Calories: How much "over" is okay?
krebscabbage
Posts: 16 Member
Hi Everyone! My calories goal is 1760 per day, but of course no one ever hits their mark exactly.
So.. how much over/under is still considered a good day? If I log 1800, I know that's close enough. But, 1850? 1900?
So.. how much over/under is still considered a good day? If I log 1800, I know that's close enough. But, 1850? 1900?
2
Replies
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1lbs fat = 3500cals.
1850-1760=90cal
90cal = 0.03lbs
So if you log 1850cal you would have lost 0.03lbs less than if you log 1760cal.
It is your decision how much is 0.03lbs.
For me 90cal above goal are sometimes too many because my whole deficit is often 100cal. If your deficit is 500cal then 410cal is still good.5 -
If it bugs you as much as it does to log 140 over one day, just cut back 140 the next day.
It's not complicated.6 -
You can go over on calories, it will just take longer to reach your final weight loss destination. I find it useful to look at total calorie intake for the week instead of focusing intently on each day. YMMV8
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might be better to just look at the net average for the week in the app and see how it works out in the long run... I've had a few "over" days combined with a few "under" days this week, for example, but my average net is still around 1250 so just about right3
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You get to decide how much is ok with you. It's your plan.9
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That's hard to answer not knowing your maintenance calories and weekly loss goal. 1760 is different for you and me based on our goals & plan. There is no moral absolute on this, it's just a matter of how fast you lose, as described upthread.1
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I second the recommendation to try averaging by week. I found it felt very artificial to try and hit a precise number every day, so I often vary by a few hundred calories day to day. So long as they week is a deficit, it’s all good.1
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Anything below your actual tdee for the day is still a deficit for the day. People also look at their weekly deficit.0
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Agree with the above that it’s personal preference how much of a tolerance you have for being a little over or a little under - but one thing to keep in mind is that this is all just estimated. Even with really solid logging using a food scale for weighing everything - there’s still a margin of error measuring your intake, and similarly it’s impossible to exactly measure your calorie burn as well.
What matters in the long run is consistency and understanding that you aren’t going to be accurate to the decimal point of how affecting your CICO. Repeatability, understanding the the long term trends, and adjusting over weeks is more effective than trying to get each day just right.
I personally look at weekly deficits and monthly averages and don’t sweat it if I’m over by 100-200 on an individual day - on days when I’m under I bank those and eat them on the weeeknd.5 -
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I roll extra calories forward unless it is just a few (like 5 or 10). In other words, I log something for tomorrow even though I ate it today. Sometimes I end up doing that 2 or 3 days before I work it out, but it means I end up averaging almost exactly on goal without ever having to worry about anything but the current day. If I let it build up and it became obvious that I couldn't catch up, then I would log the overage and move on. That hasn't happened.3
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I try to stay close but I figure as long as I don’t eat over maintenance, I’m just slowing myself down, not gaining.0
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CarvedTones wrote: »I roll extra calories forward unless it is just a few (like 5 or 10). In other words, I log something for tomorrow even though I ate it today. Sometimes I end up doing that 2 or 3 days before I work it out, but it means I end up averaging almost exactly on goal without ever having to worry about anything but the current day. If I let it build up and it became obvious that I couldn't catch up, then I would log the overage and move on. That hasn't happened.
I do the same by spreading an "over" day out to make averaging for the week easier. Eat too much pizza? Pawn a couple of pieces off on tomorrow to make the two days average out.0 -
When people say not eating over maintenance does that include the addition of exercise calories? Sometimes when I add my exercise calories back in I am over maintenance. Way over.
1360= .5 loss
1500 to 1600ish= maintenance
Adding in exercise calories can range from 1700 to over 2000 depending on the day.0 -
newheavensearth wrote: »When people say not eating over maintenance does that include the addition of exercise calories? Sometimes when I add my exercise calories back in I am over maintenance. Way over.
I'm not sure I follow. Your exercise calories should ideally come out to be a neutral if you're following the MFP system precisely - your deficit is built in before any exercise calories are subtracted or eaten back. And if you've already eaten up to maintenance or over your goal for the day (assuming you're trying to lose weight) you wouldn't want or need to eat more for your exercise calories, right?
I was one of the people above who mentioned averaging by week - in that case, I just subtract my total exercise calories for the week from my total consumed for the week, divide by 7, and that's my daily average.
