500 calorie deficit?

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carmen62
carmen62 Posts: 60
in Food and Nutrition
Can anyone help?

I am working on roughly 1200 calories.

If I exercise (which I do) and add say 400 calories, do I eat 1600 calories or 1200 calories? I know I shouldn't go below 1200 calories, but I am picking up that a 500 calorie deficit is required to lose weight.

How do I account for the 500 calorie deficit on my exercise days?

Replies

  • BigBoneSista
    BigBoneSista Posts: 2,389 Member
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    Its automatically counted even on days when you don't exercise. Go to my home, click on goals and look to the right side and you will see your profile. It should show your deficit already counted.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    You already have a deficit at 1200 calories based on your goal when you signed up for MFP so you would have to eat the exercise calories to keep your deficit intact to lose your goal amount of weight.

    If MFP gives you 1200 and you picked 1 lb/week loss then your maintenance calories are 1700 and you are already at a 500 cal deficit at 1200, if you burn 400 your deficit is not 900
  • togden
    togden Posts: 324 Member
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    Some people are going to tell you to eat them back definitely and some people are going to tell you to save them .... You are going to have to figure out what works best for you......

    I personally try to eat back some of my exercise calories and end the day as close to 1200 net calories as possible.....
  • lorijupiter3
    lorijupiter3 Posts: 16 Member
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    Some people are going to tell you to eat them back definitely and some people are going to tell you to save them .... You are going to have to figure out what works best for you......

    I personally try to eat back some of my exercise calories and end the day as close to 1200 net calories as possible.....

    I agree. I aim for 1200-1500 net calories a day. :D
  • morganadk2_deleted
    morganadk2_deleted Posts: 1,696 Member
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    read these! they might help

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficit

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    good luck on your journey!
  • carmen62
    carmen62 Posts: 60
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    OK.

    So today, big exercise day, I had an allocation of 1850 calories and ate 1620 calories.

    Is that OK? Have I eaten too much or too little?
  • tiger87lilly
    tiger87lilly Posts: 139 Member
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    Can anyone help?

    I am working on roughly 1200 calories.

    If I exercise (which I do) and add say 400 calories, do I eat 1600 calories or 1200 calories? I know I shouldn't go below 1200 calories, but I am picking up that a 500 calorie deficit is required to lose weight.

    How do I account for the 500 calorie deficit on my exercise days?

    You roughly need a 3500 caloric deficit to lose 1 pound. Now when you workout you burn extra calories, some people "eat" their exercise calories and other don't...it's really up to you. I eat some but not all my calories from exercise which has been working well for me. The advantage to not eating them is you will possibily loss weight faster...the disadvantage i have found is I don'thave as much energy to give 100% to my workouts, which is why I eat some of my calories earn from exercise.

    Hope that helps you a little.
  • aeryn69
    aeryn69 Posts: 35 Member
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    I'm actually doing up a blog post on something similar to this right now.

    Calories are ENERGY. When you burn off energy, you need to replenish it in your body. Stop thinking of calories as something that makes you gain weight and start thinking of them as fuel for your body. If you don't give your body enough energy, its not a happy camper.
  • RMinVA
    RMinVA Posts: 1,085 Member
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    Some days I eat some of them, and some days none of them. And every once in awhile I eat all of them. Usually, when I have sustained cardio activity of an hour or more (long runs and 25+ mile bike rides). Instead, I keep to an overall target range of 1400-1600 cals (1400 is the target set by MFP). I almost always eat @ least 1200, but every once in awhile I don't. I eat a fairly balanced diet, and a day or 2 here and there of low calories will not hurt you. As long as I feel good, I don't worry about it. If I'm dragging a bit I'll eat more, but usually a complex carb (fruit or brown rice) will take care of it.

    Uness you have an HRM, I think it's a challenge to accurately measure caloric burn because so many things impact it. It is equally difficult to accurately measure food intake unless you are weighing every single bite you put in your mouth. There is a great video that explains why you should measure everything on a scale vs. in a cup here....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY. If you have a minute to watch it, it can be a real eye opener.

    Additionallly, nutrition labels by law can be off by as much as 20%. If you eat out, restaurant nutritional info is based on a standard recipe. But if that food is made in house, there can be variations on that.

    So if you eat all your exercise calories but you don't burn quite as much as you think, and eat a bit more than you think, you may be stuck, or even gaining a bit of weight, in spite of feeling like you are doing everything right.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    OK.

    So today, big exercise day, I had an allocation of 1850 calories and ate 1620 calories.

    Is that OK? Have I eaten too much or too little?

    The least you should eat is 1200 plus exercise cals. So if you burned 420 or less calories at the gym then you are good, if not you may want to eat enough to take you to 1200 Net. (consumed calories minus exercise)
  • carmen62
    carmen62 Posts: 60
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    Thanks Morgan for the links. And everyone for their comments.

    The -1000 up to 500+ from maintenance is a helpful range to work on

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