Question about eating back calories or not

breakyoface

So I've seen some posts about this already..but I wanted to put my situation out there to get answers for me.
MFP puts me at 1620 calories a day to lose 1lb a week. So yesterday for example, I ate 1725 calories but then exercised for 118 minutes and MFP shows I burned 948 calories which put my net at 777 and my remaining calories at 893. I keep wondering in my head if my net is under 1000 am I going to stop losing weight, or do any damage?? It's so confusing to me because I'm eating over my calories to begin with but then after exercise I have so many more calories to eat and I hear some people say don't or do or you don't have to and it gives me anxiety because I want to do the right thing! I'm normally good during the day, no dizziness, I don't feel starving..the only time I feel hungry is about 8pm when I'm in bed about to go to sleep, which is annoying but I never go eat anything. I haven't lost any weight in a week either and was actually up .2 this morning so BLAH. Any advice??

SezxyStef

MFP Burns are typically over estimated...that being said eating back 50-75% of them should happen.

Hunger is not the best indicator of what your body needs. The exercise calories you eat back are to fuel your next workout and if you go long enough without eating them your workouts will suffer and you will become weak and lethargic...

You are netting under 1200 calories which is not healthy.

lisaabenjamin

Here's the deal.

Let's say the average woman of your height and weight needs to eat 2000 calories a day to stay at the same weight without losing or gaining.

When you sign up to MFP and enter your height, weight and desired rate of loss, MFP gives you a calorie goal - so yours is 1620. This figure is LESS than what the "average" person at your height and weight needs to maintain their weight, so in theory, if you stick to that goal, you will be at a deficit of 380 calories and you will lose weight.

As you said in your post, if you then exercise, you burn more calories, which puts your deficit even lower, so actually you CAN afford to eat back those calories. Provided your net calories is still at or below your goal, you will continue to lose weight (and the bonus is you get to eat more food! FTW!).

The problem is, even if you are meticulous with counting the calories in your food and drink, it's actually quite difficult to estimate how many calories you burn through exercise. The most accurate way is to use a heart rate monitor (but even these vary in accuracy). Using the calorie burn values from the MFP database, or indeed the reading on the gym equipment, can be quite inaccurate because the figure is just worked out using a mathematical formula based on averages - it doesn't take into account ow hard YOU are actually working, how fast your heart rate is etc.

The general rule of thumb, if you are relying on MFP's database, is to eat back 50-75% of the calories it estimated you've burned. That way you will limit the inaccuracy and it shouldn't affect your weight loss. But, if you start gaining weight, just have a rethink and eat back fewer calories.

Now, are you doing yourself any damage if you are netting below 1000 cals? Not if it's not a regular occurrence. If you're regularly netting fewer calories than your body needs to survive (your BMR), then you're going to start feeling tired, cranky and stressed as some of your essential functions start shutting down or working less effectively. If this goes on for a long period of time, you'll start getting really sick - but let me stress, this is a severe form of malnutrition and won't happen to most people here! You won't stop losing weight simply because you're not eating too many calories, though you may lose weight at a slower rate as your metabolism slows down.

I would hazard a guess that you are probably not burning quite as many calories as you think you are through exercise, especially if you're using the MFP database.

Do you exercise in the evenings? If so, it's understandable that you don't want to eat all those calories back if it's late and you've already eaten your supper. If that's the case, why not just eat the calories back the next day? There's no harm in saving your earned calories for later in the week!

ravenmiss

If you want a better idea of what you're burning then get a HRM, they're not perfect but they're way better than MFP.

I do zumba, if I do a 70 mins class MFP says I've burned 1100cals, my HRM says 700cals.

Big difference!

thavoice

MFP Burns are typically over estimated...that being said eating back 50-75% of them should happen.

Hunger is not the best indicator of what your body needs. The exercise calories you eat back are to fuel your next workout and if you go long enough without eating them your workouts will suffer and you will become weak and lethargic...

You are netting under 1200 calories which is not healthy.

Agreed with all of this.

