Shall I use my exercise calories?

I use some of my exercise calories, but not all. I figure there is some error and over estimating the exercise calories!

mmapags wrote: »

Antmcd1392 wrote: »

Thankyou all for your help.

I'm 5 foot 9 inches tall and currently weight 15 stone. I've lost 10 pound in 2 weeks but have found it hard keeping to just 1500 calories a day.

I won't use all my exercise earned calories but I also won t feel bad for going into them a bit either.

My goal weight is around12 stone as this will give me a healthy bmi.

I have read up alot of information about this app and have found it so helpful.

Thanks again

Thanks for the info. I am the same height as you and weigh about 23lbs less. I cut on about 2000 to 2500 per day with an average daily burn of 2500 to 2900 calories. I have lost 17 lbs since May doing this and it is very sustainable.

I am going to suggest you up your calories to the 1800 range plus at least 1/2 of your exercise calories. There is no need to be as low as you are and there can be some drawbacks in terms of compliance, energy level and muscle mass loss. The fast way isn't always the best way.

This.

Also I define fast as the way I have to spend the least time working on it.

When you abandon your current plan whether it's when you get sick of it or when you reach your goal you'll simply put the weight back on because you haven't learned how to maintain your weight. You'll have no idea how to STAY at a healthy weight.

If you're ok with the gain-and-lose cycle then keep doing what you're doing. If you want a much better shot at not needing to do this again, follow the advice above.

Either way I wish you the best.

So I started around 195 lbs, have lost 12 lbs since October and due to my activity have been given around 2150 calories (averaged out) to eat daily and still manage to get quite a few exercise calories on my work days. (I prefer the slow weight loss as it's easier to keep off.) Anyway, I often eat at least a quarter of my exercise calories, mostly focusing on getting protein to build muscle and try not to use those extra calories for carbs.

Also, 10 lbs in the first 2 weeks should only occur from losing a lot of water weight. I'd seriously suggest that if you're losing more than 2 lbs in each of the following weeks to up your calorie intake to make sure you're getting enough to sustain your basic bodily functions. Eating too few calories can result in your body not just burning fat but also burning muscle which is the opposite of what you want. And if you're not getting enough calories and are working out be it cardio or strength training, it will be that much harder for your muscles to repair after workouts.

I would also suggest, if you haven't already, track your neck, waist, and hip measurements. If you're working out you will build muscle (which as I'm sure you know is more dense than fat) and sometimes your weight loss will appear to slow down or even reverse. But if you're doing things right your measurements, especially waist and hip, will keep going down. And as you lose more fat and gain muscle those measurements will become a better indicator than the standard way of calculating BMI (kg/m^2) of whether or not you have a healthy amount of fat.

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

I set my "activity level" at sedentary, even though I'm not because I don't trust MFP to adjust for my activity level accurately.

I set my own daily cal limit (based on my experience) in order to adjust my weight as desired.

If I think that I need to lose some weight, I don't eat any cals back. If I think I'd on the mark or have cals to spare then I eat some or all back.

By the next day, the scale will usually tell me if I was "right" or "wrong."

Works for me.