Food calories vs Exercise calories - healthy balance

sararuiz

So my meal plan allowes for 1200 calories a day. I workout fairly hard some days burning up to 700-800 calories. When I log in my workouts I am automatically alloted extra food calories. Should I not eat those extra calories and just stick to the 1200 calories? or will my body retain fat because I am not eating enough? My average has been about 1400-1600 calories/day including the exercise.

Any thoughts would be appreacited.

-Sara

SHBoss1673

So my meal plan allowes for 1200 calories a day. I workout fairly hard some days burning up to 700-800 calories. When I log in my workouts I am automatically alloted extra food calories. Should I not eat those extra calories and just stick to the 1200 calories? or will my body retain fat because I am not eating enough? My average has been about 1400-1600 calories/day including the exercise.

Any thoughts would be appreacited.

-Sara

you should eat them, if you're following MFP's design at least. But always remember, MFP works off of generic formula's, you'll probably need to tweak and re-evaluate as you go.

colombiana444

As long as you don't feel fatigued, your average calorie intake sounds about right. remember to listen to your body. don't let yourself go hungry but don't put unnecessary calories in your diet just because you have extra. remember to loose weight you need that calorie deficit.

Jentrin03

You should eat those calories that you burn but in a healthy way.

CharlestonUSC

this is a highly debated topic on these forums. you could run a search about it and find multiple threads with varying perspectives. i believe the best advice was mentioned above about listening to YOUR body. everyone's body is different and reacts differently to a wide assortment of variables. you might have to mess around with it over a few weeks time period changing your intake. once you see what your body burns the most on you'll be set.

sjguido

I have followed this formula from another website and had great results. It more accurately figures out how many calories you should consume.
First figure out your BMR:
655 + (4.35 x your weight lbs) + (4.7 x Height in inches) – (4.7 x age years) = Basal Metabolic Rate

Determine your activity level:

1.1 Sedentary -- You have a desk job or do some other kind of work that requires sitting down for most of the day.

1.2 Light -- You're on your feet and walking around for half the day or more. O

1.3 Moderate -- You're on the move pretty much all day, with a few limited periods of being sedentary.

1.4 High -- You're constantly on the move and your job entails significant amounts of manual labor.

Now insert those numbers into this equation:

BMR x Activity level + 500 (planned daily calorie burn through exercise)=Your total energy expenditure

Once you know that number you can figure out your ideal daily calorie intake to lose two pounds a week. To lose two pounds a week you need a deficit of 1000 calories a day. Sounds confusing and takes a little math work but this is what it looks like using my numbers:

655 + (4.35 x 155 lbs) + (4.7 x 66 in) – (4.7 x 30 years) =1498

1498 x 1.2 + 500=2298

2298-1000=1298

My ideal calorie intake is 1298 daily, working out and burning 500 calories a day I will lose two pounds a week. If you burn more than 500 it can be "extra credit" and the weight will come off faster or if you feel starving you can consume those calories.

Hope that helps!
~Sara

1113cw

**BUMP**

Great info.. thanks so much!

sararuiz

Thanks for all the tips everyone! I tried the calculation listed above and my ideal calorie intake for the day is 1,421 calories. So I guess i'll stick with trying to aim for the 1200 and if I go a bit over I am still doing good I will be sure to listen to my body though...I want this weight to stay off for ever not just a few weeks.

thanks again!

-Sara