Do you REALLY need to match your calories?

I'll echo everyone who's saying you need to eat 1200 calories. You burn those just being awake.

As far as eating your exercise calories, you just need to remember that running off 300 calories shouldn't give you permission to eat a 300 calorie bowl of ice cream. A calorie will always equal a calorie; but an ice cream calorie brings you much less benefit than a broccoli calorie. Think of those exercise calories like putting extra money into savings - it's an opportunity to stock up on nutrients. Calcium to make your bones stronger, fats to make your hair shinier, etc. Pick foods to fill those calories in this order:

1. Greens (not veggies and fruits in general - literally ones that are the color green)
2. Lean protein
3. Whole carbs (oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice)
4. Healthy fats (olive oil, etc)
4. Other fruits and veggies

Think of yourself as a MACHINE and your purpose is to run, swim, bike, perform and basically just kick *kitten*! So to do that you need to give your body the right fuel. Fuel up to burn it off. Put away extra nutrients when you can so your legs can run faster tomorrow. If you just eat the 1200 but you're exercising, you're only giving your body enough fuel to be awake, breath and keep your brain on. You can't expect it to hit a zumba class without more in the tank.

I'll echo everyone who's saying you need to eat 1200 calories. You burn those just being awake.

As far as eating your exercise calories, you just need to remember that running off 300 calories shouldn't give you permission to eat a 300 calorie bowl of ice cream. A calorie will always equal a calorie; but an ice cream calorie brings you much less benefit than a broccoli calorie. Think of those exercise calories like putting extra money into savings - it's an opportunity to stock up on nutrients. Calcium to make your bones stronger, fats to make your hair shinier, etc. Pick foods to fill those calories in this order:

1. Greens (not veggies and fruits in general - literally ones that are the color green)
2. Lean protein
3. Whole carbs (oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice)
4. Healthy fats (olive oil, etc)
4. Other fruits and veggies

Think of yourself as a MACHINE and your purpose is to run, swim, bike, perform and basically just kick *kitten*! So to do that you need to give your body the right fuel. Fuel up to burn it off. Put away extra nutrients when you can so your legs can run faster tomorrow. If you just eat the 1200 but you're exercising, you're only giving your body enough fuel to be awake, breath and keep your brain on. You can't expect it to hit a zumba class without more in the tank.

What if I want some icecream with those 300 calories?

Then have some ice cream. It's your body, your responsibility, you get to make the decisions about it.

You'll miss out on some healthy stuff, you'll get to enjoy some ice cream, you'll have a body that is partly fed on sugary stuff.

*shrug*

What do you want us to say? It won't kill you, but at the same time eating all your exercise calories in ice cream isn't a great idea either.

I sometimes use some of mine for a glass or two of wine. That's not the best choice, but I make it with my eyes open.

I have only been doing this for a few days now but have a question about this.

The app has set my calorie intake at 2080 per day to lose the amount of weight that i want to shift.

I cycle to work and back most days and this burns of approx 3000 caloies.. Should i be then taking in 5080 caloies a day...

I dont think i could eat that much. What would be the best thing to do.

Thanks
Dave

Hey everyone, I'm new here and have lots of questions. Mainly, is it really necessary to eat that 1200 calories a day? After exercise my calorie intake generally goes up to about 1800. I cant fathom eating that much in a day and losing weight. I usually net anywhere between 300-700 calories a day, but eat overall about 1000.

Thanks for your help!!! :flowerforyou: :happy:

Your starvation diet is self sabotage in the extreme.
Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.

+1

I'll echo everyone who's saying you need to eat 1200 calories. You burn those just being awake.

As far as eating your exercise calories, you just need to remember that running off 300 calories shouldn't give you permission to eat a 300 calorie bowl of ice cream. A calorie will always equal a calorie; but an ice cream calorie brings you much less benefit than a broccoli calorie. Think of those exercise calories like putting extra money into savings - it's an opportunity to stock up on nutrients. Calcium to make your bones stronger, fats to make your hair shinier, etc. Pick foods to fill those calories in this order:

1. Greens (not veggies and fruits in general - literally ones that are the color green)
2. Lean protein
3. Whole carbs (oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice)
4. Healthy fats (olive oil, etc)
4. Other fruits and veggies

Think of yourself as a MACHINE and your purpose is to run, swim, bike, perform and basically just kick *kitten*! So to do that you need to give your body the right fuel. Fuel up to burn it off. Put away extra nutrients when you can so your legs can run faster tomorrow. If you just eat the 1200 but you're exercising, you're only giving your body enough fuel to be awake, breath and keep your brain on. You can't expect it to hit a zumba class without more in the tank.

What if I want some icecream with those 300 calories?

Then have some ice cream. It's your body, your responsibility, you get to make the decisions about it.

You'll miss out on some healthy stuff, you'll get to enjoy some ice cream, you'll have a body that is partly fed on sugary stuff.

*shrug*

What do you want us to say? It won't kill you, but at the same time eating all your exercise calories in ice cream isn't a great idea either.

I sometimes use some of mine for a glass or two of wine. That's not the best choice, but I make it with my eyes open.

Haha! You guys are funny. Of course you should have ice cream when you want it! Though I'm with TourthePast on this one... I'd rather save the cals for a glass of wine. My point was just that you should use exercise calories as an opportunity to be even healthier.