Can anyone help me with question about nutrition?

Cristin129

OK, I need some help, I'm confused! This calorie thing on MFP has me scratching my head. Do I eat only 1200 calories? Or do I eat the "extra" calories I earn from exercise too? If I eat the earned calories, won't I just maintain or gain weight? I appreciate the advice!

Cris

Zichu

If you are on a calorie deficit already, so say if your TDEE is about 1700 calories, and you want to lose a pound a week, you would only eat 1200 calories. When you exercise the calories you just earned will raise the amount you have to eat.

So say if you are on a 1200 calorie diet, with a 1lb a week loss. You do a workout that burns about 300 calories. Now those 300 calories you have burnt have most likely burnt off what you ate earlier, so it's like you never ate that meal or snack, so now you must eat back those calories to get you back to 1200 calorie intake. If not, you will most likely only be in taking about 900 calories a day, which really isn't enough at all. Hell, 1200 calories isn't a lot really.

wabrody

OK, I need some help, I'm confused! This calorie thing on MFP has me scratching my head. Do I eat only 1200 calories? Or do I eat the "extra" calories I earn from exercise too? If I eat the earned calories, won't I just maintain or gain weight? I appreciate the advice!

Cris

You are gonna learn that this is a very well talked about subject. if you do a search you will find that there are people that say you should. Others will say that you shouldn't. Personally I tried both ways and ended up going a different direction.

So what I did was I went to the doctor and actually had my Metabolic Rate measured. It told me what my Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) is, some other details, and how many calories you need to eat everyday to lose weight. I was told to eat 1900-2376 calories a day to lose weight and to not eat my exercise calories back.

This site was telling me to eat 1500 calories a day + exercise calories back (I burn 1000 calories almost everyday in cardio). So i was eating around 2500 calories a day and gaining weight. But that was just me.

My opinion is that the site gives a general number for the average person. The problem is that no one is average. that is why i had a doctor actually tell me what my Caloric Zones are so i can know for sure how much I need to eat.

So what i would recommend is either see a doctor and get an exact calorie count to follow or start off by eating back some of your exersise calories. Give it about 4-6 weeks. If there is no weight loss i would reduce your calorie count. Also make sure to take the time and accurately count your calorie intake.


Hope this helps.

yarwell

OK, I need some help, I'm confused! This calorie thing on MFP has me scratching my head. Do I eat only 1200 calories? Or do I eat the "extra" calories I earn from exercise too? If I eat the earned calories, won't I just maintain or gain weight? I appreciate the advice!

If it is telling you 1200 as your food intake goal that comes from the activity level and target weight loss rate you gave it. 1200 and no exercise will give you a weight loss.

1200 - 300 calories of exercise + 300 of extra food will give you the same calorie deficit / weight loss as 1200 and no exercise.

Cristin129

Thanks everyone, that does clear it up a bit!

imthelobster

I usually eat about 1/2 or so back, MFP tends to way overestimate calories burned, so unless you're using a heart rate monitor, I wouldn't eat back all of them. But since MFP builds in your deficit, you should definitely eat some of them back, so you don't go too far into deficit!

BerryH

In simple terms, put your non-exercise activity level and goals into MFP, selecting to lose no more than 1lb a week unless you're seriously overweight, and it will give you a target number of calories to consume each day, leaving you at a sensible deficit to lose weight.

If you exercise, you increase the deficit and MFP reflects that by giving you a higher calorie goal, encouraging you to "eat back" all, or a good proportion of, your exercise calories. The lower your calorie goal (especially if it's as low as 1200) the more important it is to eat your exercise calories to ensure you get all the nutrition you need. And also to make sure you're not hungry and grumpy and want to stick with it!

Bear in mind that few other diet systems let you "earn" exercise calories, they usually give you a higher limit to start with.

FollowMeFit

I personally feel like 1200 is too low for anyone. I shoot for 1400-1500 a day and don't eat back my exercise calories unless I hit it hard in the gym and am starving and even then I shoot for just eating back a few, maybe another hundred or so. The important thing to remember is to get good quality, high nutrition calories in when your on a low calories diet. If it's not junk, you will still loose weight at 1400-1500. If you eat junk, you will have a hard time loosing and having enough energy to work out at any calorie number. Good luck.

CyberEd312

Keep a modest deficit to lose weight is the key.. You do not want that deficit to be to big because it will eventually wreak havoc on your metabolism and have the opposite effect that you are looking for... I always say slow and steady wins the race, if you have your goal to lose a pound a week your deficit in calories will be 500 calories a day from your BMR... 500 a day x 7days = 3500 calories a week which equates to 1 pound a week weightloss. If you go to the gym (I would recommend wearing a heart rate monitor for more accurate calories burned numbers) and burn 600 calories, you now have created to large of a deficit (obese people can get away with larger deficits because of the amount of fat that can be pulled from for an energy source but I don't recommend this as an option) and you need to eat back those exercise calories. The benefits of exercise isn't necessarily about losing weight, it is more geared towards improving your overall health, strength, cardio and not so much about the weight on the scale... I eat back 85-90% of my exercise calories (per my Polar FT60 heart rate monitor) and have lost alittle weight but the biggest difference that the exercise has done for me is in my overall appearance and not so much on the scale.... Best of Luck......

ickybella

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390145-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories