Exercise and weight loss

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robertsceri
robertsceri Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm confused!
The app says I should be eating 1200 -1400 calories a day to loose 2lbs a week. If I exercise and for example use up 285 calories, do I need to eat 1485 - 1685 calories? Or still 1200 - 1400 to loose more weight? I'm 5foot 1inch, I run almost everyday and normally eat around 1200 calories.
Thanks

Replies

  • fiveohmike
    fiveohmike Posts: 1,297 Member
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    Hello,

    You would eat the 1485-1685. The app takes into account your workout calories and adjusts as necessary when you enter workouts.

    Mike
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
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    Depends if you are going my mfp recommendations then it assumes you eat your exercise calories back. However in all honesty mfp tends to overestimate exercise calories. If you are basing your exercise goals on your tdee then just eat what you should. If you are following the mfp method I would recommend trying to eat half of your exercise calories back.
  • robertsceri
    robertsceri Posts: 6 Member
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    Depends if you are going my mfp recommendations then it assumes you eat your exercise calories back. However in all honesty mfp tends to overestimate exercise calories. If you are basing your exercise goals on your tdee then just eat what you should. If you are following the mfp method I would recommend trying to eat half of your exercise calories back.

    My exercise calorie amounts come from my Nike+ app.
    Erm... what's a tdee? Sure it's something obvious!
  • ExpectantHope
    ExpectantHope Posts: 60 Member
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    I eat back half my exercise calories :)
  • robertsceri
    robertsceri Posts: 6 Member
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    Hello,

    You would eat the 1485-1685. The app takes into account your workout calories and adjusts as necessary when you enter workouts.

    Mike

    Thanks, but what I want to know is, would I loose more weight by only eating 1200 AND exercising, or would that be too few calories?
  • robertsceri
    robertsceri Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks, that seems quite sensible. :happy:
  • 17ChargerGirl17
    17ChargerGirl17 Posts: 441
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    Mine is set at 1390 calories a day.
    I work out almost every day and usually burn anywhere from 300-400 calories.
    I never eat back my exercise calories and have always lost weight with out feeling sluggish or deprived.
    But everyone is different. This works for me and I continue to do it because it works.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    did you read all of the stickies like you said you when you started up? i only ask because it's pretty much explained there. mfp is designed to give you a calorie goal with your deficit for weight loss already included without any exercise. exercise thus becomes an extra activity that needs fuel...thus you get those calories to eat back. you need to adjust for estimation error, but yeah...that's how this tool is designed. again..all explained in the stickies...aka the instructions on how to properly use this tool.

    this actually becomes quite important as you actually get into real fitness rather than just working out for the purpose of burning calories. it becomes very important to understand that relationship between your activity and how much you need to support that activity, even when you're trying to lose weight.
  • tcamp02
    tcamp02 Posts: 61 Member
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    1200 calories would be too few...you should eat back your exercise calories. I agree that MFP and also most cardio machines tend to overestimate the calories burned so if you're using that to get your exercise calories, you might not want to eat back all of them. I recommend using a heart rate monitor - I like the Polar HRMs but there are other great brands -- to get an accurate calorie burn.
  • robertsceri
    robertsceri Posts: 6 Member
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    Thank you everyone, I'm feeling a bit more with it now.
    I lost the first 7lbs quickly, then suddenly I stopped! Hopefully the loosing will start again.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
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    Depends if you are going my mfp recommendations then it assumes you eat your exercise calories back. However in all honesty mfp tends to overestimate exercise calories. If you are basing your exercise goals on your tdee then just eat what you should. If you are following the mfp method I would recommend trying to eat half of your exercise calories back.

    My exercise calorie amounts come from my Nike+ app.
    Erm... what's a tdee? Sure it's something obvious!

    My apologies when you hang around these forums enough certain terminology tends to become second nature allow me to explain.

    BMR - Basal metabolic rate. The amount of calories your body needs to burn every day just to live. If you where in a full body cast you would burn this much each day.

    TDEE - How much energy you actually expend each day. People put a number on this but it is significantly variable a day where you do a lot of walking and housework and work out at the gym isn't going to have the same TDEE as a day where you sit in front of the couch catching up on your favorite shows. However a lot of people manage to discover their average TDEE and have a lot of success by eating a decent amount below this amount. However logging exercise is not done with this because your TDEE already includes your physical activity. In truth there is a lot of guestimation involved here. And finding a TDEE number that works for you requires some personal experimentation.

    What MFP does if you use the "guided" option to determine your goals is it works out your BMR and creates a deficit based on that. And then you log and subsequently eat back your exercise calories. This is fine in theory except that MFP has a tendency to way overestimate the calories involved in exercise. This is why a lot of people use the calories from HRM's and the like.
  • robertsceri
    robertsceri Posts: 6 Member
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    Depends if you are going my mfp recommendations then it assumes you eat your exercise calories back. However in all honesty mfp tends to overestimate exercise calories. If you are basing your exercise goals on your tdee then just eat what you should. If you are following the mfp method I would recommend trying to eat half of your exercise calories back.

    My exercise calorie amounts come from my Nike+ app.
    Erm... what's a tdee? Sure it's something obvious!

    My apologies when you hang around these forums enough certain terminology tends to become second nature allow me to explain.

    BMR - Basal metabolic rate. The amount of calories your body needs to burn every day just to live. If you where in a full body cast you would burn this much each day.

    TDEE - How much energy you actually expend each day. People put a number on this but it is significantly variable a day where you do a lot of walking and housework and work out at the gym isn't going to have the same TDEE as a day where you sit in front of the couch catching up on your favorite shows. However a lot of people manage to discover their average TDEE and have a lot of success by eating a decent amount below this amount. However logging exercise is not done with this because your TDEE already includes your physical activity. In truth there is a lot of guestimation involved here. And finding a TDEE number that works for you requires some personal experimentation.

    What MFP does if you use the "guided" option to determine your goals is it works out your BMR and creates a deficit based on that. And then you log and subsequently eat back your exercise calories. This is fine in theory except that MFP has a tendency to way overestimate the calories involved in exercise. This is why a lot of people use the calories from HRM's and the like.

    Thank you so much for all your advice :o)

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