calories deficit question

I eat 1200 a day (well I try to). I don't eat back my exercise calories. That way I have a bigger deficit. This way I have been losing about 3.6 lbs a week.

Not a good idea long term.

but they do that on the biggest loser...

You mean, where they do nothing but train for a majority of the day? Where a sizable number of participants regain their lost weight after they leave the show? That "Biggest Loser"?

yes that biggest loser. only reason why they regain iz cuz they go back to their old lifestylez, an eat 3000 cals a day an not moving around. if they kept up 1 hour excerise an ate the right amount of caloirez they would have kept it off. some people on that show only do it for money anyway

I eat 1200 a day (well I try to). I don't eat back my exercise calories. That way I have a bigger deficit. This way I have been losing about 3.6 lbs a week.

Not a good idea long term.

but they do that on the biggest loser...

There's a lot of stupid stuff on TV.

YES this! Biggest Loser is a Big Fat Loser...

Their diet and exercise program is NOT sustainable. It destroys the metabolism of many contestants... Oprah has even done a program on this.

Eat your calories...eat at least half your exercise calories and if you stall eat ALL of them...stop thinking less is better, it is not for your health and it is not for your weight loss.

Eat healthy, drink water, exercise hard, de-stress, sleep and have fun...that is what brings weight loss.

TURN OFF THE FREAKING TV...watching fat people be screamed at and toss off the island when they don't lose fast enough is not going to do YOU any good...

ok I will get off my soap box (I HATE that show...it is from he||)

lol r u mad cuz u didnt git a call back when u auditioned? :laugh:

I'm confused about this as well. I just changed my goals to 1 pound a week instead of 1 1/2. MFP says I should net 1540 calories a day. If I exercise and burn 300 calories, should I be eating 1840? I don't understand this, what's the point of burning calories just to put them right back in? Also, 1840 seems ridiculously high. Since I've joined MFP I have stayed under my calories all week, exercised nearly every day, and drank tons of water. Today it's been a week since I joined and I've gained 3 pounds! Is this normal? I'm doing everything MFP is telling me too for the most part, except for going over my sodium a few times. I don't want to give up, but it is very disheartening to see that I've gained three pounds in my first week. I know I shouldn't expect results right away but still....

My Husband has had the same results as you. He is getting unmotivated too because he is not losing.

You know when you get off the couch and do this thing called exercise you are building muscle? Stop looking at a damn scale. If you have never exercised and then start doing it, you will gain or stay the same weight for a few weeks.

Best explanations I've seen on how to eat, most people think less is more and then don't lose and get discouraged when they are given a Net Calorie count prepared by the MFP calorie counter and then are afraid to follow it and eat half as much and then don't lose. THANK YOU!

I think a lot of people need to understand the calorie goal your looking for is the NET calories. So you have 1500 to begin with, you eat 1400, so you have 100 remaining, then you burn 300 at the gym, now MFP says you have a NET of -400 calories that you can eat to reach your goal of 1500 calories total for the day.

All of the math is done, all you have to do is eat what MFP tells you have left to eat.

It took awhile for me to get that and not be afraid to eat the NET like it says, it's so simple it scares people to be told to eat so much but then you earned it with the exercise that burned it, so that's the great thing about it, now you need to eat more to give your body the required calories it needs. How great is that? It's OK to eat more if you work more. Hard to wrap our heads around sometimes, at least it was for me. Good luck all.

I eat 1200 a day (well I try to). I don't eat back my exercise calories. That way I have a bigger deficit. This way I have been losing about 3.6 lbs a week.

Not a good idea long term.

but they do that on the biggest loser...

You mean, where they do nothing but train for a majority of the day? Where a sizable number of participants regain their lost weight after they leave the show? That "Biggest Loser"?

yes that biggest loser. only reason why they regain iz cuz they go back to their old lifestylez, an eat 3000 cals a day an not moving around. if they kept up 1 hour excerise an ate the right amount of caloirez they would have kept it off. some people on that show only do it for money anyway

Point is, you're not eating the "right amount" of calories now if you're not eating back the exercise calories AND on 1200 a day, unless you're extremely small or have a very unusual metabolic condition.

someone else pointed this out an im gonna repeat. what iz tha point in exercising for weight loss if u just eat them all back? 1200-1500 is good if ur short. if ur taller then 1500-2000 is okay.

The point is NET calories. Exercise influences NET calories. This has been explained, more than once, in several threads on the first page, this one included. Rather than asking the question again as if it is being ignored, read the answers provided.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

I'm confused about this as well. I just changed my goals to 1 pound a week instead of 1 1/2. MFP says I should net 1540 calories a day. If I exercise and burn 300 calories, should I be eating 1840? I don't understand this, what's the point of burning calories just to put them right back in? Also, 1840 seems ridiculously high. Since I've joined MFP I have stayed under my calories all week, exercised nearly every day, and drank tons of water. Today it's been a week since I joined and I've gained 3 pounds! Is this normal? I'm doing everything MFP is telling me too for the most part, except for going over my sodium a few times. I don't want to give up, but it is very disheartening to see that I've gained three pounds in my first week. I know I shouldn't expect results right away but still....

