Increasing food intake as working out

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Becky170467
Becky170467 Posts: 69 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've started going to the gym 4 times a week for 75 minutes a time and doing Zumba + Pilates twice a week. I've not been offsetting any exercise against my daily calories so still have around 1200 cals a day. I've been feeling a bit light-headed at work. I know I need to eat more fuel as I'm now exercising a lot more, but the allowances seem on the high side when you input your activity on MFP - I'm scared of eating too much. Having said that, I've stayed the same weight for the 3 weeks since I've been going to the gym & can't understand why.

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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    If you don't want to eat all of the calories that MFP gives you for exercise, eat just a portion. I always suggest picking a certain percentage, such as 50%, eating that for four weeks, and then evaluating whether you want to eat more or fewer exercise calories, based on your results.

    As for the 3 weeks with no loss, assuming you are logging your food intake correctly, I would not be concerned. There tends to be a week or more without loss once you start exercising plus a few weeks with no loss even without exercising is a normal part of weight loss.
  • igarcia13
    igarcia13 Posts: 59 Member
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    I've read that if you don't eat enough calories when you workout a lot, you might not lose weight.
  • KittensMaster
    KittensMaster Posts: 748 Member
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    Eat back some of the calories but remember you will get some from fat as you exercise

    If I ride 35 miles after work that is roughly 1750 calories when I keep the speed over 18 mph average

    No way I will even eat half of that back at 7:30

    It has not hurt my weight loss at all.

  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    If you're lightheaded, you're not eating enough. Eat at least up to 1200 net. Muscles swell from water weight if they are repairing from sudden exercise. That will show up as a weight gain even if you are losing fat.
  • briandap1
    briandap1 Posts: 24 Member
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    What is with people and eating 1200 calories?
  • Drewlssix
    Drewlssix Posts: 272 Member
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    igarcia13 wrote: »
    I've read that if you don't eat enough calories when you workout a lot, you might not lose weight.

    That's not true, a deficit is a deficit and you will lose. But the real problem is the health effects of what is essentially malnutrition.

    Also the chances of hurting your self is much higher and the general effectiveness of an activity will suffer. You just won't have the ability to workout at a certain intensity, even if it feels like you are working your *kitten* off.
  • Drewlssix
    Drewlssix Posts: 272 Member
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    briandap1 wrote: »
    What is with people and eating 1200 calories?

    It's the absolutely lowest number allowed at suggested and people like extremes and like to think they are exceptional.
  • alfonsinarosinsky
    alfonsinarosinsky Posts: 198 Member
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    Drewlssix wrote: »
    briandap1 wrote: »
    What is with people and eating 1200 calories?

    It's the absolutely lowest number allowed at suggested and people like extremes and like to think they are exceptional.

    But also, like in my case, mfp gave me that number since I am sedentary and want to lose 2 lbs a week. Thankfully I'm doing cardio and weights so I get more t eat.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited August 2015
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    briandap1 wrote: »
    What is with people and eating 1200 calories?

    Women see "2 pounds per week", get all excited at the thought of losing that much each week and don't realize that if they don't have a lot to lose that it's simply not feasible. Since 1200 is the lowest MFP will go, instead of not allowing them that option at all, it will give them 1200 calories to eat even if it can't create the 1000 calorie deficit necessary. IMHO, it'd be much better if MFP simply only allowed the weight loss goals that will keep them above 1200 calories, preferably a bit above that, rather than setting unrealistic expectations.

    @Becky170467, when you exercise you can manually set how many calories MFP gives you to eat, simply cut the number in half. Alternatively, you might look into getting a heart rate monitor which will give you a more accurate number. Then be sure to eat those extra calories so that you're netting 1200 or more each day.
  • Becky170467
    Becky170467 Posts: 69 Member
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    I'm only 5ft2 & have a desk job so even when I re-set my goal to include 4 weekly workouts, the daily calorie allocation was still 1200. I'm not obsessed with just eating 1200 calories a day! I'm going to add exercise calories but halve the suggested MFP amount allowed, so I'll be having enough calories, but I'll see how it goes. Thanks for the advice
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Becky170467 wrote: »
    I'm only 5ft2 & have a desk job so even when I re-set my goal to include 4 weekly workouts, the daily calorie allocation was still 1200. I'm not obsessed with just eating 1200 calories a day! I'm going to add exercise calories but halve the suggested MFP amount allowed, so I'll be having enough calories, but I'll see how it goes. Thanks for the advice

    Just FYI, adding planned weekly workouts in the goals section won't increase calorie count because the calorie goal doesn't take exercise into account until you enter it each day. The only things that changes it are your goal rate of loss per week and your activity level.
  • Meganthedogmom
    Meganthedogmom Posts: 1,639 Member
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    Becky170467 wrote: »
    I've started going to the gym 4 times a week for 75 minutes a time and doing Zumba + Pilates twice a week. I've not been offsetting any exercise against my daily calories so still have around 1200 cals a day. I've been feeling a bit light-headed at work. I know I need to eat more fuel as I'm now exercising a lot more, but the allowances seem on the high side when you input your activity on MFP - I'm scared of eating too much. Having said that, I've stayed the same weight for the 3 weeks since I've been going to the gym & can't understand why.

    Don't be scared! You won't be eating too much (as long as you are in fact accurately logging your calorie intake). I started eating back some of my exercise calories and as long as I stay in a calorie deficit, I'm losing. I've been taking the number the exercise machines give me for my calories burned, then I log 75% of them, and I try to eat a little under. So on a day I do cardio, my calorie allowance is somewhere around 1700. I usually eat around 1500 (these are rough estimates and vary depending on the day). As long as I do this, I lose pretty steadily. But I do not have my goal set to 2 pounds per week because I like to eat and I'm fine with losing a pound or less per week.

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