Kind of a stupid question :)

kesteele · June 2011

Didn't mean to open a can of worms. Just trying to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. I guess I better get in the kitchen and start eating

Just read the sticky notes from Mike. It explains it all. When you sign up for MFP it creates a deficit for you...you need to eat most of those cals back or you're only increasing the deficit. It's all about how you signed up and what data you put in.

The chick that keeps saying that she almost has her degree must not know how to properly use this site.

You're apparently Right....I do NOT see where yall see a "deficit" on here other than from exercise -- sorry for being internet ignorant.

Clairebryant36 · June 2011

Gosh now I know why I am not losing weight, I am eating my exercise calories duh!!! I feel like such a ****, right from now on, no moer eating my exercise calories, maybe I will get somewhere!!!

TheMaidOfAstolat · June 2011

Didn't mean to open a can of worms. Just trying to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. I guess I better get in the kitchen and start eating

Just read the sticky notes from Mike. It explains it all. When you sign up for MFP it creates a deficit for you...you need to eat most of those cals back or you're only increasing the deficit. It's all about how you signed up and what data you put in.

The chick that keeps saying that she almost has her degree must not know how to properly use this site.

You're apparently Right....I do NOT see where yall see a "deficit" on here other than from exercise -- sorry for being internet ignorant.

When you sign up it's built into how much you want to lose. Go read the sticky notes on the front of the forums.

funkyspunky871 · June 2011

Didn't mean to open a can of worms. Just trying to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. I guess I better get in the kitchen and start eating

Just read the sticky notes from Mike. It explains it all. When you sign up for MFP it creates a deficit for you...you need to eat most of those cals back or you're only increasing the deficit. It's all about how you signed up and what data you put in.

The chick that keeps saying that she almost has her degree must not know how to properly use this site.

You're apparently Right....I do NOT see where yall see a "deficit" on here other than from exercise -- sorry for being internet ignorant.

TheMaidOfAstolat · June 2011

kesteele · June 2011

Didn't mean to open a can of worms. Just trying to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. I guess I better get in the kitchen and start eating

Just read the sticky notes from Mike. It explains it all. When you sign up for MFP it creates a deficit for you...you need to eat most of those cals back or you're only increasing the deficit. It's all about how you signed up and what data you put in.

The chick that keeps saying that she almost has her degree must not know how to properly use this site.

You're apparently Right....I do NOT see where yall see a "deficit" on here other than from exercise -- sorry for being internet ignorant.

When you sign up it's built into how much you want to lose. Go read the sticky notes on the front of the forums.

Thank you for actually telling me how to find it instead of accusing me....I see where it says it now.

Madone993 · June 2011

Excercise should be used as a catalyst to speed up the weight loss process NOT excuse to eat more. Everone is given a diet based on their basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories the body burns at rest each day) so that they are constantly in a small caloric deficit. As long as you get enough protein and rest your body will use fat stores to recover from excercise so that you can do it again later and still stay on your original prescribed diet.

funkyspunky871 · June 2011

Gosh now I know why I am not losing weight, I am eating my exercise calories duh!!! I feel like such a ****, right from now on, no moer eating my exercise calories, maybe I will get somewhere!!!

Oh, you see what you put into people's heads? God, that's not healthy.

sleepytexan · June 2011

PEOPLE WHO DON'T EAT THEIR EXERCISE CALORIES WILL PLATEAU FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME bc their bodies will go catabolic (there are a million threads on here about this, so I will not repost, but please check it out).

MFP has already factored in your calorie deficit to let you lose weight without working out. If you check out TOOLS, and select BMR, you will see the amount of calories you would burn if you lay in bed all day doing nothing. Once you get up and breathe, walk around, do laundry, drive your car, etc. you burn another 500 calories just living.

So . . . if you selected lose 1 lb/week (which you should unless you are obese). You will see that the amount of calories that MFP tells you to eat will be right around your BMR; so about 500 cal deficit a day, assuming you do get out of bed

It is really important to put that number in your brain as a NET amount of calories, meaning that you need to eat your calorie goal + exercise calories so that you will not dip too far below your BMR. When that happens consistently, your body WILL stop losing weight.

Anyway, you want to exercise so that you CAN eat more, so that you can become stronger and SMALLER (muscle is more compact than fat, so pound for pound it fits in a smaller package). A fit 150-lb. person looks a lot leaner and probably wears a few sizes smaller than an unfit 150-lb. person.

blessings.

sleepytexan · June 2011

Do NOT eat back all the cals you burn people tell you to do this but you need a deficit in order to lose weight. This is my major in university and trust me...if you eat back the cals you burned it's as if you didn't workout at all. a deficit is good -- but whatever your net cals is at the beginning of the day you need to meet that like mine is like 1460 or something like that meet that....then I earned 500 more --therefore I took 500 off my 1460 and I have a deficit that's how fat is burned.....shoot me a personal msg if you need anymore help!

this post is very very true but MFP already creats a deficit for you! mine is 750 cals. so eat those calories back baby!

If so many ppl believe this to be true SHOW me the site where they already set a deficit for you...PLEASE. And not to you jujubean....but people on here don't insult others that have or almost have their degrees in things and know what they are talking about it is rude...thank you.

Use the TOOLS button to find your BMR. that is what you will burn if you lie in bed all day. Assuming you get up, you will burn about 500 cals just living. MFP will set your calories right around your BMR (varies slightly depending on how active you claim to be), so you see that is where the 500 deficit is already built in -- assuming you get out of bed

sleepytexan · June 2011

According to this site, my BMR is 1380 ish. My calorie goal is 1200. That leaves a deficit of 180 calories per day, even if I don't move.

that's actually a deficit of 680. because the BMR assumes you stay in bed. Once you get up and just live daily life, you burn appx. 500. so that is where the 500 deficit comes in. I assume you have set your desired weight loss higher than 1 lb/week and/or you told MFP that you are moderately active--which would account for the additional 180. blessings.

