How much to eat
JanaCarr
Posts: 1 Member
Hi there, if I eat my daily allotted calories (1200) PLUS calories earned from exercise, will I still lose weight? Or should I stick to 1200 calories.
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Replies
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following! I am curious about this as well0
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If the amount you're eating results in a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight.
If the 1,200 calorie goal is what MFP is recommending to you for weight loss, then the intention is for you to eat back the calories burnt through exercise. Some people find that the estimated calorie burn for exercise is too high, so they only eat back a portion of the calories. What I recommend: pick an approach, monitor your progress over a few weeks, and then make adjustments if you find you are losing faster/slower than expected.1 -
Generally people eat around 50-70% of their exercise, but if your find that you are starving then eat more or if you find that you aren't losing weight AFTER A COUPLE OF WEEKS then decrease calories you eat back.
(Not shouting I just want to emphasize that it takes a while to see a trend)1 -
Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.4
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Hi there, if I eat my daily allotted calories (1200) PLUS calories earned from exercise, will I still lose weight? Or should I stick to 1200 calories.
The problem comes when calories burned are calculated too high. A lot of people that eat back their exercise calories choose to only eat half of them, just in case. If you eat back all your calories and find you can't lose weight, that might be one of the reasons, along with food logging errors.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.
This1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.
Some people especially starting out aren't super tight with logging and precise with how much they burn from exercise (without a monitor it can take a while to know how much one burns) it can be helpful to have a bit of wiggle room.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.
Some people especially starting out aren't super tight with logging and precise with how much they burn from exercise (without a monitor it can take a while to know how much one burns) it can be helpful to have a bit of wiggle room.
But none of that has anything to do with how this tool is designed to be used4 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.
Some people especially starting out aren't super tight with logging and precise with how much they burn from exercise (without a monitor it can take a while to know how much one burns) it can be helpful to have a bit of wiggle room.
But none of that has anything to do with how this tool is designed to be used
Even if you don't use the tool exactly how it is was intended to be used, it is possible to lose weight and maintain. It is a guide so best bet it to pick a starting point and reevaluate.
Also if you haven't gotten a food scale they are quite helpful and eyeopeners on how estimates can be under or over!0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.
Some people especially starting out aren't super tight with logging and precise with how much they burn from exercise (without a monitor it can take a while to know how much one burns) it can be helpful to have a bit of wiggle room.
But none of that has anything to do with how this tool is designed to be used
Even if you don't use the tool exactly how it is was intended to be used, it is possible to lose weight and maintain. It is a guide so best bet it to pick a starting point and reevaluate.
Also if you haven't gotten a food scale they are quite helpful and eyeopeners on how estimates can be under or over!
Failing to fuel your exercise, particularly coupled with already very low calories can be dangerous...I'm not talking about just losing weight or maintaining...your body requires calories...eating 1200 calories and burning off 600 with exercise and not accounting for that is the same thing as just eating 600 calories, which isn't healthy. I would agree that people can be bad with their estimates, but that's on them...there are plenty of ways to more accurately dial in your energy expenditure for a given exercise...there are plenty of ways to more accurately log your intake...again, the onus is on the user. I'm well aware that estimates can be off.
I'm simply talking about fueling exercise...not accounting for it at all is not a healthy thing to do.
I've been at this going on 6 years and I've had a food scale forever. I've maintained my weight loss for about 5.5 years and I don't log and haven't kept a food log in that time. I'm pretty sure I got this...2 -
I like to think of it as my base calories that I get no matter what are pre-exercise. If your rate of loss is appropriate for your goals, you're measuring your intake accurately with a food scale, and you are female, you shouldn't be eating below 1200 base calories every day.
Then, I think of exercise calories as doing two things:- A buffer so I can eat more food (because real talk, 1200 is hardly anything)
- To fuel more exercise so I can improve my health
I don't ever try to think of exercise calories as something to boost or hasten my weight loss (that's not entirely true, but it's true for me 99% of the time).1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.
Some people especially starting out aren't super tight with logging and precise with how much they burn from exercise (without a monitor it can take a while to know how much one burns) it can be helpful to have a bit of wiggle room.
But none of that has anything to do with how this tool is designed to be used
Even if you don't use the tool exactly how it is was intended to be used, it is possible to lose weight and maintain. It is a guide so best bet it to pick a starting point and reevaluate.
Also if you haven't gotten a food scale they are quite helpful and eyeopeners on how estimates can be under or over!
Failing to fuel your exercise, particularly coupled with already very low calories can be dangerous...I'm not talking about just losing weight or maintaining...your body requires calories...eating 1200 calories and burning off 600 with exercise and not accounting for that is the same thing as just eating 600 calories, which isn't healthy. I would agree that people can be bad with their estimates, but that's on them...there are plenty of ways to more accurately dial in your energy expenditure for a given exercise...there are plenty of ways to more accurately log your intake...again, the onus is on the user. I'm well aware that estimates can be off.
I'm simply talking about fueling exercise...not accounting for it at all is not a healthy thing to do.
I've been at this going on 6 years and I've had a food scale forever. I've maintained my weight loss for about 5.5 years and I don't log and haven't kept a food log in that time. I'm pretty sure I got this...
