I know 1,200 Cal is low, but what if..

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alondrasilva10
alondrasilva10 Posts: 63
in Health and Weight Loss
I exercise and just eat back all of the calories lost (during the exercising). Will I still lose the weight?


So like, I eat 1200 for the day then exercise and burn 300 calories. Can I eat those 300 calories I just burned?
Sorry if this is a really dumb question.


Edited:1:51pm
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Replies

  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,068 Member
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    i dont really know what your exactly asking, but it doesnt really matter. you want to NET more than 1200 calories (which means eat more than 1200 without exercise), especially considering you have a previous post mentioning how you are hungry all the time
  • marca_june
    marca_june Posts: 38 Member
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    I couldn't lose on 1200 cal. so I went up to 1400 and now I am losing weight! Sometimes your body will go into starvation mode and it hangs onto the weight it has!
  • sheedy17
    sheedy17 Posts: 128
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    If you eat all your calories back, you would be eating more than 1200 calories wouldnt you be?

    Or are you eating 800 calories and exercising for 400 calories and eating the 400 to make 1200?


    I am also not clear on the question
  • alondrasilva10
    alondrasilva10 Posts: 63
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    If you eat all your calories back, you would be eating more than 1200 calories wouldnt you be?

    Or are you eating 800 calories and exercising for 400 calories and eating the 400 to make 1200?


    I am also not clear on the question

    I just edited my question. I'm mainly asking if I can eat the calories I just burned from exercising.
  • alondrasilva10
    alondrasilva10 Posts: 63
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    i dont really know what your exactly asking, but it doesnt really matter. you want to NET more than 1200 calories (which means eat more than 1200 without exercise), especially considering you have a previous post mentioning how you are hungry all the time

    I did up my calorie intake after that post but I tend to over eat still. Yes, I did lose one pound but I fear that after a while I will just start gaining weight again.
  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,068 Member
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    I exercise and just eat back all of the calories lost (during the exercising). Will I still lose the weight?


    So like, I eat 1200 for the day then exercise and burn 300 calories. Can I eat those 300 calories I just burned?
    Sorry if this is a really dumb question.


    Edited:1:51pm
    not a dumb question, alot of people get confused on this. you should eat back your exercise calories if you are using the calorie limit that MFP gives you. most recommend to eat only 50-75% of the calories burned to inaccuracy in the number of calories burned, but honestly if your eating at that low of a level you should probably eat all of them back

    long story short, yes you can and you should, otherwise you're eating too little
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
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    I exercise and just eat back all of the calories lost (during the exercising). Will I still lose the weight?


    So like, I eat 1200 for the day then exercise and burn 300 calories. Can I eat those 300 calories I just burned?
    Sorry if this is a really dumb question.


    Edited:1:51pm

    Yes, you can eat the 300 exercise calories back. That will mean, on a day you already at 1200 and ate the 300 exercise calories too, you will have eaten 1200 calories NET, rather than 900, which is what would happen if you didn't eat back your exercise calories, and that low of an intake is not good for you. :)

    Edited for spelling!
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Yes, to use MFP as intended, you are meant to eat your exercise calories back, since that is "extra" work you are giving your body.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    You want to net 1200 calories (although most people will argue that 1200 is too low, but that's not the point of this post).

    This means that if you burn 300 cals exercising, you want to eat 1500 for the day. 1500 - 300 = 1200 net calories.
  • alondrasilva10
    alondrasilva10 Posts: 63
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    I exercise and just eat back all of the calories lost (during the exercising). Will I still lose the weight?


    So like, I eat 1200 for the day then exercise and burn 300 calories. Can I eat those 300 calories I just burned?
    Sorry if this is a really dumb question.


    Edited:1:51pm



    Yes, you can eat the 300 exercise calories back. That will mean, on a day you already at 1200 and ate the 300 exercise calories too, you have eated 1200 calories NET, rather than 900, which is what would happen if you didn't eat back your exercise calories, and that low of an intake is not good for you. :)

    This is my first day really going back to 1200 and I'm starting to remember why I upped my calorie intake the last time. All I am thinking about is food! Where when I was at 1,530 this wasn't a problem. (I wonder why MFP recommends such a low intake then?). I think I'll switch back but still take the advice about eating back the burned calories (probably just 50% of it rather than all of it).
  • QAPmom
    QAPmom Posts: 458 Member
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    Thank you been wondering about this too!
  • endermako
    endermako Posts: 787 Member
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    I exercise and just eat back all of the calories lost (during the exercising). Will I still lose the weight?


