Please Dumb it down for me

Becca21
Becca21 Posts: 361 Member
edited September 27 in Health and Weight Loss
Okay so i need to loose 93lb.
but i thought to loose weight you need to move more and eat less?
but people are saying the more i move the more i eat.
I was aiming for a 700-1000 burn but thats saying im to eat 2000+ cals
How do i loose weight when im eating what ive just burnt off?

Replies

  • SarahLouiseFlint
    SarahLouiseFlint Posts: 53
    Yeah i feel the same, i try to eat my 1200 cals a day and burn 200-500 cals with exercise.
    (if i ate those exercise cals i would just be undoing the good work i have done with the exercise.)
    This method of sticking to my original cals is working for me.
    But since you are working off a LOT more cals you should eat more cals, how many cals does MFP recommend you eat ?(before your exercise cals are added)
  • Becca21
    Becca21 Posts: 361 Member
    1200 before i do any excersise
  • sandraksims3
    sandraksims3 Posts: 17 Member
    OK LETS see if i can do this..say your on a 2000 calorie diet. okay fine..if you go over that 2000 cals you can exercise the rest off....if you go over and dont exercise..you gain weight...so in turn if you exercise ALOT during the day then you can burn more during the day therefore you can eat more during the day..if you have a sit down lifestyle then obviously DO NOT go over your calories and actually eat below them
  • Ezwoldo
    Ezwoldo Posts: 369 Member
    Have a read of this

    http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/burning_calories/starvation.htm

    should help a bit
  • dcmat
    dcmat Posts: 1,723 Member
    I eat a few of my burn cals back, but I am burning 2000+ a day cycling.

    I would suggest to try and stick to your normal cal intake and occasional eat back the burn cals as a weekly/twice weekly treat. This way losing weight is more enjoyable as you still allow yourself one of those 'sinful' foods!
  • sandraksims3
    sandraksims3 Posts: 17 Member
    oh and another thing...if you exercise and never eat your body will go into starvation mode and you will hold onto what you have now.
  • javarushed
    javarushed Posts: 218 Member
    When you set your weight loss goals MFP will give you a calorie deficit to obtain those goals (.5 lbs - 2 lbs loss a week). So if it says to eat 1200 calories do so. If you exercise, you eat those calories back, so you continue to get a net of 1200 calories in each day. You will still be at a loss, since that 1200 calorie set point already considers your requested lb per week loss.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    I know it's a strange concept to get your head around that you should eat more to lose weight..... but the way MFP is setup accounts for this.

    MFP looks at how many calories you burn each day just living and breathing and doing your regular activities.
    It calculates how many calories would keep you at your current weight, then subtracts up to a 1000 (if you have ticked "lose 2lb a week"). So, you get a number of calories to eat each day to allow you to lose 2 pounds. This doesn't account for exercise at all.

    If you exercise and burn say, 300 calories, thenyou have an extra 300 calories to eat, while your 1000 calorie deficit is still there, so you should still lose 2 pounds a week (assuming you are accuratley logging your food and exercise).

    Sure, you don't have to eat those calories, but why deprive yourself and make the calorie deficit even larger when you can lose weight anyway??

    Everyone has a different opinion on this, and you will be bombarded with responses telling you that you MUST do this or that or not do something else.
    My suggestion (and feel free to take it or leave it!) is to start out by using MFP the way it is designed (ie eat your daily calorie allowance and the cals from exercise) and see how you go in a few weeks time.
    Then it will be time to start tweaking the system to suit your body if you need to.

    Good luck!

