Tracking Calories & Exercise

carolinegrace89
carolinegrace89 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am new to tracking calories/macros and am looking to lose weight. According to the calculator, I should be eating 1300 calories per day. Does anyone know if I can eat more if I exercise and burn 300 calories or should I still stick to 1300 calories of food + exercise? Thank you!

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 7,330 Member
    MFP gives you a calorie goal based on your non exercise activity level. So presuming you chose your activity level based purely on your daily life activity level excluding exercise, then yes, you can (and should) eat more when you exercise.

    Some caveats:
    - it pays to make sure your exercise burn isn't inflated (depends on where you get the number from, and what kind of exercise)
    - MFP gives you a number based on statistical averages based on your personal stats. You may or may not be average, so generally speaking it's best to check your weight trend over at least one month (or menstrual cycle if applicable) and compare it to how much weight you theoretically should have lost. And then adjust if needed.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    Unlike other sites which use TDEE calculators, MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated for them and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 15,704 Member
    edited December 2022
    Long been meaning to add that, unfortunately in my opinion, MFP has done paid membership users the disservice of adding the (paid membership) option to ignore exercise calories.

    This is a disservice, in my opinion of course, because it feeds into the idea that faster and harder dieting with a larger deficit is better. It also completely ignores the assumptions that were in place when MFP chose the activity multipliers that are associated with the various activity levels and descriptions
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,898 Member
    edited December 2022
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Long been meaning to add that, unfortunately in my opinion, MFP has done paid membership users the disservice of adding the (paid membership) option to ignore exercise calories.

    This is a disservice, in my opinion of course, because it feeds into the idea that faster and harder dieting with a larger deficit is better. It also completely ignores the assumptions that were in place when MFP chose the activity multipliers that are associated with the various activity levels and descriptions

    Yeah, this is definitely a problem but so is the fact that we've always had the "option" of manipulating the total calories (in Goals) and the "Activity level" settings to basically do the same thing.

    At some point I HAD TO start eating more, the 1200 (plus Exercise calories, so more like a total of 1500 a day) just wasn't enough and I was having a lot of significant side effects from under-eating...hair loss, fragile/breaking fingernails, dry cracked skin, no energy, irritability, increased anxiety, over-sleeping: and that's just the stuff I could see - no clue how much damage I was doing to my body. I had to start eating 1500-1600 plus Exercise calories. That was when I was 180 lbs and 5'8". I lost an additional 40 pounds at that. Worked out to about 1900-2000 calories per day when I got in a one hour walk.

  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited December 2022
    carolinegrace89 wrote: »
    I am new to tracking calories/macros and am looking to lose weight. According to the calculator, I should be eating 1300 calories per day. Does anyone know if I can eat more if I exercise and burn 300 calories or should I still stick to 1300 calories of food + exercise? Thank you!
    There is not enough information here to provide any meaningful insight/best guess. That said, since you are new, that 1300 Kcal is obviously a tentative calculation by MFP. Do not forget that everybody is different and that MFP is not clairvoyant. 1300 Kcal is a guess, a starting point. As such, it is as good/bad as any other.

    If I were you, I'd follow that for somewhere between 3 and 4 weeks and see what the results are. If you are losing weight too fast (faster than 1 kg a week is generally considered more risky - but do take into account that most beginning losers lose atypically large amounts of weight in the first few days - up to a week or so), add some calories back in. If you are losing weight too slowly or not at all, reduce your intake by another 100 kcal or so. This really is a process of trial and error. Everybody is different, so you have to take small steps up and down until you achieve a reasonable and meaningful weight loss.

    As for exercise, many people seem to be happy with the idea of "eating back" whatever calories MFP or other trackers say they have burned. For me, these numbers are just as (un)useful as horoscopes or prayers. I see them as fun, as an indicator that I have not been inactive, but I completely ignore the calories in my intake. Exercise certainly has an impact, but whatever it is, it is far lower than claimed in my case, so low in fact, that I am unable to distinguish it from the background noise, so I ignore it.

    People often balk at how slow their own weight loss is, but they are being misled by at least two factors: they only see the results successful big losers have and don't know anything about the major effort and patience that was required to achieve it, and second, they don't see the long term. Half a kg a week may not seem like much, but it is 26 kg in a year. That is really significant, no matter how heavy/light you are.

    Never forget that weight loss is risky business: it is not "good" for us. However, being overweight or obese is not "good" for us either. Both situations have their advantages and their disadvantages. They need to be weighed against each other. There is no "good" path, there is only a "less bad" path. That is why talking to a doctor (MD) is a Very Good Decision to make.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,543 Member
    Your success with calorie counting will always come down to how accurate you are with counting as most people underestimate their weekly intake and overestimate their output which leads to no progress then thinking their metabolism is a problem or some other false reason.

    Pick a weekly calorie amount and stick with it for 3 weeks. Let that be your guide to if you’re doing things correctly. The first week you may lose water weight so don’t let that first week determine progress. After 3-4 weeks review your progress or lack of it.

    You didn’t mention your stats however if 1,300 cals is the target then I’m guessing you’re a small woman so understand that you can’t lose as quickly as a bigger person that is carrying more fat.

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