How much should I eat?

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Thebetterman1
Thebetterman1 Posts: 23
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm confused about how much I should eat and if I should eat back the calories burned. My TDEE says I need 2800 to maintain, and since I'm trying to lose weight ill eat around 2300. So how much should I eat back after I workout. If my workout burns 500 calories, I would need to eat 2800 calories?

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  • Thebetterman1
    Thebetterman1 Posts: 23
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    Bump. I read that you don't eat back your calories when using TDEE
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    Correct - with TDEE, you exercise is (or should be) figured into the daily goal by how you set your activity level, so you don't eat exercise cals back.
  • krawl78
    krawl78 Posts: 113 Member
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    TDEE - 20% is 1840.
    TDEE - 15% is 1955

    You should eat your TDEE - 20% or 15% (or not and eat the 2000). Your exercise cals are taken in to consideration when calculating your TDEE - you do not need to eat those back.
  • MsDarlene1004
    MsDarlene1004 Posts: 5 Member
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    You should NEVER eat back the calories that you have burned from exercise... you should stick to your daily calorie target number as much as you can. If you go a little over or under that's okay too, but NEVER EVER eat the calories you burn... you're defeating the purpose entirely!! Best of luck!! :wink:
  • KatLifter
    KatLifter Posts: 1,314 Member
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    You should NEVER eat back the calories that you have burned from exercise... you should stick to your daily calorie target number as much as you can. If you go a little over or under that's okay too, but NEVER EVER eat the calories you burn... you're defeating the purpose entirely!! Best of luck!! :wink:

    FALSE. Sigh.

    When you calculate your TDEE to account for your activity level you don't need to eat them back. Many people here eat the arbitrary number thrown at them from MFP, you should eat those calories back.

    ETA: Also, listen to your body. If you're hungry, eat some more healthy foods. You don't need to be hungry.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I'm confused about how much I should eat and if I should eat back the calories burned. My TDEE says I need 2800 to maintain, and since I'm trying to lose weight ill eat around 2300. So how much should I eat back after I workout. If my workout burns 500 calories, I would need to eat 2800 calories?

    When using TDEE, you don't eat exercise calories back since you're supposed to figure it in when you calculate it.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    You should NEVER eat back the calories that you have burned from exercise... you should stick to your daily calorie target number as much as you can. If you go a little over or under that's okay too, but NEVER EVER eat the calories you burn... you're defeating the purpose entirely!! Best of luck!! :wink:

    Wrong! If you're following the MFP program...you are supposed to eat those calories. What you advocate is wrong for many people and could lead to stalled loss and possibly under nutrition. Did you read the FAQs when you got here? Didn't think so.
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    I'm confused about how much I should eat and if I should eat back the calories burned. My TDEE says I need 2800 to maintain, and since I'm trying to lose weight ill eat around 2300. So how much should I eat back after I workout. If my workout burns 500 calories, I would need to eat 2800 calories?
    If you used a TDEE calculator and accurately selected your daily activity level - including exercise, then your daily calorie number/goal would include exercise calories already - therefore, you would not eat them back.
    If you selected sedentary as your activity level when doing the calculator, then the calorie goal would not include any exercise calories, and you would need to eat them back. So it all depends on what you selected when doing the calculator.

    On the other hand, if you are using the number given to you by MFP, when selecting the activity level it does not include exercise calories no matter what. The activity level on MFP is only for regular daily activity (in other words at work, etc). Any exercise you do should be entered and then eat back those calories because the number MFP will give you will not include them.

    Since you said you have a TDEE number, I'm guessing you are not going by what MFP says.
  • Thebetterman1
    Thebetterman1 Posts: 23
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    Thanks for the replies. I have some more questions. Is fitness frog a reliable source to calculate TDEE? And I'm not sure how much percentage I should use ( 15-20%). Can't I just minus 500 from my TDEE. So I would lose 1lb a week? 500x7= 3500
  • Thebetterman1
    Thebetterman1 Posts: 23
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    Anyone?
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    Thanks for the replies. I have some more questions. Is fitness frog a reliable source to calculate TDEE? And I'm not sure how much percentage I should use ( 15-20%). Can't I just minus 500 from my TDEE. So I would lose 1lb a week? 500x7= 3500
    I'm not familiar with fitness frog.. try out The Scooby Calculator (google it).
    If you are exercising and have a decent amount to lose, you can use the 20% deficit. If you find you aren't losing weight at that level, increase calories a little - maybe to 17%, etc.
    I just recently did this after a 3 month plateau and lost almost 3 pounds immediately.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,775 Member
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    Re: Fitness Frog

    I used it and the Fat2Fit calculators. There was a small discrepancy between the two calculators (maybe 50 cals). Or calculate your TDEE using 2 or 3 different websites and take the average.
  • Thebetterman1
    Thebetterman1 Posts: 23
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    I used scooby and it gave me the same amount of 2800 Tdee

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