Qustion for those of you who have been successful

PHATmommy68

Yes. The baseline calories are set so that you will make your weight loss goal with NO exercise beyond your normal daily activity level.

I would disagree with this concept though. If you reach your goal and the baseline is set for calories with NO exercise, this is not beneficial to you! You should CONTINUE to exercise to keep yourself toned, etc. If you don't use it, you lose it!

ShannonMpls

Trainer explained it to me like this: You can't drive a car without gas right.
So you have to have enough fuel to complete a workout. You gotta eat

Well kind of, but the car that is my body has extra fuel stores all over the place; it's called fat. Though I certainly agree that under-eating decreases performance at the gym and can have all kinds of metabolic consequences, this analogy isn't really apt.

PHATmommy68

I think maybe I'm over thinking this whole calorie counting thing....I lost weight in the past on low carb so forgive me if this is new to me.
Let me get this straight.......Lets say MFP has my calories set at 1400 and I burn 400 with exercise.....my actual calorie allowance for the day is 1800? Seems like a lot to me.

What I do is try to have left over calories per day! Just because you have extra calories, doesn't mean you need to spend it! Kinda like a savings account!

heidiberr

Every single calorie. Food=fuel.

48longs

Great question. Every person is different. Loss of over 40 pounds in 5 months still off not struggling. I do very little exercise but still maintain under 100 calories yet concentrate on low carb low fat diet. Weekends I let loose and eat what I want without over doing it. Age and body makes a big difference. Eating every 2 hours and staying active helped for me and oh yeh. Lots. And. Lots of fluids.

48longs

Oops meant to say 1000 calories sorry should read prior to post

Fat_2_Fit_Mommy

Bump very interesting to know.

bclj

My strategy has been to stay under the calorie goal on light/no workout days, and to try to hit the goal on workout days. In other words, I do not want to eat back my calories burned. Keep in mind, however, that in general, my calorie burn is 300-500. If you burn more than that, you need the fuei.

I eat five times - three meals from 200-500 calories, an apple at mid-morning, and nuts or a homemade snack bag (120 cals) in mid afternoon.

I also drink over a gallon of water every day. I am 54, and it helps with my arthritis as well as weight loss.

Hope this helps.

Sheila_Ann

:flowerforyou: I eat mine back as well. On certain days I add 950 workout calories to my 1200 daily calories. On those days, I sometimes don't eat them all back because I'm just not hungry. I avg about a pound a week for weight loss. Best of luck to you and everyone else!

Sheila

Norm949

I try to eat within the MFP recommendation before excerise, but I can use up the extra calories on those days you want a little extra or a to treat yourself.