Many tools used over estimate calories burnt. read an article that in a study done with thousands of treadmills/elipticals/bikes/etc that they overestimated calories burned by over 40%.

Those things are there to make you feel all giddy about yourself after a workout and can be a dangerous to your weight loss if you follow them to the T and count calories accordingly.
My wife was using those numbers as Gospel and it burnt her good. SHe would come home and say how she burned XXXX of calories on the TM. I would say that is great. Then when I went and saw what she was doing I noticed how badly those things were off.

breakyoface

I don't go by what the Treadmill says, it says I burn about 300 more than what MFP says.

lisaabenjamin

I don't go by what the Treadmill says, it says I burn about 300 more than what MFP says.

Yup, and MFP might still be overestimating what you actually burn.

breakyoface

I work out in the mornings, about 9am. MFP puts me at 500 calorie deficit at 1670 calories a day. So then when I work out, it puts me even lower..but I thought that could just work towards 2lb weight loss a week? It's just annoying and frustrating when I don't lose anything in a week when I stay under and exercise and gets me thinking maybe I'm not eating enough and I'm messing everything up. Why can't calories in calories out work and that's that lol.
If my calories burned from MFP are overestimated..then maybe my net isn't that low and I'm fine??

1princesswarrior

Another option you have is to follow eating at your TDEE - 10%, 15%, or 20%. The % depends on how much weight you have to lose. You can go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ and put in your information, be very honest about your activity. This will tell you how many calories to eat every day and already include your exercise so you would not eat your exercise calories back. Then you can log you exercise calories as 1 calorie burned and put what you actually did in the notes if you really want to track it.

You should go and recalculate this after every 5 lb loss.

lisaabenjamin

I work out in the mornings, about 9am. MFP puts me at 500 calorie deficit at 1670 calories a day. So then when I work out, it puts me even lower..but I thought that could just work towards 2lb weight loss a week? It's just annoying and frustrating when I don't lose anything in a week when I stay under and exercise and gets me thinking maybe I'm not eating enough and I'm messing everything up. Why can't calories in calories out work and that's that lol.
If my calories burned from MFP are overestimated..then maybe my net isn't that low and I'm fine??

Yes that certainly could be true. The key thing is that you really don't want to be losing any more than 2lbs per week, and you don't want to be netting less than 1200 calories - for most people this is far too few calories.

Never doubt it - calories in vs calories out is definitely the way this whole weight loss thing works, it's just not as easy as we'd like to know exactly how many calories are going in and out!

laurajayy1987

Hi ,

I am new to myfitnesspal and I run and also do kettlecise some days - which burns a lot of calories.
Which means I end up, some days with over 1000 still remaining.
Then it says that there my body is at risk of going into starvation mode.
I am eating enough though

Any advice?

SezxyStef

I work out in the mornings, about 9am. MFP puts me at 500 calorie deficit at 1670 calories a day. So then when I work out, it puts me even lower..but I thought that could just work towards 2lb weight loss a week? It's just annoying and frustrating when I don't lose anything in a week when I stay under and exercise and gets me thinking maybe I'm not eating enough and I'm messing everything up. Why can't calories in calories out work and that's that lol.
If my calories burned from MFP are overestimated..then maybe my net isn't that low and I'm fine??

Yes that certainly could be true. The key thing is that you really don't want to be losing any more than 2lbs per week, and you don't want to be netting less than 1200 calories - for most people this is far too few calories.

Never doubt it - calories in vs calories out is definitely the way this whole weight loss thing works, it's just not as easy as we'd like to know exactly how many calories are going in and out!

2lbs a week is too fast unless you have over 100lbs...

As for what MFP esitamates even if it is high you are still under eating if you are not eating back at least 50% of those calories.

As for not losing in a week...weight loss is not linear and there could be a lot of reason you didn't lose this week, from ToM to water retention...wait until you go 3-4 weeks and you will see 1 week is nothing.

