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

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!

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

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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Ultimately, it is the net calories that matter.

You can eat the exercise calories back. But one problem is that it's very hard to really know accurately how many you burned during exercise. There are machines that help like HRM, displays on treadmills, etc, but they are only estimates. It will vary between individuals. Whereas the calories in found are much more accurate and known, if you measure properly.

For that reason, I wouldn't try to exactly eat back the amount of exercise calories you estimated.
I only eat back if I feel hungry after exercising; otherwise I don't.