calories leftover at the end of the day

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hna84
hna84 Posts: 26 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all just wndering how many of you eat all the calories you have "earned" for the day and how many of you eat only the goal calories? How many calories do you normally have left at the end of the day? I have read pros and cons of doing both and would love to hear what has worked best for people so far. Thank you! :)

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  • blockhead922
    blockhead922 Posts: 23
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    I just eat until I'm full and I usually end up with about 500 calories leftover, a lot of times I have even more because I exercise on top of it.
  • ambermichon
    ambermichon Posts: 404 Member
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    I eat until I am full too and somedays if I have worked out really hard and am really hungry I may eat my extra calories. I usually stay around the alotted calories though.
  • davidrt
    davidrt Posts: 162
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    i never use up all of mine, i cant eat that much anymore i end up with about a thousand left
  • KaylaShianne
    KaylaShianne Posts: 24
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    I just eat the goal calories and any extra i earn through exercise is just a bonus for me that'll speed up fat loss! i know my body can run on the original goal just fine even with extra exercise so I figure its a great way to add more fat loss. :) and seeing the number on the scale decrease is a huge motivator for me so if i loose more this way, ill end up sticking to my diet easier!!
  • anna1131
    anna1131 Posts: 10 Member
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    sometimes i eat all my calories and other days i don't. just depends if am hunrgy. but always eat my goal calories
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    To quote myself, this is what I do. This is actually my perception on eating back your workout calories. My suggestion so you don't end up with calories at the end of the day is preplan your food and workout. Figured out what your average workout will yield in terms of caloric burn so you can compensate for that while you do your food journal.
    Here is my perception on the matter. I actually use this site just to track my calories. I use a different method to determine how many calories I should be eating and suggest it to many. According to this website, if you use their calculations, if you workout and burn 300 calories, than you should eat an extra 300 calories that day because the site has already built in a deficit for you. The more you have to lose the bigger an acceptable deficit is but the closer your goal is, the smaller your deficit should be. This is because the more muscle you have, the lower the body fat, the more fuel you body needs to sustains it's functions. Also, a deficit is should never been more than 1000 calories a day (which would allow for 2 lbs per week loss) but it more acceptable to do 1 lb a week or 500 calorie deficit. Additionally, a woman should eat not less than 1200 net calories. This is the amount of calories after you workout. So if you burn 500 calories, you need at least 1700 calories; men should be no less than 1500-1700 after workout calories from my research. Also, a large part of these calories should be driven by protein based sources. The ammino acids in the protein is what stimulates muscle growth. The more muscle your body has, the more calories you burn at rest.

    My approach looks at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you slept 24 hours, for me, my BMR is 2000 calories. I then mutliply it by my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE); how many calories I should eat to make up for daily activities (walking, working out, etc) to get a total number of calories. Because I do a program like p90x, I multiply my 2000 calories by 1.725 which equals 3400 calories. This amount of calories is the amount I need to eat to maintain weight. I back off 500 caloires as my deficit and eat 3000 calories in a day. This is the website I use.


    http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

    I then go into a custom setup under my goals and set my daily intake for 3000 calories (well I will starting sunday, right now it's 2800 because I haven't officially started p90x until sunday). Additionally, to follow the p90x food guide, I set up custom ratio's. I do 45% of carbs, 35% of protein and 20% for fats. As I progress, I will lower protein and increase carbs. This method has worked for me and others I have worked with on the site. MFP just makes it simple for anyone to come on and lose weight. I take more of a scientific approach to weight loss. When I started I was 210 & 18% body fat. Now I am 189 and 12% body fat and hoping to break single digits within 3 months.

    Cliff notes: if you go by the sites calculations, you absolutely should eat back your workout calories as they preload the deficit. If you go by the more scientific method, you don't have to worry about it, it's already figured in your number.

    Good luck everyone.

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