HOW TO BALANCE LOW CAL DAYS WITH HIGH EXCERCISE DAYS

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jannashrinks
jannashrinks Posts: 12 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I find that I can go over one day and under another and the calorie goal still balances out for the week, but honestly I am concerned about my desire to not make up for the calorie deficit. I've been doing this for 4 months, have had some major life changes, getting divorced and moving and it's like my body is trying to get back to where it was in the past now that some of the personal stress isn't a daily part of life. I can work out at the gym and as I get better, I can use more calories in the same time frame. DO I ALWAYS NEED TO MAKE UP FOR THE DEFICIT? Or if you let that go some days will it slow the weight loss down.
I honestly want to lose 29 more pounds, which takes me to 145 and that is a good weight for me. I want to do this by June. I don't want to risk this. This is the first time I've been really able to do this easily, as far as not craving bad things.....I don't want to blow it by going to far the other way, if that makes sense.

Any advice is good. PS...I go to the gym at night, because it's when I have the time, so I really don't feel like eating at 11 PM.

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  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    You're fine doing high and low days - or you can average it out across the week so you eat about the same every day. Both good.

    Otherwise, as far as whether you always need to eat exercise calories back, it depends what you've got your MFP settings at. If you've got your weekly weight loss goal set to -2lb/week in MFP, then you need to eat them back. If you're set to only lose .5/week then you're fine using the exercise calories as an additional deficit. At your weight, you should be trying for 1lb/week of loss (ish - smewhere between 1/week and 1.5) so if you want to set MFP to .5/week and then not eat back all of your exercise calories, that's a perfectly good way to manage it.
  • jannashrinks
    jannashrinks Posts: 12 Member
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    Thanks-mine is set at 1.7. I think that is the goal that it came up with for me when I said what I wanted to lose and that I would excercise 45 min 3 times a week. As it turns out I am able to do more and as I get stronger I want to do more, so putting it back in balance is a challenge. I feel good and I don't want that to stop! Thanks again!
  • katevarner
    katevarner Posts: 884 Member
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    MFP doesn't calculate how much you say you are going to exercise into your calories. That's just another goal. MFP bases how many calories you get on your weight loss goal and the activity level you tell it you have. If your goal is set at 1.7 lbs. per week, I think you should eat all of your exercise calories, as long as they are accurate. If you are getting them from MFP, it's fine not to eat them all back as MFP tends to overstate the calorie burn for many people. There are websites, tho, that can figure more accurately, or if you have an HRM or fitbit/BodyMediaFit/Jawbone UP, use that.

    If you need a website, try: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/activity-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx#

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