Eat to goal or under goal?

chrissie1993x
chrissie1993x Posts: 27
in Health and Weight Loss
Every diary I've looked at the person was "under their calorie goal". Now I'm confused.
Shouldn't you eat to your goal? My MFP goal already has a 500 calorie deficit. Why would I eat less than that? Also, as I've just started, I'm literally eating half of what I use to eat.

Am I wrong in thinking you should eat to goal?

Replies

  • littleburgy
    littleburgy Posts: 570 Member
    Nothing wrong with eating to your goal, though it's hard to hit the number exactly.

    I think a number of people often eat under their goal throughout the week in order to have a calorie deficit so they can enjoy some weekend treats or for parties, etc.

    One thing I like about the phone app is that it shows your averaging out for the entire week.
  • veggiebound
    veggiebound Posts: 78 Member
    I'm happy if I'm not over :wink:
  • amindyleigh
    amindyleigh Posts: 17 Member
    I tend to be under goal because I feel like the exercise over calculates the number of calories that I burned. I enter it anyways, but don't pay much attention. I still eat 1500 cal per day, exercise or not.
  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
    Even when logging as effectively as one can there is still a bit of room for error. Some people may choose to err on the side of caution due to this.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    Eat to goal. You're not wrong.
  • chrissie1993x
    chrissie1993x Posts: 27
    Thank you for your input everyone!
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    It always says under goal for me because I don't eat back all of my exercise calories. I just upped my daily calorie intake manually by 100 cal so that even though I will still be under goal when exercise is included, my net will be slightly higher.
  • ScientificExplorerGirl
    ScientificExplorerGirl Posts: 535 Member
    Eating to goal is technically correct if following MFP guidelines. Inaccuracies from diet and exercise calorie counting though make going slightly under the daily goal desirable.

    As a general rule, slightly would mean up to 200 or 300 calories under goal and this would occur only on exercise days where you are allotted extra calories for working out. One exception to this would be if you were "banking" calories for the weekend or other special event.

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