oh no, not again! exercise cals - to eat or not

Calliope610
Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
edited January 19 in Fitness and Exercise
Please let my know if I'm thinking the correctly -

My daily cals of 1650 is based on the "place in the road map" theory of BMR and TDEE moderate activity (3-5x/wk). If I use MFP defaults for sedentary normal daily activities, it defaults to 1200 cals. I didn't feel comfortable with that, so I did the research and come up with 1650.

Since 1650 includes moderate activity, I don't think it is necessary to eat back my exercise cals because that level of activity is figured into my daily caloric requirements. If I kept my cals at MFP 1200, I would definitely eat my exercise.

Here are my calculations. I chose a 30% deficit b/c I have so much weight to lose, I will adjust it to 20% once I get to out of the "obese" BMI range and a BF% of around 35-40%.

VITAL STATS - 03/19/13
per FitnessFrog.com
BMI @ 218lbs = 37.0
BMR @ 218lbs = 1664
TDEE @ 218lbs = 2579 moderate exercise 3-5x/wk
Daily cals = 2579 - 30%(773.70) = 1805.30 cals

per Helloitsdan road map
BMI @ 218lbs = 37.0
BF% = 54.0% OMG!!!
BMR @ 218lbs = 1371 Katch-McArdle formula
TDEE @ 218lbs = 2466
Daily cals = 2466 - 30%(739.8) = 1725.2 cals

As a side note, I have increased my daily cals to 1750, as of today.

Replies

  • selina884
    selina884 Posts: 826 Member
    eat them, there is already a deficit in your plan
  • blisser99
    blisser99 Posts: 122 Member
    You should eat them back. Your net calories need to be 1750. What goes in must be more than what you are taking out. Say you eat 1600 and you burn 500, then you are really only putting in 1100.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    @ blister, put using the formula I am using, the 500 cal of expended energy is added to my baseline cal requirements. So eating back the expenditure just adds 500 cals over my daily needs.
  • denezy
    denezy Posts: 573 Member
    Edit to add: I don't think either of the first two commenters are following IN PLACE OF A ROAD MAP. Check out this link to find out more information: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

    *****

    Um no. If you are doing IPOARM your calorie burn is already built in and you do NOT eat your excercise calories back. UNLESS you exercise so much that your net calories drop below your BMR.

    In other words, eat 1800 per day no matter what you do. Unless you work out for 2 hours, then add in some extra.

    This is exactly what i do.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    @ Denezy,

    Thank you, that is my understanding of IPOARM, but I was getting comments about my diary saying "you need to eat more".
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    OP...I'm a TDEE method person (Road Map). The TDEE method incorporates ALL of your activity...so you don't eat back exercise calories...they are included in the formula to come up with your calorie goal.

    If you were using MFP you would eat back exercise calories because with MFP, exercise is extra....MFP uses your NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) to determine your calorie goal. Because exercise isn't included in the activity setting, it is extra and you would need to appropriately fuel that extra activity by eating them back.

    Don't confuse the two methods. They are apples and oranges. The reason MFP isolates exercise is because most people aren't accustomed to doing exercise and don't have a set routine when they start on a weight loss journey. Noobies tend to be inconsistent as well, so it's just better for many to use the MFP method and eat those calorie back...so they don't have to worry about it if they miss a workout or whatever.
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,489 Member
    No, you wouldn't need to eat exercise calories back if they're already included in your calculation. But you could eat more if you did extra exercise on a particular day.

    Edit to add: I find it easier not to log exercise on MFP because then it doesn't tell you to eat the calories back, and your goal stays correct. I have friends who prefer to log exercise but enter it as 1 calorie, if that suits you better.

    I started off with a higher body fat % than you, which means a low BMR (if using Katch-McArdle). It has come down a lot, but I'm still in the obese BMI range, and still above 30 - 40% body fat (according to the scales) and I'm finding that even TDEE - 20% feels quite strict. I'm actually eating around TDEE - 15%. I'm just mentioning that because you said you were going to stick to having a big deficit, until you got out of the obese range, but I personally wouldn't be able to maintain that. Your calorie goal goes down so much as you lose weight, as your TDEE goes down! If I tried to reduce by 30% I'd be around the 1200 mark, which is pretty low if you're not eating back exercise calories. You might want to re-evaluate as you go along and see what's working.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    If you're using TDEE then you don't eat exercise back, it's already been included.
  • fit_grrrl
    fit_grrrl Posts: 32
    I agree

    I do TDEE and don't eat my exercise cals back.

    I used to log exercise as well but no longer as I cannot be 101% sure that the cal burn was correct.

    Worked for me 5 pounds dropped since I stopped logging exercise and just ate the same cals each day
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