I quoted you to show what I was basing my comment on but not to critique your habits on how you measure or whether or not you use a food scale. It was directed towards the question poser as they might not have considered using a food scale as another tool in the journey.
Nor am I advocating only eating 600 calories, I believe most readers have some smarts about fueling their bodies. For example the elliptical is notorious for overestimating calorie, so if it says you burned 200 calories you could log that as a 200 calorie workout and eat back ~140 calories and probably be actually eating all the calories you burned or you could log it as 140 calories burned and eat back all those calories.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.
Some people especially starting out aren't super tight with logging and precise with how much they burn from exercise (without a monitor it can take a while to know how much one burns) it can be helpful to have a bit of wiggle room.
But none of that has anything to do with how this tool is designed to be used
Even if you don't use the tool exactly how it is was intended to be used, it is possible to lose weight and maintain. It is a guide so best bet it to pick a starting point and reevaluate.
Also if you haven't gotten a food scale they are quite helpful and eyeopeners on how estimates can be under or over!
Failing to fuel your exercise, particularly coupled with already very low calories can be dangerous...I'm not talking about just losing weight or maintaining...your body requires calories...eating 1200 calories and burning off 600 with exercise and not accounting for that is the same thing as just eating 600 calories, which isn't healthy. I would agree that people can be bad with their estimates, but that's on them...there are plenty of ways to more accurately dial in your energy expenditure for a given exercise...there are plenty of ways to more accurately log your intake...again, the onus is on the user. I'm well aware that estimates can be off.
I'm simply talking about fueling exercise...not accounting for it at all is not a healthy thing to do.
I've been at this going on 6 years and I've had a food scale forever. I've maintained my weight loss for about 5.5 years and I don't log and haven't kept a food log in that time. I'm pretty sure I got this...
I quoted you to show what I was basing my comment on but not to critique your habits on how you measure or whether or not you use a food scale. It was directed towards the question poser as they might not have considered using a food scale as another tool in the journey.
Nor am I advocating only eating 600 calories, I believe most readers have some smarts about fueling their bodies. For example the elliptical is notorious for overestimating calorie, so if it says you burned 200 calories you could log that as a 200 calorie workout and eat back ~140 calories and probably be actually eating all the calories you burned or you could log it as 140 calories burned and eat back all those calories.
You'd be surprised...I've been here going on six years and there's tons of people that don't even know or realize that they actually burn a ton of calories just being alive. I've seen countless people on these boards who eat very low calories and then go exercise for a couple of hours and refuse to acknowledge that they need to account for that activity until they start losing their hair, their nails turn brittle, and they lose their cycles.
Having been here awhile, I assume most people are functionally illiterate where calories or their energy needs are concerned because it's highly observable.
Hell, this question itself literally comes up multiple times daily.5 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Why else would MFP give you additional calories to eat back after exercise if that's not what you were supposed to do? MFP isn't trying to trick you are anything.
Some people especially starting out aren't super tight with logging and precise with how much they burn from exercise (without a monitor it can take a while to know how much one burns) it can be helpful to have a bit of wiggle room.
But none of that has anything to do with how this tool is designed to be used
Even if you don't use the tool exactly how it is was intended to be used, it is possible to lose weight and maintain. It is a guide so best bet it to pick a starting point and reevaluate.
Also if you haven't gotten a food scale they are quite helpful and eyeopeners on how estimates can be under or over!
Failing to fuel your exercise, particularly coupled with already very low calories can be dangerous...I'm not talking about just losing weight or maintaining...your body requires calories...eating 1200 calories and burning off 600 with exercise and not accounting for that is the same thing as just eating 600 calories, which isn't healthy. I would agree that people can be bad with their estimates, but that's on them...there are plenty of ways to more accurately dial in your energy expenditure for a given exercise...there are plenty of ways to more accurately log your intake...again, the onus is on the user. I'm well aware that estimates can be off.
I'm simply talking about fueling exercise...not accounting for it at all is not a healthy thing to do.
I've been at this going on 6 years and I've had a food scale forever. I've maintained my weight loss for about 5.5 years and I don't log and haven't kept a food log in that time. I'm pretty sure I got this...
I quoted you to show what I was basing my comment on but not to critique your habits on how you measure or whether or not you use a food scale. It was directed towards the question poser as they might not have considered using a food scale as another tool in the journey.
Nor am I advocating only eating 600 calories, I believe most readers have some smarts about fueling their bodies. For example the elliptical is notorious for overestimating calorie, so if it says you burned 200 calories you could log that as a 200 calorie workout and eat back ~140 calories and probably be actually eating all the calories you burned or you could log it as 140 calories burned and eat back all those calories.
It's extraordinarily common for people to pick the fastest rate of loss (despite being inappropriate for them), choose sedentary as their activity setting (when they aren't) and then see exercise calories as cheating or a bonus when it isn't.
Seen two example just today from the limited threads I've contributed to.
"On their feet all day" but picked sedentary, regarding exercise calories as a "cheat".
It makes more sense to me to attempt to be as accurate as possible (or at least reasonable and consistent) on both the food logging and exercise logging sides of the equation rather than compensate on one side for inaccuracy on the other.3
This discussion has been closed.
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