Calories to eat back, what to track?

GlenRossFarms · May 2016

I'm currently wanting to lose only a few more pounds and then maintain. I am 5'2" and am at 115lbs. I do strength training pretty hard with a trainer one day a week and do cardio, usually interval walk/run for about 30 minutes, 2-3 days a week.

I just got back on MFP after a long absense and even still, I don't get eating back the calories. I am not tracking steps, because I don't want eat those back but I usually hit around 4-8k steps a day depending on activity level.

So should I track my exercise and eat those back to loose the last few pounds? And then switch over to maintain? I've seen all over the board that MFP overestimates as does FitBit which I don't think I will use this time around. Thoughts? Help?

middlehaitch · May 2016

It would be good to eat back some of your exercise calories, then if for some reason you have to stop you will not either stall on your weight loss or have to drop your calories. It will also help with your energy levels.

Eat back 50-75% of what MFP gives you. Adjust so you are losing at your expected goal over a month (weight fluctuations are accounted for that way).

(I am a bit shorter and lighter than you and tend to eat back 150-175 cals per hour of exercise and it has kept me in maintenance)

Cheers, h.

KorvapuustiPossu · May 2016

You should join our group http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/109137-petites-in-maintenance

Best group for shorties at/close to their goal weight! @middlehaitch is also a member

Best place to get advice from experienced shorties that have been in maintenance for years

terbusha · May 2016

I don't track any of my calories burnt from exercise or general activity. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop ~1 lb/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for 2 weeks. If you lose ~1 lb/week, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few cycles, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

HamsterManV2 · May 2016

I don't understand what you mean when you say 'calories to eat back'... is this to consume calories you burned? Because your TDEE you calculated should already account for the level of exercise. You don't need to 'eat back' calories.

That being said, if you want to eat to optimize training and recovery, you can do 'carb cycling' which is to eat most of your daily carbohydrates and protein in the before and after workout meals (and the other meals of the day will be high fat low carb). This tends to give you extra fuel when you are pushing yourself.

tcunbeliever · May 2016

I think a lot of it depends on how you set up your goals. If you set yourself as active the MFP calorie calculations are already going to include extra calories for your daily workouts. If you set yourself to sedentary then the MFP calorie calculations will not include those daily activities. Also, the amount you choose to lose every week (1 lb, 1/2 lb, maintain) will work into the MFP formula, larger loss amounts will further reduce the calculated calorie goals.

SezxyStef · May 2016

HamsterManV2 wrote: »

I don't understand what you mean when you say 'calories to eat back'... is this to consume calories you burned? Because your TDEE you calculated should already account for the level of exercise. You don't need to 'eat back' calories.

That being said, if you want to eat to optimize training and recovery, you can do 'carb cycling' which is to eat most of your daily carbohydrates and protein in the before and after workout meals (and the other meals of the day will be high fat low carb). This tends to give you extra fuel when you are pushing yourself.

MFP doesn't use TDEE method. It uses NEAT method so exercise calories should be eaten back...at least some of them.

Carb cycling does nothing for weight loss...calorie deficit.

tcunbeliever wrote: »

I think a lot of it depends on how you set up your goals. If you set yourself as active the MFP calorie calculations are already going to include extra calories for your daily workouts. If you set yourself to sedentary then the MFP calorie calculations will not include those daily activities. Also, the amount you choose to lose every week (1 lb, 1/2 lb, maintain) will work into the MFP formula, larger loss amounts will further reduce the calculated calorie goals.

and activity level on MFP should not include exercise....

donjtomasco · May 2016

So SezxyStef, can you address these two things on our 'personal settings' page? "How would you describe your normal daily activities"? and "How many times a week do you plan on exercising"?

Should these be left blank? Do they even matter? Does MFP use our answer to those two questions for calculating anything?

It looks like the only question that matters is "How much weight do you want to lose per week"?

Is that correct?

middlehaitch · May 2016

@donjtomasco. The 'how would you describe your daily activity level' is important as I working seated and doing normal house hold activities am 'sedentary'. My SO who spends a lot of time on civil construction sites, is the next level up, and my friend who is a carpenter is very active. We a get a different level calorie allowance because of that. I would get a few hundred more calories if I were a carpenter.

The ' how many times a week do you plan on exercising' is not taken into account when setting your calorie goal. It is just so a as you log your exercises you can see if you are reaching the goal you set for yourself. I set mine initially at 3x60 a week. I have done more than that most of the time and less occasionally. It is just an exercise tracker that has nothing to do with the calorie goal you are given.

You eat back an amount of the calories it awards you for your workout. 50-75% until you find the percentage that works best for you. MFP and machines tend to overestimate.

Cheers, h.
Hope the hip is still doing well.

GlenRossFarms · May 2016

Thank you everyone, for your input. I have researched the TDEE method and that makes sense to me and keeps me from having to add in my exercise and adjust everyday. The problem may come in when I have "bad" weeks and don't get all my exercise in. I will keep researching for now. Thanks again for the replies!

SezxyStef · May 2016

donjtomasco wrote: »

So SezxyStef, can you address these two things on our 'personal settings' page? "How would you describe your normal daily activities"? and "How many times a week do you plan on exercising"?

Should these be left blank? Do they even matter? Does MFP use our answer to those two questions for calculating anything?

It looks like the only question that matters is "How much weight do you want to lose per week"?

Is that correct?

@donjtomasco The activity level should be set based on what you do on a normal day that doesn't include exercise. For example are you a desk jockey who sits a lot...sedentary. Are you a mail man who walks their route? active. Those sort of activities. But just because you are an office worker doesn't mean you are sedentary...I do a desk job and still am lightly active without exercise based on this study

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18562971

Per this article
1) <5000 steps.d (sedentary);
2) 5000-7499 steps.d (low active);
3) 7500-9999 steps.d (somewhat active);
4) > or =10,000-12,499 steps.d (active); and
5) > or =12,500 steps.d (highly active)

The exercise question is irrelevant yes as far as calculating your calorie goal...it's more of a goal for you to meet.

Calories to eat back, what to track?

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