Eating back exercise calories while already in a deficit

jeffhanlon
jeffhanlon Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
According to mfp, my maintenance calorie amount was 2059. I just dropped from 244 to 198 by being in a food deficit of 259 & exercise deficit of about 300 daily. I hurt my ankle and was unable to do any cardio for 2 weeks and that was when I saw my biggest weight loss. I lift weights 6 days a week and was doing cardio daily until I hurt my ankle. Since I cut out cardio and lost weight rapidly does that mean I was in too big of a deficit and should have eaten more on cardio days?

So basically I was eating 1750 calories and burring about 300 at the gym daily. 2059-1450= 609 calorie deficit daily on average. I was not eating back exercise calories. But If I did cardio I actually lost less weight. Should I eat more on cardio days? I feel as if that would just make the food deficit pointless.

Secondly, once getting to 198 lbs I plateaued so I have decided to change my calories and food intake since I weigh less now. Currently I have been aiming for 1500 calories (fat-48, protein -144, carbs-108) and I am not currently doing cardio but weight training 6 days a week for 1:30 hours. I figure I burn about 300 calories an hour weightlifting. Now my BMR is 1946. Would 446 food deficit and 350-400 exercise deficit =769 1946-769=1177. Would this be too big of a deficit/ should I eat back so exercise calories?

If anyone could provide some feedback I would appreciate it!
Thanks,
Jeffrey Hanlon

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    When we exercise our bodies hold on t water to repair muscle. Since you weren't exercising, your body probably let go of the extra water, hence "more" weight loss... which was actually water loss. Once you begin exercising again, your body will retain water again.


    As far as calories go, you don't eat your BMR and subtract your exercise from that. Your BMR is what your body needs if you were to be in a coma. You want to subtract your exercise (deficit) from your TDEE (total daily expenditure), which is a much higher number.

    You can either follow MFP's guideline and eat your goal + any of your exercise calories OR you can figure out what your TDEE is and take 10-20% off from that (depending on your goal) and eat that everyday without adding in your exercise calories. Both methods work really well.

    For TDEE stuff:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    And some more great info:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • splashtree2
    splashtree2 Posts: 277
    According to mfp, my maintenance calorie amount was 2059. I just dropped from 244 to 198 by being in a food deficit of 259 & exercise deficit of about 300 daily. I hurt my ankle and was unable to do any cardio for 2 weeks and that was when I saw my biggest weight loss. I lift weights 6 days a week and was doing cardio daily until I hurt my ankle. Since I cut out cardio and lost weight rapidly does that mean I was in too big of a deficit and should have eaten more on cardio days?

    So basically I was eating 1750 calories and burring about 300 at the gym daily. 2059-1450= 609 calorie deficit daily on average. I was not eating back exercise calories. But If I did cardio I actually lost less weight. Should I eat more on cardio days? I feel as if that would just make the food deficit pointless.

    Secondly, once getting to 198 lbs I plateaued so I have decided to change my calories and food intake since I weigh less now. Currently I have been aiming for 1500 calories (fat-48, protein -144, carbs-108) and I am not currently doing cardio but weight
    training 6 days a week for 1:30 hours. I figure I burn about 300 calories an hour weightlifting. Now my BMR is 1946. Would 446 food deficit and 350-400 exercise deficit =769 1946-769=1177. Would this be too big of a deficit/ should I eat back so exercise calories?

    If anyone could provide some feedback I would appreciate it!
    Thanks,
    Jeffrey Hanlon

    When you drop cardio your metabolism is not striken anymore but i see that you wanna lower too much the overall calories, if you stay too much low in calories your metabolism will save at a certain point cause you bring it too close to starvation, the matter of the recovery after training is essential cause muscled to be repaired needs both carbs and protein so i suggest not to be so severe with the deficit and use whey protein for a good recovery.
    Cheers,
    Isabel
  • jeffhanlon
    jeffhanlon Posts: 4 Member
    According to this website: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ my tdee would be 3341, but 2500 if i choose to use the goal of -25% calorie reduction & that my bmr would be 1937.

    I feel as 2500 would be way too high if i wanted to loose weight. I do some rigorous weight lifting, but if i burn 400 calories at the lifting and my bmr is 1937 wouldnt i maintain weight at this level. How is the site accurate?

    While I understand water retention, I was still working out when I hurt my ankle, but just not doing cardio.

    thanks,

    jeff

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