Why would you want to be under your calorie goal

kim3278

I see so many of my friends status " so and so just completed their diary and is under their calorie goal". Why would you want to be under? Is it going to make you lose faster?

sandi117

Depends on the person. Now that I'm eating more protein and not drinking all of my calories, I'm actually having a hard time hitting my calorie goal. It's a personal challenge every day to eat up to my goal. :drinker:

KPMP1992

I was wondering the same thing!

970Mikaela1

I try to get to within a 100 or so.

nikkihk

Well technically, under your goal might only mean 5 calories. I think everyone's focus is to not eat OVER their goal so the opposite would be well... under.

neanderthin

Yes, less calories generally means more weight loss.

amberflo143

If you go over your calorie goal you will not meet the pounds you want to lose in a week. I try to eat right at it and sometimes I don't eat my exercise calories back to kick up my weight loss. Also, lets be realistic we cant measure and know 100% exactly the calorie of every piece of food we put in our mouths ( at least I can't) so I leave a tiny buffer.

I have found that eating 1200 calories and when I work out not eating all of my exercise calories back has kept me at a 2 lb a week weight loss and not feeling deprived. But everyone is different!

caraherch

If you go over your calorie goal you will not meet the pounds you want to lose in a week. I try to eat right at it and sometimes I don't eat my exercise calories back to kick up my weight loss. Also, lets be realistic we cant measure and know 100% exactly the calorie of every piece of food we put in our mouths ( at least I can't) so I leave a tiny buffer.

I have found that eating 1200 calories and when I work out not eating all of my exercise calories back has kept me at a 2 lb a week weight loss and not feeling deprived. But everyone is different!

Me too! I try to get as very close as possible when logging, but it's nearly impossible to account for all the variables. Having a couple hundred calories left helps me feel like I haven't cheated myself.

NatsLady

If you are over your calorie goal (by even one calorie) it turns red on your daily diary and that's discouraging to me. So I keep it under--IF I CAN!!

westendcurls

Many only eat back half or less of their workout calories in order to account for inaccuracies.

DrWhoodles

Mine is really high and most days I just can't eat that much - there's just no room! I'm getting a bit better but I still think at higher weights the math formulas may not be as accurate, I just can't see eating 3000 calories on a day I've worked out. It's hard to sometimes balance the volume of healthy foods with the calories intake.

PatheticNoetic

I try to get to within a 100 or so.

Generally this.

Until I am more certain of my calorie burning I try to leave a little wiggle room for error.

fast_eddie_72

I see so many of my friends status " so and so just completed their diary and is under their calorie goal". Why would you want to be under? Is it going to make you lose faster?

Yup.

SrJoben

I see so many of my friends status " so and so just completed their diary and is under their calorie goal". Why would you want to be under? Is it going to make you lose faster?

Well it's rather difficult to hit it exactly.

And most people who are losing weight would rather be a little under than a little over so it doesn't slow their progress.

And most people who are gaining weight on purpose are doing it to gain muscle and if they go too fast more of it will be fat, so they don't really want to go over their goal either.

So most people shoot for a little under.

paperpudding

Well technically, under your goal might only mean 5 calories. I think everyone's focus is to not eat OVER their goal so the opposite would be well... under.

Yes, exactly.

And the thing says so and so was under their calorie goal even if they were 1 calorie under.

I try to get just under my calories most days - some days I go bit over and this averages out across the week - but still means, say, 5 days out of 7, I would get this paperpudding was under her calorie goal statement.

Of course it's no good if I am under by 1 calorie 5 days a week and over by 500 the other 2.


In short, don't read too much into it.

MeanderingMammal

I see so many of my friends status " so and so just completed their diary and is under their calorie goal". Why would you want to be under? Is it going to make you lose faster?

The calories goal is full of approximations, there are four activity levels which are very broad bands and it doesn't account for current condition. I'll have the same goal as someone with the same height and weight who does no training rather than 30-40 Km per week running.