    So like, I eat 1200 for the day then exercise and burn 300 calories. Can I eat those 300 calories I just burned?
    Sorry if this is a really dumb question.


    Edited:1:51pm

    I would eat it all back if you feel like you need to eat 1200 regularly. I upped mine from 1200-1450 on day 2. I just upped my 1450 to 1550 yesterday on day 28...
  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
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    I found the TDEE method to be much simpler and less chaotic in my life.... I eat about 1700 a day (no matter what) :)
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I exercise and just eat back all of the calories lost (during the exercising). Will I still lose the weight?


    So like, I eat 1200 for the day then exercise and burn 300 calories. Can I eat those 300 calories I just burned?
    Sorry if this is a really dumb question.


    Edited:1:51pm



    Yes, you can eat the 300 exercise calories back. That will mean, on a day you already at 1200 and ate the 300 exercise calories too, you have eated 1200 calories NET, rather than 900, which is what would happen if you didn't eat back your exercise calories, and that low of an intake is not good for you. :)

    This is my first day really going back to 1200 and I'm starting to remember why I upped my calorie intake the last time. All I am thinking about is food! Where when I was at 1,530 this wasn't a problem. (I wonder why MFP recommends such a low intake then?). I think I'll switch back but still take the advice about eating back the burned calories (probably just 50% of it rather than all of it).

    MFP gives you a calorie allotment in part from "I want to lose XX pounds per week." 1200 is MFP's lowest minimum default.....which means it could be appropriate for your, OR it could be your weekly goal was too high.

    Does your weekly goal fall here?

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
  • petersend1
    petersend1 Posts: 1
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    The short and sweet answer is YES eat back the calories you are burning if your intake goal is 1200. If you are averaging burning 300 calories in your workout you should just up your intake goal to 1500 because then you will still hit 1200 with workout factored in.
  • bhouston33
    bhouston33 Posts: 8 Member
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    While all the info on this thread is great and probably accurate for most MFP users, it is not always going to work that way for everyone. I tried eating back 50% of my exercise calories with a set calorie goal of 1200 and still gained weight. I then switched to TDEE - 20% not counting anything for the exercise and still gained weight. After talking to my doctor as to why in the world I was gaining weight or just maintaining I was told that for my height (5'3.5") and current weight (141.2) and goal weight (124.9) my body would actually have to consume much less calorie wise in order to lose anything at all. I now have mine still set at 1200 calories because MFP will just reset it if I go lower and I count in my exercise. I eat between 1010 - 1300 calories per day now and I am losing steady at 0.5 to 1 lb a week....finally. So I guess it depends on what your goals are and how your body works. My advise is that if you really want to know what to do, after everything else has failed....talk to a physician to make sure....if you want to of course. :) Good luck to you and everyone else on this journey.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    I couldn't lose on 1200 cal. so I went up to 1400 and now I am losing weight! Sometimes your body will go into starvation mode and it hangs onto the weight it has!
    How can that be? Does going from 1200 to 1400 speed up your metabolism by more than 200? That seems unlikely.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    I couldn't lose on 1200 cal. so I went up to 1400 and now I am losing weight! Sometimes your body will go into starvation mode and it hangs onto the weight it has!
    How can that be? Does going from 1200 to 1400 speed up your metabolism by more than 200? That seems unlikely.

    It can't. That poster is simply wrong.
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
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    I couldn't lose on 1200 cal. so I went up to 1400 and now I am losing weight! Sometimes your body will go into starvation mode and it hangs onto the weight it has!
    How can that be? Does going from 1200 to 1400 speed up your metabolism by more than 200? That seems unlikely.

    It can't. That poster is simply wrong.

    +1. Starvation mode is a myth.

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