HELP! Am I doing something wrong with the calories?

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myfitnesspaller
myfitnesspaller Posts: 74 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi!

So I burned 800 calories today. And I have 300 calories left (from my 1350 calories total+exercise calories). I am worried that if I even eat back 200 calories back, I would have eaten somewhere close to 1900 calories today!! How am I going to lose weight that way? I am actually eating more than my allotted calories (even thou I still have around 100 calories left from the workout I did earlier where I burnt 800 calories).

Kinda confused.


Help!
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Replies

  • Cwampler09
    Cwampler09 Posts: 5 Member
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    Everyone has a different opinion about this subject. Here is my take.

    My base calories I want to eat and not go over is 1200 calories. Today I went hiking and burned almost 1,000 calories. I ate those back because I want my net calories to stay around 1200 calories---if not your body may go into starvation mode and hoard onto body fat.
  • myfitnesspaller
    myfitnesspaller Posts: 74 Member
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    Everyone has a different opinion about this subject. Here is my take.

    My base calories I want to eat and not go over is 1200 calories. Today I went hiking and burned almost 1,000 calories. I ate those back because I want my net calories to stay around 1200 calories---if not your body may go into starvation mode and hoard onto body fat.
    hey thanks.

    See the thing is MFP already has put me on a caloric deficit plan (like everybody else I assume). So say I burnt 800 calories and have been allotted 1350 calories to eat daily. So if I eat back even 700 calories (from my exercise) and eat my daily 1350 I should still be at a caloric deficit (plus with 100 calories to spare) right?

    The thing is, I am eating more than 1350 because Im eating back my exercise calories as well..that's the confusing part.
  • Cwampler09
    Cwampler09 Posts: 5 Member
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    Yes, in my opinion you should eat back at least half if not all of your exercise calories. It is recommended that everybody eat at least 1200 net calories so I would have that be your goal.

    For example, I ate around 2,000 calories today because I burned 1,000 hiking. My net calories is looking around 1100-1200 right now.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    If I'm active enough I can eat up to 2500 calories (and yes I eat most/all my calories from exercise) and still be in a deficit. It's working just fine for me. The other thing to consider is how you figure calorie burns. MFP or Machines will be inaccurate and tend to overestimate. A hrm will be closer to accurate. Activity trackers (i use one) will also help get you closer to accurate, but can actually underestimate (mine does).
  • JoshuaElement
    JoshuaElement Posts: 29
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    People don't factor in there BMR when inputting their calories burnt.

    Say you spend an hour on the Stairmaster and you burn 1000 calories - seems like a good burn right? Well, not so much. Once you factor in your BMR for that hour you would only be left with a handful of calories you have actually burnt. Somewhere between 100-200. If you're lucky.

    Also, don't listen to people and their constant starvation mode bull**** - starvation mode has only been shown to be activated in people with <10% bodyfat after a 24-48hr period with severely restricted calorie intake. We're talking less than 500 calories a day. If your body has a reasonable amount of fat on it 13%> you're body will start it's lipolysis process and start breaking down your fat cells for energy.
  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
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    People don't factor in there BMR when inputting their calories burnt.

    Say you spend an hour on the Stairmaster and you burn 1000 calories - seems like a good burn right? Well, not so much. Once you factor in your BMR for that hour you would only be left with a handful of calories you have actually burnt. Somewhere between 100-200. If you're lucky.

    Um, no. My BMR is 1547, which is ~65 calories an hour. I burn 1000 calories on the stair master, I have a net burn of 935 calories. Not a handful, not in the least.
  • JoshuaElement
    JoshuaElement Posts: 29
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    People don't factor in there BMR when inputting their calories burnt.

    Say you spend an hour on the Stairmaster and you burn 1000 calories - seems like a good burn right? Well, not so much. Once you factor in your BMR for that hour you would only be left with a handful of calories you have actually burnt. Somewhere between 100-200. If you're lucky.

    Um, no. My BMR is 1547, which is ~65 calories an hour. I burn 1000 calories on the stair master, I have a net burn of 935 calories. Not a handful, not in the least.

