Calorie intake

boniface246
boniface246 Posts: 2 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there I'm New to all of this calorie counting and was just wondering are you supposed to use all your calories up a day (the target your set with) as I do alot of exercise so by the end of the day I'm still left with 650/800 calories because of exercise I've done throughout the day, so obviously it calculates and adds that on top of the daily allowance!!
What do people recommend is best to do? Will this effect my weight loss if I'm not eating all the calories?
Many thanks
Shelley x

Replies

  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    It depends on how accurate you believe your exercise calories to be. MFP is designed so that you should eat them back, but many people only eat back half of their exercise calories that they earn from purposeful exercise because they believe that the calculations are over inflated (they usually are). Only way to tell for sure is to eat back 50% of them for a month or two and see if you are losing weight at the rate you want. If you're not, eat less of them back for another month or two and see if you stabilize to the loss rate you want. If you are losing faster than anticipated then you need to eat more back. Rinse and repeat, and eventually you'll be able to zero in on a percentage you feel comfortable with.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,147 Member
    You should be eating back at least some of your calories (most people aim for around 50%). It won't affect your weight loss if you're not eating enough but you can impact your body in a bad way - bad skin, loss of hair, brittle nails, etc if you're under-eating.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    It depends on how accurate you believe your exercise calories to be. MFP is designed so that you should eat them back, but many people only eat back half of their exercise calories that they earn from purposeful exercise because they believe that the calculations are over inflated (they usually are). Only way to tell for sure is to eat back 50% of them for a month or two and see if you are losing weight at the rate you want. If you're not, eat less of them back for another month or two and see if you stabilize to the loss rate you want. If you are losing faster than anticipated then you need to eat more back. Rinse and repeat, and eventually you'll be able to zero in on a percentage you feel comfortable with.

    This. You'll lose faster if you don't eat your exercise calories back, but it can be detrimental to your health if you have too high a deficit (muscle loss, hair loss, brittle nails, hormonal imbalance, etc.).
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    What do you mean by exercise you've done through out the day? Is this like general activity or true exercise (i.e cardio, weight training, HIIT, etc)? Only count exercise and unless you are using a HRM for cardio then what ever MFP gives you eat back 1/2. The NEAT calorie calculation MFP set initially takes into account your daily activity so if you do exercise then you eat back some or all of what you burn.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    You should aim for your remaining calories to be 0 or close to it.

    Exercise calories are often overestimated and as such maybe start with only logging 50% of the burn. Adjust up or down based on actual loss over say 4 weeks.

    You can cause serious health problems if you have to large of a deficit for an extended period of time. Things like hair loss and brittle nails are just minor side effects of not eating enough.
  • readytobeatfat54
    readytobeatfat54 Posts: 91 Member
    You are going to be fine. The program is designed to allow you to eat them back, but as long as you are eating and eating some of them you will be fine, especially if it is the right foods.
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    It depends on what your actual calorie intake at the end of the day is.

    By the sound of it that number is pretty low.

    Persistent undereating will eventually have a negative impact on your health.
  • aaoch1
    aaoch1 Posts: 6 Member
    I think most people eat back about 1/2 of their exercise calories to start. You can adjust if you are losing weight too quickly (more than 2 lbs per week) or more slowly than you would like. So you could start by eating an additional 400 calories/day for a few weeks or a month, and see how that works for you.

    You should also be able to find discussions of this issue on the boards, here is one that might be helpful.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10517256/eating-exercise-calories
  • boniface246
    boniface246 Posts: 2 Member
    cathipa wrote: »
    What do you mean by exercise you've done through out the day? Is this like general activity or true exercise (i.e cardio, weight training, HIIT, etc)? Only count exercise and unless you are using a HRM for cardio then what ever MFP gives you eat back 1/2. The NEAT calorie calculation MFP set initially takes into account your daily activity so if you do exercise then you eat back some or all of what you burn.

    Yes like power walking, boot camp fitness, spinning classes etc....
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