Should I Eat Back The Calories?

Chelsilu

http://thecaloriemythbook.com/home/



http://www.bulletproofexec.com/66-the-calorie-myth-with-jonathan-bailor-podcast/

Annie_01

I could be wrong...I have been before...but...

My understanding of MFP is that when you select your activity level MFP will adjust to account for your daily activity...not your exercise calories.

Sedentary would be for those who mainly just sit all day...does very little else. Light activity are for those who are moving around such as doing normal housework...cooking...laundry...but nothing strenuous. It goes up from there depending on the type of work you do...such as are you a delivery person that is in and out of a truck all day...delivery heavy packages...taking the steps up to peoples apartments...things such as that.

If I select sedentary I get 1200 cals...if I select light I get 1500 at my weight.

I originally judged what level of activity I was at to include my daily activity level and the amount I work out. Having selected 'active' (I'm a student but work out intensely 4 times a week) that by and large corresponded to the data provided by using the link I posted above. I honestly think to make the best use of MFP, just use a website like www.iifym.com and then custom set your goals. That way you don't have to worry about eating back calories. Much easier to see "Oh I have x amount of calories left for the day" than have to add in what exercise you've done, guess whether it's accurate or not and then eat back. I genuinely think it is easier to have a constant calorie/macro amount to hit each day.

I use TDEE and used that site as a guide. I did however also take my own personal data and figured out what my TDEE is. Surprisingly it came out within a few calories of what IIFYM gave me. The calorie level that I am at now allows me to lose approximately 1lb a week...as I get closer to my goal my loss will gradually decrease which is what I want it to do.

I used the "3x a week" figures to compare to. I usually do some type of activity 5 or 6 times a week but the intensity varies on some days.

I got tired of trying to figure out how many calories that I actually burned in order to figure how many I could eat.

RGv2

I'm trying to lose. I'm fairly new to MFP (1 month) and have my goal set to include that i workout 5 days per week. It's actually more like 6. Anyway, the approach i'm taking is to stick very close to the 2090 calorie goal consumed (+/-100 calories most days) (I was 265 4 weeks ago and had the goal of 240 in 3 months) I'm 254 now. -11lbs in 4 weeks. I use my exercise calories burn as a credit to tell myself that i'm running an average of 800-1000 deficit. I'm 6'5", 254 and my elliptical AND MFP agree that i'm burning 1039 calories in a 60 minutes fairly intense cardio session. I'm not ravenous and still manage to run that 800-1000 calorie deficit each day. Am i missing something and totally out of whack or am i as on-track as i think (and feel)? There are some seriously knowledgable folks on this thread so i thought i'd ask the group. I must add that i've been doing cardio this way for about a year and since using MFP, I blasted through a weightloss plateau of -55lbs that i had been stuck on for months prior. I'm know down a total of 66lbs in a little over a year. is this a healthy pace?

So, you're trying to eat 2100 calories and net between 800 and 1000, am I reading that right? Also, MFP and the elliptical may agree, but both are known for being notoriously high for calorie burns. Eitherway, you're eating a really low amount of calories.

If your workout 5-6 times per week really is strenuous.

A guy your ht, wt, and age:

BMR = 2346 (what would keep you going in a coma)

TDEE = 4047 (what would maintain your weight with your exercise)

TDEE -20% = 3238 ( what you could/should eat to properly fuel yourself while safely losing at a sustainable rate)

nomad1000

I follow the MFP plan and have been eating 50-75% of my exercise cals back (OK, TBH, lots of days I eat them all so I can have my chocolate). I have been losing and am happy with my progress so far.

When I started, and I have a large amount of weight to lose, I followed the plan to a T, weighing and measuring and meeting the daily goals that MFP set up when I started (1.5 lbs/wk, sedentary activity level). And just a point for those who are skeptical about burning 1000 cals in a workout, I know that I could burn 1000 cals during an hour+ long cardio workout mainly because it takes quite a bit of energy to move my bulk around. I am actually looking forward to the day when this isn't so true.

Now that I am 3 months in, have been tracking everything I eat and drink, I am just now to the point where I am feeling comfortable tweaking things to better meet my needs and goals (since how I was eating before wasn't working and I ended up as heavy as I am). I have upped my protein, lowered my carbs and am now tracking my sodium since it make such a big difference in my water retention/bloat. At some point, when I get into a regular exercise routine I may switch to TDEE but right now my exercise is all over the place and I fit it in when I can so that plan isn't right for me at this time.

So to the OP, at the start, follow the MFP plan (with eating back exercise cals). Once you get in the swing of things (tracking, measuring, weighing, exercising, etc) then start to take a deeper look and see if TDEE may work better for you (where you don't eat back the exercise cals).