Exercise vs Eating Less

imsotall · April 2014

My daily calorie goal is 1500 calories.

Currently, I have the time to carry out more exercise than normal and I am burning approximately 800 calories doing this. I am also easily able to eat no more than the recommended 1500 calories per day.

Therefore, am I correct to think that as I am only really taking on board 700 calories per day I need to eat more to get me back to around 1500 calories? I have heard of the body going into starvation mode if you fall below the recommended amount of daily calories and I obviously want to avoid this.

The follow up question is: What is worse for me? Eating 1500 calories, then burning 800 (to leave 700) or just eating enough to get me to 700 calories and dong no exercise?

I understand the health benefits of doing the exercise and I would assume that it is better to take on 1500 calories, then let the body process these and to the burn them off by exercising. Even if this does mean I have only taken on 700 calories at the end of the day.

I find it quite annoying that the combination of eating correctly, only taking on the recommended amount of calories and then making the effort to exercise means that my weight loss may be slowed due to the starvation effect.

To add context, I am trying to eat the 'right foods', balance my nutritional intake to 50% carbs, 25% fat and 25% protein. I am also eating this food over 5 - 6 meals a day of varying calorific amounts.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

spikrgrl503 · April 2014

If you use MFP to determine your daily calorie goal, you're supposed to NET 1500/day. That means that if you burn 800, you actually need to eat 2300 cals to net 1500. However, if you also use MFP to determine exercise calories, most people on here would say that MFP overestimates calories burned by exercise, and only eat back half of their exercise cals. So most people in your situation would eat approx 1900 or so.

Sassymama66_75HARD · April 2014

Newbie here but I have been reading everything I can get my hands on.....it seems most people eat back about half of the calories that they lose through exercise. So if you burn 800 calories per day - most would add about 400 calories per day to their meal plan.

My thought would be to experiment and see how that effects you. Great job on the activity!

thomaszabel · April 2014

If your goal at the beginning of the day is 1500, and then you burn 800 from exercise, once you log that exercise in, you will see that MFP says "2300 calories left" for the day. So it takes that into account. Your goal should be 1500 net calories, so you need to eat those 1500 plus whatever you burn off exercising.

If you only eat 1500 calories total, and you do exercise of 800 calories, you're putting yourself at a big deficit. You probably will lose weight too fast, so I don't recommend that.

vim_n_vigor · April 2014

The more calories you take in, the better you are able to meet your micro nutrient needs. I am in no way advocating that you have a goal of getting down to such a low calorie net a day, but at least if you are eating more food, you have a better chance of keeping your body from becoming deficient in nutrients while you are starving it.

Shelwaa · April 2014

With MFP when you log in exercises it increases your daily calorie intake to compensate burned calories.

GatorUA · April 2014

I think everyone is different but I usually lose less if I eat less (I eat 1200 or thereabouts when trying to lose) when I don't have time to exercise. When I do exercise I still usually try to eat about the same amount of food but if I am hungry (so far, that has not been the case) I will eat a little more. Years ago I lost 35 pounds on Weight Watchers without much exercise at all. I'm older now, so I have been doing light exercise when I have the time.

You're going to get advice all over the gambit of opinions. Good luck navigating them. Just take some time to try each of the options you're interested in and see what works best for you.

Faye_Anderson · April 2014

Well for a start you're a male so 1500 calories is too low, and MFP is set up so you eat back those calories. A"typical" male has a recommended daily amount of 2500 calories, I can't see why you would struggle to eat back your exercise calories? Your ticker says you only have 14lbs to go, if this is the case maybe you would be better working on body composition than weight loss, I know that MFP doesn't give you extra calories for strength training but you're meant to have your calories set to maintain or gain to build muscle :flowerforyou:

No_Finish_Line · April 2014

the starvation mode thing is blown way out of proportion, but to answer your question, id say that eating 700 would be worse then eating 1500 and buring 800 in exercise

ironrat79 · April 2014

I baseline my calorie intake at 2000. I log cardio at 1. I don't eat those calories back and it puts me at a deficit. I'm rarely burning 800 through cardio either, so it would be safe to eat half those back for someone burning that much and it would put you around that 1500 mark. Hope this helps.

