eating calories burned???? really?!? im confused!

2»

Replies

  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,903 Member
    Wow! Thanks so much everyone!!!!! I am always so overwhelmed at how nice everyone is on here and is so willing to give advice!!!! Ok so I have upped my cal to 1300 because the last thing I would ever want is to send my body into starvation mode. While everyone had something different to say almost everyone was saying the same basic thing... I burn about 1000 cal a day and I eat very healthy since I have come out of my discouraged state of mind! Mostly all of you were saying to eat all odds my days worth of cals and wether or not I eat back exercise cals is up to me and moat of you ate only half of yours back!

    I am so so thankful to be apart of a great weightloss community! Thanks so much everyone I really appreciate it :-)

    1. There's lots of jerks on the internet and sometimes they spend time here. Just be cautious. I hate to see people's expectations dashed.

    2. The calories in/calories out works. However, it only works if the information you're going from is accurate. You have to do what you can to make sure that what you're logging is correct (measure your food with a food scale when you can). And your calories burned may not be accurate, either. This leads me to..

    3. The number 1 best piece of advice I can give someone with these questions (in addition to what people have already said) is to have patience. Realistically, I'd suggest that everyone spend two or three weeks trying to be as accurate as they can about their logging while trying to eat at maintenance. The goal there is that you'd have a good idea about what your true maintenance is. There's some trial and error that happens.

    From there you can make small adjustments. The problem with that is that it takes awhile to see any results, which can be demotivating for people.

    So have patience, log honestly, live your life, and know that it's just going to take some time.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Ok, So I dont understand why I see some people eating back their calories... why would you spend time burning off calories only to eat them back!?

    Also, Why is it that I see most everyone is eating well over 1200 calories? Did I miss something? Please help me understand... especially if it means quicker weightloss!

    If you don't know what your TDEE is and you're on 1200 calories a day, it's very likely that you are not eating enough. For example, my TDEE is 2400 calories per day. Currently, I eat about 1900 calories, so I have a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day. This causes weight loss of one pound per week. Your TDEE is the total number of calories you burn in a day.

    A lot of people tend to underestimate how many calories they burn in a day. Since I have a desk job, I always considered myself sedentary, but my daily burn is actually closer to lightly active. You need to find the number that's right for you. The caveat is that if your calorie deficit is too high, then it will actually stall your process. Not eating enough can lead to hormonal imbalances, including the dreaded cortisol, which prevents fat burning. You need to eat *enough* but not *too much* in order to lose weight. The lower your calorie deficit, the more fat and less lean body mass you will lose.

    Check out this thread to find your TDEE:

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


    EDIT: I don't exercise to lose weight. I eat less food to lose weight. I exercise to get fit!
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    It is probably one of the worst myths of weight loss ever and promoted by companies/websites with advertising etc to keep people using their product. If you get your required nutrition without eating back exercise calories - you'll lose weight faster. It's basic science.

    Science says that if you lose too much too fast, then you lose lean body mass along with the fat. In addition to muscle, this includes internal organs and bone density. Your hair and nails can also suffer if you aren't eating enough healthy fats.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    i do not eat back my excersize calories... i lose an average of 2 pounds a week, and i have 1 cheat day every 2 weeks... i eat 1200 cal a day, and will do so until i reach 45 pounds lost, then i will up it to 1400 calories until i loose another 20 pounds, then will up it again to 1600...

    Your cheat day is probably saving you.
  • junejadesky
    junejadesky Posts: 524 Member
    so, should I be eating 1200 cal if im not exercising and eating whatever i do burn in a day or should i up my cal to 1500 plus eat back my exercise cals? I just dont understand how I will lose this way... i guess in my mind if you eat you gain if you dont you lose lol I know i need to retrain my mind which is why im trying to figure all this out! thanks for your help!!!