ETA: I just saw your edit, but I'm not sure it helped. "Adding exercise calories" to me just means eating more to compensate for calories you burned in exercise. If you've already eaten up to maintenance, you don't have to eat even more if your net is at or around where you want it.2 -
The thing is, especially if you are just beginning to log food, there is no way to know exactly how much you need for XX amount of weight loss. The calculator(s) will get you in the ball park, but it is your accuracy in record-keeping that will result in that home run.
So keep good records! Log everything every day for a couple months and you'll have a really good idea how much to eat to obtain the results. It's an experiment we each have to run for ourselves.
For instance, the calculators are off by 500+ calories for me. I know this because I have logged food for ten years with digital food scale, and by preparing nearly all my own meals.2 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »newheavensearth wrote: »When people say not eating over maintenance does that include the addition of exercise calories? Sometimes when I add my exercise calories back in I am over maintenance. Way over.
I'm not sure I follow. Your exercise calories should ideally come out to be a neutral if you're following the MFP system precisely - your deficit is built in before any exercise calories are subtracted or eaten back. And if you've already eaten up to maintenance or over your goal for the day (assuming you're trying to lose weight) you wouldn't want or need to eat more for your exercise calories, right?
I was one of the people above who mentioned averaging by week - in that case, I just subtract my total exercise calories for the week from my total consumed for the week, divide by 7, and that's my daily average.
ETA: I just saw your edit, but I'm not sure it helped. "Adding exercise calories" to me just means eating more to compensate for calories you burned in exercise. If you've already eaten up to maintenance, you don't have to eat even more if your net is at or around where you want it.
I'm sorry. I am extremely confused by this.
I don't want to derail this thread. Thanks.1 -
Ok for what?0
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newheavensearth wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »newheavensearth wrote: »When people say not eating over maintenance does that include the addition of exercise calories? Sometimes when I add my exercise calories back in I am over maintenance. Way over.
I'm not sure I follow. Your exercise calories should ideally come out to be a neutral if you're following the MFP system precisely - your deficit is built in before any exercise calories are subtracted or eaten back. And if you've already eaten up to maintenance or over your goal for the day (assuming you're trying to lose weight) you wouldn't want or need to eat more for your exercise calories, right?
I was one of the people above who mentioned averaging by week - in that case, I just subtract my total exercise calories for the week from my total consumed for the week, divide by 7, and that's my daily average.
ETA: I just saw your edit, but I'm not sure it helped. "Adding exercise calories" to me just means eating more to compensate for calories you burned in exercise. If you've already eaten up to maintenance, you don't have to eat even more if your net is at or around where you want it.
I'm sorry. I am extremely confused by this.
I don't want to derail this thread. Thanks.
It may make it easier to think of it this way.
If you're telling MFP that you want to eat at maintenance, that means that no deficit is built into the goal it gives you. Therefore: Telling MFP that you want maintenance = Follow the goal MFP gives.- MFP will "give" you exercise calories, because the MFP goal does not consider your exercise level or activities.With that condition, if you tell MFP that you want to eat at maintenance, follow the goal that MFP gives *and* eat the extra calories from exercise.
If you're telling MFP that you want to lose weight, that means that an appropriate deficit is built into your goal. Generally, unless you are already slim, that'll mean sedentary maintenance minus 250 calories (for half a pound), 500 calories (for a pound), or 750 calories (for 1.5 pounds) or 1000 calories (two pounds). The caveat here: It will not let you go below 1200 calories if you are female, or 1500 calories if you are male.- To determine your sedentary maintenance, if your goals are above 1200 or 1500 already: Add the deficit calories back to that calorie goal.
- If your goal is at 1200 or 1500, look and see what deficit you're asking it to give you. For the sake of this exercise, then change your goal to half a pound to see the true sedentary goal, and change it back (if you really want; I feel like if you're hitting that basement without your true goal being reflected, that you're being too aggressive)
- Again, MFP will give you exercise calories on top of that goal, because MFP does not consider exercise when determining your deficit. To find true maintenance if you exercise, add the exercise calories + deficit calories + your MFP goal.
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It's not a matter of how much. It's a matter of over, over is not ok.14
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your plan, your decision. Cut yourself some slack sometimes, life is too short to strictly count calories. you can also check out my food diary and how much I go over everyday or whether I stay within range0
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collectingblues wrote: »newheavensearth wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »newheavensearth wrote: »When people say not eating over maintenance does that include the addition of exercise calories? Sometimes when I add my exercise calories back in I am over maintenance. Way over.
