Confused by Deficit

clmarino55
clmarino55 Posts: 13 Member
edited November 13 in Food and Nutrition
okay! I'm really confused!!!!! So fitness Pal calculates your daily calorie intake to lose weight... Let's say 1500... You workout and earn another 300 calories... You end up eating 1600 calories leaving you with 200... Is that still okay? Or are you supposed to stay under your calorie allotment?? I seem to go over my daily calories and dip into my calories burned. I always have at lease 100 or so left... Am I doing this right? Do I need to be stricter? I'm so confused!

Replies

  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
    If you have 1500 and you earn 300 calories from working out, you should eat 1800 calories. Try to hit as close to that goal as possible. That way, you are at a consistent deficit (say, 500 calories a day to lose a pound a week) and aren't eating too little. Myfitnesspal's calorie goals have a built-in deficit, so you do not need to calculate how much below it you are eating. Just try to eat what they say to eat.
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
    Personally, it depends whether your calorie goal is set to lose, maintain, or gain weight. If I am in a period of wanting to lose weight, I will allow myself to go up to 100 Calories above goal if I am intentionally eating at a 500-Calorie deficit or up to 50 Calories above goal for a 250-Calorie deficit (before accounting for Calories burned exercising). When I am purposefully maintaining weight, I consider my Calorie goal to be more of a limit instead of a goal and will try to make sure that I stay about 100 Calories below my maintenance Calories (I found the gap to be helpful to account for logging errors, especially when many of my meals cannot be weighed unless I drag my food scale to my university).

    When factoring in exercise, most people on MFP only eat back about half of their exercise Calories. MFP grossly overestimates Calories burned through exercise, and many people have noticed that the overestimation caused them to maintain instead of lose weight or gain instead of maintain.
  • evarga12
    evarga12 Posts: 55 Member
    You should look into your TDEE #s & reducing it by 15-20% it will make things a lot easier for you.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,009 Member
    clmarino55 wrote: »
    Am I doing this right? Do I need to be stricter? I'm so confused!

    Your doing fine. A lot of people eat half their exercise calories back since MFP has a habit of over-estimating...
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    clmarino55 wrote: »
    okay! I'm really confused!!!!! So fitness Pal calculates your daily calorie intake to lose weight... Let's say 1500... You workout and earn another 300 calories... You end up eating 1600 calories leaving you with 200... Is that still okay? Or are you supposed to stay under your calorie allotment?? I seem to go over my daily calories and dip into my calories burned. I always have at lease 100 or so left... Am I doing this right? Do I need to be stricter? I'm so confused!

    That's actually what you should do. Since MFP calculates what you burn per day without exercise, when you log it that's added into your burn. So instead of burning 2000 during day day (going with a pound a week deficit), you're burning 2300. You're expected to hit the 1500 after exercise (meaning 1800 calories), but since burns are often estimated, it's recommended to only eat back 50-75% of them.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    abatonfan wrote: »
    (snip)
    When factoring in exercise, most people on MFP only eat back about half of their exercise Calories. MFP grossly overestimates Calories burned through exercise, and many people have noticed that the overestimation caused them to maintain instead of lose weight or gain instead of maintain.

    Yup, this. Technically, you should eat all of the exercise calories back becuase that's how the program is set up. MFP already includes a deficit in your daily calorie goal based on your personal stats and goals so leaving them uneaten means you may not be getting enough calories/nutrients. However, many calorie burn estimates aren't accurate (not just MFP database listings but cardio machines, apps, online calculators, etc) so you have to do a little bit of trial and error. Eating back somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 of your earned calories is a pretty safe bet.

    TL:DR, I think you're on the right track.
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
    If you're using MFP settings instead of custom settings, you can eat back all of your exercise calories. MFP is designed to be used that way. If you were using the TDEE method and custom settings, your goal would automatically be higher and you wouldn't need to count calories burned because it's already worked into your calorie goal.

