Over eating by eating back calories?

TahanyE

I am really thinking I need to stop eating back my calories. I haven't budged in weight at all. Not even slightly. Infact Ive found that Im going up more than down. Im working out more than I ever have in my life and while I know Im building muscle, Ive been working out for 7 months now. I should have started losing some pounds because at this point theres no way Im still putting on that much muscle weight. Im wondering if Im eating back too much of my calories or if MFP is estimating high on my calories burned while exercising. I work out for a minimum of 60 minutes 3-5 days per week. Should I try NOT eating back my calories? Or eating back only half of them?

SweatpantsRebellion

So about how many calories a day are you taking in roughly?

TahanyE

Net or total? Im set to intake 1520 daily. With exercise Im having to eat about 2,000-2,500 depending on my intensity. Ive had days where Id "net" 200 if I didn't eat back some of my calories. But Im also thinking MFP is way over calculating my burned calories.

SweatpantsRebellion

Net or total? Im set to intake 1520 daily. With exercise Im having to eat about 2,000-2,500 depending on my intensity. Ive had days where Id "net" 200 if I didn't eat back some of my calories. But Im also thinking MFP is way over calculating my burned calories.

I have a couple of thoughts. Do you know what your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is? There's various online calculators to use. If you know your body fat %, the ones that take that into account can give you a more accurate number. Make sure you're netting at least your BMR every day. That helps to keep your metabolism boosted. Also, MFP does overestimate calories burned usually. I use a HRM and my burns are often several hundred calories under what MFP estimates.

I hope this helps.

athensguy

The calories generated by MFP for both your Net goal and your exercise are rough guesses. There is significant individual variation in BMR and daily activity level (what MFP would use to derive net) and the amount of calories burned during exercise.

I do think it is a good idea to get a HRM of some kind. If you search around on here, there are some posts that tell you how to make some of them more accurate, too.

Once you're using a HRM, try to stay very close to your net goal for at least several weeks and see how your weight changes, if at all. If you lose more than you expect, manually increase your net goal a little. If you lose less than you expect, reduce your net goal a little. Try the new net goal for a few more weeks to see how that goes, and over time you can get to the point where you are losing about what you want to lose. Once you do start losing weight, your weight loss will eventually start to slow down and then you can either let your weight loss taper or reduce your net goal a little more.