SezxyStef

Hi ,

I am new to myfitnesspal and I run and also do kettlecise some days - which burns a lot of calories.
Which means I end up, some days with over 1000 still remaining.
Then it says that there my body is at risk of going into starvation mode.
I am eating enough though

Any advice?

If you net below 1200 you get that message suggestion is to eat back 50-75% of those calories...

laurenawolf

I agree with everyone else, and just be patient. That's the hardest part, in my opinion, when trying to lose weight.

broox80

When I switched from the MFP method to TDEE less 20%, I totally broke through my plateau. I think I was WAY overestimating my calorie burns. I would freak out that I was netting so low, but in reality , I probably was eating too much!!! My exercise routine is pretty consistent, so I figure my activity level at lightly active and I eat that amount (sometimes a little more) and it seems to have worked out better for me that way. I am still at a nice deficit, but I know I am fueling my body. I have also become very mindful of my protein goal and aim to get 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. It was a struggle at first, but I usually smoke that goal now!!

breakyoface

It's just confusing though because if MFP isn't correct, then I don't really know how much I'm burning..so I definitely wouldn't want to eat back 40% calories because then I could end up over eating. Maybe I should just exercise less?

SezxyStef

It's just confusing though because if MFP isn't correct, then I don't really know how much I'm burning..so I definitely wouldn't want to eat back 40% calories because then I could end up over eating. Maybe I should just exercise less?

anything that tells you calorie burns is an estimate.

You will not be over eating at 50-75% of the calories...if your weight loss slows down at 75% then cut it to 50%.

When I started here MFP gave me 1380 calories and I burned according to MFP 280 a day 5x a week...so I ate them all back...I lost 1lb a week right on goal...so they are not off for everyone but they are just estimates...

Even machines are estimates and HRM without chest straps estimates, HRM with straps better estimates for steady state cardio but still estimates...

If you like the exercise do it...and eat back 50-75% of the calories or you will damage yourself.

nmcguier

It's important to note that no one here, including myself, is a nutritionist. Everything with a grain of salt.

I've been doing rigorous diet and exercise for 4 months. I'm averaging a loss of 10lb/month. Weekends I tend to break even on my net calories, but during the week, I don't eat back my exercise calories. What I have noticed is that my weight loss trend slows when I'm eating very few calories and not exercising. I suspect that is the whole "starvation mode" thing that some people talk about. From things I read on the internet, if you are doing heavy caloric restriction, you need to raise your heart rate for 30 minutes every day. This helps to force the body to burn calories and not go into super reserve mode.

I think that if you aren't going to eat back your calories, you might want to be diligent about hitting your base macro nutrients. Especially protein. The last thing you want is for your system to start breaking down lean muscle.

SezxyStef

It's important to note that no one here, including myself, is a nutritionist. Everything with a grain of salt.

I've been doing rigorous diet and exercise for 4 months. I'm averaging a loss of 10lb/month. Weekends I tend to break even on my net calories, but during the week, I don't eat back my exercise calories. What I have noticed is that my weight loss trend slows when I'm eating very few calories and not exercising. I suspect that is the whole "starvation mode" thing that some people talk about. From things I read on the internet, if you are doing heavy caloric restriction, you need to raise your heart rate for 30 minutes every day. This helps to force the body to burn calories and not go into super reserve mode.

I think that if you aren't going to eat back your calories, you might want to be diligent about hitting your base macro nutrients. Especially protein. The last thing you want is for your system to start breaking down lean muscle.

to the bolded part no...and a nutritionist knows nothing about exercise...they barely know anything about nutrition...a registered dietician who is current does.

Starvation mode is a myth

If you don't hit your calories you can't hit your macros...I hit my calorie goal and I am always under carbs over fats and protien...and I eat 1800 a day and still lose weight.

iPlatano

If your goal is to lose weight, yes. if not, you dont need to.

breakyoface

I see a dietitian once a month and she told me to eat anywhere from 1600-1900 when I exercise and 1700 when I don't and to not worry about my exercising calories I burn, to not even count them. But then when I read things other people say or do it makes me wonder if I'm wrong and everyone else has a secret that I'm missing.