Maintance calories and workout calories

eimaj5575
eimaj5575 Posts: 278 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Quick question... I just switch to maintance calories. Do I eat my exercise calories back in maintance or not?

Replies

  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    Assuming you're going by MFP calculations and not custom numbers, yes, you would still eat back exercise calories.
  • Ulwaz
    Ulwaz Posts: 380 Member
    I think its really trial and error, works for some people, some people dont, if you activity level is for your exercise level as well, then no

    maybe eat back half, check your weight and see but it takes awhile to work out your maintence sometimes
  • eimaj5575
    eimaj5575 Posts: 278 Member
    I set it to MFP's maintaince calories but it said a high 1700 ish calories. I didnt want to jump right into that high of calories yet just in case it might be too high. I am 5'3 and 121 pounds. 31 years old female. I decided to start at 1550 and go up from there. I started about a week ago and thus far I have been eating my workout calories back but just didnt know if that was something you do or not. Thanks for the input. Im thinking this is going to be just a trial and error until I get it just right.
  • TiberiusClaudis
    TiberiusClaudis Posts: 423 Member
    It's all guess work...figuring out exactly how many calories you ate, how many you expended, what sodium levels are doing to your water retention etc.

    But I'm in the camp of adding them back in. Be prepared for variances. Your body is an incredible machine, but it ain't state of the art, the plumbing is millions of years in the making.:tongue:
  • dalguard
    dalguard Posts: 36
    To get 1700 calories as a 5' 3" woman, you must have set the activity level high. So is your activity level high not counting the exercise for which you're planning to eat back calories?
  • eimaj5575
    eimaj5575 Posts: 278 Member
    To get 1700 calories as a 5' 3" woman, you must have set the activity level high. So is your activity level high not counting the exercise for which you're planning to eat back calories?
    [/quote}



    No I have it set at lightly active and it gave me 1730 in maintance calories.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    To get 1700 calories as a 5' 3" woman, you must have set the activity level high. So is your activity level high not counting the exercise for which you're planning to eat back calories?

    1700 is not high for maintenance....

    My wife is 5'3" and pushing 40...her maintenance with exercise is around 2200...day to day without exercise she is right around 1700.

    OP, if you're just going into maintenance, you'll want to up your calories a bit at a time to let your body adjust. Your metabolism has down shifted and will take some time to start cranking again. You will likely ultimately find that your maintenance number is far larger than you think right now...it just seems big because you've been eating so little.

    I can remember my initial adjustment to maintenance...I couldn't believe that I could possibly eat more than about 2300 calories to maintain...now I eat around 2800 - 3000 and I've been maintaining for a year.
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
    http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/tools/Calculator-Daily-Calorie.html

    I really like this calculator. It takes into account your activity level if you do not want to worry about exercise calories on a daily basis.
    To get 1700 calories as a 5' 3" woman, you must have set the activity level high. So is your activity level high not counting the exercise for which you're planning to eat back calories?

    1700 is not high for maintenance....

    My wife is 5'3" and pushing 40...her maintenance with exercise is around 2200...day to day without exercise she is right around 1700.

    OP, if you're just going into maintenance, you'll want to up your calories a bit at a time to let your body adjust. Your metabolism has down shifted and will take some time to start cranking again. You will likely ultimately find that your maintenance number is far larger than you think right now...it just seems big because you've been eating so little.

    I can remember my initial adjustment to maintenance...I couldn't believe that I could possibly eat more than about 2300 calories to maintain...now I eat around 2800 - 3000 and I've been maintaining for a year.

    That is good to know!!!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Yes. You want to NET those calories MFP gives you. Otherwise you'll keep losing.
  • eimaj5575
    eimaj5575 Posts: 278 Member
    Thank you for all the input. I am amazed at how much I can eat now even at 1550. I just thought I would start with it low and prob still at a deficit just to see how to start. I am sure I will be able to up it but I want to go slow.
  • Nikkisfitblog
    Nikkisfitblog Posts: 149 Member
    What do people do to maintain when they have a injury and have to reduce their work load?
    im on 2250 currently. Unable to perform most lifts? Just cardio...
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
    Thank you for all the input. I am amazed at how much I can eat now even at 1550. I just thought I would start with it low and prob still at a deficit just to see how to start. I am sure I will be able to up it but I want to go slow.

    I did this at 5'7", 153 lbs, and 45 years old I eat 2150 and don't eat back exercise unless I am hungry or the exercise was hiking several hundred calories worth.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
    What do people do to maintain when they have a injury and have to reduce their work load?
    im on 2250 currently. Unable to perform most lifts? Just cardio...

    I would stay at my maintenance and let my body use the calories to heal itself. I can always lower them for a few weeks if I have gained once the injury has healed. Do the cardio you can and don't worry about the weight.
  • nicolemontagna22
    nicolemontagna22 Posts: 229 Member
    I set it to MFP's maintaince calories but it said a high 1700 ish calories. I didnt want to jump right into that high of calories yet just in case it might be too high. I am 5'3 and 121 pounds. 31 years old female. I decided to start at 1550 and go up from there. I started about a week ago and thus far I have been eating my workout calories back but just didnt know if that was something you do or not. Thanks for the input. Im thinking this is going to be just a trial and error until I get it just right.

    I wish you had pics up. I'm 5"2. 31 years old and my goal weight is 120. Or atleast I think I want it to be :)
  • inthezone77
    inthezone77 Posts: 23 Member
    I have been eating under (6000) during the week and not eating back exercise kj's. By Friday I've lost weight. Sat and Sun I'm a little more free with food and don't normally exercise on those day, so come Monday, I'm around the same weight as the week before. I find if I eat at maintenance during the week, I end up putting on weight by Monday (damn those weekends lol)
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    I'm just going to carry on wearing my FitBit when I start maintenance and eat what I burn from that.
  • KeithChanning
    KeithChanning Posts: 202 Member
    It's all guess work...figuring out exactly how many calories you ate, how many you expended, what sodium levels are doing to your water retention etc.

    But I'm in the camp of adding them back in. Be prepared for variances. Your body is an incredible machine, but it ain't state of the art, the plumbing is millions of years in the making.:tongue:

    I agree with this. Calorie counts in foods are at best averages, at worst estimates. The same goes (mostly) for exercise. My activity level is fairly regular, measured with fitbit, and eleven months' experience tells me, that if I show a deficit of between 200 and 400 calories from MFP's suggestion, I will stay within about a kilo of target. The daily variation is sometimes surprising, and seems to depend largely on sodium and wine intake. I am generally a kilo up after the weekend, reducing during the week.
  • shelbymckerrell
    shelbymckerrell Posts: 7
    See I am in the same situation. I have lost all of the weight I want and I want to maintain my current weight. Currently MFP is giving me 1530 calories per day and then adds the calories I need to burn after working out which is anywhere from 500-1000 calories a day. I am worried that if I burn 1000 calories in a day (which I know there is room for error when using heart rate monitors) and then I eat it all back, that I will gain weight.

    Also, sometimes I feel that the calories that MFP give me is a bit low so I try to make sure that with my caloric burn, I eat more. The question I have with this is that when it asks what my activity level is like during the day, I don't know what to put. I do have a desk job so I do sit around all day, however I workout very hard and burn a lot of calories every day... so I don't know where to put myself when calculating the calories needed to burn and my activity level.. any suggestions?

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