Still confused a little bit. Humor me please

BerryH

If you find MFP's methodology confusing, calculate your TDEE, which includes exercise activity, and eat 20% less than that.

All you need to know here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Are you losing weight consistently? Do you have enough energy throughout the day and for your exercise? Do you feel you can keep this up long term? You may not have a problem. You might feel hunger kick in down the line, though, in which case you know you've got wiggle room to up your calories significantly without detracting from ongoing weight loss.

Personally, using MFP just as designed, including eating back exercise calories, works for me.

Branstin

Ok I can see this side of the argument now. All of this is very helpful.

Regardless of the analogy medical professionals may or may not use or the issues some people have with the structure of MFP, the point is while you burn 900 calories in exercising, you are also burning away some of your macros (nutrients and vitamins) which should be replaced in order to properly meet your body's required nutrients level and provide enough energy to properly fuel your workouts.

BerryH

Also, you're not burning 800 of the calories you eat. You're burning calories all day, even sitting on your bum reading MFP forums, probably 2,600 a day given your height, weight and exercise.

amandzor

As most people (even with HRM's) over estimate their burned calories. I wouldn't worry about eating back every single one.

Quick, high cal proteins are great for adding cals at the end of the day when you're not really hungry. Nuts, peanut butter, a few hard boiled eggs. Think if it was fuel rather than feeding hunger.

levitateme

The best thing I learned this year: "Don't talk to coworkers, family members, or friends about nutrition, fitness and weight loss unless they ask for advice."

But anyway, at 205 5'10", running and lifting, you should probably switch to TDEE - 20%. I don't trust HRM calorie burn estimations.

WalkingAlong

Ok I can see this side of the argument now. All of this is very helpful.

Regardless of the analogy medical professionals may or may not use or the issues some people have with the structure of MFP, the point is while you burn 900 calories in exercising, you are also burning away some of your macros (nutrients and vitamins) which should be replaced in order to properly meet your body's required nutrients level and provide enough energy to properly fuel your workouts.

I don't think we 'burn vitamins'. If we did, you'd think there'd be different RDAs for people with different BMRs and activity levels.

WBB55

I don't think we 'burn vitamins'. If we did, you'd think there'd be different RDAs for people with different BMRs and activity levels.

this isn't arguing with you or anyone. this is just science stuff for those who care.

Vitamins and minerals themselves don't have carbs, protein, alcohol, or fat, so you can't burn them for energy. But you do excrete them if you don't consume adequate amounts of other macro and micro nutrients to digest/make use of them.

Branstin

Ok I can see this side of the argument now. All of this is very helpful.

Regardless of the analogy medical professionals may or may not use or the issues some people have with the structure of MFP, the point is while you burn 900 calories in exercising, you are also burning away some of your macros (nutrients and vitamins) which should be replaced in order to properly meet your body's required nutrients level and provide enough energy to properly fuel your workouts.

I don't think we 'burn vitamins'. If we did, you'd think there'd be different RDAs for people with different BMRs and activity levels.

At the end of the day, the OP would have used, burned, excreted, or whatever 900 calories which some should be replaced.

Timshel_

So if it comes to 10pm and I am sitting with 900 calories left, what the hell do I do? I don't feel hungry at all. I am well hydrated

I am in about the same situation with numbers, calories, exercise, etc. My goal is actually 1700 calories per day with a TDEE of around 2400ish. I have days I play tennis for hours and hours, and I end up netting only 600 to 1000 calories, but not even hungry. Depending on where I am at in training, I may try to eat back as much as possible if I am working on a building cycle and to make sure I have energy for the next day (remember, calories are less about being hungry right now and more about making sure you have energy to repair and replace for later), or I just let it go if I am in a weight loss cycle.

cmbauer99

So if it comes to 10pm and I am sitting with 900 calories left, what the hell do I do? I don't feel hungry at all. I am well hydrated

I am in about the same situation with numbers, calories, exercise, etc. My goal is actually 1700 calories per day with a TDEE of around 2400ish. I have days I play tennis for hours and hours, and I end up netting only 600 to 1000 calories, but not even hungry. Depending on where I am at in training, I may try to eat back as much as possible if I am working on a building cycle and to make sure I have energy for the next day (remember, calories are less about being hungry right now and more about making sure you have energy to repair and replace for later), or I just let it go if I am in a weight loss cycle.

Thank you!!

SueInAz

Are you losing weight consistently? Do you have enough energy throughout the day and for your exercise? Do you feel you can keep this up long term? You may not have a problem. You might feel hunger kick in down the line, though, in which case you know you've got wiggle room to up your calories significantly without detracting from ongoing weight loss.

This is the most important part. If you're losing weight and don't feel hungry, there's nothing wrong with continuing the way you are. Your body will let you know when you're not eating enough. At that point, you can play around with how many more calories you can eat and still maintain weight loss.

Starvation mode is mostly myth. People who get themselves into a position where their metabolism slows down due to undereating are hungry while they are doing it but they choose not to eat more. Your body will let you know when you're underfeeding it.

beertrollruss

I sure wouldn't mind being able to exercise for hours and not be hungry afterwards.

AliceDark

The concept is pretty simple and makes a lot of sense if you think about it -- when you are more active and exercise more, you need to eat more. MFP gives you a way to quantify that, because most people are really bad at estimating what "more" is, but people do it intuitively too. Think back to when people manually worked their own farms. You don't think your great-grandpa ate more on days when he was out working from sunup to sundown vs. those days when he was resting? Of course he did, because some days he needed more fuel than others.

LazerMole

Starvation mode is mostly myth. People who get themselves into a position where their metabolism slows down due to undereating are hungry while they are doing it but they choose not to eat more. Your body will let you know when you're underfeeding it.

I agree with you here. The "starvation mode" myth needs to die.

Starvation mode only occurs if you are at the "essential fat" stage of BF%.

What people generally experience and ascribe to "starvation mode" is actually just them failing to adjust their intake after significant weight loss, or logging incorrectly (either food intake, or exercise output).