Uneaten allowable calories

I try and eat all of them, Mind you I do not use the numbers MFP spits out for exercise as my machines in my home gym give me numbers 50% less then the ones on here.

rabbitjb wrote: »

At the end of the day, the one who loses weight whilst eating the most calories, wins!

I don't believe in self-flagellation

+1

ana3067 wrote: »

If you regularly feel hungry whilst dieting, you're doing it wrong

+1

Its your choice, but you shouldnt feel hungry in what is meant to be a lifestyle change.
If you have eatback calories available then its your choice whether to eat them or not. If you are hungry eat them, but if you arent then I don't bother. Some people limit themselves to a % of eatback calories becayse of percieved exaggeration of MFP counts.

Some week i eat some and others I dont bother. Up to you.

This sounds like a really easy way to become miserable in a hurry, and ending up bingeing so often that all your lost weight comes back on and then some.

"Punishing" yourself into weightloss is never a good idea, and is certainly not sustainable in the long run.

I try not to eat all of my exercise calories back but I do tend to eat some of them (usually up to about half). If you're still hungry and you have calories, then eat. Heck, I had a ton of extra calories yesterday that I didn't eat back. If I happen to go over today I'm not going to feel bad about it. I only do a 24-30 hour window though. Just because I have all those calories from yesterday I won't let myself use them on Friday for example. Technically speaking I think you can, you just have to be down I think 3500 calories for the week to lose a pound (if I've got that wrong someone please correct me).

Francl27 wrote: »

First, being hungry all the time is not sustainable. Second, there is such thing as losing weight too fast (you're more likely to lose muscle as well). If you're hungry, eat those calories.

This. I think when you are really motivated at first being hungry can be okay, but a lot of that isn't real hunger but getting used to having less. I think fear of hunger or just longterm hunger being unsustainable and people associating it with dieting is why so many do silly things like eating one way for a diet and then back to how they ate when gaining weight after or just put off or stop a diet, because it seems so unpleasant.

I haven't been hungry and I've enjoyed how I eat (although sure every once in a while I'd like to eat more than my calories allow), and thus I'm okay with the idea that I'll mostly eat like this forever.

So no, OP, I don't think trying to be under substantially is a good goal. I'd say pick an overall goal that makes sense to you in terms of the overall deficit and then try to eat around that level. I don't eat back exercise, but I factor it into my overall goal.

If you are eating your planned calories and still feel hungry all the time, then either you need to increase or calories and/or look at the food/water you are eating. If you eat a candy for 150 calories (not saying you are), eating 10 candies will still make you feel very very hungry. But if you include lots of fiber, water, veggies etc, and eat in smaller intervals you will feel that you can feel a lot less hungry with the same calories. But I agree, you can never run long on hungry.

1. If you're hungry, eat. Period, full stop. Even if you go 200 calories over your allowance, you're still at a good deficit and you'll still lose weight. Hunger is a warning sign and you don't want to get into the habit of ignoring your body's signals.
2. When you've reached your goal, you need to eat normally. So if your deficit is normally 1500 calories because you're losing 2 lbs. a week plus not eating your exercise calories, that's 1500 additional calories you need to eat when you switch to maintenance. That's double the intake for many dieters!

Now I can't say that I eat all of my exercise calories, but I do eat back more than half of them. And I certainly won't let myself go hungry ever, especially if I have hundreds of calories left in my allowance.

I agree with the above. Doing MFP for over six months and dropping over 40 pounds, it is the rare exception that I ever let myself get really hungry because it always leads to eating too much.

I do the TDEE method, so I eat the same number of calories everyday (exercise calories are built in to the goal, for anyone who doesn't know). I usually eat right up to my goal with about 20 calories to spare. Every once in a great while, I'll leave 100 calories at the end of the day, but I usually eat right up to my goal.