Calories and Excercising?

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  • timeformajorchange
    timeformajorchange Posts: 73
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    There are MANY responses to questions like this. Your caloric intake is all about NET. You must NET and average of 1200 kcal/day to avoid starving your body. What does NET mean?

    1200 total kcal eaten in 1 day - 400 kcal burned in exercise = 800 kcal NET = BAD. You will start to destroy your metabolism
    1700 total kcal eaten in 1 day - 400 kcal burned = 1300 kcal NET = GOOD. You will lose weight the RIGHT way

    Now to answer the other question: should you eat your exercise calories back? IT DOESN'T MATTER. As long as you net at least 1200 kcal. Don't get pulled into the debate about eating back calories. Personally I think you should NET between 1300-1400 kcal every day. You will still lose weight but you aren't getting close to that 1200 mark.

    So then, why NET 1200 kcal? There are several studies that have established the minimum fuel requirement for the human body at 1200 kcal/day. If you drop below that for several days in a row your body will begin to burn muscle tissue as fuel and conserve fat tissue for storage because it now thinks you are in starvation mode. The problem with this is rebound weight gain. After you lose your weight and go back to a "normal" daily caloric intake, your body will respond by packing on fat because it still thinks it needs to store it. Therefore you gain your weight back quickly, and will likely gain back more.

    So please, net at least 1200-1300 kcal/day. Your body will stay healthy and you will be better able to keep the weight off once it's gone.


    I should really read all the posts already posted before I basically say the same thing again. :D But I love how you explained it!
  • myboysmomx2
    myboysmomx2 Posts: 505 Member
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    My daily caloric intake should be 1200 to lose my ten pounds in a month, which I'm fine with. But I'm also working out and burn about 400 calories a day. So should I be eating 1600 calories a day to balance out the 1200 or should I be eating the 1200 and burning the 400 off? Thanks :)



    Ok ... you're already taking a calorie deficit into account by eating at 1200 calories a day, and that is set for you to lose 10lbs a month right? So if you're working out ON TOP of that deficit that's already in place, you could be doing some bad things to your body. If you're not eating enough calories, you're body will actually break down the muscles in your body BEFORE it breaks down the extra fat reserves for the added energy it needs. You need to fuel your body enough so that it's BUILDING muscle, not using it for the energy it needs. I'd check with a nutritionist on this, or a doctor, but I'd eat enough to have a NET calorie intake of 1200 a day. NET calories are: food calories eaten minus any burned off during exercise = NET daily calories. So yes, I'd eat those calories back (or at least a good portion of them).

    NOTE~ If you currently are eating far too little calories and your body is in "starvation mode", you will initially gain weight when you increase your calories. Give it 3-4weeks to level out, and you should start to see the scale drop again. PATIENCE is key. :)

    Very well said! I normally eat my exercise calories back...or most of them. When I weighed in this morning I gained a 1/2 pound. Looking back over my diary this past week, I was eating far too few calories because we had company all week long and even though I was exercising, I just wasn't eating enough. I've lost weight consistently, but like I said, I usually eat the majority of my calories back. When I didn't eat enough this past week, I gained :(
  • sourcat
    sourcat Posts: 12
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  • sourcat
    sourcat Posts: 12
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    I'm eating 1200 because that's what my fitness pal told me to eat. Is it wrong?!
  • piccolarj
    piccolarj Posts: 488 Member
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    Muscle does not weigh more than fat. 1 lb of muscle weighs the same as 1 lb of fat but it takes up less space in your body. Just like 1lb of feathers(fat) is the same as 1lb of brick(muscle) but it takes a lot more feathers to make a pounds than it does brick.
  • weightofyourskin
    weightofyourskin Posts: 173
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    I haven't been eating back all of my exercise calories this week and last night I had to go to bed hours earlier than I usually do because of a bad headache, after feeling dizzy on and off all day.

