to eat or NOT to eat all recommended calories

You are going to get so many different opinions on this topic as its asked a lot. My best advice is to try it both ways and see what works for you. Everyone is different.

Hey,

I am given 1200 a day in calorie intake. I am 207 and looking for a 2 pounds a week weight loss. I am working out daily (this is only day 4) where i get additional 400+ calories. Should i therefore eat 1600+ calories? I thought I am trying to lose weight hence the low cal diet. But again word is that my body will get into starvation mode and retain the fat?

PLEASE HELP

Eat them, always. There ARE conflicting opinions on this subject, which is why I tested the theory. Believe me everyone, starvation mode exists!

Agreeing.... how a person will react to eating their exercise-calories will be different to another... see how it goes...

When I started out I was 204lbs. I did NOT eat my exercise calories. I lost an average of 2lbs a week. I was feeling great and not feeling tired or drained. I walked on the treadmill everyday and burned an additional 400-500 calories. I was also at a 1200 daily allowance. Some days I did get into my exercise calories but never ate all of them back. I made sure I filled my 1200 calories with good healthy nutrient packed foods. It wasn't junk, which I am sure helped a lot with feeling great!!

As I started to lose more, I started eating them back - at least half of them to start with for a while, and then all (leaving some for errors in calculations). I still was averaging 2lbs a week.

I am now 64lbs down and maintaining and I mostly eat back my exercise calories.

Bottom line...this is what I found worked for *me* It might take some trial and error for you to find what works for you. You can try this if you want too. Good luck :happy:

You tell MFP your activity level and goal (2 lb/week loss). With eating 1200 calories alone (NO EXERCISE) you are on track to lose 2 lbs a week. When you add in exercise, it's like decreasing your net calories -- which is why many recommend eating those calories BACK. You will still be on track for losing 2 lbs/week because your net (Calories eaten - calories burned through exercise) comes around 1200, depending how much you eat back.

Over long term, if you don't eat them all back you'll fall regularly under 1200 and long term, that could cause you to not lose or even gain weight.

Well I talked with my Dr. and he told me to just listen to my body. Make healthy choices and eat slow. When you feel almost full stop. Eat often. and nothing after 7. This has worked for me. Im sure Im going to get flamed here.. but I dont always eat my full calories.. and Im not "starving" either. I feel full, happy, healthy, and the best part is IM LOSING WEIGHT! I honestly think that everyones body is different. Listen to your body, its smarter then you might think. I dont think there is any magic calorie number

Well I talked with my Dr. and he told me to just listen to my body. Make healthy choices and eat slow. When you feel almost full stop. Eat often. and nothing after 7. This has worked for me. Im sure Im going to get flamed here.. but I dont always eat my full calories.. and Im not "starving" either. I feel full, happy, healthy, and the best part is IM LOSING WEIGHT! I honestly think that everyones body is different. Listen to your body, its smarter then you might think. I dont think there is any magic calorie number

I agree. If you're hungry EAT.

I determine by knowing my hunger signal. If I am hungry, I will pop out a salad with spinach leaves and a few toppings. I am on 1500 calories because I am a bigger dude. There was one time I was near 1500, and burned 580 calories in a day. I was hungry so I ended up leaving myself at 1200 for the day after my snack.

I've heard trainers tell individuals to eat 1200-1500 calories a day and burn that in a gym. Is it right? Not sure. I would never do that, but those people are still alive.

So everyone before me that said to judge thy self, do that. Learn the difference between hunger, thirst, and bored signals.

Edit: The other thing to note is that sometimes you may get the wrong guess at your calories. Sometimes the machines can be wrong and MFP might over estimate sometimes. So I always take the lowest number, but try not to live on this. I use to try to work out to catch any overage in the past but I quickly learned that was a bad method.

I'm on the 1200 calorie plan but I actually tend to eat more than that, even after my exercise. I have my activity set to 'sedentary' and at 1200 calories a day MFP tells me I should be losing 1.1 lbs per week. I usually eat closer to 1250-1300 on the days that I don't exercise. On the days that I *do* exercise and MFP tells me to eat back the calories, I do, so that my final number at the end of the day is slightly over just like on the non-workout days. (so if I burn 200 calories and MFP wants me to eat 1400 as a result, I end the day somewhere around 1400-1500). I am losing MORE than what MFP said I'd be losing. I'm averaging 1 lb every 4 days which is about 1.75 lbs/week. But of course I am set to 'sedentary' and I'm not exactly going to try and figure up how many calories I burn going up and down the stairs, shopping, playing outside with the kids etc so after that stuff I probably am under the 1200. But I don't have the time and desire to add up every single little tiny action I take during the day, and I'm too afraid to up my activity level setting b/c I'm scared the amount MFP would give me would be too high. I don't think you have to be super-strict about eating every single calorie every day though - if you have a day where you eat kind of low, balance it out with a day where you have an extra snack. I've been watching these 'zigzagging' discussions lately and they totally make sense to me - your body averages out your intake/burn over time. Plus this is a plan I can stick with for a LONG time and be satisfied (eating 1200-1300 on non-active days and eating more on days that I workout) - I'm not hungry all the time so I don't feel like I'm on a 'diet'. If I were to try and stay much lower than that on a daily basis, I would personally feel like I was depriving myself and it would backfire after awhile. So I like the MFP endorsed method for me, but others may find that different methods work better for them. :-)

I hadn't been. Now I'm trying to eat some of them and my weight is going up. I'm having such a hard time lately. But maybe if you do it in the beginning it won't affect you like it is me.