    1547 is awfully low for a 21 year old female unless you have close to zero muscle mass.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Say you spend an hour on the Stairmaster and you burn 1000 calories - seems like a good burn right? Well, not so much. Once you factor in your BMR for that hour you would only be left with a handful of calories you have actually burnt. Somewhere between 100-200. If you're lucky.

    The math doesn't work out.

    If the machine/calculator says 1000 calories burnt, and all but 200 calories from an hour long session are really just BMR, it would mean a BMR of 19,200 a day. Which is impossible.
  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
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    People don't factor in there BMR when inputting their calories burnt.

    Say you spend an hour on the Stairmaster and you burn 1000 calories - seems like a good burn right? Well, not so much. Once you factor in your BMR for that hour you would only be left with a handful of calories you have actually burnt. Somewhere between 100-200. If you're lucky.

    Um, no. My BMR is 1547, which is ~65 calories an hour. I burn 1000 calories on the stair master, I have a net burn of 935 calories. Not a handful, not in the least.

    1547 is awfully low for a 21 year old female unless you have close to zero muscle mass.

    I checked a second calculator and got 1553. A third and got 1484. A fourth and got 1487. A fifth, which included my BF% of 31% and got 1447.
  • Tessyloowhoo
    Tessyloowhoo Posts: 504
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    People don't factor in there BMR when inputting their calories burnt.

    Say you spend an hour on the Stairmaster and you burn 1000 calories - seems like a good burn right? Well, not so much. Once you factor in your BMR for that hour you would only be left with a handful of calories you have actually burnt. Somewhere between 100-200. If you're lucky.

    Um, no. My BMR is 1547, which is ~65 calories an hour. I burn 1000 calories on the stair master, I have a net burn of 935 calories. Not a handful, not in the least.

    1547 is awfully low for a 21 year old female unless you have close to zero muscle mass.
    WHAT? no no no! dude seriously you are making no sense
    I am 21 years old with 18.4% bf and my BMR is only 1309...
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
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    My BMR is lower, as my weight is only 114. I basically burn around a calorie a minute, if doing nothing. So, I don't bother much with subtracting that from my calorie burn, especially if I'm a bit conservative when logging the exercise calories.

    Either way, I can eat up to around 2000 calories a day on workout days, because my maintenance calories are 1600 and then I burn around 400 in exercise. I do eat my exercise calories back, I have a big appetite, and I've lost close to 40 lbs, so I guess it works.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
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    Everyone has a different opinion about this subject. Here is my take.

    My base calories I want to eat and not go over is 1200 calories. Today I went hiking and burned almost 1,000 calories. I ate those back because I want my net calories to stay around 1200 calories---if not your body may go into starvation mode and hoard onto body fat.
    hey thanks.

    See the thing is MFP already has put me on a caloric deficit plan (like everybody else I assume). So say I burnt 800 calories and have been allotted 1350 calories to eat daily. So if I eat back even 700 calories (from my exercise) and eat my daily 1350 I should still be at a caloric deficit (plus with 100 calories to spare) right?

    The thing is, I am eating more than 1350 because Im eating back my exercise calories as well..that's the confusing part.


    Yes … MFP builds in a deficit. Say you're set to lose 1 lb a week, then it gave you a deficit of 500 calories (IOW, if you eat 1850 calories you will maintain your weight). This doesn't include anything your burn in exercise. So, today, you exercised and burnt 800 calories. That's above and beyond the 1850 that your body uses without exercise. So, to maintain your weight you'd need to eat 2650 calories. If you eat your 1350 plus the 800 exercise calories, that's 2150 calories, and you still have a deficit of 500 calories, which will lead to a 1 pound loss over a week. Make sense?


    A whole separate issue is how many calories you REALLY burned exercising. Do machines' and MFP's estimates include BMR or do you need to subtract that, and how significant is the difference? You've already seen the debate here. Which is why I think it's okay to leave 100 calories or so unused (in the green) some days. On the other hand, even if you go into the red, it would take 500 calories extra to get rid of your deficit (maintain) and more than that before you start gaining. If you only do that once in a while, and also have your days where you're in the green, I think it evens out. After all the BMR estimates are still just estimates … and that's why weight loss is not linear, and there are weeks where you won't lose anything even if you do everything right, and other weeks where you lose 2 pounds or more even though you didn't do everything differently.
  • gracetillman
    gracetillman Posts: 190 Member
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    For me and my success thus far -- I need to eat around the minimum calories calculated by MFP which already factors in a deficit. Some days I am a little bit lower, but I have only calculated a 1.5 pound a week loss so I can be slightly under some days are still be ok.