    Eat back your exercise calories!
  • cpfmrp
    cpfmrp Posts: 18 Member
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    So I am trying to lose 1 lbs a week. I am currently 131 lbs going to my comfortable 116 lbs self. I just started My Fitness Pal on Sunday. It says I need to eat 1200 calories. With my working out between 20 - 60 min a day and eating all my calories back as close to my 1200 net goal as possible. So far this is what I have been at each day:

    Sunday: Goal: 1200 - Food: 1436 - Exercise: 371 - Net: 1065 - Remaining: 135
    Monday: Goal: 1200 - Food: 1395 - Exercise: 200 - Net: 1195 - Remaining: 5
    Tuesday: Goal: 1200 - Food: 1483 - Exercise: 287 - Net: 1196 - Remaining: 4
    Wednesday: Goal: 1200 - Food: 1512 - Exercise: 346 - Net: 1166 - Remaining: 34

    Here's my question. Is it better to go slightly above the 1200 net or just below 1200 net in calories for weight loss? I don't want to go into starvation mode...which would dampen my efforts.
  • vaston
    vaston Posts: 38 Member
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    So I am trying to lose 1 lbs a week. I am currently 131 lbs going to my comfortable 116 lbs self. I just started My Fitness Pal on Sunday. It says I need to eat 1200 calories. With my working out between 20 - 60 min a day and eating all my calories back as close to my 1200 net goal as possible. So far this is what I have been at each day:

    Sunday: Goal: 1200 - Food: 1436 - Exercise: 371 - Net: 1065 - Remaining: 135
    Monday: Goal: 1200 - Food: 1395 - Exercise: 200 - Net: 1195 - Remaining: 5
    Tuesday: Goal: 1200 - Food: 1483 - Exercise: 287 - Net: 1196 - Remaining: 4
    Wednesday: Goal: 1200 - Food: 1512 - Exercise: 346 - Net: 1166 - Remaining: 34

    Here's my question. Is it better to go slightly above the 1200 net or just below 1200 net in calories for weight loss? I don't want to go into starvation mode...which would dampen my efforts.

    From what I have been told by a professional registered dietician, it is better that you are slightly above 1200 than slightly below. You are pretty close, use some kind of fruit or veggie at the end of the day to bump you over the top. You are almost to your goal weight, keep it up!
  • timeformajorchange
    timeformajorchange Posts: 73
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    I'm eating 1200 because that's what my fitness pal told me to eat. Is it wrong?!

    The problem with MFP's calorie thing is that it doesn' t care if the amount of calories you eat a day is too much or too little. It simply tells you what to eat to lose/gain "x" amount of weight in this given time frame. So if you wanted to lose 20lbs a month, it'd figure out how many calories to eat every day so you would lose 20lbs a month. So... you have to take what it tells you with a grain of salt AND also based on your own personal metabolism because not everyone will see the same results when they do the same thing. I, for example, will only initially lose weight on a net of 1200 cals a day diet and it stops after a month, plus then I feel like I am starving and it's very hard to stick with. I will consistently lose if I net about 1400 a day, and I'm perfectly ok with that. i don't feel like I'm starving or deprived. It also depends on your body type too. Petite people will need less than us large framed people will. And lets just say that I'm from good German bloodlines. So I will need more cals a day than someone who's built smaller.

    Unfortunately, there is no magic number for everyone. 1200 is the medically recommended minimum to avoid screwing up your metabolism and throwing it into starvation mode, so I would err on side of caution and always try to net above that.
  • cpfmrp
    cpfmrp Posts: 18 Member
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    Thank you very much!!! Today is my first weigh in.... Yay!!!
  • _Sally_
    _Sally_ Posts: 514 Member
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    MFP automatically adds in your exercise calories to to your daily calorie budget - because the site is telling you to eat these back in order to reach your goals.

    Why do so many people resist? I just don't get it.

    I say give it a try... if you don't like the results after a few weeks, then you can figure out how you may want to tweak it, but not following the MFP plan from the start doesn't make any sense. (unless you are knowledgable enough to set up your own custom plan).
  • SpazyK
    SpazyK Posts: 17
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    This is very interesting. I always thought that if you didn't eat back those exercise calories, you'd loose the weight faster! I feel like this would be difficult - I workout 4x a week and burn at least 700 calories. Just seems like alot of calories to eat back (without eating junk!). Any advice is appreciated!
  • edward1973
    edward1973 Posts: 67
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    must say absolutely brilliant guides here - am struggling to get into the mentality that i need to "eat more" seems opposite of what i am trying to achieve.
    I'm finding it difficult to eat my 1200 calories - find i'm quite (unusually) satisfied with what i'm eating and normally have about 500cals left over each day ( 1200 limit plus normally 700 from gym = 1900) but today for instance i have about 900 left - just not hungry - any advice?
  • ladybg81
    ladybg81 Posts: 1,553 Member
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    1600 per day

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