I'm not sure I follow. Your exercise calories should ideally come out to be a neutral if you're following the MFP system precisely - your deficit is built in before any exercise calories are subtracted or eaten back. And if you've already eaten up to maintenance or over your goal for the day (assuming you're trying to lose weight) you wouldn't want or need to eat more for your exercise calories, right?
I was one of the people above who mentioned averaging by week - in that case, I just subtract my total exercise calories for the week from my total consumed for the week, divide by 7, and that's my daily average.
ETA: I just saw your edit, but I'm not sure it helped. "Adding exercise calories" to me just means eating more to compensate for calories you burned in exercise. If you've already eaten up to maintenance, you don't have to eat even more if your net is at or around where you want it.
I'm sorry. I am extremely confused by this.
I don't want to derail this thread. Thanks.
It may make it easier to think of it this way.
If you're telling MFP that you want to eat at maintenance, that means that no deficit is built into the goal it gives you. Therefore: Telling MFP that you want maintenance = Follow the goal MFP gives.- MFP will "give" you exercise calories, because the MFP goal does not consider your exercise level or activities.With that condition, if you tell MFP that you want to eat at maintenance, follow the goal that MFP gives *and* eat the extra calories from exercise.
If you're telling MFP that you want to lose weight, that means that an appropriate deficit is built into your goal. Generally, unless you are already slim, that'll mean sedentary maintenance minus 250 calories (for half a pound), 500 calories (for a pound), or 750 calories (for 1.5 pounds) or 1000 calories (two pounds). The caveat here: It will not let you go below 1200 calories if you are female, or 1500 calories if you are male.- To determine your sedentary maintenance, if your goals are above 1200 or 1500 already: Add the deficit calories back to that calorie goal.
- If your goal is at 1200 or 1500, look and see what deficit you're asking it to give you. For the sake of this exercise, then change your goal to half a pound to see the true sedentary goal, and change it back (if you really want; I feel like if you're hitting that basement without your true goal being reflected, that you're being too aggressive)
- Again, MFP will give you exercise calories on top of that goal, because MFP does not consider exercise when determining your deficit. To find true maintenance if you exercise, add the exercise calories + deficit calories + your MFP goal.
After playing with the numbers I have a better picture. I'm pretty much at the basement when it comes to calories thanks to height, age, and not much weight left to lose. A little more patience and reigning in indulgences is needed.
Thank you.4 -
krebscabbage wrote: »Hi Everyone! My calories goal is 1760 per day, but of course no one ever hits their mark exactly.
So.. how much over/under is still considered a good day? If I log 1800, I know that's close enough. But, 1850? 1900?
That is a personal judgement call on what you feel okay with and how accurate you are.
Every calorie over your goal will slightly decrease your deficit. If you have a 250 calorie deficit and don't use a food scale and maybe overestimate your activity level a bit then what you think is just 50 calories over every day might wipe out your deficit. You may not lose the way you want. If you have a larger deficit, you go under a few days, log really accurately, etc then you might still lose close to the rate you wanted.
I think 10-20 calories under or over here and there is going to be okay for most people. 50-100 calories over or under might be okay for some people but not others. Eating more than 100 calories over or under your goal consistantly means you probably should re-evaluate your goal and your plan.1 -
collectingblues wrote: »
If you're generally running a 500 calorie deficit(1 lb a week) 100 calories +/- falls into noise.
So 20%ish +/- as long as it's not just one direction. If you're always 20% over then you need to tighten something up. but if you're over some days and under others. Meh.6 -
krebscabbage wrote: »Hi Everyone! My calories goal is 1760 per day, but of course no one ever hits their mark exactly.
So.. how much over/under is still considered a good day? If I log 1800, I know that's close enough. But, 1850? 1900?
That is a personal judgement call on what you feel okay with and how accurate you are.
Every calorie over your goal will slightly decrease your deficit. If you have a 250 calorie deficit and don't use a food scale and maybe overestimate your activity level a bit then what you think is just 50 calories over every day might wipe out your deficit. You may not lose the way you want. If you have a larger deficit, you go under a few days, log really accurately, etc then you might still lose close to the rate you wanted.