    I do not generally eat back my exercise calories -- unless I feel hungry. If I feel the need I will eat back a portion of the calories but NOT what MFP says I burned because I think their calculations are WAY to high. I do not have a Heart Rate Monitor yet, but I am going to invest in one so I get a more accurate calorie burn.

    As I drop more weight and get closer to my goal I know the numbers will matter more.

    Also I do not think if you burn 1000 calories in an hour (which I do not think you can even do on a stairmaster) only 200 are above your BMR- my BMR is not 800 calories an hour. I wish!!
  • troselj
    troselj Posts: 6
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    sorry don't believe the 1000 calories or even the 800 calories burnt especially when there is no lean muscle mass - as in over 15% body fat
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    Everyone has a different opinion about this subject. Here is my take.

    My base calories I want to eat and not go over is 1200 calories. Today I went hiking and burned almost 1,000 calories. I ate those back because I want my net calories to stay around 1200 calories---if not your body may go into starvation mode and hoard onto body fat.
    hey thanks.

    See the thing is MFP already has put me on a caloric deficit plan (like everybody else I assume). So say I burnt 800 calories and have been allotted 1350 calories to eat daily. So if I eat back even 700 calories (from my exercise) and eat my daily 1350 I should still be at a caloric deficit (plus with 100 calories to spare) right?

    The thing is, I am eating more than 1350 because Im eating back my exercise calories as well..that's the confusing part.

    1350 is what you'd eat without doing any exercise. That way you eat 1350 and net 1350. That's fairly easy. When you exercise and burn 500 calories you need to eat 1350 + 500 or 1850. (Give or take a bit since some people worry that the calories burned aren't accurate.) Your 1350 already has your weight loss deficit removed so you can continue to lose weight.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    Worth reading

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • foleyshirley
    foleyshirley Posts: 1,043 Member
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    People don't factor in there BMR when inputting their calories burnt.

    Say you spend an hour on the Stairmaster and you burn 1000 calories - seems like a good burn right? Well, not so much. Once you factor in your BMR for that hour you would only be left with a handful of calories you have actually burnt. Somewhere between 100-200. If you're lucky.

    Um, no. My BMR is 1547, which is ~65 calories an hour. I burn 1000 calories on the stair master, I have a net burn of 935 calories. Not a handful, not in the least.

    1547 is awfully low for a 21 year old female unless you have close to zero muscle mass.

    1547 is a reasonable BMR. I think you are mistaking this for TDEE.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    Sounds like serious over estimation of calorie burns here. When I burn 900+ caloried an hour, I drop between 5 & 6 pounds of water weight. That's an hour at ~160 HR for a 5'10 male at about 188. You're probably greatly over estimating the calories burnt.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
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    Sounds like serious over estimation of calorie burns here. When I burn 900+ caloried an hour, I drop between 5 & 6 pounds of water weight. That's an hour at ~160 HR for a 5'10 male at about 188. You're probably greatly over estimating the calories burnt.

    Yep and same here.... I burn right at 1000 calories in an hour and can easily drop 5 lbs. in water weight and the same on the heart rate mine is at ~150 HR for that hour and I am 6 ft. 1 in and currently 250 lbs. I track with a Polar FT60 heart rate monitor...
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    I burn about 350 calories per hour doing 3.5 mph on the treadmill with the incline at 5. I'm pretty small, but I'd still be suspicious of an 800 calorie burn unless you were doing something VERY intense.

    The point about BMR is a good one but the poster making it has got his math all wrong. My BMR is 1400, so in an hour that's 58 calories I'd have to subtract from my total burn. Usually I just log 3/4 of the calorie burn and call it good.

    All that said, you should be eating back at least most of your exercise calories because that's how MFP is designed. It gives you a lower calorie goal to start with because you're expected to eat them back.

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