Eating all your calories

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  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Its spread out over the whole day. Cleaning, Walking for an hour, doing strength training, walking for another 15 min or so ect.

    Personally, I never log cleaning. I expect it to be built into my sedentary activity level. As you point out, you're 100+ pounds overweight, and that means you currently occupy a space where you can lose weight quickly without worrying too much about getting enough calories. At your weight, your body really does have amble stores of fat to use (it gets more important to use your exercise calories as your weight drops). Right now, I think you're probably okay where you are, but I'm no expert and you need to make sure you're feeling okay, etc. as you go.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    First thing is, MFP calorie burns are overestimated as others have said. Since your'e new, I'll explain - we know this because we use other tools like Heart Rate Monitors (HRMS). The doubt has nothing to do with how big or small someone is or even a question of your effort or the time you've put in. It's a matter of accuracy and most numbers are just flat inaccurate.

    So, instead of planning to eat back ALL the earned calories. Only plan to eat back about half, 65% at the most. So if you get 1157, make sure you eat back at least 580 but as much as 750 of them. This should make it easier to get to your daily net of 1400 without feeling like you have to stuff yourself.

    I'll also caution you on logging things like cleaning. Just because you're set at sedentary doesn't mean it's ok to log everything you do as activity. Some things are included under that listing that most of us do on a regular basis and that don't really burn many more calories.
    Sleeping - 8 hours
    Personal care (dressing, showering) - 1 hour
    Eating - 1 hour
    Cooking - 1 hour
    Sitting (office work, selling produce, tending shop) - 8 hours
    Driving car to/from work - 1 hour
    General household work - 1 hour
    Light leisure activities (watching TV, chatting) - 3 hours

    Best of luck!

    Edited becuz englush iz tuff
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
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    Its spread out over the whole day. Cleaning, Walking for an hour, doing strength training, walking for another 15 min or so ect.

    Do not eat back exercise cals if you are doing it this way - estimating based on these activities. Most of these things are included in your current calorie allowance I am guessing. Eating back all of what you are estimating as burned will keep you in the same place you are (going on the small amount of information you have given us to work with).
    Those things are only included if the OP chose an activity level above 'sedentary,' generally speaking.

    I am doubtful that the calorie burn is 100% accurate; that's not intended to disparage the OP, merely an observation that the numbers seem high. MFP is set up so that you eat back your exercise calories. If you doubt their accuracy, it's still best - if following MFP's plan and not something like TDEE - 20% - to eat back at least half of your exercise calories. Doing so will help keep you from reinforcing a negative view of food. Food is fuel.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    You have a lot to lose, I don't think it matters that much. If it was me though, I'd have some ice cream.
  • tenatroy1
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    Yeah, Im 5'8 and I weight 247 pounds. Generally I walk for an hour everyday and do about an hour of strength training. I feel good and eat about 1400 calories a day not including exercise. The burned calories are based off of my fitday homepage thing.
  • tenatroy1
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    I actually don't have the typical food issues most people do at my weight I use to be very active and biked 20 miles a day. I was also a healthy weight but I moved to an extremely rural area and became lazy but ate the same amount of calories I did when I was active. Now, I'm trying to get the weight off and its been a pain because its different rules.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    If it continues to worry you, you might do better figuring your TDEE and taking a modest cut from that.

    Your TDEE is your total daily energy expenditure. It's roughly the number of calories your body burns in a day and also the number of calories you'd need to eat to maintain your current weight. Once you know your TDEE you can take about 20% off of that number and that would be your calorie goal. With this method you don't have to worry about eating back any exercise calories because they're already included in your calculations.

    There are a lot of online calculators to get an estimate of your TDEE, like this one: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

    Just be sure you recheck your numbers every ten pounds lost, or so.
  • tenatroy1
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    Thank you that was very helpful!
  • jkwolly
    jkwolly Posts: 3,049 Member
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    If it continues to worry you, you might do better figuring your TDEE and taking a modest cut from that.

    Your TDEE is your total daily energy expenditure. It's roughly the number of calories your body burns in a day and also the number of calories you'd need to eat to maintain your current weight. Once you know your TDEE you can take about 20% off of that number and that would be your calorie goal. With this method you don't have to worry about eating back any exercise calories because they're already included in your calculations.

    There are a lot of online calculators to get an estimate of your TDEE, like this one: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

    Just be sure you recheck your numbers every ten pounds lost, or so.
    This right here!

    As long as you are in a deficit of 500 calories per day from your TDEE, that will be a pound a week. I personally prefer this calculator, as it provides lots of good information on the site as well.
    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/



    And as for the people saying 1100+ calories in 1.5 hours is too much, are you kidding me?
    I easily burn that when I am doing a run, or an intense biking session. Everyone is different based on which workout they do and, so how can you judge?

    I hope from those comments you meant to say that MPF over estimates calories (as some have mentioned after), and as a previous poster also mentioned, you really should consider getting a heart rate monitor. Best way to know how many calories you are burning and most usually keep a workout log so you can view all your training files!
  • 4daluvof_candice
    4daluvof_candice Posts: 483 Member
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    May I ask how you burned 1157 calories in an hour and a half? I just jogged my *kitten* off for 30 minutes and burned 147 :P Hope I misunderstand, or please tell me your secret ;)

    OP may be heavier than you
  • liloldDee
    liloldDee Posts: 92 Member
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    I'm female with another 70/80 pounds to lose. I have a fitbit, I have the fitbit and mfp both set as sedentary. I don't log any exercise on the fitbit app, I mainly walk but never add cleaning ect. In a normal day, I do between 12/14k steps. For this fitbit gives me between 500/750 exercise calories. I don't normally eat more than half these calories, sometimes it's less sometimes it's more. I have my goal set to lose 1 pound per week, which on a sedentary lifestyle allows me 1640 calories. Due to the exercise and the fact I'm not sedentary I am currently losing more than 1 pound a week, it's around the 2 pound mark.
    Generally I eat between 1600 and 1900 calories 6 days a week and upto 2200 calories once a week/ fortnight. Because of my higher calories I'm not hungry, this doesn't feel like a diet, it's a lifestyle change. I've stopped excluding any food group from my meals. If I want some thing I eat it, not just a tiny amount a proper serving that satisfys my desire and doesn't leave me yearning for more like a teeny portion does!
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    As a fit female, when I was working out 1-1/2 to 2 hours per day (high intensity cardio) I was able to burn 1000-1200 calories per day. I don't think walking, cleaning and other daily acitivities would get you to that kind of calorie burn even if you are heavy. You have to get your heart rate up close to maximum for a sustained amount of time to have that rate of burn. I don't even log activities like walking and cleaning because they are a part of daily living. I only log exercise if it gets my heart rate up and makes me sweat.
  • lindsayforlife
    lindsayforlife Posts: 93 Member
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    I have never understood the eating back of calories that you burn. Yes, I've read all the posts touting it, and the explanations of MFP already creating a deficit. But, in my opinion, if you eat a decent amount of calories (for me it's about 1800) and you exercise and burn say 200 calories, its counterproductive to eat them back. My body's not going to go into starvation mode, I'm not going to hang on to my fat because I'm not consuming enough calories. I've never got it, and maybe I never will, but I never eat back my calories.