How best to factor exercise calories?

kaylz0106

I've been on MFP for a while, granted I had a break between July and October but I'm back and am finding what did work for me in July isn't working for me this time around, I can only assume due to a shift in the way I exercise.

From January to July my net calories were always around 1500 and I always ate back my exercise calories and lost weight consistently but I've tried this for over two months now and I kicked off at 195lbs on 21st October and I am 192 today so not great considering 8 weeks has passed. I have thought about it and I have no logical explanation as to why what did work for me isnt anymore but I assume it has something to do with the exercises I did do and am doing as before I did 5k a day walk/jog now I jog 5k, run 3k and do 30DS everyday and also swim once a week on top of that.

So my question to you is this which way do you factor in your exercise calories that you find helps with the weight loss? I've thought dont eat exercise calories back but I know that I would net at like 500 per day then! So I am thinking if I put my calories intake goal to a maintenance level, log exercises and then net at anything above 1200?? other options would be to set my goals to a calories intake designed to help me lose 1lb per week and not log exercise. Like I said I'm stuck so just ideas but can some help please??

VelvetAcidVixen

The simplest and most accurate way in my opinion is to set your calories at the sedentary level and use a heart rate monitor to calculate exercise calories... then eat all or most of them back. Now that you are in better shape, you are probably burning fewer calories during exercise, thus why your weight loss has slowed. Also, take your measurements. Sometimes when I was losing weight, the scale would be the same but I was still shrinking.

brown6267

I agree with VelvetAcid. Set your level to sedentary, get a HRM, and use these calories. I would eat at least 1/2 if not all of them back. I, too, found that the scale would not move for 4 - 6 weeks but clothes were getting loser, etc.; I was losing inches in the waist, hips, etc. Then all of a sudden, there would be 3 pounds down on the scale that never came back.

lvtruu1

Don't count them. Losing weight comes mostly from being in a caloric deficit. I personally don't bother. Exercising is great, but I believe that many think that they can add a bunch of calories because they exercise. Do you really know how many calories you are burning? To many people way over estimate how many calories they are burning. Then wonder why they aren't losing weight. Set your goal to eat 500/1000 calories less then your TDEE. If you exercise its a bonus. If you do use exercise to increase your calories make sure you are recalculating every 10/20 pounds. You will be burning less as you get smaller. You will also be burning less are you get more efficient at a given exercise.