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Calories???

suenewberry81
suenewberry81 Posts: 241 Member
edited February 23 in Health and Weight Loss
Just done a calorie calculator to see how much I need to eat to lose 2 lb a week, it came up as 1250, does this mean I can eat say 1500 cals but do exercise and burn 250 to make it 1250 or should I eat 1250 and still exercise??? Sorry if I sound thick x

Replies

  • melaniedsm
    melaniedsm Posts: 55
    Eat your excervise calories. So you are right, 1250 + 250 (excercise) = 1500 total calories. I don't make myself eat if I'm not hungry. I do try to eat some of the excercise calories back though. I figure if not I can kind of bank them for my cheat day every couple of weeks.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    Depends on the calorie calculator - different ones do it different ways.

    The MFP one generally assumes you're not doing any specific exercise/workouts beyond whatever activity level you entered. So in that case, yes you could and probably should eat back at least some of your exercise calories.

    Other calculators ask you what exercise you're doing and figure it into the number they give you.

    Tho I would imagine if the result you got was 1,250, it's probably the former and not the latter.
  • marialynn2014
    marialynn2014 Posts: 89 Member
    Your #s will increase when you enter the calories burned. Ex. Daily Calorie Goal: 1250. Insert exercise (running 30min burn 250 cals). It will automatically bump it up to 1500 for you, you don't need to do it yourself at all :)
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Which calorie calculator?

    MFP expects you to log exercise and eat those calories back. A TDEE calculator will have included exercise so you would not.


    Just a note - your ticker indicates you want to lose another 20lbs or so. 2lbs a week is an appropriate goal for someone with 75lbs or more to lose. For 20, 1 lb a week is a realistic goal.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    First, I will respectfully advise that a goal of 2lb/wk loss is way too aggressive if you've only got 13lbs to go (per your ticker). Of course, when motivated, we ALL want it gone, like NOW, but such a low cal goal can make for hungry, angry people (in my personal experience---I won't go there again). I learned this right quick.

    Once you've settled on a sustainable goal (say 0.5 to 1 lb/wk--slower is better, IMHO), the calorie goal set by MFP is before any exercise. So, say you need 1450 cals and exercise 250 cals--then you need to eat (and there is debate here) back your calories exercised. Some will say not all (since MFP "over-estimates" calories burned), only about half. Just listen to your body. If 1450 seems like enough, then stop. If you feel you need to refuel up to the full 1700 (or somewhere in the middle), you're still within the range to see weight loss.


    ETA: Oops, I see you changed your ticker. I still think a 1lb/wk weight loss goal is a solid compromise of steady loss vs. happy belly (IMHO--keeps us hungry girls sane).
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