An objective look at eating "exercise calories"

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  • gcineas
    gcineas Posts: 121
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    bump
  • georgiajuly
    georgiajuly Posts: 126
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    Saving to My Topics.
  • kermie79
    kermie79 Posts: 9
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    Just so I completely understand because I've been struggling lately with how many calories I really should be eating. MFP says my calories burned from normal daily activity is 1,570 so is that my maintenance calories? If so 20-35% of that would be somewhere between 300-550 calorie deficit which puts me between 1020-1270 calories a day. From reading this topic, it seems if I run 6 miles and burn 550 calories that I really should be eating those calories back because if I didn't my net intake for the day would be between 470-720 per day which seems extremely low to me. Any help I can get on this subject would be greatly appreciated because I fear I'm not losing weight anymore because I'm eating too few calories but am a little nervous to increase my intake as I don't want to gain weight!
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Just so I completely understand because I've been struggling lately with how many calories I really should be eating. MFP says my calories burned from normal daily activity is 1,570 so is that my maintenance calories? If so 20-35% of that would be somewhere between 300-550 calorie deficit which puts me between 1020-1270 calories a day. From reading this topic, it seems if I run 6 miles and burn 550 calories that I really should be eating those calories back because if I didn't my net intake for the day would be between 470-720 per day which seems extremely low to me. Any help I can get on this subject would be greatly appreciated because I fear I'm not losing weight anymore because I'm eating too few calories but am a little nervous to increase my intake as I don't want to gain weight!

    How tall are you and what's your age and weight?
  • kermie79
    kermie79 Posts: 9
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    I'm 5'2, 31, 129lbs
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    I'm 5'2, 31, 129lbs

    Just so we're clear, your exercise program should be geared towards building/maintaining muscle. Right? It's not just about creating a calorie deficit.

    At your stats, I'd start you at 1300 calories per day of total intake, which assumes that you're doing a mix of strength training and cardio throughout the week. Obviously you'd have to adjust this based on how you respond, but that's where I'd start ya. This also assumes you're not coming off a period of much steeper dieting. If that were the case, I'd probably work you up towards a maintenance intake gradually, say 1800ish or so, and then start dieting with sane deficits (25-30% off of maintenance).
  • kermie79
    kermie79 Posts: 9
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    I'm 5'2, 31, 129lbs

    Just so we're clear, your exercise program should be geared towards building/maintaining muscle. Right? It's not just about creating a calorie deficit.

    At your stats, I'd start you at 1300 calories per day of total intake, which assumes that you're doing a mix of strength training and cardio throughout the week. Obviously you'd have to adjust this based on how you respond, but that's where I'd start ya. This also assumes you're not coming off a period of much steeper dieting. If that were the case, I'd probably work you up towards a maintenance intake gradually, say 1800ish or so, and then start dieting with sane deficits (25-30% off of maintenance).

    I think I've really been focused on creating a calorie deficit. It's been a 2 year process of losing weight for me which I've lost a total of 40 lbs. Right now I'm mainly running 4 days a week for my exercise but maybe I'm to the point where I can focus more on building/maintaining muscle and less on actually losing weight? One last question, when you say 1300 total intake does that mean net of exercise calories burned (ie eat 1500 b/c I burned 200 running)? Thanks for all of your help!
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Whenever I tell people a calorie goal, it means it that many calories each day. I don't muddy the waters with net. 1300 factors in a reasonable amount of exercise.
  • mrjason
    mrjason Posts: 61 Member
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    Awesome!
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Bump.

    Getting a lot of questions about this in my email.
  • chibacca
    chibacca Posts: 13
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    Anything Steve writes sounds like its done for meeeeee!
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Anything Steve writes sounds like its done for meeeeee!

    That's because it is. Don't you know I'm stalking you?

    :p
  • JaneP2011
    JaneP2011 Posts: 65 Member
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    Bookmarking - thank you Steve:flowerforyou:
  • spaniel
    spaniel Posts: 468
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  • txbabes1
    txbabes1 Posts: 31
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    Lovely post -- bookmarking for later. Thanks!
  • ldon37
    ldon37 Posts: 145 Member
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    bumping for later
  • margielewis
    margielewis Posts: 52 Member
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  • JaneP2011
    JaneP2011 Posts: 65 Member
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    And you bring up an excellent point about added stress. I'm sure this will come across as overly blunt but it seems many dieters today go bat crap crazy about this stuff. They only see things in binary terms - particular foods are either healthy or horrible, their behavior is either good or bad, they're either successful or they failed, etc, etc. And all this sort of reasoning and perspective does is ramp up anxiety like crazy.

    People are flipping out over 10 calories. And ya know what? I think it hurts them.

    The stress response they're generating by being as anal retentive and psychotic as they are bites them in the *kitten*. Which is why I always recommend people read the book written by Robert Sapolsky called "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers." He's a great author and a genius when it comes to the stress response of the body. Humans unfortunately can work themselves up into such a psychological mess about the future by thinking about catastrophic thoughts and building psychological hurdles that are simply impossible to clear and thus, our biology that's really in place to keep us alive winds up going in overdrive in chronic terms.

    Like I've said in numerous places on this forum now - our ability to manage stress is finite. In our body's mind, stress is stress have it be psychological, physical, real, imagined, etc. And when you've relatively small people eating like birds, doing copious amounts of exercise, stressing about work and family which is typical in this culture, and then topping it off with psychotic analysis and concern over diet and exercise - well - things tend to get messed up.

    It's no wonder people are constantly stalling out, really. Granted, I believe more often than not it's a miscalculation on energy intake and expenditure, but still, this is very real.

    Fat loss, sex drive, immune function, you name it and chronic stress will affect it, usually negatively.

    People just need to relax, set realistic expectations, avoid perfectionism, and be patient.

    Just been re-reading this thread and wanted to say that this (^^^the above^^^) is just excellent advice in relation to the psychological aspects of dieting (and life in general actually!). I know that I tend to think I've either done 'good' things or 'bad' t'hings with my diet and that my time frame and expectations are far too short term. Interestingly though, I also tend to forget this rational stuff too often!! Had a blow out on the diet yesterday (anything to do with not eating enough for the previous two days I wonder???) and then this morning I felt awful - really guilty and angry with myself for being so weak! A typical short-termist, emotional response rather than the long-term rational/cognitive one which would be much more realistic and motivating.
    Coming back to this thread and re-reading it just really helped me to get focused again. Thank you so much Steve!:flowerforyou:
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Glad to hear it. We have to start challenging our habitual thoughts. Otherwise, we can perceiving things in ways that are extremely counter-productive. And perceptions tend to drive behavior... so it doesn't take a genius to figure out how or why some people are tripping up.

    Best to you!
  • alb_photog
    alb_photog Posts: 110 Member
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    Great thread!

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