Feel silly for asking!

lindseywiatt

So according to everything that i've calculated and read.. I am on a diet of 1200 cal a day... If I exercise and burn say 250 cal am I to re consume those burned calories? Thanks for any help!

My husband and I are doing this together he's weighed in and has lost 2lbs in 4 days!

staciekins

Let's say you were eating 3500 cals with no exercise every day and thats how you gained weight.
So now, you wanna lose as fast as possible. You eat 1200 cals a day with no exercise. That's your minimum NET. You add 400 cals of exercise. Your NET becomes 800. So you add back that 400 by eating it making it 100 cals NET again. So, you eat a total of 1600 cals, with 400 cals exercise. (Remember that is the BARE MINIMUM! The more you lose, the more you need to intake.) That is still significantly less than what you were probably consuming before AND you don't risk putting your body into starvation mode nor do you risk being malnutritioned. WIN!

staciekins

For men, the deficit is 1500 minimum

Cynthiafaron

Don"t reconsume - thats where the loss comes in

NewDawn31

Yes, that is what they say to do. The more you burn, the more you can eat. It is nice to have the option to eat more-however, I typically don't. (not sure if this helps, or hurts me in the long run)

lindseywiatt

Yes my starting weight is 188... I've been hitting my 1200 goal daily and coming in a little under (but not feeling hungry at all!).. I am starting some simple workouts (three knee surgeries lol) and I am going to start the couch to 5k program...

padkat

For the odd bout of exercise it probably wouldn't matter but if you are exercising regularly you should probably eat your exercise calories (or at least some of them) to avoid your body having too much of a deficit. I would say this is particularly important if you are only eating 1200 kc per day. No expert though - each to his/her own. You will probably get 101 different opinions on this one

I personally don't believe in using exercise as an aid to weight loss unless you are planning to maintain your regime for the rest of your life (great if you do). Otherwise, once you stop exercising your metabolism will slow down and could cause weight gain.

Instead I exercise moderately, when I feel like it, rather than because I feel I should, and don't consume the calories.

Good luck to both you and your husband

jamielise2

I re-eat some, but not all of my calories. Depending on the weekly weight loss you chose during your set up, that calorie deficit is already built in to your allotted calories per day. If you exercise you burn more, and can lose more weight per week, but you have to be aware to not send your body into starvation mode by exercising and not increasing your calories. That's what caused me to gain weight all those years ago...exercising a lot and only allowing myself like 800 calories a day.

Taylor521

Let's say you were eating 3500 cals with no exercise every day and thats how you gained weight.
So now, you wanna lose as fast as possible. You eat 1200 cals a day with no exercise. That's your minimum deficit. You add 400 cals of exercise. Your deficit becomes 800. So you add back that 400 by eating it making it 100 cals deficit again. So, you eat a total of 1600 cals, with 400 cals exercise. (Remember that is the BARE MINIMUM! The more you lose, the more you need to intake.) That is still significantly less than what you were probably consuming before AND you don't risk putting your body into starvation mode nor do you risk being malnutritioned. WIN!

Just to avoid confusion, the term deficit refers to how many calories you burned in a day (including your resting metabolic rate which is around 2000 calories) minus how many you consumed. Or in other words how many calories you lost throughout the day (hopefully in the form of fat). Your deficit is the number of calories you would still need to consume to maintain the same weight for the day. Your referring to net intake as a deficit. Net intake is your total intake for a day minus your daily exercise.

Driagnor

Don"t reconsume - thats where the loss comes in

Yeah, but it can also cause you to suffer from decreased energy levels which in turn affects your future workouts. In general, if you're not going to be eating back your exercise calories, you should be eating more calories daily - somewhere around 30% less than your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) for quite an aggressive weight loss target.

Remember that if you're losing more than 2 lbs or so a week (up to 3lbs if your extremely overweight), chances are that there's going to be weight loss from water weight or lean muscle mass (which will in turn slow down your metabolism)

Elzecat

MFP builds in a 500 calorie deficit when you set up your goals...you can "eat your exercise calories back" and you'll still be at a 500 calorie deficit from what you would normally consume to keep your body at maintenance (same weight), assuming you measure your food carefully so you know you're eating exactly 1200, and you use a heart rate monitor to track exactly how many calories you burn with exercise (MFP's calorie counts for exercise run a bit high). Or you can choose to not eat those calories back and you'll have a larger deficit for the day...but you might be hungry, especially once you start exercising regularly. You will find people who swear by eating the calories back, and people who consistently eat under their calories...and both may lose weight. It's up to you to figure out what works best for your body.

There are a ton of posts on the "pros and cons" of eating back your exercise calories, just search the Community message boards for more.

Good luck!

ilikeher

Don"t reconsume - thats where the loss comes in

DO RECONSUME!!! You are already cutting your calories down to 1200, that's where you are loosing weight. You need to reconsume those burned calories to give you fuel. you won't lose weight if you don't because your body needs that food or else it will store everything you eat because it will feel like it's starving

Driagnor

Have a look at the links on http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

They should address most of the starting out questions.

feliciapeters

here the thing. Some people need to eat back all the calories, some people do fine with eating back some & i know some people who have hugh calorie deficits at the end of every day and still lose at a consistant pace. Thats a trial & error thing for each person. Alot,I believe, has to do with how much you have to lose. If you want to lose 20lbs your body doesnt have as much fat stored as a person who need to lose 100. As long as your body knows its gettng HEALTHYf ood it (along with exercise) wil begin to start burning up some of the stored fat as well.

It seems to me from what I've read & what I've noticed on people post that when you have ALOT to lose, when you allready have alot of fat stored, that eating back the exercise calories doesnt seem that important. Eating regular healthy meals and exercise, seems to be more of what you need.

I personally think, that if you keep eating, and your body knows its not going to be deprived of food, (YOU know your not eating because your too busy, or you want to eat less, or whatever the reason your skipping meals your body doesnt. it just knows that it cant count on food on a regular basis and starts storing, which is part of the basis of starvation mode) its less likely to hold on to the stores of fat you allready have, so eating back the exercise calories isnt that big a deal. But as I said, its a trial & error thing for each person. If eating back doesnt work after a week or so, trying half, etc. You have to figure out what works best for YOUR body.

eating small amounts of food every few hours (even if your not really hungry, eat someting small, carrots, celery a yogurt, whatever, will help tell your body that it will be getting food on a regular basis so it doesnt have to store as much. Eating on a regular basis will also help kick start your metabolisim so that you burn more.

HOWEVER, the more weight you lose, and the less body fat your body has to'work thru" for lack of a better term, It seems that eating back the exercise calories becomes more important.