    How do you know you're burning 300 calories during these workouts? Are you using exercise entries in MFP, because those are usually set pretty high. Are you using an HRM? If so, they're only accurate for measuring calorie burn if you're doing steady-rate cardio. HRMs are not a reliable source for calorie burn during interval training or strength training.

    To avoid the confusion, some people use the MFP calories burned and only eat back half or 3/4 of their burned calories. It's all just trial and error. If you're losing weight, you're doing something right. If you're losing more than 1 lb per week, eat more of those burned calories back. If you're not losing anything, eat less of those calories back. Play around with it until you're losing consistently. Since you're basically at your goal weight, you shouldn't even be losing a pound a week. Maybe 1/4 - 1/2 lb per week.
  • olyjok
    olyjok Posts: 133 Member
    edited February 2015
    I went from turtle to rabbit with my exercising. Was not eating any of my calories back. I also cut my carbs under 100 grams. After the first week this guy was feeling it! Drained, moody not wanting to move. After a searching with the Google machine then realizing that I was not eating enough. I will always eat my carbs in a normal serving size. Trying to eat back 50% of what I burn. If you hit weights try more protein. I found its hard to eat it back in one sitting so break up your meals and snacks. Try the KIND bars. Good for you Fiber, Protein, Omega 3 and low on added sugars. Found in a lot of stores. http://www.kindsnacks.com/store/types/plus

    Also get a Polar or some other heart monitor. Found out I was burning more Calories with my higher heart rate then what I was logging. With that said everyone is different just learn to listen to your body. Best of luck to you.
  • clmarino55
    clmarino55 Posts: 13 Member
    LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »
    If you're using MFP settings instead of custom settings, you can eat back all of your exercise calories. MFP is designed to be used that way. If you were using the TDEE method and custom settings, your goal would automatically be higher and you wouldn't need to count calories burned because it's already worked into your calorie goal.

    How do you know you're burning 300 calories during these workouts? Are you using exercise entries in MFP, because those are usually set pretty high. Are you using an HRM? If so, they're only accurate for measuring calorie burn if you're doing steady-rate cardio. HRMs are not a reliable source for calorie burn during interval training or strength training.

    To avoid the confusion, some people use the MFP calories burned and only eat back half or 3/4 of their burned calories. It's all just trial and error. If you're losing weight, you're doing something right. If you're losing more than 1 lb per week, eat more of those burned calories back. If you're not losing anything, eat less of those calories back. Play around with it until you're losing consistently. Since you're basically at your goal weight, you shouldn't even be losing a pound a week. Maybe 1/4 - 1/2 lb per week.
    Awe man!!! Really??? I use a heart rate monitor and do a lot of Jillian Michaels type workouts - which are interval training - so now I have no idea what I'm burning. Lol. Rats!!! I feel like my eyes cross when I read all of this. Haha I'm back in 9th grade algebra.

    Okay so... I can eat back some/if not all of what I burn but I should sort of play around with it.

    I feel so stupid asking this... But what is TDEE?????? I guess I could google haha. But I'll ask here anyway. :)

    Thank you soooooooo much everyone for your help! I felt like such a bonehead! :)
  • clmarino55
    clmarino55 Posts: 13 Member
    olyjok wrote: »
    I went from turtle to rabbit with my exercising. Was not eating any of my calories back. I also cut my carbs under 100 grams. After the first week this guy was feeling it! Drained, moody not wanting to move. After a searching with the Google machine then realizing that I was not eating enough. I will always eat my carbs in a normal serving size. Trying to eat back 50% of what I burn. If you hit weights try more protein. I found its hard to eat it back in one sitting so break up your meals and snacks. Try the KIND bars. Good for you Fiber, Protein, Omega 3 and low on added sugars. Found in a lot of stores. http://www.kindsnacks.com/store/types/plus

    Also get a Polar or some other heart monitor. Found out I was burning more Calories with my higher heart rate then what I was logging. With that said everyone is different just learn to listen to your body. Best of luck to you.

    Thank you!!!!!!!
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