Calorie intake & working out

This may be a dumb question, but have been curious on thoughts & inputs. If you eat a few hundred more calories than your goal intake will putting in a good workout at the gym counteract the overeating? I never go over 2,000 calories & I always burn at least 2500 calories by the end of my day. Definitely not as strict as I have been in the past- down 95lbs from my highest ( size 20 to a 6). My goal is to lose maybe 10 more pounds. The past few days I’ve eaten around 1800 calories; fast food for dinner & feel blah from it! Hoping an evening in the gym will get me back on track! It just seems the closer I get to my goal, the harder it is to stick to 1400 calories.

Replies

  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    When people get closer to their goal weight, it is generally advised to slow your rate of loss to prevent muscle loss etc. If you only have 10 more lbs to lose, you should be switching to lose .5 lbs a week. This will give you some more calories for your daily target. It will also help you practice for maintenance after you reach your goal weight!

    Also, be sure you are eating back a percentage (try 50%) of your purposeful-exercise calories. If 1400 was the goal MFP gave you, it does not include your purposeful-exercise calorie burn in your target unless you log that exercise in MFP. If you don’t log and eat back a percentage, you could be undereating, which will make it hard to stick to your goals.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    That's not uncommon. The longer you are at it and the leaner/lighter you get, the more discipline, precision, and consistency you need to continue making progress.

    Some people find value in diet breaks or refeeds... might be worth reading up on.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,907 Member
    edited September 2019
    yeah, the end is hard. The last 15 pounds I lost took me nine months, set at, "Lose 1/2 pound per week." I was legit hungry and it was hard. I had a lot of overage days. Lots. Did I mention legit hungry? :lol:

    The numbers you gave...are you wearing a tracker like Fitbit? If so, did it give you accurate numbers for weight loss in the past?

    With so little left to lose you need to have a very small deficit, like 250 calories, not 1100! Otherwise it's just too hard to adhere to and leads to binge days to make up for that intense urge to eat.

    Have you taken any diet breaks lately? Good info here, all the important stuff in the first couple pages:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1
  • Thank you for the replies! Yes, I wear a Fitbit versa. I have lost most of my weight by staying at a 1,000 calorie deficit according to my Fitbit and logging my food. I have also been IF (16:8) over the past year. I’m going to check out the diet breaks information! I’m trying to tell myself that I’ve come such a long way, the last 10 pounds will come off with consistency. It definitely makes sense to adjust my weekly weight loss goal from 2lbs to 0.5lbs.