I'm confused on Food Intake - Exercise - Calories

cindy4361
cindy4361 Posts: 31
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,

I have a hard time eating all the calories I am suppose to eat and when I throw exercise in the mix it makes my remaining calories go back up. Am I suppose to eat the complete 1230 calories and if I exercise do I have to eat the amount of calories burned?? Any advice would be appreciated!! :)

Thanks,
Cindy

Replies

  • dayleft
    dayleft Posts: 8
    It's very up and down with the various techniques and routines available out there. I myself had a lot of different angles to approach to get where i'm at now ( feeling better ). At one point I was over weight and at another point found myself drastically under weight! You can imagine it gets frustrating ( everybody knows ) with the yo-yo part of fitness. But to let you know, my best results came from plain old research in the best techniques for a regime to follow, you should read some reviews on good fast resulting products, ideas, etc. Here's one for you if you still need some help - http://www.majorityreviews.com/articles-fatloss/ - Hope you reach your goal!
  • Bess_74
    Bess_74 Posts: 68
    MFP reccomends you eat back you exercise calories because your daily calorie allotment already has a deficit figured. Failure to eat back your exercise calories will give you that little warning at the end of the day saying that you will end up in starvation mode. There are some really good explainations of this in the "Links in MFP you want to read again (and again)" post on this board
  • cindy4361
    cindy4361 Posts: 31
    Awesome I will check out that link! Thanks....I hope I reach my goal too!! lol
  • cindy4361
    cindy4361 Posts: 31
    Thank you for the info Bess! I am new to this and need all the info/advice available! :)
  • SameMe_JustLess
    SameMe_JustLess Posts: 245 Member
    I'm so glad I'm friends with people starting out just like me. I had the same question and the answers were very helpful.
  • HealthyUpward
    HealthyUpward Posts: 8 Member
    Hi Cindy!

    I had the same question when I first started with MFP. Not to mention, I was also new to exercise and portion control. At about 6lbs, I felt like I had reached a barrier where I was having a difficult time losing additional weight despite exercising on a daily basis and watching my calorie intake. I had even cut out alcohol for days at a time. Then, about a month or so ago, I decided I would try eating just 1200 calories x day (or whatever MFP has you at based on your individual goals, etc.) and ignored the additional calories MFP added on after my exercise routine. I stick to 1200 calories x day no matter what while giving myself a cheat day (or even w/e at times) That really did the trick for me. I started losing the additional 6lbs in no time.

    I truly believe that everyone responds differently because I've heard people say otherwise, but it was an issue of experimenting to find out what worked for MY body. Try that and see how your body responds. I just wouldn't recommend going below 1200 calories per day because there is research out there that proves that your body will begin to store fat in fear it won't get the calories it needs to fuel itself during the day. Hope this helps & good luck!
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Your calorie deficit is already calculated without your exercise calories. If your deficit is too large, it could actually prevent fat burning by increased cortisol level which can cause you to lose lean body mass (muscles, organs, bones) instead of fat.
  • Thisisnotadiet
    Thisisnotadiet Posts: 89 Member
    If you are loosing weight, you should definitely eat back the exercise calories. It will also keep you satisfied and you will be less likely to cheat. If you have reached a plateau, and not really loosing, then I agree, try cutting your calorie intake a little more (not drastically!) and don't eat all the calories from exercise (but still eat some). Also, notice that if you are having an hard time eating all your calories, you may have selected a life-style more active than what you in fact are having.

    Since you are new, I would say: stick to MFP plan and eat back all the calories you exercise. If this is not giving results, then revise the plan, but don't rush it. If you are just loosing a little per week, this is still loosing.
  • cindy4361
    cindy4361 Posts: 31
    Hi Healthyupwards!! Thanks for the info ~ I think that's good advice! :) Good luck to you as well!!
  • cindy4361
    cindy4361 Posts: 31
    Hi Thisisnodiet!! Thank you for the info...I just started and will try that out for a couple of weeks and see what kind of results I get!!
  • cindy4361
    cindy4361 Posts: 31
    Your calorie deficit is already calculated without your exercise calories. If your deficit is too large, it could actually prevent fat burning by increased cortisol level which can cause you to lose lean body mass (muscles, organs, bones) instead of fat.

    Thank you for the info! :) I will keep that in mind!
  • dianefisher47
    dianefisher47 Posts: 223 Member
    a lot of pros and cons about eating exercise calories...the only thing I will say to this is if you are 100% sure that the exercise you did is an accurate figure of how many calories you burned...yes go ahead...MFP and a lot of other programs have an approximate evaluation of the type of exercise you have done ...which is not always really accurate...some are over rated and some under rated...be very careful OK :flowerforyou: :drinker: good luck

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