Calorie Counting....I'm confused.

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  • Chris_bee05
    Chris_bee05 Posts: 111 Member
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    The research I've been doing on this question (I wondered too) indicates that if you're in the 'obese' category on your BMI, you have a bit more leeway on the net calories. I don't think MFP accounts for that in their ominous DANGER you're going to starve warning, but you're not really in danger of starvation mode with a high BMI as long as you get the minimum 1200 calories. Less than that should only be done under medical supervision.

    SO - always eat at least the minimum and listen to your body - follow your hunger signals on the exercise calories. This advice varies the closer you get to a healthy body weight.

    Well I'm 5'3", 210 lbs, BMI 37.5 so I'm definitely in the obese range. That's good info. Thanks.
  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
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    it wont hinder your weight loss either way

    Tell that to the dozen people who post every single day asking why the scale isn't budging, and inevitably when you look at their food longs they're not eating back exercise calories and thus have a net that is too low for their bodies.

    If you have a lot of weight to lose, yes, you can get away with a bigger deficit. It will almost certainly catch up to you at some point though.
  • lisamillard31
    lisamillard31 Posts: 3 Member
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    I'm on 1200 calories a day and at first I was eating back my exercise calories but wasnt losing any weight so now on days where I work out I eat just an extra 100-200 calories and am steadily starting to lose the weight.
  • srrivera24
    srrivera24 Posts: 36
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    I was wondering the same thing!:laugh:
  • tanyaMax
    tanyaMax Posts: 524 Member
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    I dont eat back my calories (intentionallty anyway...sometimes i go over) and I have lost 45 pounds...when I stop losing weight (and go into what they call starvation mode) then i might give it a try
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
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    Whether you're Team Eat My Exercise Calories or not, here's the thing...you don't want your NET calories to go below 1200. That can be dangerous and unhealthy for your body. So let's look at some hypothetical numbers.

    Say you need 2000 calories to simply stay the same weight you are, given your normal activity level. If you wanted to lose one pound a week (one pound=3500 calories), an appropriate deficit would be to eat 1500 calories a day. You'll burn 500 calories just by doing what you normally do in a day because you're eating less than your body needs to maintain weight.

    But, let's say you exercise and burn 200 calories. Now, to keep that same deficit, you COULD eat 1700 calories and still be on track for losing one pound a week. If you didn't want to eat your exercise calories, your deficit for that day would be 700. The normal 500 deficit plus the extra 200 you burned.

    Make sense? Yes, it's a heavily debated topic, and you could use the search function, but I hope this helps...
    And let's not forget...sometimes, our bodies just don't understand basic math. Plateaus will happen. Just because what you've been doing has worked doesn't mean it'll continue to work. Your body will just get better at processing whatever calories you're giving it.
  • DawnWendalynn1973
    DawnWendalynn1973 Posts: 97 Member
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    I'm on 1200 calories a day and at first I was eating back my exercise calories but wasnt losing any weight so now on days where I work out I eat just an extra 100-200 calories and am steadily starting to lose the weight.

    Reading through this thread made me realize what I have been doing wrong for my body/amount of weight to lose. I used to just eat if I was hungry after my base calories and I had done a workout. A couple of weeks ago I started eating more...almost all of the calories back and I stopped losing.

    I am going back to the way I was doing it originally. I may see a loss happen again.

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