Eat back calories?

ztabicc
ztabicc Posts: 1 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I am a 5'3" woman, weighing 185. I am lightly active, looking to lose 1.5-2 lbs a week. MFP tells me my calorie goal is 1200 a day. When I log exercise, should I eat back those calories to stay at 1200? I'm afraid to let it go lower than that daily...thanks!!

Replies

  • shelly_38
    shelly_38 Posts: 28 Member
    I do. You could try eating back your calories and see how you do after a few weeks. 1200 is not many calories.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Yes, because that's how MFP is set up. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation
  • rmgnow
    rmgnow Posts: 375 Member
    ztabicc wrote: »
    I am a 5'3" woman, weighing 185. I am lightly active, looking to lose 1.5-2 lbs a week. MFP tells me my calorie goal is 1200 a day. When I log exercise, should I eat back those calories to stay at 1200? I'm afraid to let it go lower than that daily...thanks!!

    You're trying to go as fast as you can. Crash course.
    So many people fail when doing that.

    1200 is very low.
    The reality is that for most people you can't go lower than that without your hair falling out.

    Go with the calorie plan that MFP gives you. I'm sure it's a little more than 1200
  • Chadxx
    Chadxx Posts: 1,199 Member
    Yes but most people recommend eating back only half since exercise calories are typically inflated.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Enjoy your exercise calories!
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    We're the same height and I'm marginally lighter than you at the moment. I've got MFP set to lose 1 lb/week and I'm on 1380. In practice, I'm typically losing between 0.2 and 1.8/week with occasional 'whooshes', usually after TOM. On average, it's about 1.5, 1.6 I'm eating back half my exercise calories. I've also set 130 as my goal weight, so still about 53 lbs to go.

    The more you exercise and the lower your calories, the more important it is for you to eat some of those calories back. When I weighed 254, was exercising 25 minutes a day (leisurely walk) and burning under 200 calories on a daily allowance of 1710? Those extra calories were a cushion in case my logging wasn't as accurate as I thought. I was still using measuring cups for solids, then.

    But now, I'm closer to goal and I'm exercising over 2 hours every day. (Still walking a lot. Also strength training with dumbbells.) And I'm on fewer calories. If I don't eat back some exercise calories, I don't have the energy to fuel those walks. I'm also more irritable because I'm hungrier. Eating back 50% is working for me. And the exercise helps my stress levels, which curbs emotional eating. And, let's be honest: on lower calories, too many food decisions become "either/or". With more exercise, there's more room for "ands". So if I want to have a piece of cake at my nephew's party. Or a restaurant dinner where I'm not doing a Meg Ryan impression from "When Harry Met Sally" (no, not the fake orgasm bit!), it becomes a lot less "What meal am I going to go light on so I've got room for this?" and a lot more "Hey, cool. That three hours of walking means I've got about 400 more calories to play with today. That makes the cake/restaurant main much more doable."
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

    My FitBit One is far less generous with calories than the MFP database and I comfortably eat 100% of the calories I earn from it back.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
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