Eating enough

You need to provide your stats so people can help you

Age
Height
Gender
Current weight
Goal weight
Do you workout? If so, what kind and how many times a week for how long each time?
What are your goals? (lose weight / build muscle / maintain weight, etc.)

Go to one of the calorie calculators to see what your maintenance calories or use MFP.
Decide how much you want to lose per week. The more you wnat to lose per week the less calories you get to eat.

Dont go below 1200. Safe weight loss is .5-2lb a week.

The deficit is the difference between your maintenance and what your target calories are assuming that is a lesser number. For instance if your maint cals were 2100 and you decided on 1600 then that would be 500 calories a day you are foregoing, which equates to 3500 a week, which = 1lb of theoretical weight loss.

The exercise calories work on the same basis. You can eat them all back if you want to or choose to eat back none or some. the first point to note is that you need to be sure the number you have for calories burned is accurate. MFP estimates are often overstated as do machines and people often overstate the effort they are putting in. A HRM might give you a better estimate if set up properly but they are only estimates.

This is why some people who choose to eat back eat a % to take into account any overestimations.

My approach is to eat back if I feel hungry and not to eat back if Im not. Its your choice and there is no hard and fast rule. 1600 is a nice number which id feel happy you had the chance of getting enough nutrition from.

JulieeeeJ wrote: »

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

1600 calories is a great calorie limit for a woman. Stick with that and do not eat back your exercise calories and you will start losing at a healthy rate. So just eat the 1600 per day.

Thank you! But why does MFP suggest me to eat more when I burn them off ?

You initially gave it an activity level and a desired weight loss rate, from which it calculated your food intake without exercise. On days you exercise MFP increases your food allowance in order to maintain the original rate of loss.

It's like a reward driven hamster wheel. Do exercise, log it, get more food.

JulieeeeJ wrote: »

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

1600 calories is a great calorie limit for a woman. Stick with that and do not eat back your exercise calories and you will start losing at a healthy rate. So just eat the 1600 per day.

Thank you! But why does MFP suggest me to eat more when I burn them off ?

Because the advice you are quoting is terrible...

JulieeeeJ wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

1600 calories is a great calorie limit for a woman. Stick with that and do not eat back your exercise calories and you will start losing at a healthy rate. So just eat the 1600 per day.

how can you possibly say that when you know NOTHING about the OP!?

OP?

OP = Original Poster = you @JulieeeeJ

yarwell wrote: »

JulieeeeJ wrote: »

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

1600 calories is a great calorie limit for a woman. Stick with that and do not eat back your exercise calories and you will start losing at a healthy rate. So just eat the 1600 per day.

Thank you! But why does MFP suggest me to eat more when I burn them off ?

You initially gave it an activity level and a desired weight loss rate, from which it calculated your food intake without exercise. On days you exercise MFP increases your food allowance in order to maintain the original rate of loss.

It's like a reward driven hamster wheel. Do exercise, log it, get more food.

Or an actual hamster wheel, If that's what you use for exercise. Which would be pretty cool

TavistockToad wrote: »

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

1600 calories is a great calorie limit for a woman. Stick with that and do not eat back your exercise calories and you will start losing at a healthy rate. So just eat the 1600 per day.

how can you possibly say that when you know NOTHING about the OP!?

I was going to ask the same thing. Must have a crystal ball of nutrition and health.

Also I love when people say "Burn the calories off" We don't eat calories we eat nutrients. Sure calories are important as well as hormonal balance and stress (more important?).
My wristwatch for instance is 35,000 calories when placed in a bomb calorimeter. So if I eat it today, will I gain 10-11lbs of fat tomorrow?

This is a good point.

I'm currently doing a cut while maintain cardio. Trying to lose some of what I gained while training for a marathon. I'm lifting three days a week and doing cardio 3/4 days a week. For me, I want to maintain strength in the gym (continue to lift a the weight I was doing before being on a calorie defect). While eating at a defect (-500 cals/week) and running 3/4 times (~-2,000 calories on light run weeks) will help change the scale numbers quicker I plan on eating back calories from cardio to help maintain strength and keep toning. At least, this is the majority of what I've read affirms.

After long runs (8 miles tends to burn 1400 for me) I tend to not want to eat another set of meals. This where peanut butter, nuts, oats, cheese, (and for some) avocados help. I'll also add an extra half serving to things. 1.5 servings of pasta/sauce/cheese/chicken to make up for it.

I also like using my blender for smoothies. Banana/nut butter/milk/and a protein source like chia or hemp seeds are an easy way to make up for calories.

JulieeeeJ wrote: »

yourpalsoap wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

1600 calories is a great calorie limit for a woman. Stick with that and do not eat back your exercise calories and you will start losing at a healthy rate. So just eat the 1600 per day.

how can you possibly say that when you know NOTHING about the OP!?

yeh, also, if you're eating 1600 calories and then burning off 500 that takes your intake down to 1100 - which isn't great. It's not a problem if it's a one-off but if you do 500-calorie runs multiple times a week without fuelling your body enough, you're probably going to get tired and give up. whether you eat back ALL of your exercise calories, half of them, etc is up to you ... but I wouldn't recommend taking in 1100 calories a day all of the time.

Thank you!! This was exactly what I was searching for. So if my daily calorie intake is 1600 , that means on a day when I burn off 500, I will eat 2100 so I get the 1600 calories?

Yes