Newbie question :)

jofromnz

Hi,
Just wondering - with the myfitnesspal program - are we aiming to eat all of the calories we are allowed or is it okay to eat under that amount? I am finding I am not eating all my allotted calories (esp since I have been exercising so gaining extra calories. I am aware that we can sabotage our own weight loss by not eating enough! Thanks

cirellim

Eating under your recommend allowance will just put you into a further deficit however it will make things more difficult when you do plateau (level off) with your weight loss. Hey, if you can eat under and feel satisfied and full all the power to you though it will only speed up results in the short run!

xXJozzetteXx

I just started this today and I'm wondering the same thing o.o
/high5's for being newbs

jofromnz

So it's okay not to "eat" our extra exercise calories then? The biggest difference I have noticed is that I am genuinely really hungry for each meal. Starting to realise that I didn't alwasys wake up hungry or feel really hungry before each meal. Big realisation!! Thanks for all help Go the newbies, he he!!!

Sidesteal

Unless you set your weekly weight loss goal very low, I would recommend that you eat at least a portion of your exercise calories back.
MFP is somewhat of a unique beast in that it has you enter in an exercise, and then it adds calories, with the expectation that you eat those calories. If you were to eat all of your exercise calories back, and if you assume no errors in estimation, you would lose weight according to the goal you put into MFP.

Now in the real world this isn't accurate because your BMR is estimated, your burn calories are estimated, and even your food intake is somewhat estimated even if you use a food scale (point being, there is error all over the place).

All that being said, if you don't eat back ANY exercise calories you are effectively eating at a VERY low calorie intake and this isn't a wise choice for long term weight loss.

MFP will overstate exercise calories (it seems to report higher burn calorie values) so it would be in your best interest to eat back "some" of them. For examlpe, 50%, or arbirtrarily add a couple hundred calories on workout days/etc.

jofromnz

Thanks so much for that. Makes total sense - I will add in a few more bits of fruit etc for snacks (perfect timing as summer is about to begin here in NZ and I love strawberries!).