Do I need to eat below my calories goal?

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healthyandthin
healthyandthin Posts: 104 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My target is about 1300 calories per day. I exercise 4x/week and burn about 500 calories each time. However, I've consistently been eating a little above my calorie goal whether it's 1300 or 1800. I've been doing this for a month now, and I've gotten tighter but not lost weight. I ultimately want to lose weight and slim down though.

What's the best practice? Should I eat below my calorie goal to lose weight? Am I maintaining the same weight by doing what I'm doing now?

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  • ladynocturne
    ladynocturne Posts: 865 Member
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    Your calorie goal already has a deficit built into it, you do not need to eat less than it to lose weight.

    If you're not entirely sure if your calorie burns from exercise are accurate, it's considered normal around here to eat between 50%-80% of your workout calorie back on top of your calorie goal.

    Not losing weight according to the scale could be anything from too much sodium, sore muscles, or hormonal fluctuations.

    It takes 4-6 weeks to determine if you are actually maintaining your current weight.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    MFP sets a calorie goal for you depending on what you tell it you want to lose/week. If you set it to 1 pound/week it subtracts 500 calories from your calculated calories needed to maintain, if you set it to 2 pounds/week it subtracts 1000 calories, etc. It calculates those goals without taking your exercise into account, so it adds calories in as you earn them through exercise.

    As long as you aren't going over the calories you need to maintain your current weight (your TDEE, you can find calculators online to get an estimate of yours) you should still be losing weight, though perhaps a bit more slowly than your intended goal.

    Some things to watch out for. If you're letting MFP or gym machines estimate your burn for you it may be overestimated. You might want to cut back to eating more like 50-75% of your exercise calories. Also, most people have a tendency to underestimate their portion sizes. If you aren't weighing your food with a food scale, it's possible the little inaccuracies are adding up. Additionally, calorie calculators are all just estimates based on averages. It's possible that your BMR is a little lower than normal or that you don't burn as many calories at rest as the average population.

    If your weight isn't going down then you aren't eating in a deficit. There could be a lot of reasons for it, but cutting back your intake to be below your actual goal seems like a good first step.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    My target is about 1300 calories per day. I exercise 4x/week and burn about 500 calories each time. However, I've consistently been eating a little above my calorie goal whether it's 1300 or 1800. I've been doing this for a month now, and I've gotten tighter but not lost weight. I ultimately want to lose weight and slim down though.

    What's the best practice? Should I eat below my calorie goal to lose weight? Am I maintaining the same weight by doing what I'm doing now?


    IF you are eating 1800 calories & IF you are working out for 500.....you are netting 1300. Most woman have a BMR > 1300 calories....so you "should" be losing weight

    Find your BMR (calories your body would use if you stayed in bed all day)
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    If you are not losing weight and your BMR is not really low ......you might look at how you are logging food....do you weigh it or at least measure it? How are you coming up with calorie burns for workouts? .....machines & MFP are "generous."

    When you are close to your weight loss goal......a 1/2 pound a week loss would be considered good progress.

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