calorie intake vs burn

Colombianchick29

If I am only eating 1200 cal a day. And then work out and burn 3-400, then I would have only eaten 800 cal that day. Shouldn't I get back up to 1200 as minimum? Eat back those calories or not?

EvanKeel

The short answer is: Yes, eat them back.

The medium length answer is: If you're trying to lose weight, and MFP knows that based on your settings, and you're logging your exercise. Then yes. The deficit is already worked in and you should probably eat those calories back

The long answer has been covered pretty extensively in multiple threads. So I'll let those speak for themselves.

Colombianchick29

thanks!

jdooks

Don't forget to keep in mind the types of foods your eating as well since different types of foods results in different net calories. For example, if you go full on vegetarian, it's ridiculously hard to not lose weight even if you think you are eating maintenance amounts of calories.

EstiloPanama

I eat them back too...otherwise, I will be incredibly hungry, and my body will probably think I'm starving, therefore possibly messing up my metabolism and reversing weight loss by slowing it down. Definitely eat them back..but I think there is always different opinions on this

EvanKeel

Don't forget to keep in mind the types of foods your eating as well since different types of foods results in different net calories. For example, if you go full on vegetarian, it's ridiculously hard to not lose weight even if you think you are eating maintenance amounts of calories.

eerr...I don't even know where to start with this. A calorie is simply a unit of energy. If the food has a caloric value, that its value. That's the point of using calories. It normalizes things. While it's true that some sources of nutrients are more bioavailable than others, I'm guessing that's not what you mean.

Second, it doesn't really matter if someone *thinks* they're eating maintenance when they're tracking their calories (the point of MFP in the first place) b/c you're literally keeping a tally of your consumed calories.

It's actually quite easy to gain weight eating a vegetarian diet.

jdooks

Don't forget to keep in mind the types of foods your eating as well since different types of foods results in different net calories. For example, if you go full on vegetarian, it's ridiculously hard to not lose weight even if you think you are eating maintenance amounts of calories.

eerr...I don't even know where to start with this. A calorie is simply a unit of energy. If the food has a caloric value, that its value. That's the point of using calories. It normalizes things. While it's true that some sources of nutrients are more bioavailable than others, I'm guessing that's not what you mean.

Second, it doesn't really matter if someone *thinks* they're eating maintenance when they're tracking their calories (the point of MFP in the first place) b/c you're literally keeping a tally of your consumed calories.

It's actually quite easy to gain weight eating a vegetarian diet.

Actually, no. The calorie listing for foods don't account for the difference after caloric value is taken into account. When I say that you will lose weight quickly eating just what you assume are maintenance calories from the vegetables themselves, I'm also implying that you cut most of the flavouring, fats, oils, etc. out.

For example, something I'm very familiar with, chicken (though it's not a vegetable). The listed calories for chicken is actually a lot less after the caloric expenditure required to digest it. So let's say if you just use the tiniest bit of olive oil or even just bake the chicken, flavour it with simple herbs and salt, it ends up being quite hard to get fat on eating chicken (also depends on the parts of the chicken, I'm talking about chicken breast here, skinless).

Lets also look at broccoli, broccoli actually provides you with a net zero or I believe even a slight deficit in terms of calories.

So the types of foods that you eat DOES matter to ultimate net calories gained or lost at the end of the day particularly if you're trying to eat super clean cutting out a lot of unnecessary fluff like dressing, fatty flavourings, etc.

EvanKeel

Don't forget to keep in mind the types of foods your eating as well since different types of foods results in different net calories. For example, if you go full on vegetarian, it's ridiculously hard to not lose weight even if you think you are eating maintenance amounts of calories.

eerr...I don't even know where to start with this. A calorie is simply a unit of energy. If the food has a caloric value, that its value. That's the point of using calories. It normalizes things. While it's true that some sources of nutrients are more bioavailable than others, I'm guessing that's not what you mean.

Second, it doesn't really matter if someone *thinks* they're eating maintenance when they're tracking their calories (the point of MFP in the first place) b/c you're literally keeping a tally of your consumed calories.

It's actually quite easy to gain weight eating a vegetarian diet.

Actually, no. The calorie listing for foods don't account for the difference after caloric value is taken into account. When I say that you will lose weight quickly eating just what you assume are maintenance calories from the vegetables themselves, I'm also implying that you cut most of the flavouring, fats, oils, etc. out.

For example, something I'm very familiar with, chicken (though it's not a vegetable). The listed calories for chicken is actually a lot less after the caloric expenditure required to digest it. So let's say if you just use the tiniest bit of olive oil or even just bake the chicken, flavour it with simple herbs and salt, it ends up being quite hard to get fat on eating chicken (also depends on the parts of the chicken, I'm talking about chicken breast here, skinless).

Lets also look at broccoli, broccoli actually provides you with a net zero or I believe even a slight deficit in terms of calories.

So the types of foods that you eat DOES matter to ultimate net calories gained or lost at the end of the day particularly if you're trying to eat super clean cutting out a lot of unnecessary fluff like dressing, fatty flavourings, etc.

Yes, I'm aware of the thermic effect of food. I'm also aware that digestion accounts for about 10% of your BMR. Any differences between of thermic effects of different foods aren't likely to be significant enough to have any effect on weight loss.