How many calories at the end of the day?

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skippybonbon
skippybonbon Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been reading so many things about this, and I'm more confused than ever... I know that I need 1200 calories a day to be healthy. What I'm confused about is this though... I workout every day and burn between 600-800 calories. So today for instance, based on "My Daily Summary" on this Fitness Pal homepage, I ate 1244 calories, and had a workout today in which I burned 650 calories. Therefore, my "Net" calories, which I take to mean the calories left in my body, is 606.

So my question is, is that healthy? Will that help me be on the track to weight loss? Or does that net number need to say 1200 at the end of the day (when I've factored in the calories I take away from working out; in other words, since I burned 650 cal. from working out, should I have eaten 1800 calories and been left with my "net" number being 1200)?

Thank you for any help/advice you can give!! :)

Replies

  • gponter79
    gponter79 Posts: 124 Member
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    I am no expert on this but i would have though that as long as you are consuming your 1200 you will be fine. Any less and the starvation mode thing will kick in (bad times). If your burning all those calories a day then you will probably lose weight quicker.
    Let your body tell you what it needs. There is no point in over eating to make up what you have just lost. If your body needs fuel it will tell you. If you feel fit, strong and healthy then I would say keep at it.

    Like I said i am no expert and you may get lots of replies now that say the opposite.
  • recipe4success
    recipe4success Posts: 469 Member
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    are you using the calories that this site provides for a certain exercise? those are very inaccurate, and way too high. If you are so inclined you could get a heart rate monitor and see how many calories you are actually burning. if you burn calories, you really should eat a bit more then you would on the days when you dono't exercise, but i don't think it is a good idea to eat just for the sake of eating.
  • scottjaqua
    scottjaqua Posts: 4
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    I have read a few articles on this and there are some other postings in here about it. Based on that research and my success (43 pounds lost) you have to understand that the "Starvation mode" is a moving target based on how much you work out. If MFP tells you to each 1700 calories, it is accounting for your deficit below what your body is used to and you will lose weight. If you work out, for say 600 calories, then you get to eat more. Do you have to reach 2300? no, but if you are more than 500 calories below 2300, then you will be in starvation mode - do you see how that worked? starvation mode is roughly 500 calories below what MFP says you should have as your dietary caloric intake - exercise or not, it's still 500 calories below that.

    What's great about it is if you get hungry at 9:00 pm, you can eat something light or after your workout you can have a banana without worrying about being above your 1700 target.

    What I typically do is have dinner, wait 30-40 minutes and then workout. I pretty much burn all of dinner, and then some, and HAVE to eat after my workout to get out of starvation mode. The cool thing is that it forces me to eat more frequent, smaller, and healthier meals, which in turn boosts my metabolism.

    I hope all this helps. I recommend searching other postings on these same topics and reading some online articles.

    Good Luck!!

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