Wondering if I should use all my daily calories allowance??

lizstyles2013
lizstyles2013 Posts: 34 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone I am pretty new to MFP and was wondering if its best to try and use up all of my daily calories allowance or not worry as long as I don't go over? I find it hard most days to eat up all my calories....what does everyone else do?

Replies

  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    The way MFP works is that you should try to use up your daily calorie allowance . . . but it also depends on what your calorie allowance is.

    Conventional wisdom says that 1200 is pretty much the minimum--below which you'll trigger the dreaded "STARVATION MODE" (cue Psycho ree-ree-ree sound effect please), in which your metabolism will slow down because it thinks youre gonna die.

    So of your daily allowance is 1400, maybe you can relax a bit as long as you don't fall much below that 1200 minimum (I frequently fall in the 1150 - 1190 range myself).

    Fury also rages over what to do with "eating back" your exercise calories. I fall in the camp of eating back some but not all of my exercise calories-- about half of them. So, since my allowance is 1200 and I exercise 300, I'll shoot for actually eating about 1350 that day.
  • lizstyles2013
    lizstyles2013 Posts: 34 Member
    Thank you for the reply I tend to leave my exercise calories alone unless I decide that I'm going to have a little splurge on something (I have a sweet tooth ) I have a lot of weight to lose and would rather not eat back what I just used.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    On MFP you should be eating back those burned calories...you already have a deficit built in, you don't want a double deficit which can lead to slower weight loss and possibly metabolic problems. It doesn't matter how much you have to lose...do it smart..slow and steady wins this race.
  • lizstyles2013
    lizstyles2013 Posts: 34 Member
    Thanks will keep that in mind as I wasn't sure if they already had a defecit built in, now that I know that it does I can start planning my meals better using most of my calories rather than having so many left at the end of the day. I plan to lose 1/2kg a week, anything extra would be a bonus but I'm not in a hurry. :)

Categories