Caloric intake + exercise = extra calories needed?

Rockgod

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to this site and keeping a food journal as well.
I have a maybe kinda wierd question, but would really like to understand this whole extra calories needed with exercise concept.
According to My Fitness Pal, I should be eating 1250 calories a day. I started biking to work (16-17 mile roundtrip) and supposedly, I burn ~1000 cals doing that.
So My Fitness Pal says I need to eat an extra 1000 cals, so I end up eating ~2000 cals a day. Still under my daily caloric intake.
Can anyone tell me why I need to do this?
I don't understand thsi because, logically thinking, I'm replacing the cals I burned with the extra cals I ate.
So it seems like I'm not really burning anything off.
I'm sure I have it wrong, but would just like some help understanding the whole thougth process behind this.

Thanks,

sgthaggard

Because MFP has already set you up with a calorie deficit (1250 calories). If you ate that and didn't do a lick of exercise, presumably, you would still lose a pound a week. Burning 1000 calories and eating 1250 calories would give you net calories of 250. I'm a fairly small female and I wouldn't be able to survive on that.

Rockgod

ok, So why can't I eat my 1250 calories (that would have me loose 1lb a week) as well as burn 1000 calories to help me loose more per week?
I would like to slim down, but not JUST slim down. I would like to know how to eat to stay slim and stay healthy. I want to do this the right way.

maybe there is a link that i could be pointed to, to help me understand this. I really don't want to take a college course to understand all this

jebreject

ok, So why can't I eat my 1250 calories (that would have me loose 1lb a week) as well as burn 1000 calories to help me loose more per week?

Because you would go into starvation mode. A person cannot survive on only 250 calories a day.

I would like to slim down, but not JUST slim down. I would like to know how to eat to stay slim and stay healthy. I want to do this the right way.

I suggest trying to hit your calorie goals every day, and paying close attention to your macros (carbs, protein, sugars, etc.) and try to hit those goals as well. You might want to aim for more protein than MFP actually recommends, and you can adjust those settings under the "goals" tab. If you don't feel comfortable messing around with all that just yet, though, I wouldn't worry about it. Just try to hit your goals every day, and you will lose weight and get in shape. Trying to meet your macro goals will help you stay healthy as well.

There is much debate around these parts about diet, whether it's okay to eat whatever you like as long as you are meeting your goals, or whether there are overall health benefits to particular diets ("clean" eating, raw foods, vegan, etc.) but for right now I'd stay mostly focused on just meeting your goals every day.

maybe there is a link that i could be pointed to, to help me understand this. I really don't want to take a college course to understand all this

I recommend hanging around the message boards and reading any of the topics that sound pertinent or interesting to you. You'll learn a lot of very useful information.

Rockgod

OK, so I've been reading for a few hours and found a very informative post that seems to be very popular: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I followed the advice and used the calculators at http://www.fat2fitradio.com and the numbers I got are way off from MFP's numbers, as far as daily caloric intake goes. MFP says 1250 a day and fat2fitradio says 1850. Not really sure which one to follow, but either way, the bottom line is if I burn ~1000 caolries from exercise I need to eat ~1000 extra calories, right? Say I follow the 1850, I'll need to eat 2850 cals per day (carved out with proper protein, carbs and fat) in order to really start losing weight? From What I've been reading, this burns fat tissue and not muscle tissue, is that correct?

megsmom2

Your body needs nutricious food even, and especially when you are losing mass. If you don't consume enough, you'll start metabolizing your own muscles...which is NOT whet you want. Plus your metabolic rate can slow down, making it harder.to lose at all. Eat all or most of your earned calories.

Spanaval

OK, so I've been reading for a few hours and found a very informative post that seems to be very popular: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I followed the advice and used the calculators at http://www.fat2fitradio.com and the numbers I got are way off from MFP's numbers, as far as daily caloric intake goes. MFP says 1250 a day and fat2fitradio says 1850. Not really sure which one to follow, but either way, the bottom line is if I burn ~1000 caolries from exercise I need to eat ~1000 extra calories, right? Say I follow the 1850, I'll need to eat 2850 cals per day (carved out with proper protein, carbs and fat) in order to really start losing weight? From What I've been reading, this burns fat tissue and not muscle tissue, is that correct?

NO! If you follow that method, the exercise is built into the calculation, so you do not eat back your exerxise. You just eat 1850 daily.

