How do YOU calculate your calories??

Fiona_Bullough
Fiona_Bullough Posts: 138 Member
in Food and Nutrition
A) Do you work out your basic calories for no exercise and then add calories on as and when you exercise
eg. for me, based on my stats, Scooby TDEE calc -20% cal reduction gives me 1431. So I could have this as my daily goal and then input my exercise cals when I need to (like today, I got an extra 444 from bootcamp - using a HRM) which would give me 1875 today (I usually don't eat all of my exercise cals)

OR

B) Do you calculate your daily calories, taking into account the exercise you do during the week?
eg, using the same stats but selecting that I spend 1-3 hrs exercising, I get 1640 per day, whether I exercise or not - I guess taking an average.

So, do you do A or B?
If you do A, do you eat all of or part of your exercise cals?

I'm just doing a bit of re-jugging since taking up bootcamp again and want to see what others this.

Thanks in advance :)

Replies

  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    I try to eat a consistent number of calories, regardless of whether I exercise or not.
    My BMR is 1300. I shoot for about 1500-1600 a day.

    I guess I just don't think my body resets at midnight. So i eat the same every day.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    I set myself to sedentary and don't eat exercise back. It's just a bonus. My BMR is 1100 and I eat around 1350. My exercise is running or cycling usually and after 2 years of this schedule I'm still alive and well without getting into eating my exercise back.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    I do TDEE - 20%. I don't eat exercise calories because they're already accounted for in my TDEE.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I have an office job and set myself up as "sedentary"...when I exercise, I log calories burned, I eat back my exercise calories because they aren't included in my TDEE. I don't include things like vaccuming or emptying the dishwasher...yardwork, etc...only quantifiably burned calories. When you log those calories burned, MFP will calculate a new goal based on your particular plan...eat to your goal; it all depends on how you've set yourself up on the application and how honest you've been when doing so...as well as how honest you are about logging food and exercise. It's working for me, I'm right on schedule at just a smidge over 1 Lb per week.
  • newcs
    newcs Posts: 717 Member
    I eat more on days I work out. I feel like I need it more and it just makes sense to me to do it that way so that if I work out less or more than planned, my calories are adjusted appropriately. I usually eat all my exercise calories back. I've had an out of whack appetite lately so I've had extra calories most days but usually an end result of zero at the end of the day is my goal.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    After spending countless months fighting the exercise calories fight, I have now gone with option B (TDEE-based method). I find it far simpler and easier to manage. And I don't have to futz with my HRM any more to carefully itemize all my "exercise calories".

    Option A sounds good on paper, but it
    a) seems to confuse most of the people
    b) for those with a relatively regular routine, it doesn't have any real benefit over the TDEE method

    In the end, either method should theoretically bring you to the same exact calorie target.
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    After spending countless months fighting the exercise calories fight, I have now gone with option B (TDEE-based method). I find it far simpler and easier to manage. And I don't have to futz with my HRM any more to carefully itemize all my "exercise calories".

    Option A sounds good on paper, but it
    a) seems to confuse most of the people
    b) for those with a relatively regular routine, it doesn't have any real benefit over the TDEE method

    In the end, either method should theoretically bring you to the same exact calorie target.

    I am still using option A but agree with this^. As long as your workout schedule and average burns are consistent option B is easier for most people. Both should give you similar results.
  • krickeyuu
    krickeyuu Posts: 344 Member
    5' 4" 52 yo CW=132 I eat at TDEE for my goal weight (130lbs) and eat exercise calories (at least 50%). My TDEE is set as sedentary because I have a desk job and I don't do a lot ,other than planned exercise 30-60 mins per day, so this works best for me. +/- 150 calories per day. I average about .5 lbs loss per week.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I have a sedentary (desk) job and vary my exercise quite a bit so I use the sedentary setting and log exercise for the extra calories as I do it.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Right now, I am roughly 400 calories under TDEE without exercise. My TDEE calculation is not based on the calculators though because after tracking for 5 months, I found out that either the BMR for me or the multiplier was wrong. When doing to math on my progress, I figured my TDEE is roughly 2400 based on how many net calories that I was eating and how much I was losing.
  • Melo1966
    Melo1966 Posts: 881 Member
    I don't always exercise and have a very sedentary job so I don't eat the same each day. I recently upped my calories to be close to my BMR I am still learning about the whole eat-more-to-weigh-less thing. I plan dinner and evening snacks accordingly to if I exercise then I can eat more. My TDEE from using my HRM can have a 1,000 calorie difference between days so I do not want to go by the basic TDEE-% method. If I go out for lunch with co-workers and and have a higher calorie lunch and don't hit the gym then what I packed then I change dinner to be a low cal high protein like tuna or shrimp with veggies.
  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
    Option A, although B would pretty much give me the exact same number of calories per day. So why? Just works with my psychology. I worked out! Yay, I get to eat more food! I missed a workout! That's ok, I still know how much I can/should eat today!

    Plus it makes it easier to deal with things like right now, I've got an ankle injury so my workouts are burning just over half what they normally would, but I don't have to recalculate everything.

    Edit: oh, and I go from eating anywhere from "some" to "all" of my workout calories, depending on if I'm hitting my protein goals and how hungry I am. But I never eat none of them.
  • Fiona_Bullough
    Fiona_Bullough Posts: 138 Member
    Thanks for all your replies guys and sorry I took so long getting back to the thread!

    I am going with option A for now (using HRM) and will see how I go. :flowerforyou:

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