Calories Burned Throughout the Day

KSwatek

So, this is my first official question and I'm hoping someone on here can help.

I am trying to find the right number of calories to eat per day. I am a photographer so the majority of my day, if I'm not out shooting, is behind a desk and at a computer. I do work out 7 days a week. 6 of those days is typically over 60 minutes and on the seventh day, I usually take it a little easier -- simple cardio and maybe an ab workout.

On a "go all out day," I typically burn around 850-950 calories. Now, here is my question (finally, right?). If I eat 1400 calories per day and I burn 850-950 per day, am I banking the rest of those calories OR are those calories being burned during the rest of my day. For example, I know 10% of calories are burned on digestion. And I know that women can burn up to 1800 calories a day just by doing nothing (keeping our body alive and what not).

When I first signed up for MFP, it gave me the number of calories I should be eating based on activity and based on my weight. Do I need to eat more calories or less based upon my activity. This part is confusing. I'm trying to create a calorie deficit and burn more calories than I take in. But I'm wondering if I'm not burning enough calories.

Help?

nxd10

How do you know you're burning 850-900 calories? That would be exceptionally low, even lying in bed.

IMO, the best way to model activity (which is what happens when they guess your calorie needs) is to set yourself at 'sedentary' then log your exercise and extra activities. So, I typically sit at a desk and computer or teach, but sometimes walk or do strenuous yard work. I log myself as sedentary and then log that exercise and eat those calories back. That gives me the calories I need minus my calorie deficit, which will cause me to lose weight.

If you're hungry or losing too fast, set your activity level up one notch (light active).

If you are really into accuracy, you could use a pedometer to count typical steps in a day and get an average. When you're on a shoot, wear a pedometer. Log the extra steps that day as 'walking' exercise.

Or just take it as a bonus or estimate.

marycmeadows

How do you know you're burning 850-900 calories? That would be exceptionally low, even lying in bed.

I think she meant that's her calorie burn during her work out on the all out days, not the 7th light day.....

You need to go to an online calculator and figure out your tdee & your bmr. Don't eat below your bmr, and take 15% off your TDEE - that's your calorie goal. If you eat too low, you're not fueling your body properly and therefore it won't cooperate (i.e. won't lose weight).

gaylynn35

You should be eating about 1/2 of your exercise calories back. Some people don't eat any of them back. It all depends on what you feel comfortable with. If you are really burning/exercising 850 calories a day, you would probably not feel very well if you didn't eat some of them back.

That's just my 2 cents.

I rarely eat any of mine back because I am very short and I don't burn a lot of calories to begin with.

If I were to burn 850 calories a day, six days out of the week, you bet I would at least eat some of them back.

You need to find out what works for you and your body.

Gapwedge01

How do you know you're burning 850-900 calories? That would be exceptionally low, even lying in bed.

I think she meant that's her calorie burn during her work out on the all out days, not the 7th light day.....

You need to go to an online calculator and figure out your tdee & your bmr. Don't eat below your bmr, and take 15% off your TDEE - that's your calorie goal. If you eat too low, you're not fueling your body properly and therefore it won't cooperate (i.e. won't lose weight).

^^^what she said. Choose the proper activity level for your TDEE and never eat less than your BMR or never more than your TDEE.

KSwatek

The 850-900 is what I am burning in the workout, correct. I figured my bmr and it is around 2300 but I have no idea what a TDEE is.

cedarghost

How do you know you're burning 850-900 calories? That would be exceptionally low, even lying in bed.

I think she meant that's her calorie burn during her work out on the all out days, not the 7th light day.....

You need to go to an online calculator and figure out your tdee & your bmr. Don't eat below your bmr, and take 15% off your TDEE - that's your calorie goal. If you eat too low, you're not fueling your body properly and therefore it won't cooperate (i.e. won't lose weight).

^^^^^^This. And don't be afraid of the number it gives you. You will probably be surprised at how much you can eat. Eat about 15% to 20% below the TDEE it gives you. You will still lose weight if you eat too low, but you wil eventually lower your metabolism and have to eat more to repair it and gain weight in the process. Plus, if you are looking at this as a sustainable long term lifestyle, why deprive yourself of calories and nutrition your body needs anyway.
Last, but not least, when you change your calorie intake be as consistent as possible, log everything and give it at LEAST a month to 6 weeks before you adjust it. It typically may take the body that long to respond to a change in diet and exercise. You may initially gain weight when you up your calories. Don't freak out and drop your calories way down to compensate. Once your metabolism starts to raise you will burn off that weight gain rather quickly.
Good luck!

katevarner

TDEE is BMR plus the calories you burn all day, so about 3200 on a workday for you. If you have a lot to lose, you can probably go close to BMR, maybe even as low as 2200 and still lose at a decent clip. Definitely need to be eating some if not all of your exercise calories if you are set at 1400. BMR is what you need to fuel your body without any exercise. MFP estimates really low.

Edited to correct misreading, sorry.

KSwatek

Do you remember that time I said my bmr was 2300?

Just kidding. It is 1970. My TDEE (after googling) is 2364. So I need to be eating 1970 calories per day? Again...confused. Because MFP tells me I need to eat 1400.

katevarner

Yes, you need to be eating at least 1970. And is that TDEE at sedentary? If you set it at sedentary, you still need to eat your exercise calories or at least some of them. Maybe eat 2000 on a non-exercise day and 2200 or so on exercise day?

