Daily Calories...

manit1117

My daily calories should be around 1200/day. When I add exercise my calories for the day increase. So my question is...what should I be eating to lose weight? The 1200/day or my calories with exercise added?

rhiannon1979

The goal is to NET 1200 calories. There are lots of differing opinions on this topic, though. Basically, see what works for you best.

jwilds10

You definetly want to eat your exercise calories. 1200 calories is the minimum you want to eat for your goals.
If you do not eat your exercise calories, your body will start to go into starvation mode and not burn calories and your metabolism will slow way down.

Wightvixen

It depends on what suits you. The defecit you need to lose weight is already built in before exercise is taken into account, so yes you CAN eat those extra calories if you want to. Some people swear by eating them, some people, myself included, prefer not to. Perhaps eat half of them to start with and see what effect that has for you, everyone is different. Good luck

snowflakelaia

My body doesn't need me to eat the calories burned in exercise. Sometimes it's very hard to reach the minimum of 1200kcal per day!

erickirb

My daily calories should be around 1200/day. When I add exercise my calories for the day increase. So my question is...what should I be eating to lose weight? The 1200/day or my calories with exercise added?

1200 NET which is 1200 plus the calories you burn. This is the only way to keep your caloric deficit intact to lose your goal amount of weight per week.

If you only eat 1200 and burn 400 from exercise it would be as if you only ate 800 calories (1200-400) which is not enough for anyone.

manit1117

Thank you...that makes perfect sense that I need to eat the exercise calories. Actually I'm glad I can because I like to eat

meggonkgonk

My daily calories should be around 1200/day. When I add exercise my calories for the day increase. So my question is...what should I be eating to lose weight? The 1200/day or my calories with exercise added?

The MFP tool is designed so that, yes, you should eat these calories. The equation on your home page:

GOAL FOOD -(minus) EXERCISE = NET

In this equation your aim should be to get your NET calories to match your daily goal (that's why MFP adds the exercise cals back in). 1200 NET is the minimum you should be aiming for. To give yourself some wiggle room (so you don't HAVE to eat exactly all your calories every day), you might want to consider upping your daily goal to 1300 or so.

Many people do what they want and don't eat these, but the way MFP is set up, you are meant to eat them.

Noz7

You definetly want to eat your exercise calories. 1200 calories is the minimum you want to eat for your goals.
If you do not eat your exercise calories, your body will start to go into starvation mode and not burn calories and your metabolism will slow way down.

Agreed, apparently the yo-yo dieting is caused by people going into starvation mode, then their bodies fight back! The body chooses to react to the starvation by decreasing your metabolic rate.
So, you should try it the way the website tells you to do it... watch for a while, if you aren't losing you can assume that your metabolic rate is lower than average, or that you're getting one of the other variables wrong ie. calories or exercise.

hpsnickers1

Thank you...that makes perfect sense that I need to eat the exercise calories. Actually I'm glad I can because I like to eat

This is why it's not good to go too low on calories. 1200 is a general baseline number for women but it's a good number to go by for all women. I'm so glad it makes sense for you.

The law of unintended consequences

Your body is an amazing feedback system aimed at balance and survival. Humans are at the top of the food chain because they are able to adapt to their environment. Every action produces a reaction. Every change in its environment triggers a survival response. It's important to keep that in mind when you plan your fitness program. If you treat your body as an enemy to be conquered, you'll produce unintended results.

For example, if you severely cut off the supply of food to your body, it will defend itself by slowing down its metabolism to survive starvation. The body will shed muscle mass the same way that you would throw cargo from a plane that was low on fuel, and it will reduce its thyroid activity to conserve energy. The body will also actually defend its fat stores. In anorexia, muscle loss can be so profound that fat as a percentage of body weight actually rises. Extreme carbohydrate restriction also causes muscle loss, dehydration, and slower metabolism, which is why even successful Atkins dieters can have a significant rebound in weight after they stop the diet (don't worry – the advice on this site will prevent that from happening).

As another example, if you put your body under stress through overexertion and lack of sleep, it will respond by slowing down, reducing muscle growth, and increasing your appetite for junk food, carbohydrates and fat. If you feed your body excessive amounts of sugar and quickly digested carbohydrates, and it will shut off its ability to burn fat until those sugars are taken out of the bloodstream.

This website will show you how to work with your body to quickly produce the changes you want. In order to do that, you need to take actions that push your body to adapt – to build strength, burn fat, and increase fitness. You need a training program, not an exercise routine. You need a nutrition plan, not a diet. You need a challenge, not a few good habits you usually try to follow except when you don't.

http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TPAdaptation.html