Intake and expenditure are also approximations, although the level of accuracy can be improved in the right circumstances.

Given that the three options are over goal, on goal or under goal then it's a question of whether one is optimistic or pessimistic with all the inaccuracy. One could take the view that it all mounts up to a reduction in net calories, or it all mounts up to an increase. I'd take the view that it's more likely to add up to a net increase, so give myself a margin at the end of the day.

On days that I'm doing a long run or long ride there is no way I can consume enough to hit goal anyway. Last Saturday I was left with enough space to have a couple of glasses of wine, first in over a month.

Tinytaru

I always try to be a little bit under in case I miscalculated some food.

DamianaKitten

I try and be under some days to account for the day (I had quite a few recently...) that I go over. :laugh:

TavistockToad

I see so many of my friends status " so and so just completed their diary and is under their calorie goal". Why would you want to be under? Is it going to make you lose faster?

i aim to be 100 - 200 under monday to thursday so i can eat a bit more friday and/or saturday...

hmaddpear

For me, two reasons.

1st I don't eat back all my exercise calories.
2nd I like to eat lower at the beginning of the week, to save calories for the inevitable wine lake later in the week.
:drinker:

(What can I say? I'm working on one thing at a time!)

minibandit

Thing is - 1cal under puts you 'under your calorie goal'. Going over makes the bad red writing appear! It's just maths and the black and white operations of a computer program.

bkjk997

Well technically, under your goal might only mean 5 calories. I think everyone's focus is to not eat OVER their goal so the opposite would be well... under.

Yes, and what I find dumb about MFP is that if you hit your goal exactly, it doesn't recognize that.

I think of it like "The Price Is Right"... Consistently get as close as you can, without going over, and you win!

kim3278

OK...so the goal is then to be about 100-200 under your goal to account for inaccuracies. I will try that. Thank you I'm not eating to eat but eating to fuel but do find that at the end of the night, my glass of water isn't cutting it anymore Thanks for your transparency, all!!

fast_eddie_72

Probably different from person to person, but I stopped losing weight when I ate back even some of my exercise calories. So I stopped doing that again this week and lost two pounds. At the end of the day, if your goal is to lose weight, the scale will tell you what's working and what isn't. If it isn't moving, somehow, there's not calorie deficit.

Cakewalk25

I try to aim for about 100 calories under because I've read most people underestimate the amount of food they're eating when they enter it into the food log.

meritage4

I'm set for a very small weekly loss (couldn't last on the fewer calories allowed for a greater loss) So in reality I'm pleased if my overall calories are between the 2 figures. I also do not eat back all my exercise calories.

cwolfman13

I see so many of my friends status " so and so just completed their diary and is under their calorie goal". Why would you want to be under? Is it going to make you lose faster?

honestly, a lot of people are pretty damned ignorant about how this tool actually works and they think their calorie goal is a maintenance one and they have to be under it to lose weight. i have to say that since joining MFP I have lost a great deal of faith in humanity as a whole...a lot of people are just kinda stupid.

sbarella

The whole process is full of inaccuracies and estimates. That is 100% true. BMR, TDEE, daily activity, food intake, exercise calories, they're all estimates and you can't be 100% sure.
Hence, it's a good idea to have some margin of error.

BUT

If you set your activity level to sedentary AND round up when guesstimating/weighing portions AND aim to stay 100-200 calories under your goal AND not eat back your exercise calories because you want to be on the safe side, you're probably doing it wrong. Choose your fix but don't ham it up

RelevantKnowledge

I personally try to stay a little under my goal because I'm currently maintaining on a goal in which I should be losing .25-.5lbs a week.

lharri0209

I always try to be a little bit under in case I miscalculated some food.

This is true for me as well. I ususlly leave a little extra in case I get hungry at night since I'm a night owl and/or in case of miscalculations.

RunHardBeStrong

Well technically, under your goal might only mean 5 calories. I think everyone's focus is to not eat OVER their goal so the opposite would be well... under.

This. I always aim for being within 100 over or under. In the end it evens out.