Rockgod

If my exercise is built into my numbers, then the 1850 came from a seditary lifestyle since I have a deskjob ( IT Geek). So, my recalculated BMR is 1950. starting tomorrow, I will ride to and from work burning ~1000 cals, but eating only my alloted 1950 cals for the day.

Thanks for clarifying this somewhat complicated subject everyone.

elrolloSurf

Yes you've got it! Stick to that because when you don't consume enough calories the bod goes into starvation mode as someone pointed out and it stores fat.

I noticed I actually lost more when I stuck to the calorie plan and not when I ate significantly less!

Eating a few more healthy calories is not going to harm you in any way at all.

Rockgod

I thouhgt I got this subject in check, but MFP is confusing me. Am I supposed to just ignore what MFP says as far as my exercise calories? I've adjusted my numbers and just entered my morning ride, and of course, MFP deducts it from my daily total.
So, again, just to be sure, I am still only eating my allotted daily calories regardles of my 16 mile comute to and from work?
MFP will start yelling at me about not eating enough, but I just ignore that?

jebreject

The goal that MFP gives you does not include your bike riding if you set it to sedentary, and you would want to eat back those calories. That is my understanding, anyway. If I am wrong, please let me know.

myfitnessnmhoy

The goal that MFP gives you does not include your bike riding if you set it to sedentary, and you would want to eat back those calories. That is my understanding, anyway. If I am wrong, please let me know.

You're right.

If you set up your profile as "sedentary" and a goal of 2 pounds a week, you are eating at a 1,000 calorie deficit daily below your estimated total daily energy expenditure. 1,000 calories * 7 days = 7,000 calories / 3,500 calories per pound = 2 pounds. As long as you aren't within 20 pounds or so of an ideal BMI, you should be able to do 1.5-2 pounds a week in a healthy manner as long as you are eating your calories wisely (getting your fat, protein, and carbs in reasonable balances).

Eating at a deficit burns a proportion of fat, muscle, and organs. The things that are needed most, and are used least, are burned. Therefore, exercising during weight loss is beneficial as it helps retain muscle and the body will tend to focus more on burning fat where energy is required.

However, as you start to make your weight loss faster (and how many of us don't want to do that?), the problem is that you are not feeding your body enough, and in particular enough protein, to sustain muscle. So no matter how much exercise you do, your body cannot repair the muscles you are using and will actually start cannibalizing them for protein (though it will focus on muscles you are not using first).

Muscle mass is NOT what you want your body to be losing. First, your body fat percentage does not improve, leading to the same kinds of health problems you'd have if you were very overweight (some people use the somewhat insulting term "skinny fat" to describe someone who is within a healthy BMI range but has a high body fat percentage). Second, losing muscle means your body is burning fewer calories on an ongoing basis, and you're REALLY going to struggle with those last few pounds.

If you are purely in this to lose weight and are in a hurry, then at least make sure you are meeting your protein requirements for a given day and take a multivitamin to make sure you are getting your vitamins and minerals. You're probably not going to be terribly happy with the results, but it's your body.

I bicycle 14 miles each way daily, and burn about 1,200 calories a day doing so. Wednesday really starts to suck if I don't force myself to eat most of those calories back on Monday and Tuesday, or if I eat empty junk to meet my calorie goal. If I focus on protein sources like nuts and lean meats to boost my calories up near my goal, I can get on the bike on Friday with a smile on my face and a song in my heart, happy to be avoiding burning another gallon of gasoline.

nellyett

I've done A LOT of research on this recently as I was completely confused about my BMR, TDEE, etc. etc....

I was originally set at 1200 cal per day according to MFP. I initially lost weight but had stalled and couldn't figure out why. I do bootcamp and run 5-7 days per week. I was only NETTING about 600 cals per day. It set me back big time!!

So based on everything I've read and from multiple sources, you should NEVER eat below your BMR. Mine is 1369 according to most sources. I've reset my goals in MFP to a net calorie count of 1430 per day. I eat back ALL of my exercise calories. I didn't want to make the mistake of eating back too many or too few as I find that the calorie burn estimations are a little out of whack. I found that MFP tends to over estimate the burn, so I bought an HRM to track exactly how many calories I burn in each exercise session.

If I calculate my TDEE at moderately active, it puts me somewhere around 1900 per day, and if I subtract the 500 cal per day deficit to lose 1 lb per week, then that puts me at my NET of 1400-ish. So basically on track.

I was super confused at first and had no idea which numbers to use, but there is a lot of information on 'eating more to lose weight', TDEE, and much more. The more reading I did, the more it made sense.

Hope that helps!~ Good luck!

jebreject

The goal that MFP gives you does not include your bike riding if you set it to sedentary, and you would want to eat back those calories. That is my understanding, anyway. If I am wrong, please let me know.

You're right.

If you set up your profile as "sedentary" and a goal of 2 pounds a week, you are eating at a 1,000 calorie deficit daily below your estimated total daily energy expenditure. 1,000 calories * 7 days = 7,000 calories / 3,500 calories per pound = 2 pounds. As long as you aren't within 20 pounds or so of an ideal BMI, you should be able to do 1.5-2 pounds a week in a healthy manner as long as you are eating your calories wisely (getting your fat, protein, and carbs in reasonable balances).

Eating at a deficit burns a proportion of fat, muscle, and organs. The things that are needed most, and are used least, are burned. Therefore, exercising during weight loss is beneficial as it helps retain muscle and the body will tend to focus more on burning fat where energy is required.

However, as you start to make your weight loss faster (and how many of us don't want to do that?), the problem is that you are not feeding your body enough, and in particular enough protein, to sustain muscle. So no matter how much exercise you do, your body cannot repair the muscles you are using and will actually start cannibalizing them for protein (though it will focus on muscles you are not using first).

Muscle mass is NOT what you want your body to be losing. First, your body fat percentage does not improve, leading to the same kinds of health problems you'd have if you were very overweight (some people use the somewhat insulting term "skinny fat" to describe someone who is within a healthy BMI range but has a high body fat percentage). Second, losing muscle means your body is burning fewer calories on an ongoing basis, and you're REALLY going to struggle with those last few pounds.

If you are purely in this to lose weight and are in a hurry, then at least make sure you are meeting your protein requirements for a given day and take a multivitamin to make sure you are getting your vitamins and minerals. You're probably not going to be terribly happy with the results, but it's your body.

I bicycle 14 miles each way daily, and burn about 1,200 calories a day doing so. Wednesday really starts to suck if I don't force myself to eat most of those calories back on Monday and Tuesday, or if I eat empty junk to meet my calorie goal. If I focus on protein sources like nuts and lean meats to boost my calories up near my goal, I can get on the bike on Friday with a smile on my face and a song in my heart, happy to be avoiding burning another gallon of gasoline.

This post is absolutely wonderful. I'm going to share it with my friends when they have questions about this topic.

Rockgod

But I customized my numbers according to fat2fitradio.com in which I chose the active (exercixe 3-5 times a week). I did this after reading a post directing a person to calculate their tdee and bmr.
A response said that calculation will not need to eat my exercise calories, because they are built into the final number.
So my 1900 cals are what I should be eating (including my exercise cals).
That is how I understand it.

jebreject

Unless you get the exact same exercise every day, it seems to me that it makes more sense to track your exercise separately.

jebreject

Okay, so: if you use MFP as it suggests, using the guided goals and without customization, and you track your exercise separately, you should try to eat back most (but not necessarily all) of the calories you burned on your bike rides or via other exercise.

If you're using the method recommended in that forum post, or the (slightly different) method that Fat2Fit Radio recommends, your exercise is accounted for (at least based on estimations), which includes eating back calories burned. The important thing if you are using these methods is to not track your exercises via MFP, or if you do, because you find it beneficial for other reasons, ignore the calories MFP tells you you've "earned." On days where you exercise more than normal, especially if you're lifting, it's probably a good idea to eat a bit more, if you are basing your TDEE on "sedentary" or "lightly active." (I would highly recommend against basing it on "sedentary" since you do bike regularly, and I assume you move around at least some at your job (and at home) as well.

Whichever method you choose, keep in mind that you may need to change your goals based on whatever results you're seeing. Also keep in mind that if you continually eat too far below your goal (esp. if you eat below your BMR), you will plateau, because your metabolism will slow down and your body will start consuming muscles over fat. Which, as you can imagine, is bad.

I recommend listening to the podcasts at Fat2Fit Radio as well. They're very informative, and help create a road map to longterm, continued success.