I need help with calorie goals....

babytis

I know this question is probably asked all the time, but I can't seem to find the exact question I have. Here goes..... my calorie allowance is 1350 according to MFP. I don't seem to have any problem with that. My question has more to do with calories i burn thru exercise.. Am I supposed to eat them too? Like today for example..... I started off my day with 1350 right now this is what it's telling me Goal~1350 Food~1408 Exercise~903 Net~ 505 Remaining~ 845..... is this a bad thing to have so many calories remaining? Thank You for any help you can give:)

Jenny

Pandorian

your 1350 goal is your goal with your deficit for your chose rate of loss already factored in. Here at MFP your calorie goal is to lose weight before any exercise.

MFP differs from other sites by giving you a lower calorie goal (from what I've seen) and then expecting you to eat your exercise calories while other sites I've looked at give you a higher calorie goal but expect you to build your deficit through exercise.

IE MFP gives me 1900... with 500 calories of exercise I eat 2400...
with my nutritionist I got 2400 calories and was expected to exercise 500 calories a day to build my deficit...
same numbers, mathed differently

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

your 1350 goal is your goal with your deficit for your chose rate of loss already factored in. Here at MFP your calorie goal is to lose weight before any exercise.

MFP differs from other sites by giving you a lower calorie goal (from what I've seen) and then expecting you to eat your exercise calories while other sites I've looked at give you a higher calorie goal but expect you to build your deficit through exercise.

IE MFP gives me 1900... with 500 calories of exercise I eat 2400...
with my nutritionist I got 2400 calories and was expected to exercise 500 calories a day to build my deficit...
same numbers, mathed differently

^^ This. Yes you're supposed to eat them back.

KareninCanada

^^^ That

babytis

your 1350 goal is your goal with your deficit for your chose rate of loss already factored in. Here at MFP your calorie goal is to lose weight before any exercise.

MFP differs from other sites by giving you a lower calorie goal (from what I've seen) and then expecting you to eat your exercise calories while other sites I've looked at give you a higher calorie goal but expect you to build your deficit through exercise.

IE MFP gives me 1900... with 500 calories of exercise I eat 2400...
with my nutritionist I got 2400 calories and was expected to exercise 500 calories a day to build my deficit...
same numbers, mathed differently

I was actually going to just direct this question right to you, because you helped me so much last night:)

Ok so if I exercise and burn 500 calories lets say, then I should try to eat them all too? What is an ok # of calories I can leave remaining?

babytis

Ok .... seeing the other replies I get the idea.... I need to eat my exercise calories:) Thanks to you all!!

But what is an ok # to leave remaining if I can't eat them all?

RainbootsToBikinis

For me personally on days I do eat back my exercise calories I eat 50% of them. This way I have some wiggle room if I underestimated my food intake and over estimated my calorie burn during exercise. I tend to just eat the calories that feels right for the day. Sometimes that means eating my exercise cals and sometimes I don't

Pandorian

Depends on the "Accuracy" of your burn estimate... if it's from a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) that you have set up I'd probably take the burn it gives. If it's from a machine that you can enter your age/weight/sex into I'd figure 75% of the burn and see how it lines up with a plain ol MFP estimate.

Your calories goal IS a goal that you want to be near, but I don't stress over 150-200 calories either way, and as you can see tonight I'm 300+ over my goal but that's within my 1000 calories (2lb/week) deficit so I'm not worried.

If getting close to the goal means you're going to chow down on junkfood to do it you're better off not to eat the calories, but you can pick up nutrient dense foods like nuts, nut butters, avocado, full fat milk, higher fat yogurts as opposed to no fat etc.

babytis

For me personally on days I do eat back my exercise calories I eat 50% of them. This way I have some wiggle room if I underestimated my food intake and over estimated my calorie burn during exercise. I tend to just eat the calories that feels right for the day. Sometimes that means eating my exercise cals and sometimes I don't

I love how you put that.. "Wiggle room" ...... lol

babytis

Depends on the "Accuracy" of your burn estimate... if it's from a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) that you have set up I'd probably take the burn it gives. If it's from a machine that you can enter your age/weight/sex into I'd figure 75% of the burn and see how it lines up with a plain ol MFP estimate.

Your calories goal IS a goal that you want to be near, but I don't stress over 150-200 calories either way, and as you can see tonight I'm 300+ over my goal but that's within my 1000 calories (2lb/week) deficit so I'm not worried.

If getting close to the goal means you're going to chow down on junkfood to do it you're better off not to eat the calories, but you can pick up nutrient dense foods like nuts, nut butters, avocado, full fat milk, higher fat yogurts as opposed to no fat etc.

Once again thank you so much for all your help. Maybe someday I'm have all the answers I need, but don't hold your breath:)

MaximalLife

MFP calculates our total daily calorie intake WITHOUT exercise to lose 1 pound or so per week.
And after we log exercises, our daily calorie limit increases.
Why?
Because MFP telling us to eat our exercise calories.
Large deficits are unhealthy, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
In many cases you'll lose lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS your metabolic rate, making weight loss harder.
These crash diets work well for a season -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so
few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories
more slowly -- and you gain weight.
Be smart.
Exercise well both cardio and resistance, and eat back the calories.
The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.

sharonfincher1

I didn't lose any weight until I stopped eating my calories back....

babytis

I didn't lose any weight until I stopped eating my calories back....

Tomorrow marks one week for me on MFP, so I'm going to have to see how my body reacts to this type plan. I've never counted calories in my life till now. But I'm really liking it. I like knowing my limits with nothing off limits:)

CallmeSbo

Ok .... seeing the other replies I get the idea.... I need to eat my exercise calories:) Thanks to you all!!

But what is an ok # to leave remaining if I can't eat them all?

Personally, if i were you. I would NOT eat ALL my exercise calories, especially if you rely COMPLETELY on MFP to tell you how much you have burned. I suggest you eat half and see how that goes. MFP overestimates calories burned by hundreds. Yesterday i read a thread here about how a polar HRM is not accurate either for women. How close are you to your goal? The choice is yours and good luck.

shaeni1221

Tomorrow marks one week for me on MFP, so I'm going to have to see how my body reacts to this type plan. I've never counted calories in my life till now. But I'm really liking it. I like knowing my limits with nothing off limits:)

don't be disappointed if you don't see a huge difference on the scale after one week. it took 4 weeks for me before my scale budged, but my clothes started fitting better at week 3

babytis

Ok .... seeing the other replies I get the idea.... I need to eat my exercise calories:) Thanks to you all!!

But what is an ok # to leave remaining if I can't eat them all?

Personally, if i were you. I would NOT eat ALL my exercise calories, especially if you rely COMPLETELY on MFP to tell you how much you have burned. I suggest you eat half and see how that goes. MFP overestimates calories burned by hundreds. Yesterday i read a thread here about how a polar HRM is not accurate either for women. How close are you to your goal? The choice is yours and good luck.

I agree with you, im not going to eat ALL my exercise calories at first. I think half is a fair trade. I first need to see how my body reacts to the whole calorie thing. Thanks for you your input:)

babytis

Tomorrow marks one week for me on MFP, so I'm going to have to see how my body reacts to this type plan. I've never counted calories in my life till now. But I'm really liking it. I like knowing my limits with nothing off limits:)

don't be disappointed if you don't see a huge difference on the scale after one week. it took 4 weeks for me before my scale budged, but my clothes started fitting better at week 3

For my first week I was down a total of 3.4 which I think is good! Today was my birthday so I went a little crazy this eveing with supper, cake and ice cream. But hey.... I have a full week now to turn my wrong into a right:)