Need help with calorie intake and deficit after working out

kjmartin1990 · December 2018

Hi all.
New user..
I'm currently on a calorie deficit of 1500/daily.
Just trying to get a straight answer in regards to working out and the calories burnt during training session.
Do you take need to push your intake up to match the excess that was burnt during exercise to stop your body going in to starvation mode or is the base deficit still sufficient?

TavistockToad · December 2018

do you mean your calorie goal is 1500? as a deficit of 1500 is more than likely too large, unless you are 200lbs overweight?

you should eat back at least a portion of your exercise calories if you are following MFP numbers, as that is how it was designed to work. your deficit is already included in your calorie goal - you don't need to make it any larger or you risk under eating.

kjmartin1990 · December 2018

Thankx for the reply..
I can't get a straight answer anywhere.and can't see dietician until the new year..
I'm a total cal intake of 1500
Defect of about 1300*
Currently 145 kg.
Gp has recommended Min 45 loss
Ive always had low food intake.
Alcohol was the major problem.

sijomial · December 2018

MyFitnessPal is trying to teach you a life lesson rather than avoid the mythical "starvation mode".
The more you move the more you get to eat and conversely the less you move the less you need to eat.
Also please think ahead to when you get to goal, you will have to account for your exercise then so why not learn the skill now?

Do you have to eat them back is a bit more nuanced, if you do a lot of exercise then yes you do, if you do a little exercise it's not so significant. A straight answer is yes you should but that's my straight answer but other people's straight answer might be the opposite based on sloppy food logging or perhaps an unwise ambition to lose weight at an unhealthy rate, or experience using hopelessly poor methods of estimating exercise.

You may have to explain this site's way of accounting for exercise to your dietician as normally it's rolled up into a daily allowance that includes an estimated average for your exercise as opposed to MFP's way of excluding it from your goal. It's still eating back exercise calories but they aren't separately labelled as such. That's another confounding and incorrect straight answer you might get - "I don't eat them back as I use the TDEE method".

What does this mean "Defect of about 1300*".
How have you estimated that? If elsewhere (TDEE calculator) then it's not working the same way as here so you can't directly compare. If you really have a deficit of 1300 then that's a lot and you may struggle to sustain that for long.

kjmartin1990 · December 2018

Well I've basically swapped to eating 3 X daily n healthy.
My recommended was like 2800 a day.
I have been eating about 1000 day for the past 5 yeàrs.but been drinking between 6-18 beers pretty much every night for about the same time.
So I'm eating more than I have in a long time.
I'm still just trying to figure out exactly the right balance ATM.
As I said ive already booked an appt. With a dietician,but isn't until the start of Jan.
So just trying to gain a better understanding..
Ta

AnnPT77 · December 2018

kjmartin1990 wrote: »

Thankx for the reply..
I can't get a straight answer anywhere.and can't see dietician until the new year..
I'm a total cal intake of 1500
Defect of about 1300*
Currently 145 kg.
Gp has recommended Min 45 loss
Ive always had low food intake.
Alcohol was the major problem.

If your estimated intake for maintaining weight is 2800, and you're eating 1500, that's likely to have you losing weight too fast for best health, if you only have 45 to lose, but it depends a bit on what you weigh right now. You probably shouldn't have a deficit higher than 1000 for best odds of maintaining good health, or even smaller deficit than that if you're under 200 pounds or so; and you should switch it down to 500 deficit at 25 pounds or so to go, even if you are above 200.

If the 2800 includes your exercise (like if you got that from a TDEE calculator for maintenance, and you put all your intentional exercise as well as your daily life activity into the activity setting), the answer for what to do with exercise will differ.

If you got the 2800 from MFP as your maintenance calories at your current weight, and you put in only your non-exercise activity as per the MFP instructions, then yes, eat back your exercise calories on top of the 1500.

Need help with calorie intake and deficit after working out

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