    You will lose, it is how our bodies work. What you have to think of is if you want to lose weight you set your calorie goal and stick to it. If you exercise eat those calories back, if you don't, don't eat more. It is really confusing at first, but give it a month and you will be amazed by your results. I saw someone said food is fuel... just like you fill a car with gas when it runs, your body needs food when it burns.
  • ShaSimone
    ShaSimone Posts: 270 Member
    With lots of good answers I hope mine helps. I went to a website...scooby's workshop and calculated my BMR and TDEE for my current weight, goal weight, and a couple milestone weights in between so I have some numbers to go by. So currently my daily calories are set to the TDEE intake of my GOAL WEIGHT @ 150 pounds. I am not there yet, so it is going to obviously be a deficit for my current weight and it gets me in the mode of eating at maintanence instead of a very large deficit like 1200. I use my exercise calories for cushion if there is something else during the day that I may want, like a glass of wine with dinner.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    My TDEE without exercise is only 1680, so 1180 puts me at 1 pound per week. I average another 250 per day in exercise, so I choose not to eat those back and it gives me another 1/2 pound loss per week. Some days I do eat around 1250, but most days I am under my goal. It works for my body right now, at 49 and another 50 pounds left to lose.

    It all depends on your BMR/TDEE and how you choose to figure your TDEE, and how quickly you want to lose. Everyone has their own plan that works for them, and those plans can vary drastically depending on individual circumstances.
  • Maximumresults
    Maximumresults Posts: 175
    people's approaches and situations are all different...baseline estimates that these programs give for calories to eat or how many are burned are just that, estimates..ballparks...I have never eaten back any large amount of exercise calories and I weight train 4-5 days per week, run 4 days per week at this point about 15-21 miles a week

    In my personal situation at 6 ft and 202.5 pounds and very muscular..I rarely go over 2,000 calories...if I did what others did, I'd be fat. How do I know, I have done it, in the trenches...I went from 356 pounds to a pretty lean 202.5 pounds
  • Katbody10
    Katbody10 Posts: 369 Member
    You can set you weight loss to 1.5 a week or even 1 lb(recommended by MFP) and your intake will change

    Well.. eating 1200 calories a day for me is a weight loss of .4 lbs a week .. not even half a pound. However.. I'm tiny and older and my BMR is 1135 calories .. It sucks for us older ones (I'm 46) .. I envy everyone that can eat 1500+ calories a day .. that's what I'm used to eating.. but I quit smoking in August and BANG .. my metabolism took a nose dive and I gained 15 lbs in 30 days! Whoa! I didn't even change my diet .. I was rather shocked to be honest.

    So anyway .. I dropped half that weight pretty fast (still NOT smoking...yay) .. and am pretty happy overall where I am. 113 lbs isn't bad ... 105-110 is where I was before I quit smoking and gained.

    Not everyone loses 1 - 1.5 lbs or more a week on a 1200 cal/day restriction .. I'm proof of that! :smile:
  • tsaiwins
    tsaiwins Posts: 7
    A couple of people somewhat noted it in this thread, but what they are really trying to say is you need to repair your metabolic system from the metabolic damage that your body has suffered from dieting on such low calories and carbs. It is absolutely terrible and inefficient to diet off 1,200 calories or less. You feel the need to do this because your weight loss and body fat loss has plateau'd but before you lose any more weight you should repair your body from metabolic damage. Think about it this way, if you have 2 people and one person can maintain weight at 500g of carbs a day, and the other maintains weight at 200g of carbs a day, who is going to be able to get to lower body fat % easier, healthier, on more calories, have more energy, and overall health. Clearly the person on 500g of carbs because they have more room to work with. The longer you keep trying to diet on calories of 1,200 or even less all your doing is exacerbating your metabolic damage even more and suppressing your metabolism. You won't lose body fat, and your energy levels are going to tank. By SLOWLY and I mean SLOWLY upping your calories/macronutrients each week by literally 5-10 g of carbs a week, keeping protein and fats where they are or even upping those by 1-2 grams a week, you will actually notice you will maintain your weight and your body fat % that you are currently at, while repairing your metabolism. Eventually you will be at 1600-1700-1800 etc depending on the person, much higher than that. And guess what, losing that weight becomes easy again once you start to taper your carbs down slowly, you have alot more calories to work with, your metabolism has recovered, you can eat more food, lose weight, and don't even need to do cardio which most people OVERDO on this forum. I believe Wswilliam touched on this subject somewhat in a previous comment. Don't listen to the broscience out there.
  • tsaiwins
    tsaiwins Posts: 7
    You can set you weight loss to 1.5 a week or even 1 lb(recommended by MFP) and your intake will change

    Well.. eating 1200 calories a day for me is a weight loss of .4 lbs a week .. not even half a pound. However.. I'm tiny and older and my BMR is 1135 calories .. It sucks for us older ones (I'm 46) .. I envy everyone that can eat 1500+ calories a day .. that's what I'm used to eating.. but I quit smoking in August and BANG .. my metabolism took a nose dive and I gained 15 lbs in 30 days! Whoa! I didn't even change my diet .. I was rather shocked to be honest.

    So anyway .. I dropped half that weight pretty fast (still NOT smoking...yay) .. and am pretty happy overall where I am. 113 lbs isn't bad ... 105-110 is where I was before I quit smoking and gained.

    Not everyone loses 1 - 1.5 lbs or more a week on a 1200 cal/day restriction .. I'm proof of that! :smile:

    Refer to my post above..
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    Don't listen to the broscience out there.

    So is the official definition of 'Broscience', anything that you don't agree with?

    Apparently that must be it, because everyone throws that term around, no matter what type of plan they follow or recommend.
  • Katbody10
    Katbody10 Posts: 369 Member
    You can set you weight loss to 1.5 a week or even 1 lb(recommended by MFP) and your intake will change

    Well.. eating 1200 calories a day for me is a weight loss of .4 lbs a week .. not even half a pound. However.. I'm tiny and older and my BMR is 1135 calories .. It sucks for us older ones (I'm 46) .. I envy everyone that can eat 1500+ calories a day .. that's what I'm used to eating.. but I quit smoking in August and BANG .. my metabolism took a nose dive and I gained 15 lbs in 30 days! Whoa! I didn't even change my diet .. I was rather shocked to be honest.

    So anyway .. I dropped half that weight pretty fast (still NOT smoking...yay) .. and am pretty happy overall where I am. 113 lbs isn't bad ... 105-110 is where I was before I quit smoking and gained.

    Not everyone loses 1 - 1.5 lbs or more a week on a 1200 cal/day restriction .. I'm proof of that! :smile:

    Refer to my post above..

    Umm .. you're not older like I am .. I am not trying to lose a lot of weight (all of 3-5 more lbs really) .. I went with the recommended .5 lb a week since losing 1 lb a week is not possible for me .. since I'm not pro-ana and trying to starve .. since I'm not trying to lose a TON of weight. My maintenance calories at sedentary/desk job will be 1425 calories .. so my current deficit is merely 225 calories .. I'm not eating below that hardly .. I usually eat more than 1200 calories.

    You are obviously limited in your education of women over 40... get with the program .. does your 70 or 80 year old grandma eat 1800-2000 calories a day? doubtful .. even if she was active, her metabolism and age simply don't require that much fuel anymore..

    I'm not a body builder .. I'm just a small and petite female pretty much maintaining .. I have no desire to lose 10 lbs .. that puts me underweight @ 103 lbs.. Please read my original post more carefully...
  • Debbe2
    Debbe2 Posts: 2,071 Member
    Ok, So I dont understand why I see some people eating back their calories... why would you spend time burning off calories only to eat them back!?

    Also, Why is it that I see most everyone is eating well over 1200 calories? Did I miss something? Please help me understand... especially if it means quicker weightloss!

    Personally I exercise because I enjoy it. I choose activities I enjoy and I have never regarded exercise as a pass for additional food calories. I see diet and exercise as two separate issues both contributing to my health and well being. It's important for each of us to do what works for us and we find to be a comfortable lifestyle.
  • UsernameStillLoading
    UsernameStillLoading Posts: 299 Member
    Your body needs to eat after a workout in order to burn the fat. Yeah you burned off the calories and that's great but without fuel your body cannot burn off the fat which is the ultimate goal for some people. It depends on how you replace the calories. If you replaced your calories with healthy foods, it won't really matter because your body will burn off those calories by the end of the day trying to maintain you. If you replace those calories with greasy foods or fattening foods, then that's when the workout was pretty much pointless. (I say pretty much because you did allow for more of a caloric intake).
    1,200 calories isn't everyone's goal. 1,200 is a good caloric intake for someone who doesn't really work out, but if you maintain a somewhat active lifestyle, you will need to intake more calories. It's only natural. Sports cars need more gas than fuel efficient cars. Therefore, more active people need more calories than non-active people.

Categories