Exercise calories

My daily calorie intake is 1,200 and I try to exercise/workout 4x a week. Todays food diary was 761 calories and exercise at 718. That netted me 43, but I don’t want to “eat” back my calories.

Can anyone explain to me how it works for someone who want to stay strictly withhin 1,200 calories a day while exercising?

Replies

  • Mslmesq
    Mslmesq Posts: 1,000 Member
    I'm set at 1200 and get around 500 exercise calories a day. I usually eat back 300-400 of them. I'm still losing weight pretty quickly.

    Like the above person said, you will crash and burn at 1200. Would you rather lose slowly and keep it off, or lose a few pounds fast only to gain back twice as much. Your choice.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    I don’t understand your description of your exercise calories and calorie burn. Do you mean that you ate a total of 761 calories and burned a total of 718 calories today?
  • novamagma
    novamagma Posts: 37 Member
    Your goal is to NET 1200. You should only be wary about eating back your calories if you're netting at much higher ranges. If you want to net 1200 calories a day, I'd recommend eating at about 1500 or 1600 plus exercise. Much less dangerous and more sustainable
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    You are not staying within 1200 calories, you are at 43 calories. That is unhealthy and dangerous. What more needs to be said.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    dualvans wrote: »
    My daily calorie intake is 1,200 and I try to exercise/workout 4x a week. Todays food diary was 761 calories and exercise at 718. That netted me 43, but I don’t want to “eat” back my calories.

    Can anyone explain to me how it works for someone who want to stay strictly withhin 1,200 calories a day while exercising?

    Exercise calories aside, why are you eating 761 calories and not 1200?

  • deviousme7
    deviousme7 Posts: 61 Member
    If you consistently eat under 1200, in about 3 months, your hair will start falling out by the handful
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    You posted something similar in May 2016 @dualvans , and you had 60lbs to lose... if it wasn't sustainable then, what makes you think it will be now?

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10392357/total-calorie-from-food-and-exercise/p1

  • dualvans
    dualvans Posts: 51 Member
    It’s my first day back on MFP after long hiatus from my summer of 2016. I agree with most that eating under 1200 isn’t substainable and I have a feeling my 761 exercise is inaccurate since I didn’t work out that hard yesterday, only ran for 3.miles over duration of 30 mins. It’s also a technical issue with my Fitbit not syncing up the e revises too, we Igor is why my numbers isn’t accurate,

    But I was asking more of in general, if one is eating all of 1,200 calories. Should I also be eating back my exercise calories as well?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    dualvans wrote: »
    It’s my first day back on MFP after long hiatus from my summer of 2016. I agree with most that eating under 1200 isn’t substainable and I have a feeling my 761 exercise is inaccurate since I didn’t work out that hard yesterday, only ran for 3.miles over duration of 30 mins. It’s also a technical issue with my Fitbit not syncing up the e revises too, we Igor is why my numbers isn’t accurate,

    But I was asking more of in general, if one is eating all of 1,200 calories. Should I also be eating back my exercise calories as well?

    Yes - that's the way this site is designed.
    Ask yourself why they would get added if you weren't supposed to be eating them!
  • dualvans
    dualvans Posts: 51 Member
    sijomial wrote: »

    Yes - that's the way this site is designed.
    Ask yourself why they would get added if you weren't supposed to be eating them!

    Gotcha. That is precisely why I am asking. It actually makes sense, because I just logged in all my food I’m going to eat today. Will have 47 calories left and that’s before snacks and any night eating that I tend to fall into. No wonder I’m not losing any weight, which I knew realistically.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    dualvans wrote: »
    It’s my first day back on MFP after long hiatus from my summer of 2016. I agree with most that eating under 1200 isn’t substainable and I have a feeling my 761 exercise is inaccurate since I didn’t work out that hard yesterday, only ran for 3.miles over duration of 30 mins. It’s also a technical issue with my Fitbit not syncing up the e revises too, we Igor is why my numbers isn’t accurate,

    But I was asking more of in general, if one is eating all of 1,200 calories. Should I also be eating back my exercise calories as well?

    Running is fairly easy to calculate... bodyweight in lbs x 0.63 x distance in miles.

    And then eat them back.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    dualvans wrote: »
    My daily calorie intake is 1,200 and I try to exercise/workout 4x a week. Todays food diary was 761 calories and exercise at 718. That netted me 43, but I don’t want to “eat” back my calories.

    Can anyone explain to me how it works for someone who want to stay strictly withhin 1,200 calories a day while exercising?

    Aggressive deficits help you lose weight faster, but the trade-off is it's harder for your body to support existing lean muscle. Fast weight loss often sacrifices a larger % of lean muscle. For fat loss....slow down.

    Now, aggressive deficits don't stop one from losing weight - https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/761810/the-starvation-mode-myth-again/p1

    Weight loss won't be linear. Some weeks you may lose as expected, and other weeks nothing. But you should see a downward TREND over time. There are apps that help people deal with the maddening fluctuations of the scale....Trend Weight is one.

