Asked my Trainer re eating back calories

Falling_star · February 2012

great thanks for sharing

YcatsFursworth · February 2012

interesting! hum....

Olive32214 · February 2012

Very Good. Thanks...

MrsAngelique · February 2012

If 1200 Cals is or might be even to little. How can one work out exactly how much. I feel tired and icky with 1200 being my limit but I am not really losing like I want to. Also if you eat healthy then its sometimes hard to even consume 1200cals

HELP

I am on a 1200 calorie intake myself. It is hard to meet the calories when you are eating healthy but what I do is that I eat my B, S,L,&D and I have my last snacks based on how many calories, carbs, or fat g. I still need to consume without going over. I have my own agenda where I keep count and I also have my own nutritional sheet that I created based on nutrients of the food that I buy. This helps me create healthy meals and keep my calorie consummation accurate.

This works for me. So far without exercise I have went from 197-182 in 21 days

It is all about portion control and calories counting to my opinion. Once my shoulder is well, I will begin an exercise program which will allow me to eat more calories and lose them at the same time. So If I eat 1500 calories per day and burn 300 on exercise, It still leaves me at 1200 which is my goal. I hope this helps

laineylynnfit · February 2012

Thanks for posting. That is some good info!

Casey45 · February 2012

This was helpful but she didn't mention basal and resting metabolic rates which are what change when we eat too little. When we eat too little, our bodies reset the BMR to a lower leveel and all else remaining the same, it stays lower even when the famine is over and we eat "normally" and weight gain ensues. The only way to bring it back up is through exercise, decreasing body fat and increasing muscle mass. There was an article about a month ago in the NYTimes about how even with thosse chages, most formerly overwight and obese people will always need to consume fewer calories than an equal weight/age/gender/body fat person who has never had weight issues. The thinking is that the formerly overweight person becauw of failed past diet attempts has essentially permanently reset his or her basal metabolic rate. Also, there is thinking that our bodies set a desired fat % point in our young adult years below which, the body simply does not want to go (again the survival in the face of famine response).

There are a bunch of online calculators. MFP uses one to help users set their calorie needs to lose weight at the desired rate we determine when we set our goals. I think it advises against fast weight loss. All online calculators have strengths and weaknesses. The BMR really requires a visit to a specialized facility where the person is monitored for oxygen and CO2 in/output and heart rate. Probably more instrumentation I don't know about. At the very least, an online calculators should ask for weight, height, gender and age; and after getting the base rate, it should provide an index to add in the level of everyday, moving around activity. From there one just does the math to figure out what level of additional exercise and/or reduced calorie intake you want to create a 3500 calorie deficit to lose one pound and the time frame.

MFP has been a real blessing. It is helping me learn how to eat all over again, since joining last fall, I still count calories almost everyday, log on my exercise and track water and nutrients consumption. Before I found MFP, I did it all by hand, including figuring what I needed to eat to cover my basic living needs and how much I wanted to loose each week on average. Frankly it was a time consuming, cumbersome and inaccurate pain in the *kitten*. Even so, I think having done it all by hand I learned a lot (and just to be sure, I checked with my doctor and have been working with a personal trainer since October). I started this journey to health and fitness in August and have lost 25 pounds and lots of inches off my body. Most of that weight loss has come after I joined MFP and became more accurate and effective at calorie and exercise tabulation. I like too that as I've lost weight, MFP has adjusted my calorie needs to keep me losing.

rammsteinsoldier · February 2012

bump

IRun4Me_12 · February 2012

Bump!

Casey45 · February 2012

Okay, I'll bite and display my ignorance: what does "bump" mean on this forum?

pmiller007 · February 2012

Oh, this was great!! I finally get it. This is what layman's term means; not the posts with all those abbreviations. I am totally new to this, so I need it in cornbread language. I understand now about eating back calories burned to not have a to low calorie count left for the day. Here's how I applied it to myself:

I am to eat 1,850 cal per day in order to lose weight regardless of what I do/don't do.
If I go a lot below this, I may be putting my body into starvation mode.
When I exercise, I burn calories, but I need to put them back to keep within close range of my 1,850.

