Calories burned during exercise? General guidance please.

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ogarasean
ogarasean Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I have a question,

I was reading through some of the posts and came across one that I've always been curious about and my knowledge in this field is minimal.

I started my weight-loss journey in March at 340lbs (33yr old male), This morning my dry weight is 268lb. I exercise (gym membership) 3-4 times a week depending on my work schedule. I do 30-45min cardio on the eliptical and a strength exercise (squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press) with some accessory stuff (dumb bells, lat pull down, rows, etc.)

I say all that to ask if I need to eat more on days I work out? To account for the calories I've burned (mostly during cardio) I've been stuck at 265-270 for the past 4.5 weeks and can't seem to get past it. I've tried tweeking my macros, cutting calories, and doing more exercise. I do well with not exceeding my caloric goal for the day. In fact, I'm usually 200-300 under even on my workout days so idk. I'm a novice at this and can't afford the $$$ for a "coach" so I'm hoping one of you lovely people can give me a hint or something to try.

Current "goals"

Daily calories: 2300/day
Protein: ~200g (40%)
Fat: 52g (20%)
Carbs: ~200g (40%)

I use a food scale and am diligent with logging my food. It took my a bit to figure out but now that I've been doing it for a little I'm getting the hang of it. I weigh myself every morning.

Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    Congrats on the 70-75 pound loss so far!

    Yes, MFP is designed for you to eat back the calories you earn from exercise.

    However, you haven't been eating back exercise calories since starting in March, correct? And you have been in a stall for the past 4.5 weeks?

    Something's not right and two pieces of information can help us figure it out:
    1. What day in March did you start?
    2. Please change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
  • ogarasean
    ogarasean Posts: 3 Member
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    1. I haven't been eating back calories, no. I started March 1st. and I'll change my diary settings as soon as I post this reply.
  • ogarasean
    ogarasean Posts: 3 Member
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    2. Yes 4.5 weeks I've been between 265-270. I was eating 2500 but cut back to 2300 a week or two ago.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    General points....
    Eating back exercise calories gets painted as a MFP peculiarity but it really isn't. The idea that calories are partioned with this bit for exercise, this bit for BMR, this bit for general activity is a concept and not a reality that your body knows about. If you set your goal using a TDEE calculator - it includes an average of your exercise, use a wearable daily tracker like a fitbit - includes that day's exercise. Pick a calorie goal out of the air to create a deficit and that deficit is coming from your total calorie needs including exercise.
    Overall if you are calorie counting then count your calories in and out as best you can estimate. In a game of numbers don't ruin your data by ignoring some of the numbers!

    Do you need to eat them back on the day you exercise? No most people don't NEED to unless their exercise is very long duration, there's however a lot of people who exercise better with eating them on the day which helps them get the most value from their exercise in terms of fitness, strength, health, enjoyment, exercise performance.
    Thinking of your calorie allowance as a weekly budget is a perfectly good strategy for many and adds some flexibility to make your diet fit into your lifestyle rather than making your lifestyle fit your diet.
    (BTW there is a perfectly reasonable calorie estimate for strength training which can be found in the cardiovascular part of the exercise database.)

    Goal calories - the idea of a goal is to hit it (or at least get close). It's a poor idea to consistently undercut that goal like you seem to be saying. Faster with a greater deficit isn't better, it's commonly a factor in increasing the stress on your body to a point that is unsustainable. Raised cortisol, increased fatigue, general slow down in daily activities, feeling cold.....
    Heavier people can sustain big deficits and faster weight loss for a while but (kudos to you) you are a lot lighter now and need to adjust methods and expectations accordingly.
    2,300 isn't a lot for a tall, active, young and exercising man!

    Think you would do well to reset at this point and have a bit of a diet break for a couple of weeks to reduce the stress levels on your body. Recalculate your calorie goal and then restart hitting that goal using the method that you personally find the easiest.

    Overall think you should have a think about sustainability and put that ahead of losing quickly. Time passes whether we fail or succeed which is why direction matters more than speed.
  • KNoceros
    KNoceros Posts: 324 Member
    edited August 2021
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    Congrats on the weight loss so far.
    I know a “stall” can be frustrating, they happen and tend to resolve. There are several really good threads here that try to explain what’s going on and suggest work arounds. One is called something like “why weight loss isn’t linear”. I bet someone will come along and link to it in a bit.



    Re: eating exercise calories, here is why is it a good thing;

    The target MFP gives you (2300 I think in your case) reflects your normal non-exercise day to day calorie burn minus an amount to achieve weight loss at the rate you put in with the set-up.

    So, for me 43 F, 59kg, set at sedentary, at target weight, this number is 1580.

    BUT I do a whole bunch of exercise most days which varies wildly in amount and intensity. So I add in (log - but mine is pushed from FitBit) those calories too. Because if I didn’t, I would be massively undereating and lose when I don’t need to (or in your case lose too fast and endanger my health).

    Take one of the days I’ve had recently.
    Base calories 1580
    Exercise calories 1219

    So I got to eat up to 2799 calories.
    If I had stuck with the original 1580, and not “eaten back” my exercise I would only have given my system 361 calories to run itself for 24hrs which is clearly far too little.


    Does that make it a bit clearer?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    ogarasean wrote: »
    1. I haven't been eating back calories, no. I started March 1st. and I'll change my diary settings as soon as I post this reply.

    Ok, so from March 1 to 4.5 weeks ago is 20 weeks. Divide that by 75 pounds and you've been losing 3.75 pounds per week, which is a very aggressive rate of loss.

    I think that what has happened is this aggressive rate of loss is stressful, which has raised your cortisol level, causing you to retain water, which is masking fat loss on the scale.

    You could consider eating at maintenance for a few weeks to reset as mentioned above. Get your maintenance calories (BEFORE exercise) here, choosing "Maintain my current weight":

    https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    Do start eating back at least 50% of your exercise calories.

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