Help? whats best? Eat or not to Eat?

lozzie7684

Hi All

Just wondered if you could give me your opinion.

I have been doing fitness pal for nearly 2 months now and think i have lost a reasonable ammount of weight. but the last two weeks in my opinion has been by far my best weeks, exercise and food wise and i just scraped losing half pound each week?
I eat no more than 1200kals a day on a day i exercise i dont eat my exercise kals?

So on a day where ive eaten 1200kals but swam for 600kals my net will only be 600, is this what im supposed to be doing?
Is the lack of kals stopping me from losing?
im sure last week i had a deficit of 4000kals which surely = more than half pound loss?

It just feels if i eat 1200, exercise 600 and then eat them whats the point exercising?

Any suggestions are very much appreciated?

alieadele

You need to be eating those exercise calories that you're burning off. It sounds like you're taking in too few calories, which will majorly slow down your metabolism which is probably why you've slowed down in your weight loss progress. If your body is taking in an extremely low amount of calories your metabolism slows way down. Keep up the good work, but make sure you stay healthy!

lozzie7684

Hey,

Thanks for your reply?

So if on a day i exercise, I eat the majority of them thats ok?

So confusing? but im thiking of trying that this week and seeing how i do.
Thanks again xxx

mockchoc

Yes you should be eating the majority of those exercise calories back. MFP already has you at a deficit for loss and too big a loss isn't healthy.

TIMv4

One way I've heard someone think about it is just to think of food as fuel. You need it to power your body if you are burning calories. And if you want to eat more things or treats you can burn it with some exercise.

They've shown on some of those extreme weight loss shows that eating too little will slow down weight loss as your body will trigger into a protective mode and slow down the calories being used.

I'm eating quite a variety of stuff but since I'm burning more than eating, my progress has been good. If I did this without the mfp app, I probably would've done what most people do and try to push the calorie count too low and limit my food variety too much. And that is hardly ever an effective way of steady loss or getting used to future habits once the weight is gone.

Joehenny

It depends how big your weekly deficit is at. If you're only in a def of half a pound a week then one day won't kill your bmr going low. I think it's a lot easier to just base it off your TDEE avg imo.

FlowersInTheDirt

You definitely need to be eating those exercise calories back so that you net calorie intake is more than your BMR

tazzy2805

It just feels if i eat 1200, exercise 600 and then eat them whats the point exercising?


u getting fitter aswell but yes u do need to eat them back i wont eat less than 1200 daily on non exercise days i try not to go higher than the 1400 mfp allows me on exercise days i go a little higher maybe half my exercise back if i am hungry bear in mind as u get fitter / build more muscle the muscle will hlp u lose weight in it self and u will need to increase food slightly to hlp power them all about balance Imo if anyone disagrees with me i sure it will get mentioned i admit i am not loseign fast but fast is always the best way to go about thing s :happy:

Antlady69

The analogy about looking at food / calories as fuel to power your body is very good.
Everything has been explained by HelloItsDan here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

In short, if you don't eat your exercise calories back, you will stop losing weight. You want to lose weight the healthy way, even if that takes a little longer. If you don't, you will only hurt your body - and what good does that do?

flower_chops

When I started my weight loss at the start of the year I was doing exactly the same; eating minimal amounts, exercising it off, not eating it back. Now, I did lose some weight but man, was I tired, hungry and snappy! I've been eating at TDEE with a small deficit for the last few weeks or so and the change in how much energy I have is astounding! I realise it sounds incredibly obvious as food is our fuel but until you've worked out without enough fuel and then WITH fuel and can compare it's hard to see how much difference there can be. My runs and workouts are much more energetic now and I am loving eating more. My TDEE is quite low compared to some (around 1700-1800 calories) as I'm only 4'11" and 111lbs now but being able to enjoy food properly and fuel my busy days is brilliant.

lozzie7684

Brilliant x thanks for all your help x
looks like ill be trying to eat them this week see if it helps x