Am I using the calories wrong??

amyjthomas
amyjthomas Posts: 35
edited September 24 in Health and Weight Loss
I think I have been doing this wrong for the past month and so hense reason why I haven't lost more then 4 lb. MFP say I should have 1200 calories a day. I average about 600-650 calories I burn from exercise a day. I haven't been eating those calories and staying at 1200 or maybe a little over. QUESTION....am I or am I not suppose to eat those calories earned from exercise. HELP.... I feel like I am in slow motion with this weight lost and I a faithful to eat, write it all down and exercise, plus 90 oz of water a day.

Replies

  • Shan605
    Shan605 Posts: 41
    You want your NET calories to be at at least 1200 calories everyday, and yes its okay to eat those work out calories as well, you dont have to eat all of them but make sure where it says NET you are at , at least 1200
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    You are suppose to eat them. MFP puts you at a calorie deficit to meet your weekly weight loss at 1200 calories. If you burn more from exercise your caloric deficit becomes larger, and may be too large causing your body to store calories as fat as it thinks if is starving.

    Put it this way if you eat 1200 and burn 600, your body will function as if you only ate 600 cals (1200-600) and did not exercise, which is no where near enough to live on.
  • Phoenyxtears
    Phoenyxtears Posts: 173
    Your net calories are supposed to be at least 1200 (calories minus exercise = net cals) because if the net cals goes below 1200, then your body will go into starvation mode and it will try to retain as much as it can to keep functioning. 1200 is the minimum you need for your organs to function..

    It's odd that MFP said to intake 1200 only, but I don't know. My friends on here and I are supposed to intake more than that (I'm at 1600)
  • carrieberrie
    carrieberrie Posts: 356 Member
    Eat some of them and see what happens. It will take awhile to see what is good for you. For me I cant eat my exercise calories because then I dont lose anything. But do what works for YOU.
  • ebonybliss
    ebonybliss Posts: 39
    there are many forums that discuss eating back the calories you burn off exercising. i will find a few and copy the links if I can. Personally everyone is different. When I ate all of mine back I did not lose much weight so I started eating all of them back except about 100 and I'm losing more weight at a steady pace. Each person is different but since you only get 1200 calories, I would eat some of them back if not all. 4 lbs is actually really good. Once the inches start coming off and get settled the pounds will come right off!! Good luck with your journey.
  • upnorthtim
    upnorthtim Posts: 376 Member
    The advice on here is seems to be to eat your exercise calories. I don't partly because I do not trust the calories burned estimates from my logged exercises. Some of them seem too generous. I'm allowed about 1600 before exercise and most days I feel fine eating that much. If I go over that I don't worry about it though. If I do 900 cal of exercise I certainly don't try to eat that much. Others on here are religous about eating all their calories. See what works best for you.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    It's odd that MFP said to intake 1200 only, but I don't know. My friends on here and I are supposed to intake more than that (I'm at 1600)

    If her maintenance calories are 2200 or less and she chooses to lose 2 lbs/week as her goal then MFP will take 1000 off of maintenance but will not let her go below 1200. So if her maintenance is 2000 and she chose 2 lbs, her goal would be 1000/day but MFP doesn't let her go below 1200, so instead of a 1000 deficit, the deficit would be 800 and she would only lose 1.6lbs/week.
  • MarjorieSf
    MarjorieSf Posts: 8
    You might be sending the wrong message to your body that it's starving and it's holding onto the fat that it needs to survive. I had this problem when I started losing weight initially because I wasn't eating enough. I went online and found if you back off your "diet" for a few days (including no exercise) and start again, it might break the cycle. I also made sure that I was eating 5 times a day for those few days and not worry about calories. Continue to eat healthy just eat more often and let your body relax. You might be trick it :)
  • cspinney
    cspinney Posts: 81 Member
    Four pounds lost in a month is actually good - that's about a pound a week. Since your calories are set at 1200 I'd guess that you are petite and/or don't have a large amount of weight to lose? In either of those cases weight loss can be slow.

    However, if you are burning that many calories every day it wouldn't hurt to eat a bit extra and see what happens. Sometimes you have to play around a bit to find the right formula. Good luck!
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
    I would suggest that you consume at least some them - but preferably as protein... That's what your body needs to repair, strengthen and grow the muscles you are using for the exercise.

    Consuming them as beer is probably not going to do you any good :)
  • novatri
    novatri Posts: 262 Member
    I have a feeling the closer your daily net is restricted to 1200, the more strict you must be to hit that goal. I'm at 1700+ so I don't feel bad if I'm over or under by 100 calories. I think I put 1 1/2 pounds a week and it's just flying off. I never starve myself. If I'm hungry I'll eat even over my allowance, cause my body knows what is needed.

    My suggestion is to lower your goal weight loss per week to give you more calories. You may find yourself losing more than you expected. At worse your weight lose will slow a little, and you can always change the goal back.
  • 69698
    69698 Posts: 3
    i have question when it comes to your calories burn. Do you use what mpf says after a tread mill work out say for 30 min or what the machine states as a calories burned?
  • novatri
    novatri Posts: 262 Member
    I'd go with the more conservative of the two.
  • amyjthomas
    amyjthomas Posts: 35
    I go with what mfp is telling me when I enter in the stationary bike at moderate level, elliptical and tread mill at 3.0, sometime I can trot a 4.0. You think the mfp is wrong.. I have questioned that lately, but I figure it knows my weight where as when I work the machines I just press manual and don't enter my weight.
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