    If you stop seeing weight loss (for several weeks) then you are likely eating more than you think, or your exercise calorie burns are less than you think.....in other words you are no longer in a deficit.
  • dualvans
    dualvans Posts: 51 Member
    [quote="

    Running is fairly easy to calculate... bodyweight in lbs x 0.63 x distance in miles.

    And then eat them back.[/quote]

    This kind of info is quite useful to me, especially as a newbie starting again with my FPM journey. That makes sense! As according to your formula, I gained 374 calories back from my 3 mile run yesterday.

    I just wish Fitbit calculate it correctly and sync up correctly to my MFP! Cuz 761 yesterday, I felt was incorrect even with the little I know about exercise and numbers. Thanks.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,172 Member
    If you don't want to eat back your exercise calories then use a TDEE calculator, not mfp for your goal. But a TDEE calculator is not going to give you 1200 calories. It will give you a number that is roughly what mfp gives you plus your exercise calories.

    Did you get a 761 exercise adjustment from fitbit, or did fitbit show that you burned 761 calories during your run? The exercise adjustment from fitbit isn't actually an exercise burn. It is the difference between what mfp expects you to burn all day and what fitbit shows that you are burning.
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
    dualvans wrote: »
    [quote="

    Running is fairly easy to calculate... bodyweight in lbs x 0.63 x distance in miles.

    And then eat them back.

    This kind of info is quite useful to me, especially as a newbie starting again with my FPM journey. That makes sense! As according to your formula, I gained 374 calories back from my 3 mile run yesterday.

    I just wish Fitbit calculate it correctly and sync up correctly to my MFP! Cuz 761 yesterday, I felt was incorrect even with the little I know about exercise and numbers. Thanks.
    [/quote]

    But that's not how fit bit syncs. Fitbit sends MFP your total calorie burn, not just exercise. Your adjustment is the difference between what you burned and what MFP thought you should burn.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    dualvans wrote: »
    My daily calorie intake is 1,200 and I try to exercise/workout 4x a week. Todays food diary was 761 calories and exercise at 718. That netted me 43, but I don’t want to “eat” back my calories.

    Can anyone explain to me how it works for someone who want to stay strictly withhin 1,200 calories a day while exercising?

    Exercise calories aside, why are you eating 761 calories and not 1200?

    My thoughts exactly.....
  • maybe1pe
    maybe1pe Posts: 529 Member
    capaul42 wrote: »
    dualvans wrote: »
    [quote="

    Running is fairly easy to calculate... bodyweight in lbs x 0.63 x distance in miles.

    And then eat them back.

    This kind of info is quite useful to me, especially as a newbie starting again with my FPM journey. That makes sense! As according to your formula, I gained 374 calories back from my 3 mile run yesterday.

    I just wish Fitbit calculate it correctly and sync up correctly to my MFP! Cuz 761 yesterday, I felt was incorrect even with the little I know about exercise and numbers. Thanks.

    But that's not how fit bit syncs. Fitbit sends MFP your total calorie burn, not just exercise. Your adjustment is the difference between what you burned and what MFP thought you should burn.[/quote]

    Exactly. If I'm set to sedentary but I walk 10,000 steps whether I purposefully exercised or not I exceeded what MFP thought I would burn as sedentary. It will give ME personally around 300 calories because I moved more than I told MFP I would.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    dualvans wrote: »
    My daily calorie intake is 1,200 and I try to exercise/workout 4x a week. Todays food diary was 761 calories and exercise at 718. That netted me 43, but I don’t want to “eat” back my calories.

    Can anyone explain to me how it works for someone who want to stay strictly withhin 1,200 calories a day while exercising?

    1200 calories is already an aggressive deficit...you should be hitting your GOAL, not undershooting it...it's already very aggressive. You should be eating 1200, not 761.

    Beyond that, if your exercise burn is actually 718 and you're netting 43, that's the exact same thing as eating only 43 calories in a day...does that sound in any way remotely healthy to you?

    You burn calories 24/7...most of your "burn" is you merely existing on this planet. As an example, I burn between 1700-1800 calories just being alive...most women burn in the neighborhood of 1400 calories just being alive and doing nothing else. You burn more calories going about your daily activity...and then more with exercise.

    The more you move, the higher your calorie requirements are because you're expending more energy (calories). A target of 1200 calories per day generally assumes "sedentary" and does not take into account any exercise...if you exercise, you're doing additional activity that obviously wouldn't make you sedentary...that additional and unaccounted for activity should be accounted for...with MFP it is accounted for on the back end of the equation (this is just basic math) when you log it and get additional calories. You just have to be careful with those estimates which is why many people arbitrarily choose to eat back 50%, though there are less arbitrary ways to go about it if you are so inclined to take the time.
  • Littleloz34
    Littleloz34 Posts: 41 Member
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