Shelwaa · April 2014

I’m not sure if you knew, but if you look under cardio in exercises there is a "general weight" training option...it’ll give you a few calories for weight training but states that it’s only a general assumption and not extremely accurate…in saying that, I use it lol

sweetpea03b · April 2014

First of all... I'm 5'2, 165lbs and MY goal is 1500 calories... so I think your baseline goal is too low. That being said, to answer your question... you can go at it from either direction. I like a combination of a deficit by eating and a little burn. So, usually I'll stick right at 1500 calories and go for a walk or a short run and burn an extra 100 calories which puts me right on track to lose 1lb/week. So, if I didn't want to work out at all I would need to scale back to only 1400 calories/day and still lose. On the weekends I tend to eat more so I work out more to accomodate it.

It really depends on you and your preferences.... whether you want to work out or not.... but either way will work in terms of losing weight.

imsotall · April 2014

Thank you for all of the responses so far.

I would like to clarify that I appreciate eating a net total of 700 calories per day is not the right thing to do.

I also work on the basis that during any given week I potentially under record the true total number of calories taken on board, the fact that MFP over estimates the number of calories burned during exercise and also the fact I will only ever exercise 4-5 days per week (45 min walk at 5 mph).

Plus, there is also the chance that I will end up eating a whole pizza on a Sunday when I can't be bothered to eat healthily and cook my food myself.

I imagine when all of this is taken into account I am actually not taking on too few calories per week (even if there are a few days where I only eat 700 calories net)

thomaszabel · April 2014

I had a few days when I was losing weight when I was at a serious calorie deficit. Even had one day when I biked 10 miles and ran 10 miles where my net calories were less than zero!

I didn't die, so not a big deal. Just as long as I didn't make a habit of it.

bc2ct · April 2014

Go calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (based off height, weight, and age). This number is how many calories your body needs to survive if you didn't do anything (basically it's what you would burn if you were sedentary). A good rule of thumb is to never eat less than this number per day. If you are working out then yes, you can eat maybe 1/2 your exercise calories back (say you eat 2000kcal on a day when you burn 800 from exercise) and be fine. I would NEVER recommend that you eat fewer than 1000kcal under any circumstances (no one's BMR is that low!). On days when you don't exercise, just eat your BMR.

beth4dieting3 · April 2014

Hi Imsotall, thanks for your post. I think it's a really good question and I've enjoyed and learned from the thread. Personally, I aim for 1580 - 2000 calories a day as my current goal. I used to eat 2500 - 4000 calories a day so I am ok with this at this point. When I exercise, it adds onto the total amount of calories I am "allowed" to have for the day. I decide then whether to maintain my weight and eat them or lose and don't eat them. I think you are wise to be addressing starvation mode and think you will come out on top with this one because you are being honest about it and accountable. I am concerned about your eating an entire pizza. If you struggle with that, make sure to order a personal size or by the slice. I have found since I have changed my eating habits that eating too much of a greasy food makes me sick. Just keep on going - don't give up and watch your progress over time as your new habits become your lifestyle. All the best! Beth

asciiqwerty · April 2014

My daily calorie goal is 1500 calories.

The follow up question is: What is worse for me? Eating 1500 calories, then burning 800 (to leave 700) or just eating enough to get me to 700 calories and dong no exercise?

if your goal is from MFP it is a NET goal (intake - burn = net) and you should be eating back (some or all) of your excercise calories

you should not (for health reasons) ever net less than 1200 cal/day unless you are on a VLCD managed by a doctor

No_Finish_Line · April 2014

Thank you for all of the responses so far.

I would like to clarify that I appreciate eating a net total of 700 calories per day is not the right thing to do.

I also work on the basis that during any given week I potentially under record the true total number of calories taken on board, the fact that MFP over estimates the number of calories burned during exercise and also the fact I will only ever exercise 4-5 days per week (45 min walk at 5 mph).

Plus, there is also the chance that I will end up eating a whole pizza on a Sunday when I can't be bothered to eat healthily and cook my food myself.

I imagine when all of this is taken into account I am actually not taking on too few calories per week (even if there are a few days where I only eat 700 calories net)

i mean no offense when i say that this is just being lazy and not leveraging the tools that you have at your disposal.

probably the exercise #s my be off, but try averaging 3 different websites and you'll get closer to the truth.

not saying that eating pizza on the weekends is an automatic fail, but if you logged what you were eating and were religious about that, you wouldn't have to guess at what your overall calorie intake is.

otherwise, why bother logging at all?

don't get me wrong, i'll go long periods without logging, but if i'm serrious about losing weight, then i'm serrious about logging.

asciiqwerty · April 2014

for me logging EVERYTHING accurately is the only ways to sustainably loose weight

sure everything is an estimate, but you can get over most of that by being careful, pick the lowest predicted calorie burns from a number of estimations for your burn, chose entries from the food database carefully, weigh everything, and become accountable to yourself

imsotall · April 2014

Thank you for all of the responses so far.