I think you mean by 'deficit', that is what's left from my target goal for the day??
ex: from 1,850 cal, I burn 500 in excersize. If I don't replace them, then I have a 500cal deficit??? Is this correct???
If I'm going to have this deficit, I need to have it everyday in order to be consistent and not up and down???

--When I change my goal to lose 2lbs per week, MFP merely changes my calorie intake to 1,350, so does that mean if I take in less calories or don't replace the calories burned, I will still lose??

Thank you for helping.

TT_luvs_fitness · February 2012

Thanks for sharing! every little bit of info helps!!!!

pmiller007 · February 2012

What does this 'Bump' mean that I am seeing so often???

weightloss43154 · February 2012

thanks for sharing

That1JB · February 2012

Oh, this was great!! I finally get it. This is what layman's term means; not the posts with all those abbreviations. I am totally new to this, so I need it in cornbread language. I understand now about eating back calories burned to not have a to low calorie count left for the day. Here's how I applied it to myself:

I am to eat 1,850 cal per day in order to lose weight regardless of what I do/don't do.
If I go a lot below this, I may be putting my body into starvation mode.
When I exercise, I burn calories, but I need to put them back to keep within close range of my 1,850.

I think you mean by 'deficit', that is what's left from my target goal for the day??
ex: from 1,850 cal, I burn 500 in excersize. If I don't replace them, then I have a 500cal deficit??? Is this correct???
If I'm going to have this deficit, I need to have it everyday in order to be consistent and not up and down???

--When I change my goal to lose 2lbs per week, MFP merely changes my calorie intake to 1,350, so does that mean if I take in less calories or don't replace the calories burned, I will still lose??

Thank you for helping.

Hi Miller. Check out your goal page, tap goals when on your home pg. Study the right side. You chose a lifestyle which determines the the number of calories burned daily. This number is higher than your daily calorie goal (cals to eat). The difference between the two is you calorie deficit. In cornbread speak, your 1350 already includes your deficit. If you consistently go below the 1350, as many posts repeat; at first you'll lose and lose fast...then your body will shut down into starvation mode and desperately cling to EVERYTHING you eat. The only way out of starvation is to eat until you actually gain weight, nobody wants that.

stephpche · February 2012

BUMP is a post just designed to bring the TOPIC back to the top of the main page

That1JB · February 2012

I want to know abt how much calories I need to re-eat to avoid going into starvation mood? I am currently at 1200 calories and I don't generally past 500 calories burned. About how much will I need to re-eat to avoid going into starvation mood?

Well, lots of bumps but no answer to your question.

Eat back/re-eat ALL calories you burn.

funkycamper · February 2012

Oh, this was great!! I finally get it. This is what layman's term means; not the posts with all those abbreviations. I am totally new to this, so I need it in cornbread language. I understand now about eating back calories burned to not have a to low calorie count left for the day. Here's how I applied it to myself:

I am to eat 1,850 cal per day in order to lose weight regardless of what I do/don't do.
If I go a lot below this, I may be putting my body into starvation mode.
When I exercise, I burn calories, but I need to put them back to keep within close range of my 1,850.

I think you mean by 'deficit', that is what's left from my target goal for the day??
ex: from 1,850 cal, I burn 500 in excersize. If I don't replace them, then I have a 500cal deficit??? Is this correct???
If I'm going to have this deficit, I need to have it everyday in order to be consistent and not up and down???

--When I change my goal to lose 2lbs per week, MFP merely changes my calorie intake to 1,350, so does that mean if I take in less calories or don't replace the calories burned, I will still lose??

Thank you for helping.

It doesn't matter if you're set for 1 or 2# week loss, you still eat back your exercise calories. It's even more important to do that if you're aiming for a 2# a week weight loss as that will automatically give you a bigger deficit.

Many folks on here who are more knowledgeable than I am recommend only going for a 2# weekly loss more extremely overweight. I'll just paste here what Banks said (he's super-smart about this type of stuff):

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle tone, and reducing fat. This means is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode)