Very confused about my calorie intake

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  • laurenmcd94
    laurenmcd94 Posts: 18
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    Thankyou! I'm new to this and all I'm trying to understand is how, even though I burned off 466 calories through exercise, eating them back is going to help me lose weight. To me that makes absolutely no sense.
    It isn't going to help you lose weight, the argument is that if you've restricted your food intake in order to lose weight then on days you do exercise there's no need to increase the restriction / deficit further so you eat the exercise calories and that cancels out the calorific benefit of the exercise.

    If you were exercising for other reasons it would make sense, but if you're only exercising for weight loss it doesn't - especially as the 466 is probably an overestimate.

    I'm confused - Are you saying I should or shouldn't eat the calories back? Sorry!
  • laurenmcd94
    laurenmcd94 Posts: 18
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    Try nuts, nut butter, avocado, beans, lentils, or meat to add healthy calories. Hummus it also a great choice. :)

    If you told MFP that you are sedentary when you set your goals, then it did not include exercise/activity in your calorie intake. Your fitness goals of exercising 5x a week are recorded to help you keep track as a separate goal.

    Thanks!!! I am a huge bean fan and currently I'm eating a lot of them. I forgot about nuts! I have some chick peas, whenever I decide to cook them I'm gonna figure out how to make hummus haha :)
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
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    Thankyou! I'm new to this and all I'm trying to understand is how, even though I burned off 466 calories through exercise, eating them back is going to help me lose weight. To me that makes absolutely no sense.
    It isn't going to help you lose weight, the argument is that if you've restricted your food intake in order to lose weight then on days you do exercise there's no need to increase the restriction / deficit further so you eat the exercise calories and that cancels out the calorific benefit of the exercise.

    If you were exercising for other reasons it would make sense, but if you're only exercising for weight loss it doesn't - especially as the 466 is probably an overestimate.

    I'm confused - Are you saying I should or shouldn't eat the calories back? Sorry!

    I wouldn't worry about it for tonight. Just start tomorrow (well today, now) and realize that the numbers are not set in stone. You'll adjust as you go along.
  • emsicle_o
    emsicle_o Posts: 162 Member
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    I wouldn't worry too much about whether you've exactly hit these goals or not, just log absolutely everything that passes your lips and your exercise, then see how it goes. If you're not losing, adjust, if you're gaining adjust, if you don't feel well, adjust, but if it's working, keep at it! I'm normally quite naughty when at work as I have a shop next door to the office. But the thought of having to log whatever I buy has discouraged me from getting it - it's little things like that that really help me
  • pixtotts
    pixtotts Posts: 552 Member
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    not that iv done much exercise of late... but what i do is do food as i go then i can watch what im eating know how many calories, then just before i finish it for the day pop exercise in then i have the woo look what iv done feeling without feeling i need to eat more because iv already done the food bit.
    I found if i did the exercise as i went i couldnt separate the two.
    x
  • laurenmcd94
    laurenmcd94 Posts: 18
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    Thanks guys (: Every day is different and I can't exactly log all of my calories the moment I eat them, but I do write them down and keep track of what I'm eating so that I can look it up later.

    I guess I'll stick to my "no lower than 1650 and no higher than 2000" rule - 2000 is a little higher than I'd like to go but it's less than my BMR, so.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    I'm confused - Are you saying I should or shouldn't eat the calories back? Sorry!

    a woman over 200 pounds can sustain a large deficit, I see no reason to eat recreationally because you exercised.
  • laurenmcd94
    laurenmcd94 Posts: 18
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    not that iv done much exercise of late... but what i do is do food as i go then i can watch what im eating know how many calories, then just before i finish it for the day pop exercise in then i have the woo look what iv done feeling without feeling i need to eat more because iv already done the food bit.
    I found if i did the exercise as i went i couldnt separate the two.
    x

    That's a good idea!
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    If you continiously do not eat your calories back your body will fight back faster as it adjusts to the under eating - eating back calories allows for weight loss at a regulated rate with less metabolism turn down. But eat less if you feel full and vary your days. It then makes it ok to eat a little more the next days. Keep a small deficit over the week and you will be fine. A large deficit over a short while is also fine if you are very much overweight - but only if you are not very hungry and rready to quit. The mental game is just as important!

    Your BMR varies little with exercise, what varies is the TDEE. This is your total expenditure. read up on these, it will make everything clearer. You'll learn that this is all estimates and guess work and will need to adjust up or down to see what fits you best. Also your BMR will, alas, most likely go down as you lose weight (and exercise, apparently...) so you'll need to recalculate in a few months...

    Have a safe and healthy journey.

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