Newbie here, question about calories and exercise

jobawood
jobawood Posts: 3
in Introduce Yourself
Hello,
I'm new here, and I joined just this week on the advice of a friend.

I am a seasoned runner who is training for a marathon. I run close to 40 miles a week and this number will be climbing higher. I wish to maintain my weight but improve my nutrition to help my running. My metabolism is pretty high (thanks to years of distance running) and I don't have any weight issues. For the past 3 days, myfitnesspal has computed that I'm eating too many calories. But I'm not at all overweight, and I eat to my appetite (the more mileage I run, the hungrier I get and the more I eat, at times when I don't run as much, I have a lesser appetite and eat less).

Is this a flaw in the program, or AM I eating too many calories? For reference, my weight has remained stable for over 20 years despite having had 5 kids during that time.

Again, my goal with this program is to improve my nutrition (I know I eat too much sugar---mainly in the form of fruit--and not enough iron or calcium).

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
    MFP tends to calculate really low...so if you're eating appropriately and you're at a stable weight, you're likely at your maintenence calorie level. Otherwise your weight would have fluctuated. You can override what MFP suggests if you want to increase the daily goal.
  • JustinHastings
    JustinHastings Posts: 15
    MFP estimates are just that - estimates. Actual caloric needs can vary tremendously from person to person. If you've been maintaining your weight for 20 years, then it's pretty safe to say that you have your maintenance diet right :) To improve nutrition, just ignore MFP's recommendations and use it as a log. Then you can see which healthier foods you can start slotting into your diet to improve the overall nutrition. For example, if you find that you regularly eat 200 calories of candy each day, that's an opportunity to replace junk food with something healthy, like a couple pieces of fruit.

    Hope this helps!
  • jobawood
    jobawood Posts: 3
    Yes, it does help, and thank you.
    Is there a way to get personalized recommendations from MFP based on my dietary shortfalls (like iron and calcium, and usually protein, too)?
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    MFP is just an estimate. Also, if you aren't logging your exercise, that may be an issue. MFP's calorie estimates are based on your needs before exercise. So with a lot of running, it would be higher.

    You can also set your own calorie goal if you like. Home > goals > change goals > custom.

    I also believe that would be the same place where you can adjust your micro goals as well.
  • lizsmith1976
    lizsmith1976 Posts: 497 Member
    I also run 40 miles a week-ish, it's offseason now so bailing on some :) My A races were Houston marathon in January and IMTX in May and I am ENJOYING my offseason.

    I'm a 5'4" female and MFP wants me to eat 1,700 to stay the same weight/lose a teeny tiny bit, but my nutritionist wants me to eat 2,000. I went with 2,000.

    I also upped my carbs from what MFP says - trying out 55% now but in peak training (Sept - May) will do 60%

    If you have been eating to hunger for years and maintaining weight, then I suggest ignoring that you are "over" and continuing to log for a week what you eat based on hunger. Then you will know exactly what your calorie needs are - what you ate :) Then adjust the MFP total and the macros. Or ignore it all together and just track iron/calcium etc :)

    MFP percentages are a little wonky for endurance athletes - for example, I don't really care if my diet is 40, or 50, or 55% carbs, I care that I eat a minimum of 250 grams of carbs a day. So I use the parts of MFP that help me track and ignore the ones that don't make sense for me. I also track fiber and calcium.

    I don't worry about sugar in fruit, but that's just me.
  • jobawood
    jobawood Posts: 3
    Thank you! This is very helpful. I really wasn't concerned about my caloric intake until 3 days ago when I started entering the info into MFP!!
    I think your advice to ignore the things that I'm not concerned about is good.... I'm just going to focus on the few things I AM concerned about and just focus on that.

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