Calorie intake versus left over calories

jenellie

My question is how important is it to eat all the calories alloted to you? I thought to lose weight that you had to change your calories burned which i think mine is 1400, and my calorie intake is set for 1200, but with excersise this increases it, but at the end of the day it says that my calorie left overs are to much, and may make me gain weight? how does this work, any help would be appreciated. Thanks

jamiesadler

I asked my trainer about this and she said as long as you are eating usable calories 1200 is perfect. Do not eat the calories added from exercising. You are just defeating the purpose. As long as yu are getting in about 1200 you are giving your body enough fuel. Unless of course you eat a 1200calorie cupcake. LOL

erickirb

MFP gave you an intake of 1200 to lose your goal amount of weight assuming no exercise. When you exercise you must eat those cals back in order to be at your goal deficit to lose your goal amount of weight.

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1750 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 12,250 (1750*7) almost the same number of cals for the week. The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFP do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1750/day above.

kellyscomeback

You want to eat what you are allotted per day plus most (if feasible) of the calories you burned back. This still gives you a deficit and you are keeping enough fuel in your body to burn fat. It's worked for me since May.

If you Search the forums of Google MFP Eating Back Your Calories you'll find hundreds of posts on this topic.

erickirb

I asked my trainer about this and she said as long as you are eating usable calories 1200 is perfect. Do not eat the calories added from exercising. You are just defeating the purpose. As long as yu are getting in about 1200 you are giving your body enough fuel. Unless of course you eat a 1200calorie cupcake. LOL

Bad bad advice, this is only true if your activity level is set higher to account for workouts. Set your activity level to active or very active if you are not going to eat back the cals burned from exercise.

djkshdfd

I asked my trainer about this and she said as long as you are eating usable calories 1200 is perfect. Do not eat the calories added from exercising. You are just defeating the purpose. As long as yu are getting in about 1200 you are giving your body enough fuel. Unless of course you eat a 1200calorie cupcake. LOL

Bad bad advice, this is only true if your activity level is set higher to account for workouts. Set your activity level to active or very active if you are not going to eat back the cals burned from exercise.

I have to agree with Erik, but just on my personal experience. I have eaten back most of my exercise calories these past months and pretty much ate all of my 1400 daily calories on days I do not exercise and I have consistently lost weight and toned up at a great rate. You should be able to eat them.

ElizabethRoad

I asked my trainer about this and she said as long as you are eating usable calories 1200 is perfect. Do not eat the calories added from exercising. You are just defeating the purpose. As long as yu are getting in about 1200 you are giving your body enough fuel. Unless of course you eat a 1200calorie cupcake. LOL

1200 is roughly what you need to fuel your body NOT including exercise. If you don't eat back your exercise calories that leaves you with well under 1200 net calories.

isapedeve

If you want a long term weight loss, you should feed your body properly. You should be very careful to not going under 1100 calories per day because it will take you to a plateau and could make your weight loss harder.
You should eat your burned calories (e.g. 650) + your alloted cals. for the day (1200) = 1850 for a day
Just try to balance those cals.between your meals, try to eat at least 4 times a day, drink lots of water and you'll see the results
Good luck

jarrettd

Ummm....I'm afraid you just opened a can of worms. This is a hotly debated topic, and can get quite nasty. Go to the section header and read the "newbies please read" posts. Then you'll have enough info to begin researching an answer to your questions.

You will ultimately form your own opinion, and then you may change it, depending on how your unique body responds to putting it in action.

Myself, I bought a food scale (calories in) and a heart rate monitor (calories burned), and you better believe I eat back every single calorie I earn. But as previously mentioned, you need to eat within your macros (carbs, fats, proteins) and try to get as much of your micronutrients as you can (vitamins and minerals). 1200 calorie cupcake? Ummm, NO!

Good luck, congratulations for having the courage to make a change, and welcome to MFP.

EmpressPat

How interesting. I did question whether to indulge in my calories added from exercise, and now I know. Thank you all.

Sonchie

I joined MFP in maintenance mode and found it asked me to eat more calories than i was used to, then after workouts that increased. I started eating more and also trying to eat at least half of my exercise calories, and I lost more weight!

Bottom line: I went from about 1200-1500 calories a day, to now 1600-1900 a day and stay 3-4 lbs lighter than I was when I joined. Therefore eating my calories back made me lose rather than maintain, but my body has found a balance now.
This has also made me eat much cleaner than I was. I increased my protein, added (good)fat calories and lowered my carbs(just a bit)

kendernau

Ignoring the discussion about starvation mode, I have a few good reasons to eat back your exercise calories.

1. MFP has already calculated the net deficit you need to lose weight. Eating back your exercise calories will not take you over this net number, so you will still lose weight at the rate you set as your goal.

2. By eating back your exercise calories, you are less likely to be hungry and "cheat" on your plan. These binges for many people tend to be more calories than they burned exercising (plus most people binge on less healthy food too).

3. Low calorie diets are notorious for having trouble meeting recommended daily nutrition goals. Eating back exercise calories makes it easier to meet these goals.

4. Eating your exercise calories gets you in that habit, so when you finish your weight loss, it is easier to transition to a maintenance diet, where you do need to eat your exercise calories. The only change then is adding back in the extra calories you had removed to lose weight.

5. If you are doing significant strength exercises, adding in a protein-heavy snack after working out not only helps you eat your exercise calories back, but gives your muscles the building blocks to help with recovery, and still allows you to eat normally the rest of the day.

Now, I personally believe that you do not need to eat all your exercise calories unless your body tells you that it is still hungry - however, I advocate eating at least half your exercise calories, then seeing if your body is satisfied. I usually end up eating most of them back.