Should you always eat to goal?

mamasjourneytofit

This is going to sound like a stupid question, but should one always eat to goal? Like, let's say your goal is 1600 calories daily, you work out and burn 400 calories, is it totally necessary to eat all 2000 calories? Will it make weight come off faster if you eat all the calories that are "given" or should your ultimate goal be to not eat all of them? I'm a n00b at the whole weight loss right thing (had an eating disorder previously), so I'm only half sure where to begin. I've been doing MFP faithfully for 45 days and lost ~6.6lbs, is that normal? Ok, all of my questions are out, I think... haha.

47Jacqueline

It sounds like you're doing fine. Losing weight slowly is the best because you'll be less apt to gain it back. I don't always eat all my calories, but I try to at least eat my basic ones if not my exercise exertion. When I was losing weight I tried to not go below 1200 calories, and it was nice to have extra calories to eat the days I exercised.

Just keep doing what you're doing

cheripugh1

You will find different opinions on this, but rule of thumb is eat your daily limit, the 1600 and when you work out you should eat 1/2 of that amount or an additional 200 (half of your 400 burn) I personally do not do that, I have them if I need or want to go over my daily but so far I just am not hungry and it's working for me.

Good luck on your journey to a better and healthier life...

pkw58

I think it is all about eating what you need at goal weight + some percentage of your "exercise calories". You are certainly doing very well doing what you do. 45 days is almost six weeks and you are losing roughly 1+ pounds a week. And gaining insight into how to maintain for the rest of your life. Keep up the great work.

Jurow

there is a point that your body stores fat when it doresnt get enough calories, so assuming the start calories is near the point of storing fat then i would personally do my best to hit my goal including calories earnt through exercise. but it all depends on how close mfp puts your start goal to the survival mode limit

bajoyba

You should definitely be eating as close to your base goal as possible, plus at least a portion of your exercise calories. Many people find that their calorie burns from exercise are overestimated, so they round down or only eat half, but MFP is designed for you to eat them.

As mentioned above, the goal is really to prepare you for how to eat for the rest of your life. For sustainability, you want to eat the maximum calories for weight loss, not the minimum. But it sounds like you're doing great so far.

protein321

If 1600 calories is your caloric deficit, then by exercising you would be roughly at 1100/day. You should aim at about -500 deficit. If you feel good and losing weight then stick to your plan!

970Mikaela1

If I'm hungry I do.

bwogilvie

Your goal already has a deficit built in, so you should eat back exercise calories in order to provide your body with fuel and with the building blocks it needs to repair itself. The caveat is that estimates of exercise calories can be exaggerated, even by heart rate monitors, so some people eat only 50-75% of estimated exercise calories. The best thing to do is eat them back (or a specific percentage), then after a couple of weeks, compare your results with your goal. If you're losing at the rate you want, don't change anything. If you're losing less, eat back fewer exercise calories. If you're losing too fast, then eat back more exercise calories.

This post is very useful if you want more details:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf