Should I be eating my reccomended net calories?

sammyjayne119
sammyjayne119 Posts: 9
in Health and Weight Loss
So i've been working out deliberately logging it in my diary, and i'll burn say around 1000 calories. My reccomended calories are 1,590 for the day and i understand that burning 1,000 will take me down to 590 net calories. So bringing them up, would require me to eat in total, 2,590 calories.. which I honestly am struggling to process the idea of. If I am supposed to lose weight, it seems like an insane number and I am struggling to know what to eat with such a big number. Help would be appreciated

Replies

  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    Yes, that is the way MFP is set up. It is already giving you a deficit regardless of if you exercise or not. So when you exercise, you're further increasing that deficit. You need food, think of it as fuel.

    An excellent read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

    Do yourself a favor, educate yourself on what you are signing up for.
  • 16Momma16
    16Momma16 Posts: 159 Member
    Read what the above person posted. It explains it. I can tell you from personal experience that I "ate" back my calories and lost 44 pounds back in 2009. Good Luck and I hope it all works out for you:flowerforyou:
  • sammyjayne119
    sammyjayne119 Posts: 9
    That post indicates that if I am using MFP that I should replace my EAT (bump up my net calories to 1,590) ... it was more a question of, can I lose more weight if I don't eat upto the 1,590 and what would happen if I didn't. Sorry maybe I worded wrong :(
  • 16Momma16
    16Momma16 Posts: 159 Member
    You might lose more weight at first but I believe you will plateau quicker. Your body needs fuel. Try out the mfp recommendations and give it a month. I promise you if you stick to it you will lose. Some days I was eating over 2000 calories in a day because of exercise and I still lost that 44 pounds with ease.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    Yes...yes you should.

    However, make sure your calorie burn estimates are reasonably accurate. It seems the estimates have a tendency to be a little high sometimes.

    And you *can* lose more weight more quickly if you eat less, but it leads to all kinds of other potential negative things happening, one of which will be an increased likelihood of not keeping the weight off...so just follow the plan for a month or two, *then* reevaluate your progress and whether or not you need to tweak your net calories up or down.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    They answered the question. Eat it back. You won't lose more over the long term by not eating it back. It's just not sustainable that way.

    I've never understood the part where people say they can't figure out how to eat X calories per day. I just ate 2000 calories at lunch. To get to that burger place, I drove by 2 dozen places that serve food that would easily put someone in the 1000-1500 pet meal category. How did we all end up overweight if none of us can eat more than 1500 cals?
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    They answered the question. Eat it back. You won't lose more over the long term by not eating it back. It's just not sustainable that way.

    I've never understood the part where people say they can't figure out how to eat X calories per day. I just ate 2000 calories at lunch. To get to that burger place, I drove by 2 dozen places that serve food that would easily put someone in the 1000-1500 pet meal category. How did we all end up overweight if none of us can eat more than 1500 cals?

    ^What he said....
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
    no, it only tells you to eat that much just to confuse you. they don't want to make it too easy, otherwise then everybody would be fit and they'd go out of business.
  • BondBomb
    BondBomb Posts: 1,781 Member
    How did we all end up overweight if none of us can eat more than 1500 cals?
    In my case a bottle of tequila, a crazy Vegas wedding and 9 months.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    Yes, that is the way MFP is set up. It is already giving you a deficit regardless of if you exercise or not. So when you exercise, you're further increasing that deficit. You need food, think of it as fuel.

    An excellent read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

    Do yourself a favor, educate yourself on what you are signing up for.

    Definitely read the link adini749 posted. You will thank her later.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    How did we all end up overweight if none of us can eat more than 1500 cals?
    In my case a bottle of tequila, a crazy Vegas wedding and 9 months.

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: That answer is so good, it deserves three "laugh" emoticons!!
  • sunsnstatheart
    sunsnstatheart Posts: 2,544 Member
    They answered the question. Eat it back. You won't lose more over the long term by not eating it back. It's just not sustainable that way.

    I've never understood the part where people say they can't figure out how to eat X calories per day. I just ate 2000 calories at lunch. To get to that burger place, I drove by 2 dozen places that serve food that would easily put someone in the 1000-1500 pet meal category. How did we all end up overweight if none of us can eat more than 1500 cals?

    ^What he said....

    ^Yep. I find that if I can't hit my required calories even using an extra protein shake then its time for some pizza and ice cream. It keeps me healthy and sane.
  • all4my3boyz
    all4my3boyz Posts: 94 Member
    What are you doing to burn 1000 calories? My guess is you aren't really burning 1000 calories and this is all a moot point :wink:
  • sammyjayne119
    sammyjayne119 Posts: 9
    What are you doing to burn 1000 calories? My guess is you aren't really burning 1000 calories and this is all a moot point :wink:

    Umm a heck of a lot of strength, cardio and other stuff. I gym it for an hour and a half a day and do circuit training later in the day, i'm being strict on myself with the exercise! :')
  • all4my3boyz
    all4my3boyz Posts: 94 Member
    What are you doing to burn 1000 calories? My guess is you aren't really burning 1000 calories and this is all a moot point :wink:

    Umm a heck of a lot of strength, cardio and other stuff. I gym it for an hour and a half a day and do circuit training later in the day, i'm being strict on myself with the exercise! :')

    In that case I would suggest a hear rate monitor so you don't have to estimate and if you are in fact burning 1000 calories, then yes, eat them back.
  • Laura8603
    Laura8603 Posts: 590 Member
    Not necessarily. I think all of us have different metabolisms and although MFP's suggestions may be a good guide, they are not accurate for many of us. I eat the same number of calories most days and do not adjust for exercise. I determined the number of calories I need to maintain through trial and error.

    And I see you want to lose a lot of weight. I think you should up your calories to maybe 1800 for a week or two and see what that does. I would not go all the way to 2600.
  • all4my3boyz
    all4my3boyz Posts: 94 Member
    Not necessarily. I think all of us have different metabolisms and although MFP's suggestions may be a good guide, they are not accurate for many of us. I eat the same number of calories most days and do not adjust for exercise. I determined the number of calories I need to maintain through trial and error.

    This is true, I don't adjust for exercise either because I have it worked in to my days. But if you are at the low end of calories, say 1200 and you are buring 1000 for a net of 200, that isn't good... for anyone.
  • sunsnstatheart
    sunsnstatheart Posts: 2,544 Member
    I think I'm one of the few that will say that the MFP calorie recommendations seem to work very well for me. I gain and lose almost perfectly to what MFP says I will when I eat my calorie requirements and eat back my exercise calories. I have been a bit conservative with my exercise calories though and that seems to help. In any event, I think its a good estimate and you can adjust over time if you find its a bit off.

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