Does 1500 Calorie diet include exercise?

slainye
slainye Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
A general question: I am on a 1,500 Calorie plan for a limited time. My BMR is 1,875, fyi.
However, living in London and doing some exercise, it's not impossible for me to burn 500 Calories in a day. My question is, do I exclude this from my 1,500 Calorie monitoring? That would be a net intake of 1,000 Calories in that case?
Sensible replies only, please.

Replies

  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    You generally shouldn't eat under your BMR, especially if you've only got 12lbs to lose, since you won't need as big a deficit. How much are you hoping to lose per week on 1500?

    To answer your question using MFP you're meant to eat exercise calories back, so you would eat back the 500 that you've burnt through exercise, eating 2000 in total (though some people eat back less than 100% of their exercise calories to account for the fact that many ways of calculating exercise calories tend to overestimate).
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,483 Member
    You eat back your exercise calories.
    If your 500 cal burn is part of your daily activity alter your activity status on MFP to reflect that you are more active than sedentary. This will up your calories to the required amount.
    If it is exercise calories, one generally eats back 50-75% of the cal burn MFP allots for the exercise.
    Cheers, h.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    Quite honestly, I believe that 1500 calories is quite low for a man. How much weight are you trying to lose?

    If you're dead-set on eating 1500 calories, you should eat back your exercise calories. This will raise your total calories consumed, but your deficit will remain the same.
  • joelschneider45066
    joelschneider45066 Posts: 76 Member
    Typically, and in line with the MFP approach that 500 would be an adjustment to your daily goal. You have to consider your activity level though too. For example, my TDEE/BMR is 2121, however MFP sets my daily goal to 1490 NET calories. Therefore if all i do is exist, my body should burn 2121 calories per day, and if I only eat 1490 I will lose weight at a good rate. If however I burn an additional 500 calories thru activity, then I can add that to my 1490 and still maintain the same deficit.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    joelschneider45066 wrote: »
    Typically, and in line with the MFP approach that 500 would be an adjustment to your daily goal. You have to consider your activity level though too. For example, my TDEE/BMR is 2121, however MFP sets my daily goal to 1490 NET calories. Therefore if all i do is exist, my body should burn 2121 calories per day, and if I only eat 1490 I will lose weight at a good rate. If however I burn an additional 500 calories thru activity, then I can add that to my 1490 and still maintain the same deficit.

    The only way your TDEE and BMR would be the same would be if you were in a coma. Also, I'm surprised MFP gave you a goal ten calories below its limit for men.

    OP, your goal is set without exercise. Therefore, when you exercise, you're expected to eat a portion of those calories back. Netting 1000 calories consistently can potentially cause some serious health risks in the future.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    slainye wrote: »
    A general question: I am on a 1,500 Calorie plan for a limited time. My BMR is 1,875, fyi.
    However, living in London and doing some exercise, it's not impossible for me to burn 500 Calories in a day. My question is, do I exclude this from my 1,500 Calorie monitoring? That would be a net intake of 1,000 Calories in that case?
    Sensible replies only, please.

    No, you add it on top of the 1,500 calories if you are using the figures generated by MFP.
  • slainye
    slainye Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you everyone- I will eat my Calories back in that case. I am only on this to lose about 0.5-1kg a week for about 4 weeks and am eating mainly vegetables with protein. I'm not bothered if I eat 1,600, or 1,500, but I do need to monitor my intake and the quality of what I eat. As I exercise, I have been eating more, so please don't stress- the 1,500 is low, but it is correct.
    Thank you again, Ads
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    No, MFP gives you a base and you earn extra through exercise. Remember, most only eat back a portion, to account for overestimations in burns and miscalculations in logging.
  • joelschneider45066
    joelschneider45066 Posts: 76 Member
    malibu - i thought it was weird too ... but this calculator just said my TDEE/BMR are the same: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

    30lkxff00h1c.jpg
  • sushiandtea
    sushiandtea Posts: 24 Member
    joelschneider45066 wrote: »
    malibu - i thought it was weird too ... but this calculator just said my TDEE/BMR are the same: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

    You need to change 'Basal Metabolic Rate' to one of the other options in the drop down to get your TDEE, or it just gives your BMR for both.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    DemoraFairy wrote: »
    You generally shouldn't eat under your BMR, especially if you've only got 12lbs to lose, since you won't need as big a deficit. How much are you hoping to lose per week on 1500?

    To answer your question using MFP you're meant to eat exercise calories back, so you would eat back the 500 that you've burnt through exercise, eating 2000 in total (though some people eat back less than 100% of their exercise calories to account for the fact that many ways of calculating exercise calories tend to overestimate).

    There is no harm in eating below your BMR. BMR is just an number that represents some of the calories you burn throughout the day. To lose weight, you have to eat less than you burn, so the less active you are the more likely it is that you'll have to eat below BMR to lose weight.

    Other than that, yes, it is true that MFP doesn't include exercise calories in its calculations, because you don't know how much exercise you will do until you do it. You then log your exercise and MFP adds to your calorie goal so that your calorie deficit is constant.
  • joelschneider45066
    joelschneider45066 Posts: 76 Member
    ah - that's my mistake - thanks Sushi I hadnt noticed that ...
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    joelschneider45066 wrote: »
    Typically, and in line with the MFP approach that 500 would be an adjustment to your daily goal. You have to consider your activity level though too. For example, my TDEE/BMR is 2121, however MFP sets my daily goal to 1490 NET calories. Therefore if all i do is exist, my body should burn 2121 calories per day, and if I only eat 1490 I will lose weight at a good rate. If however I burn an additional 500 calories thru activity, then I can add that to my 1490 and still maintain the same deficit.

    The only way your TDEE and BMR would be the same would be if you were in a coma. Also, I'm surprised MFP gave you a goal ten calories below its limit for men.

    OP, your goal is set without exercise. Therefore, when you exercise, you're expected to eat a portion of those calories back. Netting 1000 calories consistently can potentially cause some serious health risks in the future.

    MFP did that to me, too. I did a recalibrate and for my present weight/height, and asking for a 1.5 lb/wk deficit it gave me 1460. I'm not sure if that's by design or a bug.

    I went in and split the difference between 1.5 and 1.0, so still have a reasonable deficit and not going too low, but a lot of new folks wouldn't think to do that.
  • dalejason48
    dalejason48 Posts: 2 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    No, MFP gives you a base and you earn extra through exercise. Remember, most only eat back a portion, to account for overestimations in burns and miscalculations in logging.

    This ^^

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