Do you always eat the calories you earn??

Fergie2154

This is why you should eat them back...

First off, you should know your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). That's the amount of calories your body needs just to keep all your organs functioning... your lungs breathing, your heart beating, your kidneys and liver filtering, your spleen doing... whatever it is spleens do. It's what you'd burn if you were completely at rest, as if you were in a coma. The second you wake up, the second you get out of bed, you burn more than that. Your BMR plus the amount of calories you burn in a normal day, is your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure).

You need to eat less than your TDEE to lose weight. If you go into your "goals" page - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals - it will tell you what your body burns from normal daily activity. As a lightly active, 5'5" 39 year old weighing 133#, my BMR is only 1,279, but my TDEE is 1730.

Generally speaking... If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal (1000 calorie deficit). If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal (750 calorie deficit). If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal (500 calories). If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal (500-250). If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal (250).

If I wanted to lose one pound a week (in theory... I know I can't lose that much now and it would put me below my BMR), I'd eat 1230. That's 500 calories less than 1730. If I exercise like I did Friday, burning about 400 calories, my TDEE for the day is 2130. If I only ate 1230, my calorie deficit for the day would no longer be 500 calories, it would be 900, and that's way, way, way too much.

With too large of a calorie deficit, your body thinks, "Hey! What the hell are you doing to me?" It might decide to hold onto your fat. It might decide to slow down your other body functions as a way to preserve energy (ie, slow your metabolism). It might decide to use your muscle for fuel.

That's what happened to me when I ate low calorie and didn't understand that increased activity demands increased calories. Years ago, at 130#, I was skinnyfat with a muffin top and backfat rolls, and wore a size 8. This time around, eating enough to preserve my muscle mass, I'm a little more than 130# (133# at last check) and in a size 2 or 4. And as you can tell by my photos, there's no backfat or muffin top. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/449570-mfp-mythbusters-losing-weight-fast-exercise-calories-girl

Thanks for sharing some great info.

My story thus far:
I first joined MFP appx 2 years ago. I was exercising at least 6 days per week (Elliptical and weights) but was eating about 1200-1300 daily for about 1.5 years prior to joining. My weight went from 218.5 - to appx 170, and I was OH so happy to see the weight dropping... though there was still a lot of fat on my body. I was a smaller version of my fat self and what made me happy was seeing the scale move. Then all of a sudden the scale stopped moving. Each week it read the same, so I decreased my food a bit and exercised more until I burned myself out (no fuel). I got discouraged and gave up a bit.

As of Nov 2011, I am back to logging my foods and doing it right. I started at 200.8 In January, after reading two post from men who share similar stories as above, I finally understood and calculated my BMR mid-January at 188 lbs.

I am 5'6" and 188.

Exercising 60 minutes Daily. which is about standard for me. My caloric needs are:

2467 to Maintain [stay at 188]
1973 [to begin Fat Loss]
1504 [for extreme Fat Loss]

It seemed high to me because of course, my body was used to the near starvation mode it was in. Nonetheless, I decided to do a bit more research and had to believe that science was correct. Although I was a bit afraid, I upped my calories to 1500-1650 daily. The first week 2 weeks I lost nothing, but felt stronger and was able to exercise more efficiently. I am now back to losing.

Since my calories burned daily are not 100% accurate, I don't eat all back, but I surely would never keep myself at 1200 anymore. Once I finally understood how the human body works. to get the extra I tend to drink two protein shakes as snacks.. I add a piece of fruit with the shakes and eat good healthy meals for the other three .. spacing my meals 2-3 hours apart.

I do understand those that truly have thyroid problems are different, but in general most of us do not have thyroid issues.

Just wanted to share, but also understand that we have to do what we believe is best for us and we all learn as we travel on this road of health and wellness.

Best of luck to all!!!

HelloRevvie

On an average day, no. I do not eat back my exercise calories!
On a special occasion, however, I'll work out a little extra so I can have that little piece of birthday cake or that yummy brownie :P

tmfpartyof4

hey wot the heck is an ENDO?

Endocrinologist.

(I have one for my Thyroid issues)

ksyrnyk

Good for you! The nerve of some people!

Pebble321

I eat most of them - because I recognize that if I exercise more, then my body needs more energy. If I'm already eating at a reasonable calorie deficit, why would I want to make that any larger? This isn't a race for me, it's a process.
In January last year i started on MFP and I wanted to lose weight steadily and keep it off.
I didn't ever see the need to find the absolute lowest number of calories I could get away with to keep me alive and functioning - my goal was to learn to eat moderate portions of the food I like and that is good for me. In other words I wanted something sustainable.

I suspect that a lot of people don't understand the way MFP calculates your calorie goal, and that it is different to a lot of other methods because it calculates your goal without including exercise, and assumes you will add those cals on when you workout.
Or maybe it's just human nature to see everything as a competition and every task (including losing weight) as something to be completed in the shortest possible time.

So, to the OP (and anyone else who is debating this issue), I suggest that you read some of the sticky posts about how MFP works and then consider what is going to be best for your body and your particular situation.
For me, that meant maintaining a moderate deficit and losing weight slowly, steadily and relatively easily.
You may have different goals - good luck in figuring it out!

Way_2_a_Healthy_Mel

I eat most of them - because I recognize that if I exercise more, then my body needs more energy. If I'm already eating at a reasonable calorie deficit, why would I want to make that any larger? This isn't a race for me, it's a process.
In January last year i started on MFP and I wanted to lose weight steadily and keep it off.
I didn't ever see the need to find the absolute lowest number of calories I could get away with to keep me alive and functioning - my goal was to learn to eat moderate portions of the food I like and that is good for me. In other words I wanted something sustainable.

I suspect that a lot of people don't understand the way MFP calculates your calorie goal, and that it is different to a lot of other methods because it calculates your goal without including exercise, and assumes you will add those cals on when you workout.
Or maybe it's just human nature to see everything as a competition and every task (including losing weight) as something to be completed in the shortest possible time.

So, to the OP (and anyone else who is debating this issue), I suggest that you read some of the sticky posts about how MFP works and then consider what is going to be best for your body and your particular situation.
For me, that meant maintaining a moderate deficit and losing weight slowly, steadily and relatively easily.
You may have different goals - good luck in figuring it out!

This is exactly how I feel. I want a steady loss, not trying to lose so quick, because my health is more important, my overall health. And, losing too fast could hurt my health in the long run.


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