People on 1200 calories... do you eat any exercise calories back?

eat them. not eating them is bad.

i think one thing not often discussed is that most people are not entirely accurate in their logging. so "being fine not eating the exercise calories" is because they are really underestimated the calories in portion so it washed out and they lose at a reasonable rate.

or those who don't and ARE undereating fall off the rails and we don't hear from the for a few months/years when they come back wanting to lose again.

It is good that you are eating all your exercise calories back. I am not sure what you are meaning not accounting for your BMR. MFP should give you a calorie goal that accounts for your BMR. Only eating 1200 gross calories at your height and age would be under eating, so keep eating back every one of those exercise calories.

As to why people are scared to eat back their exercise calories, a lot simply don't understand how MFP works, and that their calorie goal from MFP does not include the exercise they do. They think "what is the point of exercise" if they have to eat the calories back. So there usually has to be some explaining to be done. As to why some people only eat some, its because they don't trust the calorie estimates they are getting from things like online calorie estimators or machines, which can sometimes be inflated. So they start with a portion. But if you are feeling like you exercise calorie burns are accurate (which based on your experience, it seems like they are), then you should eat all of them.

I ate pretty much all of my exercise calories back, after estimating them carefully, while losing around 50 pounds in a bit less than a year. (Rather rarely, I'd eat fewer to 'bank" calories for an upcoming special event, so I still ate them back, just not necessarily on the same day.)

The big differences are that, compared to you, I'm 45 years older (63, 59-60 while losing) and 4 inches shorter (and hypothyroid, if that matters) . . . and 1200 was way too low for me. It made me weak and fatigued; eating 1200 was easy, and I felt great . . . until I suddenly didn't, got weak and fatigued, and it took several weeks to recover. I lost most of the excess weight at 1400-1600 calories and up.

1200 sounds really low for someone your size and age (you really don't want to lowball calories if you could still be growing, which you could, at 18). You realize, I hope, that your BMR is pretty much what you'd burn in a coma? So you're eating more than 500 calories fewer than you'd burn in a coma. You're being a bit coy about your current weight, but unless it's well over 200 pounds, I'd suggest going for 1.5 pounds a week, at the max, right now.

This is a good read, I highly recommend it:

https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/

Best wishes!

Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

Yes, MFP is designed for you to eat back exercise calories since the calculations are off of NEAT. Most of us ate back the calories because that’s how the program is designed.

1200 is the lowest goal for women and not necessary or even appropriate for most. If you are 5’10 and exercise 2 hours a days I would venture to guess you are one of those for whom it is not an appropriate goal.

How much weight are you trying to lose?
What rate of loss did you choose?
What activity level did you select?

Too much. Kind of embarrassed to post how many lb in a public forum but I’ll just say 40+

I think I chose 2lb per week to start and plan on moving it to 1lb per week after the first month. I have maybe 50lb to lose so I want to account for the fast loss in the beginning. I’m hitting 2lb a week right now and never feel hungry or tired doing what I’m doing.

I selected sedentary since I’m in school (year round) all day and don’t do any activity at all besides my time in the gym

I'm not sure why you would be embarrassed to state your goals on a site meant to help people manage weight.

We have members who are morbidly obese who have multi-hundreds of lbs to lose, members looking to lose vanity pounds, members trying to maintain, and even members trying to gain weight. We even have people who are just here for the fun on the forums, if you can believe that.

With 50 lbs or less to lose, 1 lb/week is a reasonable goal.

With your age, height, and activity - I STRONGLY encourage you to raise your calorie goal. You are already at the lowest recommended calorie alotment for a woman. You have nowhere to go if you reach a plateau. Not to mention that since you are young, you may still be growing/developing as Ann pointed out; but also, don't disregard the effects of long term low calorie consumption. I'm not talking Starvation Mode, as that doesn't exist as is commonly described, but overall metabolic adaptation does occur and we've seen many examples of women who for years thought their only recourse was to go as low as possible with their calorie intake to achieve their weight loss goals - who in later years found that they had a lower TDEE than many who kept their deficit modest and worked to increase their overall NEAT while preserving lean body mass.

At a minimum, yes, you should be eating back exercise calories.

Why are you exercising intensely for 2 hours/day?

With diet eating 1200 calories works for this body. Exercising 2 hours a day, biking approx. 10 miles per hour on
a stationary bike. After exercise, burn 432 calories but eat back half of those calories. So 1000 calories is usually consumed after exercise. Drink loads of water and being vegan eat lots of tvp. So low on carbs and fat and high on protein. This body is 5'6", 121 lbs and goal is 115.