KSwatek

Yes, I did it at sedentary.

I got to the gym at night. It works best with my schedule. So I need to eat 1970 PLUS the 800 I burn at the gym??

katevarner

Sorry, I'm editing too much today. Yeah, it doesn't matter what time you go to the gym unless you think you might overeat and then skip the workout. If you want to lose, you don't want to eat all the exercise calories, maybe 200 or 300 so that you still have a big deficit--the deficit is what will cause you to lose.

KSwatek

Ugh, I feel so dumb. Ok, so in order to lose the weight. I need to eat 1970 calories per day...then do I need to exercise all of those calories away? Or are those already accounted for with my TDEE or my BMR? Then I need to eat back some of my calories? I don't typically go to the gym until 8 pm my time. I feel like that is too late to eat.

I swear, I am not a stupid person. I really just don't understand this.

lvtruu1

Ugh, I feel so dumb. Ok, so in order to lose the weight. I need to eat 1970 calories per day...then do I need to exercise all of those calories away? Or are those already accounted for with my TDEE or my BMR? Then I need to eat back some of my calories? I don't typically go to the gym until 8 pm my time. I feel like that is too late to eat.

I swear, I am not a stupid person. I really just don't understand this.

Your TDEE is your Total Daily Energy Expediture. That is the number of calories you body requires to maintain your current weight. If you desire to lose weight you need to eat less. 500 calories less a day will work out to 1 pound a week 500*7 = 3500 calories. That is the rough number of calories in a pound of fat. Of course you will also lose some LBM as you go along, but that is a different topic.

Your TDEE includes your exercise already.

katevarner

You aren't stupid--this isn't easy. If it were, we'd all be the perfect size and happy with ourselves. And I'm being incredibly unclear today.

So, you need to eat at least 1970 because that's what your body needs to get by, altho if you have a lot to lose, you may be able to eat under that for a short time at the beginning. But this is a marathon, not a sprint, so I wouldn't recommend that you do that unless it's under a doctor's care.

Doesn't matter when you eat, but if you don't want to eat after your workout, you shouldn't. Just make sure that you eat at least 1970 every day and then on days you know you are going to work out, you can eat more during the day and you will burn it off at night. I wouldn't eat above TDEE. Start at 1970 or 2000 for a round number on days you don't work out and then if you want more on days you do, you can eat another 200 or so and still have a great deficit if you are really burning 850 or 900 at the gym. See how that works for a month or so, and then reevaluate. And remember that your BMR and TDEE change as you lose, so recalculate before you up your calories.

Regardless, 1400 is too low to sustain.

KSwatek

Ohhhhhh....

That was like a virtual light bulb. You guys are like my personal fitness and healthy yodas. Thank you so much! It does make sense now. So even though MFP is telling me to eat 1400, that may be why I am not losing any weight during the week. My body is just storing it because of the whole starvation mode thing? And I promise, I'm not just throwing numbers out there when I work out, that is what the machines are telling me I am burning. I look up all my other exercises and account for them accordingly.

If I wanted to lose more than one pound per week, not an unhealthy amount but maybe two pounds, what would I need to eat in order to do that?

Btw, thank you all so much for replying! Everything is starting to make sense.

AnvilHead

Reading the first post in this thread may do you a world of good as far as understanding and getting all the calculations dialed in:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Dan does a great job of explaining it and many people have had success working it that way. There's also a group here on MFP for discussion about the "roadmap":

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/7965-in-place-of-a-road-map

NeoCam

The 1400 you referenced is, I'm guessing, a recommendation based on a "sedentary" setting, correct? MFP is basically telling you that if you lead a sedentary lifestyle, you can lose your goal amount of weight by eating 1400 calories. Since you're exercising (something that is NOT sedentary), you need to log that on MFP. When you log your exercise you'll note your "calories remaining" will increase by the amount you exercised. Assuming your exercise calories are accurate, you could eat back your exercise calories, in addition to the calories allotted, and reach your goal.

You'll see people reference your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) which is simply a combination of your BMR and the calories you expend throughout the day during regular and fitness activity. Another way you can figure out what your TDEE is would be to go to your goals on MFP, select an activity level that accurately reflects your lifestyle (factoring in exercise in your selection), and then choose to "maintain my current weight" - you'll see what you should eat to STAY THE SAME WEIGHT. Changing your goal weight loss simply subtracts calories from what it estimates you are burning at your current weight.

By the way, the gym machines aren't always very accurate for calorie counts and often greatly overestimate true calorie burns. A heart-rate monitor would be a more accurate way to gauge that.

nxd10

Yes, I did it at sedentary.

I got to the gym at night. It works best with my schedule. So I need to eat 1970 PLUS the 800 I burn at the gym??

Yes.

now_or_never12

I wouldn't eat back all the exercise calories unless you are getting them based on a HRM with a chest strap. The machines and MFP tend to be really off with calorie burn amounts.

willwillywilson

I like this calculator a little better than the MFP one since it guestimates the exercise part and builds that in. Plus, you can test out a couple other calculation methods. No matter what you arrive at just remember you're calories needs are always just an estimate. just consider it a starting point and make adjustments based off your real world results.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm