Fear of eating back exercise cals - advice?!

hbunting86

Hi

Just joined this group (so hi everyone!).

Basically I've started working out/watching what I eat properly this time around - I always flit between being super serious and giving up as I don't see results despite my efforts.

My stats: 132lb (or thereabouts), 5'4'', female, petite build, sedentary job, workout 4-5 times per week cardio and weights

My aim: 120lbs (or thereabouts) - but really I want to be strong and fit rather than 'skinny' per se. Toned is what I'm after.

I've never eaten back my exercise calories due to fear it negates the whole workout process. In my head (illogical I know), that's like wiping out the activity I've done. I just can't see how it can be functional to eat back something you've burned.

Does anyone have any advice for me, as in what I should be aiming for both in terms of caloric intake that would facilitate me to reach my goals, or does anyone have any experience of my situation?

Thanks in advance!

Heather

asidebottom

Hi Heather,

What we aim for here is consistancy for your body so you want to aim to eat the same number of calories every day unless the amount of energy burned through exercise takes you under your BMR.

I ran your figures through Scooby http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ assuming you were 26 (based on your forum name!)

I got:

BMR: 1401
TDEE: 2172
TDEE with 15% cut: 1846

So to lose weight and gain muscle you should eat 1846 a day every day, if your calorie burn through exercise is over 445 (TDEE -15% less BMR) you should eat back the dfference. So if you burn 500cal eat an additional 55 for that day, you never want to net below your BMR.

You're in the same position I was a few weeks ago and I made the switch - I feel fantastic! I am doing a metabolism reset because I was on low cal diets for 4 years leading up to this point so I am eating my full TDEE for 8 weeks. If you have been dieting up to this point for a while I would consider doing that first. There's loads of information and support in the stickies at the top of the forum.

Alison

hbunting86

Hi

Thanks for the add! Yep you guessed right I am indeed 26!

Wow that throws a whole different light on things really... I never knew I under ate by so much. I've never really eaten a great deal to be the kind of 'skinny fat' that Iam - I guess the eating more to lose more really does make sense if my TDEE is over 2000 and yet I tend to only net 1000 per day or just over. Quite a shocker really.

I think my fear was 'undoing' what I'm actually doing, when in fact by doing what I THINK I'm doing, I'm actually making things worse. I don't necessarily subscribe to the starvation mode idea, but I do believe that the body intuitively knows how best to metabolise a consistent energy intake.

Time to feed up I guess (YAY)

Thanks for the reply

Heather

hbunting86

Just another question though - I want to change my goals on MFP but if I enter my height, weight, age, activity level etc and put in what according to this calculator I should be consuming, it comes out with something like 0.1lb per week estimated loss or something,

Am I missing how to change my goals?

Thanks
Heather

asidebottom

Wow that throws a whole different light on things really... I never knew I under ate by so much. I've never really eaten a great deal to be the kind of 'skinny fat' that Iam - I guess the eating more to lose more really does make sense if my TDEE is over 2000 and yet I tend to only net 1000 per day or just over. Quite a shocker really.

I think my fear was 'undoing' what I'm actually doing, when in fact by doing what I THINK I'm doing, I'm actually making things worse. I don't necessarily subscribe to the starvation mode idea, but I do believe that the body intuitively knows how best to metabolise a consistent energy intake.

Time to feed up I guess (YAY)

Indeed, it caused my brain to go into panic mode for a few weeks, I had to keep coming on here for reassurance. I did bloat up for the first couple of weeks which was scarey but since then things are much improved. I haven't weighed myself or measured and don't intend to for another few weeks but my trousers are loose and I feel much more toned. And, more importantly, I am HAPPY!! I'm not grumpy through lack of food, I don't spend all day worrying that I will go to bed hungry...

I'm not 100% sure on the goals issue. I set the calorie intake goal to what I wanted and I ignore the rest! I just aim to eat 2100 a day straight and manually calc my eating back if necessary but it's rare that I have to do that. Incidentally if you do find that you have to eat back calories too often then you need to change your activity level in Scooby, I set it at moderate for you (3-5 hours exercise a week).

Also don't forget to change your macro nutrients to 40% carb, 30% protein and 30% fat - I am sure that's made a huge difference to how I feel.

Alison

hbunting86

Thanks that's awesome

I'll certainly give it a shot - I'll just have to ignore what MFP says I'll lose haha!

Heather

StephieWillcox

The reason MFP is saying you will only lose 0.1lb a week is because it is incorrectly calculating your TDEE. Unfortunately there is no easy way to rectify this so you will just have to ignore what MFP tells you about where you'll be "in 5 weeks" and see where you actually are