calories and why it says Im below my target everyday

buffyanne1

Im not sure how this wroks,Could someone explain how this thing goes?Im set at 1200 calories aday,but when i log my food and exercise im always way below my goal.One of my friends who is a nutrionist told me 1200 is to low for the amout of exercise I do everyday.She says I need 1500.Please help,lol.

RLDeShazo

Did you set it at 1200, or did MFP set it there based on the info you put in? Are you eating back your exercise calories?

buffyanne1

MFP set it at the info I put in.What do you mean by eating back my exercise caloreies?I just finished my workout,after I logged it in it said I earned 606 calories,what is that?Should I eat an additional 606 calories?

RLDeShazo

What weekly weight loss goal did you put in, and how much are you trying to lose? If you put in 2 pounds a week and you have less than say 50 pounds to lose, you might want to lower it a little, say 1 pound or even 1/2 a pound a week. Of course, we would all love to lose weight as quickly as possible, but it is better in the long run to go as slow as your body needs.

If you are eating less than 1200 calories a day, and working off over 600 calories, your leaving less than 600 calories a day for your body to do all the rest of the things it needs to do. Eating back your excersize calories is a hotly debated topic here, but I would suggest eating at least some of them back.

Since so many of the numbers used are estimates, you will have to find a good balance that works well for you. Read the forum, take what information you think works best for you, and good luck on your journey.

now_or_never12

Yes! Eat the extra calories. 1,200 is not enough to function for a lot of people... If you eat 1,200 a day than burn off 600 your body only has 600 to fuel it. Eat your exercise cals back!

clintbritt3

Yes, ALWAYS eat your workout calories, for whatever reason a lot of people on here don't understand simple math to know that if you eat 1200 calories, and workout and burn 300, you'll only left with 900 calories for your body to survive, grown, and function on..... just think of the workout calories as bonus calories to eat back, they don't matter, it won't mess with your weight loss, they are just there for you to enjoy

AngieCook09

Don't eat 600 unless you are sure that you burned 600. I usually eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories just to be safe.

jenlarz

MFP set it at the info I put in.What do you mean by eating back my exercise caloreies?I just finished my workout,after I logged it in it said I earned 606 calories,what is that?Should I eat an additional 606 calories?

YES!!! You will feel better and your body will function better if its getting the nutrition it needs

Cal28

I found I didn't loose much at all when I eat most of my exercise calories but that is how MFP is set up to work so try sticking to the design first.
I don't use them 70% of the time but do have 'cheat' days where I might go over. As long is my weekly average is about right then I'm happy x

Josteyn

The 1200 is to make sure that - with a VARIED diet - you get enough of the various nutrients your body needs.


On top of that, you need to find out what ENERGY you used.


Food gives you nutrients AND it can be burned to make energy. The main energy foods are carbohydrates (starches and sugars) and the long term stores are your fat.

You need to eat a VARIED diet of around 1200 to run your body even if you do very little. If you do more, then your body will burn more of your energy stores, BUT it needs the proteins, vitamins et al from the 1200 calories you ate to do that.

If you give it too little or too 'same-y' a diet, it can't burn your fat stores, but it still need the energy, so it will burn your protein and other stores - which are your muscles and your other essential organs.

So, eat a VARIED diet, with 500 calories less in it (as long as you have at least 1200 or so) than your body needs, and then exercise to encourage the fat burn. That gives you 1 pound a week loss.

For any more loss, you must burn calories by exercise NOT reduce your input to silly numbers.

Silly numbers means 800 or less for more than a day or so at a time, with 1200 or so for the rest of the week, and silly diets are ones with too little variety. Fruit, veg, protein, dairy for calcium, and soon.

Rays_Wife

If you are going by MFP's calorie burn estimates, slash those by 50%. MFP estimates are VERY ridiculously high. It wasn't until I started using a heart rate monitor that I found that out the hard way. Yes eat back some of those calories. I would eat back about 300, making your total 1500. I think your doctor was dead on. I recommend getting an HRM if you don't have one already. If that is an HRM estimate than feel free to eat most of those back (I usually eat 90%-100% of mine back). So if you truly burned 600 you should eat 1700-1800 today (because your calorie deficit is already built into MFP equation)

Tourney3p0

If you are going by MFP's calorie burn estimates, slash those by 50%. MFP estimates are VERY ridiculously high.

For some people. For me, they are ridiculously low.

There is no rule of thumb here. If you want to be accurate, get a heart rate monitor. If you're just going to make a guess based on what was already a guess, just throw in whatever number feels good.

Cemjames

Yes should eat all calories .

Rays_Wife

Well either way, you know you had to burn SOMETHING from exercise, right? So eat SOMETHING back lol. :laugh: Pick a number. I don't know!