How many calories burned and net calorie help.

Twitchy109
Twitchy109 Posts: 36
edited October 3 in Health and Weight Loss
So on an average day I burn roughly.... 500 calories, which brings my net calories down. And I feel that maybe I'm not eating enough or maybe I'm just worried about it. Does anyone have good advice on this? Mfp expects me to eat 1200 calories a day which I generally do and then my exercise brings me down to 600 average. I have 70lbs to lose

Replies

  • Melaniemarie86
    Melaniemarie86 Posts: 57 Member
    You should probably be netting at least 1200 calories a day... any less than that, you're probably under eating.
  • trianaw
    trianaw Posts: 177
    If you're eating small meals all day and not hungry don't eat back the calories. Your calorie burn may not be accurate unless you're wearing a hear rate monitor and you don't want to over eat.
  • adidrea
    adidrea Posts: 275 Member
    If MFP says you should eat 1200 a day and you exercise an additional 500 then you should be eating around 1700 calories. You shouldn't go below 1200 net calories because your body needs that energy to run your organs, regulate body temp, etc. So eat more! :flowerforyou:
  • Megan2Project
    Megan2Project Posts: 351 Member
    Play with it. Try a week eating your exercise cals back, a week eating only half, and a week not... Find what works for YOU :)
  • kymom75
    kymom75 Posts: 2
    Ok so we have to eat back what we burn. Any suggestions on what to eat to boost those calories up? I'm struggling to find high calorie foods to boost those calories. I try to eat every two hours-something but when I exercise it brings it back up. I have not met my 1200 calories for several days now. I've been doing protein shakes, protein bars, peanut butter and turkey sandwiches. Trying to boost those calories and protein grams. Any suggestions on what to eat every two hours to get the calories in?
  • Twitchy109
    Twitchy109 Posts: 36
    It just seems like so much food.....
  • Twitchy109
    Twitchy109 Posts: 36
    Yogurt, trail mix, bananas?
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    I think it only seems like a lot of food because you are in a "diet" mentality, and have probably cut out high cal food and replaced it with diet food.
    Try to look at is as fueling your body to give it energy to exercise. In my opinion this is a much healthier and more sustainable approach for losing weight and (more importantly) learning good habits to keep the weight off in the longer term.
    You will find so many people on this site who have lost a good amount of weight eating lots of healthy food - there is not a single "diet" food in my pantry.

    You don't have to eat "diet" foods necessarily - there are lots of healthy foods that give you good nutrition and bump up your calories - like avocado, olive oil, peanut butter, yoghurt, cheese, steak etc.
    It's really easy to add an extra 100 cals to a meal or snack by adding olive oil dressing, some almonds in a salad, avocado to a sandwich, yoghurt to breakfast cereal etc.
  • avninjalette123
    avninjalette123 Posts: 129 Member
    Cheese and nuts are a great way to snack and bring back some cals.
  • adidrea
    adidrea Posts: 275 Member
    It just seems like so much food.....

    Yes, you're right. The 1200 calories is calculated with the deficit already built in, so if you did your normal daily activities you would certainly lose weight eating that amount. You would probably lose weight if all you did was lie in bed all day eating 1200 calories. But by exercising you're burning off the calories which are supposed to be sustaining your basal functions, so you need to eat a little more.

    There are different theories about whether or not to eat back your exercise calories, but the American College of Sports Medicine recommends never going below 1200 net calories for women and 1800 for men. For those people who have a higher calorie allowance it's not as important to eat back all of those calories, although at least some is recommended.
  • Twitchy109
    Twitchy109 Posts: 36
    Well I don't eat diet food and I'm definitely not on a diet. I am on a change of lifestyle. But even when I didn't make any changes I wasn't having an easy time consuming that many calories anyways.
  • Melaniemarie86
    Melaniemarie86 Posts: 57 Member
    Ok so we have to eat back what we burn. Any suggestions on what to eat to boost those calories up? I'm struggling to find high calorie foods to boost those calories. I try to eat every two hours-something but when I exercise it brings it back up. I have not met my 1200 calories for several days now. I've been doing protein shakes, protein bars, peanut butter and turkey sandwiches. Trying to boost those calories and protein grams. Any suggestions on what to eat every two hours to get the calories in?

    Cheese, nuts, lean proteins like chicken and fish... just make sure you are eating plenty of protein, especially if you are strength training as it will assist in the muscle repair process. It does seem like a lot of food, but you'd be surprised of just how much food you can eat if you're eating the right things.
  • janetteluparia
    janetteluparia Posts: 318 Member
    The Journal of Sports Sciences provides a calorie expenditure formula for each gender. Men use the following formula: Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) -- (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) -- 55.0969] x Time / 4.184. Women use the following formula: Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) -- (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) -- 20.4022] x Time / 4.184

    Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/221621-formula-for-calories-burned-during-exercise/#ixzz1aUbyELT0
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