I would like to clarify that I appreciate eating a net total of 700 calories per day is not the right thing to do.

I also work on the basis that during any given week I potentially under record the true total number of calories taken on board, the fact that MFP over estimates the number of calories burned during exercise and also the fact I will only ever exercise 4-5 days per week (45 min walk at 5 mph).

Plus, there is also the chance that I will end up eating a whole pizza on a Sunday when I can't be bothered to eat healthily and cook my food myself.

I imagine when all of this is taken into account I am actually not taking on too few calories per week (even if there are a few days where I only eat 700 calories net)

i mean no offense when i say that this is just being lazy and not leveraging the tools that you have at your disposal.

probably the exercise #s my be off, but try averaging 3 different websites and you'll get closer to the truth.

not saying that eating pizza on the weekends is an automatic fail, but if you logged what you were eating and were religious about that, you wouldn't have to guess at what your overall calorie intake is.

otherwise, why bother logging at all?

don't get me wrong, i'll go long periods without logging, but if i'm serrious about losing weight, then i'm serrious about logging.

No offence taken!

I should have been clear and stated that I DO log everything I eat.

However, I am not naive enough to think that I am always accurate in my estimations regarding the quantities eaten and the ingredients used in the preparation of these foods. For example, if I eat a meal in a restaurant or one cooked by someone else.

I would say that the more food I log the better I get a judging quantities by eye and I always try to get nutritional information from the foods I buy. However, I do think it is likely many people in this situation can be out by up to 100 calories per meal when guessing the nutritional value of what they are eating . If you multiply this out over a week or a month it could have quite a serious effect on their weigh loss plans and the time-scales required to meet those goals.

asciiqwerty · April 2014

inc ase you're interested, as you mentioned estimation and accuracy:

a recent study found that even dietitians (who should know better - right?) underestimated their calorie intake. This is from a study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12396160) (small sample alert) or 10 dietitians and 10 other similar adults over a week. The under-reporting was 223 and 429 kcal/day respectively, implying that those who take care and are knowledgeable can significant;y increase the accuracy of their calorie tracking compared to those who are less careful/knowledgeable.

so while I try to be as accurate as I can, I reccon at best, and not being a pro i'm likely to de underestimating by about 300 cal/day, given i'm targetting 275cal/day deficit for a 0.25 kg/week loss - my inacuracy is probably masking my deficit if i'm not progressing as i would like to

imsotall · April 2014

inc ase you're interested, as you mentioned estimation and accuracy:

a recent study found that even dietitians (who should know better - right?) underestimated their calorie intake. This is from a study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12396160) (small sample alert) or 10 dietitians and 10 other similar adults over a week. The under-reporting was 223 and 429 kcal/day respectively, implying that those who take care and are knowledgeable can significant;y increase the accuracy of their calorie tracking compared to those who are less careful/knowledgeable.

so while I try to be as accurate as I can, I reccon at best, and not being a pro i'm likely to de underestimating by about 300 cal/day, given i'm targetting 275cal/day deficit for a 0.25 kg/week loss - my inacuracy is probably masking my deficit if i'm not progressing as i would like to

Thank you for the information - very interesting reading.

As I mentioned previously, I am no expert when it comes to estimating the nutritional value of a meal and this information about inaccuracies in estimations leads me to think that I shouldn't be too concerned about the 3 days a week where I may be at a deficiency on my recommended daily calorie intake.

Especially if it is only around 300 calories.

However, at the end of the day everyone is different and I think by using tools like MFP we are all on the way to discovering a little bit more about how our individual bodies respond to different foods, levels of exercise etc and this can only be a good thing.

kapoorpk · April 2014

To maintain your weight eat your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE calories. Many calculators are available online to help you calculate them.

If you want to lose weight, eat less than TDEE, i.e. on a deficit

If you want to gain weight, eat more than TDEE, i.e. on a surplus.

TDEE INCLUDES your the energy you expend in exercise.

So, if including your exercise calories for your age, height and weight is, for example 1500, then eat 1500 total. Less for weight loss and more for weight gain.

Good luck!

MrGonzo05 · April 2014

A grown man needs to net more than 700 calories a day. It's not because of a starvation mode boogeyman. It's because you'll lose excessive lean mass, and if you keep it up, you'll feel like a fish with no water.

Exercise vs Eating Less

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