Madone993 · June 2011

The only plateau that occurs from not eating back your excercise calories is a mental one so if you can mentally handle knowing that you can eat more but choose not too then you will lose weight quicker. I am a cyclist and I burned 7000 thousand calories (This is a fact based on the heart rate monitor I wear when I train) on a 100 mile tour in 100 degree whether last week and I sure didn't use that as an excuse to eat 7000 more calories to make up for it. That is just ridiculous. I ate enough to recover so that I could do it again later, I didn't binge on Ice Cream just because I could. MFP tells you to eat back your calories so they are not liable if somebody does go way overboard and excercise their way into starvation but if you know what you are doing you should not eat back your calories unless you are trying to maintain your current weight.

funkyspunky871 · June 2011

The only plateau that occurs from not eating back your excercise calories is a mental one so if you can mentally handle knowing that you can eat more but choose not too then you will lose weight quicker. I am a cyclist and I burned 7000 thousand calories (This is a fact based on the heart rate monitor I wear when I train) on a 100 mile tour in 100 degree whether last week and I sure didn't use that as an excuse to eat 7000 more calories to make up for it. That is just ridiculous. I ate enough to recover so that I could do it again later, I didn't binge on Ice Cream just because I could. MFP tells you to eat back your calories so they are not liable if somebody does go way overboard and excercise their way into starvation but if you know what you are doing you should not eat back your calories unless you are trying to maintain your current weight.

Whoever said anything about bingeing on ice cream? Jeez. Eating back your exercise calories isn't an excuse to eat crap, and nobody on this thread ever said it was!

sleepytexan · June 2011

The only plateau that occurs from not eating back your excercise calories is a mental one so if you can mentally handle knowing that you can eat more but choose not too then you will lose weight quicker. I am a cyclist and I burned 7000 thousand calories (This is a fact based on the heart rate monitor I wear when I train) on a 100 mile tour in 100 degree whether last week and I sure didn't use that as an excuse to eat 7000 more calories to make up for it. That is just ridiculous. I ate enough to recover so that I could do it again later, I didn't binge on Ice Cream just because I could. MFP tells you to eat back your calories so they are not liable if somebody does go way overboard and excercise their way into starvation but if you know what you are doing you should not eat back your calories unless you are trying to maintain your current weight.

I am cyclist too, but in riding a century I would probably consume 2000 calories eating at all the SAG stops. I would also eat a hearty breakfast, maybe 500 cals, and dinner that evening. I have never myself burned 7000 calories on a century ride, but I have burned over 4000 typically. I would be surprised to meet another cyclist on the ride who did not consume at least 2000 cals during that full day ride. Also, I have never personally ridden that many centuries on a regular basis -- just a few per year, so that is an occasional deficit, not an ongoing one, for me anyway.

It is in fact true that a body can go catabolic, and in fact, many many overweight people experience this problem without knowing why they can't lose. I can't tell you how many overweight people I train who eat far fewer calories than I do, and they are shocked to learn that. blessings.

ghoztt · June 2011

It's simple math, people!

1. Go here:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

2. Plug in your stats

3. ????

4. Profit!!!

:laugh:

Now that we have that out of the way we'll use my stats as a guinea pig.

Age: 35 (6-17 bday so close enough)
Height: 6'
Weight: 220lbs
Sex: Yes, please! Er, I mean male

Now I'm going to round since it makes playing with numbers easier.
Plug in BMR: I should eat ~2000 calories to keep my current weight if I just sat around in bed ALL DAY
Plug in desk job: I should eat ~2400 calories to keep my current weight

Now if I eat the minimum recommended calories for men for only going to work (1500 calories) I will have a 900 calorie deficit PER DAY which turns into 6300 per week which (using 1 pound=3500 calories) turns into approximately 1.8 pounds PER WEEK.

Now then, if I work out and burn 500 calories that brings me down to 1000 calories PER DAY which will eventually slow my metabolism because my body will want to retain as much fat as possible because it is being UNDERFED! So EAT, EAT, EAT back those calories you work out!

That reminds me, I'm under my calorie goals for today but I still have my protein shake to drink and that should even me out.

Purplebunnysarah · June 2011

Believe the math or not, but eating back my exercise certainly hasn't hindered my weight loss.

I've been set up to lose between 1.5-1.8 lbs/week during the 6ish months I've been at MFP (145 days). That works out to ~21 weeks. I have lost 40 lbs. I eat back 80-90% of my exercise cals (and only leave that extra bit to cover off measurement and logging errors). That works out to... 1.9 lbs/week. Gee, if MFP didn't have a built in deficit that I was maintaining due to eating my exercise calories, how would that be possible? I'd be losing almost 2 lbs/week with no deficit! Miraculous!

To put it in mathematical terms...

Maintenance calories, sedentary lifestyle: 2070
Daily deficit: 770
= 1300 calories to meet current goal (-1.5 lbs/week)
- 500 calories (exercise)
= 800 calories net (deficit of 1270, which exceeds the recommended 1000 cal/day max deficit)
+ 500 calories (exercise eaten back)
= 1300 calories net (-1.5 lbs/week, 770 calorie deficit)

hush7hush · June 2011

Hey!
You know what?

Different stroke for different folks.

What works for me might not work for you.
We all have different bodies. They are OURS. No one can tell us what to do with them, or what to put in them.
We can all give educated advice, yes.
But you will learn best what works for YOU, by trying different things.

Kind of a stupid question :)

Replies

Categories