General question about cals

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samashdown
samashdown Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there, I have recently joined this site and think it is a fab way to lose weight.
I just have one question: do you need to actually use/eat the amount of your daily calories? Or can you have less than the set amount? I am finding that I am not eating enough....will this affect the weight loss?

Thanks

Replies

  • musicgirl99
    musicgirl99 Posts: 252 Member
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    Hi. I had the same problem at first but MFP kept telling me that I wasn't eating enough and that would put my body into starvation mode. So, I found myself having to find things to eat at the end of the day if I hadn't met my calorie goal of 1,200. Now, I try not to eat my exercise calories but I make sure to eat at least my calorie goal of 1,200 since I don't want my body to start storing fat and hindering my weight loss. Good luck to you!
  • klamont9
    klamont9 Posts: 59
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    I wouldn't be too worried about it unless you are doing it every single day. I had that same problem when starting, so I started eating a couple scoops of unsalted peanuts in between meals and I got right back on track.

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  • samashdown
    samashdown Posts: 3
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    Thanks for your help. In response to musicgirl, what you are saying is that as long as I have eaten my 1200 approx. then I should be ok, and not worry about eating all the extra cals that were exercise ones?
  • hydrosmak
    hydrosmak Posts: 16
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    Thanks for your help. In response to musicgirl, what you are saying is that as long as I have eaten my 1200 approx. then I should be ok, and not worry about eating all the extra cals that were exercise ones?

    You should definitely eat your calories burned from exercise. Say you are supposed to eat 1400 cals a day and you exercised 300 calories off you should eat about 1700 calories.
  • samashdown
    samashdown Posts: 3
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    Thanks for that (again). At this rate I will be eating more that I was before I started to diet!!! LOL
  • AmeMahoney
    AmeMahoney Posts: 232
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    There's a lot of debate on here on whether to eat or not eat your exercise calories. Most people on this site swear by it. It's the only site I've run into that discusses this. Most of my body building friends don't. None of the bodybuilding websites or groups I have ever been on has ever mentioned this that I've seen. We all have a set number of calories and a program we do, regardless of our "exercise" calories. It could be that we've already set our calories at a certain amount because we KNOW we're going to be working out (mine is 1700 a day). Some people stagger their intake over time. I lost over 100 pounds 12 years ago by doing this. Regardless you should look around, see what people say, and then decide what works best for you.

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