Calories

Lynn7082
Lynn7082 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hypothetically, if you burn 1600 calories per day, with exercise and daily functions, is it true that you should eat 80% of it back? (about 1200 calories) Or how would you adjust the calories you eat compared to the calories you burn?

Replies

  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    Lynn7082 wrote: »
    Hypothetically, if you burn 1600 calories per day, with exercise and daily functions, is it true that you should eat 80% of it back? (about 1200 calories) Or how would you adjust the calories you eat compared to the calories you burn?

    It would depend on how much weight you need to lose, and how rapidly you are looking to lose weight.
  • deceived1
    deceived1 Posts: 281 Member
    If by 1600 calories in this example you mean TOTAL calories burned in the day (aka TDEE), and you were looking to lose weight, 20% deficit is a good spot to start, or 1600(.80) = 1280.

    1600 TDEE seems very low though. What are your stats and activity levels?
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • Lynn7082
    Lynn7082 Posts: 15 Member
    Well MFP says I should only be eating 1520 calories per day (that's with a 500 calorie deficit from my apparent TDEE)
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    Lynn7082 wrote: »
    Well MFP says I should only be eating 1520 calories per day (that's with a 500 calorie deficit from my apparent TDEE)

    So eat 1520 calories a day.

    How did you get 1600?
  • newfutures
    newfutures Posts: 113 Member
    Lynn7082 wrote: »
    Hypothetically, if you burn 1600 calories per day, with exercise and daily functions, is it true that you should eat 80% of it back? (about 1200 calories) Or how would you adjust the calories you eat compared to the calories you burn?

    I do not eat my exercise calories back. to me that's like washing your clothes then taking them outside and dropping them in the mud.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    newfutures wrote: »
    Lynn7082 wrote: »
    Hypothetically, if you burn 1600 calories per day, with exercise and daily functions, is it true that you should eat 80% of it back? (about 1200 calories) Or how would you adjust the calories you eat compared to the calories you burn?

    I do not eat my exercise calories back. to me that's like washing your clothes then taking them outside and dropping them in the mud.
    MFP is designed to eat them back. Alternately, she can use TDEE -20% (calculator above).
  • Lynn7082
    Lynn7082 Posts: 15 Member
    I agree with that, but then again you don't want to burn TOO many calories, and have too large of a deficit right?
  • deceived1
    deceived1 Posts: 281 Member
    Lynn7082 wrote: »
    I agree with that, but then again you don't want to burn TOO many calories, and have too large of a deficit right?

    Exactly. At some point, it's unhealthy not to eat back exercise calories if you're using the MFP approach. If you have your goal set to 1500 calories (1lb/week deficit) but run a full marathon and burn 1,000 calories, netting 500 calories on the whole day is very bad.
  • deceived1
    deceived1 Posts: 281 Member
    Whereas if you use the Scooby calculator linked above, that will give you a number based on your activity levels, so you wouldn't have to worry about eating anything back or not.
  • Lynn7082
    Lynn7082 Posts: 15 Member
    Okay.. Thank you so much!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    newfutures wrote: »
    Lynn7082 wrote: »
    Hypothetically, if you burn 1600 calories per day, with exercise and daily functions, is it true that you should eat 80% of it back? (about 1200 calories) Or how would you adjust the calories you eat compared to the calories you burn?

    I do not eat my exercise calories back. to me that's like washing your clothes then taking them outside and dropping them in the mud.

    wut????

    MFP is designed to the eat them back …

    thats like walking when you have a car...
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    Eating is a lot more fun that making your clean clothes gratuitously muddy.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
    If you're doing a very light workout then don't eat them back and it will make up for any discrepancies or inaccuracies in logging. If you are doing a lengthy or vigorous workout then I would say to definitely eat half of them back or it will start to catch up to you. You'll start feeling tired or have muscle fatigue. You don't want your net getting too low or your body will start letting you know.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    newfutures wrote: »
    Lynn7082 wrote: »
    Hypothetically, if you burn 1600 calories per day, with exercise and daily functions, is it true that you should eat 80% of it back? (about 1200 calories) Or how would you adjust the calories you eat compared to the calories you burn?

    I do not eat my exercise calories back. to me that's like washing your clothes then taking them outside and dropping them in the mud.

    One of the main reasons I exercise is so I can eat more :smiley:

    why suffer on a low calorie diet when you don't have to. ..

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