    Oops, forgot to post some links if you want to read more. These are usualy posted by the lovely LadyHawk who is full of wisdom, but today I will beat her to it!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/188509-my-take-on-exercise-calories-please-read-if-you-are-new

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    ok - MFP starts you with a calorie deficit. So you are already eating at a level that will cause you to lose weight. You don't have to exercise with this method, but if you exercise, you are burning additional calories. You eat those calories back so your body doesn't go into starvation mode. So for example, let's say that MFP sets you at 1500 cal a day to lose weight. If you don't exercise, you only eat 1500 cals. If you exercise and burn 500 calories, you need to eat back most of those calories. This means you eat about 2000 calories. But you aren't undoing your work, because when you burned the 500 calories, you just brought yourself back down to the 1500 cals you are supposed to be eating. If you don't eat the exercise cals, you are actually only getting 1500 - 500 exercise calories = 1000 NET calories for the day, and your body might be ok with this at first, but over time, it will probably go into starvation mode, causing you to plateau, your energy levels to drop, etc. People may think why do I bother exercising if I'm just going to eat those calories back. Two big reasons for me: 1. so I can eat more of my favorite foods because I've earned extra calories to spend, 2. Because it's good for your body - toning, cardiovascular health, etc. To me, exercise is not a waste of time. It's your choice whether you follow the program or not, but it is set up using scientific principles for healthy weight loss. Good luck everybody. :flowerforyou:
  • Flossycat100
    Flossycat100 Posts: 103
    A lot of people on here will tell you to eat back all your exercise calories, as MFP sets your target calories at a rate calculated to help you lose weight anyway. So the reasoning is sound there, and does definitely work for some people.

    However I tried this approach and got nowhere. I had a total of 100lb to lose overall and have managed to lose 65lb of that weight by exercising and not eating back those extra calories. Some maybe, but certainly not most or all. Most of the time I eat around 1200 calories a day, even if I have earned another 1200 through exercise. However if I'm hungry I will eat until I'm not hungry any more, so I don't mind eating a couple of hundred extra if needed.

    The key is to eat GOOD FOOD, a healthy mix of protein, carb, fat and fibre, and listen to your body telling you what it needs, and when. If you aim for 1200 a day and just eat junk this won't work for you in the long term. However if you eat 1200 calories' worth of good, fresh, wholesome food including some non-processed carbs, fruit, veg and lean, low fat protein and dairy, you will see results and will not struggle too badly with hunger.

    I have gone through my current diet and approach with a dietitian, with my GP and with two of the trainers at my gym, and all are in agreement that if not eating back my exercise calories works for me and I am eating a good balanced diet, there is no medical need to do this.

    As I've already said, though, this is only an approach which works for me. I'm happy to believe that the opposite works for other people but to each his own :wink:
  • beccarockslife
    beccarockslife Posts: 816 Member
    It doesn't mean eat more **** though, eat more good foods to fuel you up, if you are burning between 700-1000 cals a day you'll physically need more energy to burn so if you eat a good diet then you'll see the weight come off.
  • javarushed
    javarushed Posts: 218 Member
    Try eating your calories back from exercise and if you don't lose weight, then try eating half of them back etc. I believe you'll be fine with eating them all back, but do what works for you.
  • iverayna
    iverayna Posts: 48 Member
    Say your daily calorie intake is just a flat 1200 calories a day.. If I make healthy eating choices and yet still I sit on my butt all day long I will lose weight.. If you add exercise to that (say 500 calories) you are supposed to eat those calories back. If you don't, at the end of the day you're body is really only getting 700 calories.. You HAVE to have 1200 a day otherwise your body will go into starvation mode and you wont lose weight because your body will store fat for energy.. Myfitnesspal already sets you at a 1000 calories deficit right from the get go if you chose to lose the 2 pounds a week. And a 500 cal deficit for 1 lb a week loss.. Hope this helps. Best of luck..
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
    Easy way of seeing it:

    MFP tells you to eat 1200 calories - 500 calories you burn working out = 700 NET calories (this is how many calories you've actually eaten because you burned 500 with excercise + 500 calories you eat back after working out = 1200 which is the amount you were originally told to eat by MFP.

    MFP will say you ate 1700 but you didn't because you burned 500 with exercise which is actually a NET of 1200.

    :)

    Not eating enough results in your body thinking you are starving it to death and it'll stop losing weight. It will hold onto your fat stores for energy. Prolonged calorie deprivation has shown to cause your body to use muscle as fuel. We don't want our bodies to hold fat and burn muscle.. we want it to burn fat and build muscle. So, you HAVE to feed your body enough so it gets comfortable and allows the fat stores to be burned off.
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