calories, but exercised off 398, leaving 369 remaining. Am I supposed to leave those unused calories? Another problem is I find myself forcing myself to eat all 1200 calories, I'm just not that hungry all the time.

I'm 23 yrs old, 135lb(roughly), live a seemingly sedentary lifestyle, 5'2", and am aiming for 115lb-120lb. That's the healthy weight I used to be, back when I was modeling and living in a healthy high school driven body. I was told with my height that a pound of fat is much more noticeable than on taller individuals, so I feel especially unattractive gaining just a little bit of healthy fat...

I'm sure this has been answered, and I did go through the newbie section, but for some reason I feel not quite understood.

Thank you for taking your time to read, I hope help is on it's way!

~Sasha Palacio
www.sashapalacio.com

jrich1

search the board, this question is asked every hour on the hour and you will find lots of info on it

SashaPalacio

Will search again, Thanx!

anikab

I know for me, in order to lose the weight, I don't eat all my exercise calories. some people have to eat every last calorie in order to lose the weight and others eat half of the exercise calories it just depends on how your body reacts. I will say, never go under 1200 though, that's not good at all. but as far as eating all your exercise calories, do what works for your body and gives you results in a healthy way. I had the same question you had, and people were rude about it too, so I just did what worked best for me and my body ( I eat half or less than half of exercise calories). if you need anything else you can send me a message I know it's confusing.

amysj303

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/102878-hard-time-eating-my-1200-calories?page=1#posts-1419905

LotusF1ower

I do not eat my exercise calories either. Everybody is different, it all depends how you feel, if you are ravenous or shaky etc.

lisawest

Here's one that's really good:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/108362-eating-to-fuel-your-body-very-long

erickirb

You should eat them, or at least most of them, or your caloric deficit is larger than your initial goal when signing up for MFP.

To increase your caloric intake try adding a handful of nuts or seeds, a tablespoon of peanut butter, half an avocado, change your milk to the next % higher (if you drink skim switch to 1%) add olive oil to pasta sauces etc. There are a lot of ways to add extra calories without adding much or any extra food, just change the types of food.

Caityrose

I would say, if you are still hungry at that point in the day, find a healthy way to eat those calories.. but I don't think It;s necessary to eat all of them. From my understanding, you've already eaten 1200 calories, and worked off more. I think you're good cause you took in the right intake. to me , it would help you lose weight if you don't eat the ones you worked off..know what I mean. I Think I'm having this problem though too. I'm still hungry and since I worked out, I feel like I can eat more. not good. i've been choosing diet desserts like ice pops with 100 calories.

trice

Great points by everyone. Just remember it depends on your goals and your plans. If you want to lose, then cutting those exercise calories back isn't bad. I find that trying to get them all in is tough too. The other side of that is you might get use to eating those and have trouble staying at your goal on the days you don't workout. So keep that in mind too. It's a tough balancing act but as long as you make strides toward your goals, it works itself out.

SashaPalacio

Wow!!! A lot of great advice, opinions, and links! I appreciate the help everyone, and I especially love the patience of answering yet another generic question =P But I am grateful and will keep all these pointers in mind!

I think I'm going to go ahead and leave those exercise calories alone, and only eat my limit of 1200(without the exercise calories subtracted) total. Like Trice mentioned, the days when I don't exercise, I won't end up over eating my daily amount. And the days I'm hungrier than others, I'll use a little of the left over calories from the other day.

Thanx!!!