I'm so confused on eating back calories

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savstupidah
savstupidah Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay so I just started today actually and I have a plan to eat 1200 and burn 500, but how much should I eat back to lose weight? I didn't eat very well today so my net is 378 but it's 8:30 so should I not eat? please help!

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  • jenmom2myboys
    jenmom2myboys Posts: 311 Member
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    Can you open your diary?
  • savstupidah
    savstupidah Posts: 7
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    how? :( I just made this today
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    If you burn 500... you eat back 500. Just make sure your numbers are very accurate....MFP's exercise calories are notoriously high. Use a HRM.
  • savstupidah
    savstupidah Posts: 7
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    but what if I exercise and it's after 7 do I still eat them back? and can my body go into starvation mode just from one day?
  • jenmom2myboys
    jenmom2myboys Posts: 311 Member
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    The time of day doesnt matter. You can still eat. I think you go into your settings to make your diary public.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    then you should eat 1700 and net 1200 ..1700 - 500 burned = 1200

    what are you using to measure burns? Most burn estimates are pretty inaccurate..so you should probably only eat back half of your exercise calories…

    so 1450 - 250 burned = 1200 net..

    you should always try to net 1200...
  • savstupidah
    savstupidah Posts: 7
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    how about now?
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    but what if I exercise and it's after 7 do I still eat them back? and can my body go into starvation mode just from one day?

    Wha - oh. Meal timing doesn't matter. Almost all of my workouts are after 7. Tonight's doesn't start until 10pm. I'll eat the majority of my calories after that. You don't have to stop eating at 7 or anything.

    And no. Your body won't go into starvation mode from one day. It won't go into starvation mode for a long time actually. BUT eating consistently low calorie amounts can cause a host of terrible symptoms, most notably fatigue, which will affect how much you burn.

    You can open your diary by going to Food > Settings and changing your diary to public.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    but what if I exercise and it's after 7 do I still eat them back? and can my body go into starvation mode just from one day?

    no, you will not go into starvation mode.

    starvation mode is when people eat nothing for a pro longed period of time of at least greater than 72 hours…

    however, if you chronically under eat you can damage your metabolism (metabolic adaptation) which will cause your metabolism to drop ...
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    Follow the sites guidelines which would mean eating until your net is 1200. If after about 4 weeks, assuming you are carefully measuring your food (ideally with a kitchen scale for the solids and measuring cups and spoons for the liquids), you find that is not working, you might want to eat back less of your calories. For now, eat them all.
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    I'm slow on this thread! Yes, eat back the exercise calories you earn, especially on a 1200 calorie diet since it is so low.

    ETA: No matter what time it is.
  • savstupidah
    savstupidah Posts: 7
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    thank you a lot!!
  • savstupidah
    savstupidah Posts: 7
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    why is it that eating back calories helps you lose weight faster?
  • Isakizza
    Isakizza Posts: 754 Member
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    then you should eat 1700 and net 1200 ..1700 - 500 burned = 1200

    what are you using to measure burns? Most burn estimates are pretty inaccurate..so you should probably only eat back half of your exercise calories…

    so 1450 - 250 burned = 1200 net..

    you should always try to net 1200...

    ^^^ This is basically what I did.
    I would eat back about 50%-75% of my workout calories. If I burned 500, I would eat back 250 of that. If I was still hungry I might eat another 100-150. My net calories was usually around 1100-1300.

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  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    why is it that eating back calories helps you lose weight faster?

    It helps you to fuel your workouts. If you don't have the energy to perform at the gym or wherever you do your exercise, you won't burn those calories as efficiently either during your workout or after (there is some amount of afterburn with all exercise, though it is more pronounced in strength training and interval training.)

    It won't necessarily make you lose weight faster, but it will make your body run a little better. A lot of people here suggest only eating back a portion of your exercise calories (50-70%) but since 1200 calories is a low goal it's sort of better to err on the side of more calories.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    why is it that eating back calories helps you lose weight faster?

    It doesn't, but it provides what you need to keep you healthy, and it helps reduce the loss of muscle mass because when people say weight loss they should be saying fat loss. The key to weight loss is not speed, but slow at a moderate calorie deficit. Eating as little as you can is neither healthy or successful in the long term.
  • jhinds88
    jhinds88 Posts: 9 Member
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    Hmm.. first 1200 cals seems like such a low amount. Did you use an online calculator or did you take a leap of faith and pick a number? The reason I ask is because there is a chance that you should and could be consuming more cals a day. I'm fairly petite and at about 1500 cals a day I'm still in a deficit right now...

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