Eating Weekly Net Calories

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angelinhell
angelinhell Posts: 56 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so it's weigh in day tomorrow meaning my weekly net calorie chart thingy starts all over again (wow, my English is amazing). I have already tracked my dinner and I am currently 1209 net cals under my weekly goal (of 1200 a day) all due to exercise. Today is my first day off from the gym this week and I am soooooooooooooo hungry but have major OCD about going into minus figures on any one day so the days I don't exercise, I stick to 1200 calories no matter how many I have netted for the week. Am I on my own for being so damn insane? Am I ok to eat back into this net without it making a difference to my loss (obviously I'm talking max 200 cals here, not the whole 1200 tonight)?

Replies

  • mscheftg
    mscheftg Posts: 485 Member
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    Yes!! Eat some of those back!!
  • Paul_Collyer
    Paul_Collyer Posts: 160 Member
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    I always look at the last 7 days, rather than the current week. Keeps you on your toes week round, but still with leeway day to day!
  • CupcakeCrusoe
    CupcakeCrusoe Posts: 1,372 Member
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    I got jumbled up just reading that, so hang on...

    If you're using MFP's preprogrammed settings, you're supposed to eat back calories you burn in exercise (since MFP's calorie burns are somewhat higher, you may not want to eat all back, maybe half or so).

    So if you'd like to keep your exercise burn calories for later in the week, some weekend thing or something, that's perfectly okay and won't affect your weight loss. At all.

    As far as whether you'll see a slight gain tomorrow if you do use your banked calories tonight, you might, but long term it makes no difference.

    But long story short, don't fear eating back exercise calories. You should. It's programmed into the calorie counter for you to do that and stay on track.
  • angelinhell
    angelinhell Posts: 56 Member
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    Thank you all!! I will stop being so paranoid lol
  • lcooper327
    lcooper327 Posts: 112 Member
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    So you're saying you hit 1200 calories per day regardless of if you exercise or not? You need to eat more per day I you are exercising. The deficit is built in at 1200 (which is quite low to begin with) and let's say you burn 200 calories working out. That leaves you netting 1000 which is too low.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    angelinhell wrote: »
    Ok so it's weigh in day tomorrow meaning my weekly net calorie chart thingy starts all over again (wow, my English is amazing). I have already tracked my dinner and I am currently 1209 net cals under my weekly goal (of 1200 a day) all due to exercise. Today is my first day off from the gym this week and I am soooooooooooooo hungry but have major OCD about going into minus figures on any one day so the days I don't exercise, I stick to 1200 calories no matter how many I have netted for the week. Am I on my own for being so damn insane? Am I ok to eat back into this net without it making a difference to my loss (obviously I'm talking max 200 cals here, not the whole 1200 tonight)?

    Well you're not on your own...but you are damn insane ...you need to fuel your body to exercise

    You should be eating back 50-75% of your exercise calories and AT LEAST 1200 calories (net)

    Over the week you should eat most if not all of your goal calories ...mine is a rolling week so always the last 7 days and some days I go over and other days under...and over 7 days I will generally have a defecit of my MFP 1500 plus about 500 extra...I'm on a 250 cut so eat 1600 before exercise
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Here's a 7 day of mine fhmhx2undprz.jpg
  • caseythirteen
    caseythirteen Posts: 956 Member
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    No wonder you're hungry, you are way undereating! I know not everyone can eat at the same calorie levels but like others have said, you should at minimum be eating back your exercise calories. I will also say, most people need to eat way more than 1200 calories anyway. It can take a while to learn all the information and wrap your head around it but bigger deficits don't lead to better results. It can more likely lead to hormonal imbalances, binges and ultimately quitting since you're in an unsustainable pattern. Create a smaller deficit, be patient and see long term results.
  • angelinhell
    angelinhell Posts: 56 Member
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    34kacvixqxal.jpg
    Don't know if this photo has worked as I'm on my phone but I do eat some exercise calories back on the days I go to the gym (I go to the gym so I can eat more). I don't use mfp's calorie estimate, I go off what the machine at the gym says which is usually 300 calories burnt in 30 mins on the elliptical but mfp would say 400 cals burnt so 1/4 less? But it does look like in eating less than 1200 net calories a day. Sorry I'm so rubbish at this!!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    So you have a nice budget there for wine, chocolate or whatever you fancy

    Enjoy

    80% healthy foods (and you know what 'healthy' is) and 20% treats is a good guideline

    But I'm general fuel the workouts
  • angelinhell
    angelinhell Posts: 56 Member
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    @rabbitjb you've made me very happy, thank you

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