eating under my target calories then over my target - help

sappy1000
sappy1000 Posts: 15
in Health and Weight Loss
So on Sunday i ate net calories of about 20 (1224 consumed and 1204 burned through exercise) whereas Monday i had net calories of -442. Is this ok? will it all balance out so i acheive my daily goal of 1420 which is a deficit of 1000?

Side note - why doesnt this websit account for calories lost via strength training?

Replies

  • stevenleagle
    stevenleagle Posts: 293 Member
    IMHO there is nothing wrong with zigzagging calories (i.e having one day where you are say 200 calories over target balanced by another day where you are under 200). I look at the average for the week.

    As for calories expended doing strength you can actually get an estimate from mfp for strength under cardio!

    Personally I use a Polar Ft80 HRM which measures my calories expended during strength training as well as cardio. I log it.
  • Katrinadionne1808
    Katrinadionne1808 Posts: 95
    So did you not eat any calories back burnt through exercise i.e. was it saying you had almost 1200 remaining? If so then you are gonna get a ton of people on your case saying you should be eating your exercise calories back. For me personally I don't know how you weren't starving after burning that amount of cals if that is the case.

    Personally I don't look at dailies and look at what I average for the week, some days I do more exercise than others, some days we might eat out or there's a special occasion so my net ends up minus, but as long as I am +/- 100 at the end of the week I am happy. Therefore I wouldn't worry too much about being minus today. In some cases I have a positive net remaining on my exercise day but the day before or after I might go over but to me it balances out.

    My cals are set at my TDEE which is 1700, I had 1809 of food, burnt 303 exercising and therefore my net was 1506 leaving me with a remaining 194 cals. I could have made this up with a protein shake but I could not eat anything further. So today for example I may go over by 194 cals and that is fine.

    It doesn't account for calories for strength training because everyone is different. Even the cardio calorie burnt indication can be out.

    I have a HRM which tells me how many cals I have burnt so I go off that as it can be out considerably sometimes, event the machines in the gym can be out by around 100 cals, that way I can also add my cals burnt for strength training. As an example 40 mins on a cross trainer at a moderate setting burnt 395 cals (gym machine said about 260), 38 minutes various weight and floor work burnt 331
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    You shouldn't be netting zero cals, you should be netting your goal. Zigzagging is fine, but netting so little will cause problems.

    As for cals and strength training... log it under cardiovascular. The strength training section on this site is for tracking workouts (lifts, sets, reps, weight, etc), not calories burned. But IMO, burning cals isn't why you should be lifting.
  • sappy1000
    sappy1000 Posts: 15
    all sound advice, thank you. Although his sort of makes me not want to exercise as i will have to eat more!
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Why do you not want to eat more?
  • flechero
    flechero Posts: 260 Member
    all sound advice, thank you. Although his sort of makes me not want to exercise as i will have to eat more!

    2 different issues... apply common sense and moderation to both.

    eat for weight - you need to net the 1400+

    exercise for health - heart and muscular health are very important as you age....
  • flechero
    flechero Posts: 260 Member
    you can enter strength training in the cardio section.... and it will show calories.
  • sappy1000
    sappy1000 Posts: 15
    i just feel like i am putting on excess calories but i realise i must hit my net of 1450

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