I think 10-20 calories under or over here and there is going to be okay for most people. 50-100 calories over or under might be okay for some people but not others. Eating more than 100 calories over or under your goal consistantly means you probably should re-evaluate your goal and your plan.
Although I don't disagree with anything you posted, I do think it's important to reiterate that none of us can hope to be all that accurate anyhow. There are so many variables that we're trying to estimate and so many ways that your counting could be off, that I suspect most people are regularly off 50-100 calories one way or another. I genuinely think this is reassuring, though: the key isn't precision (because that's impossible) but consistency.2 -
One of my favorite things about CICO is there's no arbitrary "ok," or nebulous fears of doing it wrong. It's all by the numbers. It's not an exact science, but it works. Eat fewer calories than you burn, and you'll lose weight. It's a formula, pure and simple.0
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newheavensearth wrote: »When people say not eating over maintenance does that include the addition of exercise calories? Sometimes when I add my exercise calories back in I am over maintenance. Way over.
1360= .5 loss
1500 to 1600ish= maintenance
Adding in exercise calories can range from 1700 to over 2000 depending on the day.
exercise would obviously increase your maintenance calories.
Without exercise, my maintenance is around 2400-2500...with exercise it's around 2800-3000.1 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »krebscabbage wrote: »Hi Everyone! My calories goal is 1760 per day, but of course no one ever hits their mark exactly.
So.. how much over/under is still considered a good day? If I log 1800, I know that's close enough. But, 1850? 1900?
That is a personal judgement call on what you feel okay with and how accurate you are.
Every calorie over your goal will slightly decrease your deficit. If you have a 250 calorie deficit and don't use a food scale and maybe overestimate your activity level a bit then what you think is just 50 calories over every day might wipe out your deficit. You may not lose the way you want. If you have a larger deficit, you go under a few days, log really accurately, etc then you might still lose close to the rate you wanted.
I think 10-20 calories under or over here and there is going to be okay for most people. 50-100 calories over or under might be okay for some people but not others. Eating more than 100 calories over or under your goal consistantly means you probably should re-evaluate your goal and your plan.
Although I don't disagree with anything you posted, I do think it's important to reiterate that none of us can hope to be all that accurate anyhow. There are so many variables that we're trying to estimate and so many ways that your counting could be off, that I suspect most people are regularly off 50-100 calories one way or another. I genuinely think this is reassuring, though: the key isn't precision (because that's impossible) but consistency.
Yeah we are probably all off here and there in the real world of calorie counting. Results are going to show you if how much you are off is a problem for you or not.
I lost my first bit of weight even though I was consistantly using the wrong entry for a food I ate almost every day that I was logging as much lower calorie than it really was. It wasn't a problem for quite awhile.
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MegaMooseEsq wrote: »krebscabbage wrote: »Hi Everyone! My calories goal is 1760 per day, but of course no one ever hits their mark exactly.
So.. how much over/under is still considered a good day? If I log 1800, I know that's close enough. But, 1850? 1900?
That is a personal judgement call on what you feel okay with and how accurate you are.
Every calorie over your goal will slightly decrease your deficit. If you have a 250 calorie deficit and don't use a food scale and maybe overestimate your activity level a bit then what you think is just 50 calories over every day might wipe out your deficit. You may not lose the way you want. If you have a larger deficit, you go under a few days, log really accurately, etc then you might still lose close to the rate you wanted.
I think 10-20 calories under or over here and there is going to be okay for most people. 50-100 calories over or under might be okay for some people but not others. Eating more than 100 calories over or under your goal consistantly means you probably should re-evaluate your goal and your plan.
Although I don't disagree with anything you posted, I do think it's important to reiterate that none of us can hope to be all that accurate anyhow. There are so many variables that we're trying to estimate and so many ways that your counting could be off, that I suspect most people are regularly off 50-100 calories one way or another. I genuinely think this is reassuring, though: the key isn't precision (because that's impossible) but consistency.
Yeah we are probably all off here and there in the real world of calorie counting. Results are going to show you if how much you are off is a problem for you or not.
I lost my first bit of weight even though I was consistantly using the wrong entry for a food I ate almost every day that I was logging as much lower calorie than it really was. It wasn't a problem for quite awhile.
Hah, that reminds me of when I realized (after 3-4 months of logging and not losing at the rate I'd hoped) that the standard beer pour in US bars was 16 ounces, not 12. Woops! It wasn't my only logging issue, but it was a big one!2
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