My Husband has had the same results as you. He is getting unmotivated too because he is not losing.

It could be a function of how far under your calories you are staying and if exercise was not part of your routine before. Your body may be entering starvation mode because you are not eating enough. This will lead it to retain water and calories. Also - sodium can be an issue depending on what you are eating too. Try eating your recommended number of calories. I am at 1825 plus I eat back 300 - 600 calories worth of exercise and I lost 3 lbs this week.

Nobody is entering starvation mode unless they've been eating at a very low calorie for a very long time. Everyone will be different on the amount of weight they lose because it depends on exercise, total calorie intake, the size of the person to begin with, etc.

While I doubt anyone in this thread is entering starvation mode, I will hazard a guess that some are eating way below what they should be eating thinking they will lose weight faster. This isn't a speed game, it's more of a patient game. If you end up eating too little for too long, then you will screw with your metabolism. The human body is a wonderfully adaptive thing. It's primary goal is to survive. If you feed it too little it will adjust to make that little bit last as long as possible, which means slowing down the metabolism. What this does later on is requires you to keep as active as possible and continue to live on a lower calorie diet that you could be enjoying. IF you let things go too long, then you will gain what the body doesn't burn as a reserve, and when you want to lose it again, it will be much harder.

Calories are fuel, either you take in enough fuel to keep your body functioning right or you body will adjust to the fuel you give it. When you eat less than your body burns in a day (or week) then the body will pull from the energy stores it has, this is both fat and muscle. Exercise and specifically heavy lifting to help maintain the muscle so the body will focus more on the fat stores. While eating less calories makes people think that the body will "attack" the fat more, that's not exactly the case, we need to feed the body properly and it will take care of the rest.

I eat 1200 a day (well I try to). I don't eat back my exercise calories. That way I have a bigger deficit. This way I have been losing about 3.6 lbs a week.

Not a good idea long term.

but they do that on the biggest loser...

You mean, where they do nothing but train for a majority of the day? Where a sizable number of participants regain their lost weight after they leave the show? That "Biggest Loser"?

yes that biggest loser. only reason why they regain iz cuz they go back to their old lifestylez, an eat 3000 cals a day an not moving around. if they kept up 1 hour excerise an ate the right amount of caloirez they would have kept it off. some people on that show only do it for money anyway

Point is, you're not eating the "right amount" of calories now if you're not eating back the exercise calories AND on 1200 a day, unless you're extremely small or have a very unusual metabolic condition.

someone else pointed this out an im gonna repeat. what iz tha point in exercising for weight loss if u just eat them all back? 1200-1500 is good if ur short. if ur taller then 1500-2000 is okay.

The point is NET calories. Exercise influences NET calories. This has been explained, more than once, in several threads on the first page, this one included. Rather than asking the question again as if it is being ignored, read the answers provided.

if ur not gonna answer the quesiton, then dont reply at all, an stop being rude. for me an many others on here, exercise influences more pounds lost.

someone else pointed this out an im gonna repeat. what iz tha point in exercising for weight loss if u just eat them all back? 1200-1500 is good if ur short. if ur taller then 1500-2000 is okay.

Oh, you are just confused, but never fear, many are.

Exercise is NOT for weight loss, exercise is for body improvement which is usually weight gain, but if done right can support weight and hopefully ONLY fat loss.

Diet is for weight loss, and if done right just fat loss.

You merely need to eat less than what you burn all day, and if you make the deficit reasonable and eat enough protein, you can encourage just fat loss.

Now, what happens on days when you exercise? Do you burn more or less than days you don't exercise? Why would you make the deficit bigger on days you exercise - the exact days your body really wants to make improvement from the exercise (or possibly within 24hrs of it)?

If you don't want improvement to your body from exercise - stop exercising.

So lets say you've set the goal loss to 1 lb weekly, that means you need 500 calorie deficit daily.
Let's say on non-exercise days you are estimated to burn 1800 calories - then you eat 1300 calories.
But on 2400 calorie exercise day - you eat now 1900 calories.

See what happened there - you got your 500 calorie deficit on both days.
And your body can make improvements from the exercise because you gave it enough.

If you are firmly of the belief that bigger deficit is better, and exercise making a big deficit and not eating much making a big deficit is better - then STOP eating, totally.
If bigger is better, that would be the ultimate right? And if you think that is stupid idea - why?

exercise iz not for weight loss?....my life iz a lie

exercise iz not for weight loss?....my life iz a lie

yes. all 15 years of it.

19 -.-

Do MFP developers look at these posts!? This is a frequent question and it would be awesome if the app itself had some kind of obvious indicator to inform people about exercise calories and whether they should eat them back.