Calorie deficit and meeting requirements

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lstevens5651
lstevens5651 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I was curious about your thoughts on the remaining calories after factoring in exercise. If I've met my carbs for the day, does exercise allow me to eat more? Or if I'm trying to lose fat, do I need to stay in the macros numbers regardless of working out?


Also I'm having difficulty finding the right balance of macros. While I try to build up the macro that I'm really low on for that day, I'll be over the others. Aside from planning the day ahead, I just don't know enough snacks or food items that I can eat for fulfill my goal without going too high I. The other categories

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    The only thing that matters to losing weight is staying in your net calories (after exercise). You can play with the macro percentages to see what works for you. Many people will focus on meeting their fat and protein macros, then fill the rest up with carbs.
  • CoachJen71
    CoachJen71 Posts: 1,200 Member
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    What Malibu said. :)
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    @lstevens5651, I think you are asking for some ideas about what you could use to increase your consumption of a macro without increasing your consumption of another macro. There are some ways to do this.
    Straight up table sugar increases the sugar macro and nothing else, but that's not what you're asking.
    Tuna, egg white, and turkey increase protein without increasing fat.
    avocado increases fat without increasing carb, protein, or sugar.
    white rice increases carbs without increasing sugar or fat unless you add butter.
    Butter, by the way, increases fat without increasing carb, sugar, or protein.

    I don't put forth the effort to perfectly meet my mfp macro goals. I did find, early on in this journey, that I already kept at home several different foods and snacks that could be used to target a macro deficiency with pinpoint accuracy if I cared to try.
  • Kdp2015
    Kdp2015 Posts: 519 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I try to get in as much protein and fibre as possible and don't really worry about the rest. Generally my carbs are high and my fat low but it's not stopped me losing weight, the macros mfp give you aren't set in stone so don't worry about the odd 10% over or under.
  • RelevantGains
    RelevantGains Posts: 83 Member
    edited August 2016
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    It depends how you set up your calorie goal. Me personally, I factor in my weekly exercise with I set my calorie goal. So I eat the same number of calories every day regardless of if it's a rest day or an super intense day, it all balances out.

    Some people here set their calories around BMR, then eat back their exercise. I'd recommend against that, because first of all, it just adds in unneeded complications. With set calories, you can really get a feel of what you need to eat on a daily basis. More importantly, calorie burn trackers are highly inaccurate. If the treadmill says you burned 500 calories, so you add an extra 500 calories to your day, but in actuality, you only burned 300 calories, you're not getting the deficit you think you are.

    And as far as macros go, I agree with kdp's comment. Protein should be #1 priority, then just get the rest of your calories however you like.
  • lstevens5651
    lstevens5651 Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you all!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    I don't know that anyone answered your first question, about eating back exercise calories. Yes, if you are using MFP to set your calorie goal then you should be eating back at least a portion of those, as MFP provides you a NEAT goal which does not include exercise in your deficit. A lot of people start with eating back about 50% of the exercise calories to account for inaccuracies in calorie burn estimates.

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