I can't eat back my calories!

kelsierose094
kelsierose094 Posts: 232 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My goal is 1,360, and I always try to aim for this even when i exercise. The other day I burnt 700 calories, therefore allowing me to eat 2,060, and without really having any reason to feel guilty. But I still aimed for my 1,360, meaning the difference is 660.. is that unhealthy? Should I try and eat back all the calories I've burnt, since the 1,360 is my goal for LOSING weight, not maintaining? Or is it okay as long as I don't eat go under that goal? I just feel really guilty going over, even if I exercise because I feel like I've undone all the hard work I've put in..

Sorry if this is a bit confusing :\

Replies

  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    MFP is designed to calculate your calorie needs to lose weight BEFORE EXERCISE. Then if you add exercise on top of that, you create a much larger deficit. Well, your body needs a certain number of calories to function - sustain you through getting out of bed, peeing, brushing your teeth, doing your job, making dinner, exercising, etc. By exercising and not eating back at least a portion of those calories, you're trying to make your body function on less than it needs to do so. It will eventually rebel against that and you'll stop losing, and then you'll be back posting "but I work out so hard why am I not losing???????" questions. So yes, eat back at least some if not most of the calories back.
  • Izzwoz
    Izzwoz Posts: 348 Member
    You don't "go over" by eating back your exercise cals. You have legitimately earned those cals, and you should be enjoying them! Your body needs them to sustain exercise and losing weight healthily, so be kind to your body and feed it back the energy it burnt for you! :-) If you feel guilty, there's nothing stopping you from using those cals for healthy options, like nuts, fruit, etc. - but in order to keep it up, I would also suggest to treat yourself for all the hard work you put into the exercise! :-)
  • SleeplessinBerlin
    SleeplessinBerlin Posts: 513 Member
    I agree, eat some of those calories back. No need to eat all 700kcal (especially since the estimated numbers of calories burned is not always accurate) but do eat more than 1360 if you exercise so much.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,226 Member
    A deficit is always calculated from TDEE and since working out increases your TDEE your deficit should reflect that increase in expended energy. You could increase your calories only on days you work out. If you have enough body fat the shortfall from consumed calories will come from body fat but the problem with that scenario is the susceptibility to bingeing. This classic scenario is the cornerstone of yo-yo dieting which has a very high failure rate.
  • kistockman
    kistockman Posts: 80 Member
    I struggle with this too. I've been on maintenance for awhile now and mostly I get nervous when I eat back all of my calories. I'm not gaining or losing so successfully maintaining, but I still worry if I don't stay below my calorie goal.

    As time goes by I am learning that I don't have to worry so much either way...eating them back or not. Some days I do and some, I'm just not hungry enough to do it. What I don't want to do is just eat to eat. I don't think you do either.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    <snip> and without really having any reason to feel guilty. I just feel really guilty going over, even if I exercise because I feel like I've undone all the hard work I've put in..<snip>

    Why would you feel guilty about eating?

    Did you know if you took identical twins who were on the same fat loss program, had them run 10 miles and fed them 3000 calories, the one who feels guilty about eating would partition the food differently than the one whos happy to eat to nourish?

    Food for thought.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974889-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet
  • kelsierose094
    kelsierose094 Posts: 232 Member
    Okay, so instead of trying to keep the "Food" number as 1,360, I should aim for the "Net" to be that number?
  • triskaidekaphile13
    triskaidekaphile13 Posts: 92 Member
    I use a HRM to get my calories for exercise that FitBit doesn't measure (cycling and strength work) and add that on FitBit at the exact calories given on the HRM. Everything else I let FitBit send across to MFP. I log my food only on MFP.

    For example, this morning I ran 5K and FitBit is great at calculating the calories from that (I've checked it against the HRM and it's almost identical) so I have an extra 368 from exercise at the moment giving me a current net of 515. My goal on the left of my iPhone homepage is 1440 so I have 925 calories remaining. This will go up and down throughout the day depending on whether I'm sat at my desk doing nothing or have to go to the post office! I try to get my daily 10,000 steps in too and by the end of the day go to bed with around 100 calories remaining. I've been on MFP for nearly a year and have never been over my net goal once but I certainly don't starve and eat between 1700 and 1900 calories a day. I keep an eye on my macros, especially protein.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Okay, so instead of trying to keep the "Food" number as 1,360, I should aim for the "Net" to be that number?

    Lets understand your statistics first.

    Age: 19
    Height:
    Weight:
    Body fat%: <
    very very important!
    Occupation: Student on break to travel UK
    Workout Routine:

    Any metabolic issues or physical limitations?
    I'm off to work so if you like, copy and paste this and PM me the answers and I can help you understand this a bit more.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,226 Member
    Okay, so instead of trying to keep the "Food" number as 1,360, I should aim for the "Net" to be that number?
    That is the most accurate way for calculating a deficit. Keep in mind that nobody gets the numbers right simply because calculating exact calorie consumption and energy expenditure is non existent. Keep a log and make adjustments over the course and I don't mean changing things when the next day nothing happens because weight loss isn't a linear thing, it goes up and down but trending down over time is what I mean.
  • Marley2310
    Marley2310 Posts: 304
    It depends on how much u want to lose per week..1000 calorie deficit = 2 pound loss , 1500 = 3 pound loss , 500 = 1 pound people who eat their exercise calories aim for 1 pound loss per week

Categories