If I eat 1200 calories a day, and work out which burns 300-4

Yes. MFP already puts you in a calorie defecit--which is what you need to lose weight--right off the bat. It's simple math once you get your head around it--I know it took me awhile!

I'll use myself as an example.

To overgeneralize, you basically need to take in 3500 LESS calories than you need to maintain, in a week, to lose a pound of fat.

That works out to about 500 calories a day.

My maintenance calories (what I would need to eat to neither gain nor lose weight) is about 2000. That means, if I don't exercise, I need to eat 1500 calories a day to lose a pound in a week.

So MFP sets my calorie intake goal at 1500. (Well, technically, I'm aiming for 1.5 lb per week, but this is easier :P) That means, if I don't exercise, and I only eat 1500 calories a day, I should be losing.

If I exercise, what I'm basically doing is upping my needed calories for the day--that 2000 number. So if I burn 300 calories, that means I'm 300 over "normal daily activities", and puts my maintenance at 2300. Since I still only need to be 500 calories under that number to lose a pound a week, that means I can eat 1800 calories and still lose.

So yes. Eat your exercise calories; I tend to think of them as "free" calories. Not that you can eat gross crud, you still want to be putting good things into your body, but that gives me an extra helping of mashed potatoes at dinner, or lets me have a bigger spoonful of pasta than I would otherwise allow myself.

I also feel it's better to eat them back than not to because it helps keep you out of an unhealthy mindset. When I first started, I thought of those exercise calories as "even more that will burn off the fat!" So I wouldn't eat them back, I figured it would help me lose weight even faster; instead of 1 pound a week, I could drop 2, even 2.5!

I came to realize that ther was a major design flaw with that mindset; it was very unhealthy. Because eventually I was going to reach my goal weight. And then, if I wanted to maintain both my fitness level and my weight, I was going to have to start eating almost DOUBLE the calories I currently was. That's a huge shift in lifestyle, and I realized that it was going to be very difficult to do if I was training myself to eat the least I could get away with. I likely wouldn't be able to hit 2400 calories a day, I was going to keep losing, and if I wasn't able to control it I would likely end up unhealthily UNDERweight, rather than over.

It's all about the long-term and the bigger picture. Try not to focus too much on the weight loss; instead, focus on becoming a healthier person. Eating back your exercise calories will help keep you on track.

Thank you for explaining this in layman terms, it was very helpful and made sense!!!!

Please listen. If you eat 1200 calories a day then burn 300 calories, your NET calorie consumption is only at 900. Which is NOT GOOD. Eat back your exercise calories, if you're really going to only eat 1200 calories a day and burn 1/4 of them off, you need to eat that energy back.

It's a matter of net calories. You will still lose weight if you eat the calories back, probably more easily since your body won't be lacking in nutrition or go into starvation mode.

My personal experience: 1200 calories is way too little. I eat 1600 calories and I eat my exercise calories back. Eat a NET of 1200 this number is displayed on the MFP main page.

Thank you all for these posts...I was just asking someone about this and now I think I got it. I have not been eating enough....today I turn the corner!!!!

Thanks for asking this question I was curious myself over the past few days.

I have been eating 1200 - 1300 calories a day which I actually find very hard to do. I'm not a huge eater! I have a fitness band that usually says I burn on average 500 calories a day, but I am not loosing. I don't think I can eat more calories without making bad choices in food. Any suggestions?

Hi
I am still confused
If I eat 1200 calories and burn 300 calories in gym why should I have to eat those?
As I m eating 1200 anyways but doing extra workout can help loosing more. .?
Please help

I have been eating 1200 - 1300 calories a day which I actually find very hard to do. I'm not a huge eater! I have a fitness band that usually says I burn on average 500 calories a day, but I am not loosing. I don't think I can eat more calories without making bad choices in food. Any suggestions?

Calorie dense foods.......nuts, nut butters, olive oil, avocado. Cut back on "diet" foods. I eat regular wheat bread, eat light (not fat free) dressing, use 1% or 2% dairy.

appreciate your help
Hope i will say soon that i have lost this much ..lol
all the best all of you
Lets rock ladies , summers are here , i wish to get bikni body

eat only half of what mfp tell's you you have burned. just always eat only half of it back and that's if you need to. I have tried eating all and well, it doesnt work cuz caloric calculations are a bit off.

So,

Say you're supposed to NET 1200 calories
Then say you work out and your REAL calorie burn is 300
1200 in -300out = 900. You're NET is only 900.
You need to feed yourself those other 300 calories to get to 1200

I personally only log 70% of the calories I get on my Heart Rate Monitor so that I can ensure I'm not over estimating (FYI, MFP has doubled my HRM count for certain activities, so I suggest a HRM as a first choice, followed by a machine, then MFP as a last resort). I also don't weigh my food all of the time, so I under-log my burns to compensate.

If you feel your calorie burned counts are over estimated, only log 70%, or just 50% of the burn the "reader" (HRM, machine, MFP) says.

Doctors say 1200/day just to be safe, but I feel like if you're AVERAGING 1200/day you're fine. If I was to take a day long hike, I could conceivably burn 1000 calories. Usually I get stuffed at ~1800 calories.
1800 in -1000 out=800 net. (400 below goal)
On high burn days, I'm usually hungry the following days, so I'd tack that extra 400 calories onto the next day or 300/100 OR 200/200 added on to the next two days.

(800+1600)/2=1200 per day
OR
(800+1500+1300)/3=1200 per day.

If you have trouble getting the calories in, go with full fat whole food options (whole milk is only like 50 calories more per cup), add some nut butters (good fats and protein), etc.

It's not that it's not SAFE to eat less than 1200 calories, but your body will not use calories efficiently if you are not giving it enough. You can still be fine only eating 800 to 1000 calories per day, but your body will go into shut-down mode where it stores everything you eat. That's when you get less weight loss. It is MUCH better to eat your 1200 calories AND your burned calories from exercise. Your body will burn calories more efficiently. )

This is nonsense

Your body will not go into shut down mode and create less weight loss if you eat under 1200.

Holy necro thread, Batman!

To answer your question though - it doesn't matter if you go over macros as long as you stay within your calories. Macros don't matter for weightloss.

dll70087 wrote: »

What I don't understand is if I eat the calories back then I would go over all the nutrition goals. I am doing 1200 calories and burning off 400-600 per day. If I eat those calories back then I go over on Protein, carbs and fat. It makes no sense to me. Myfitness adjusts the calories, but doesn't adjust the nutrition goals.

It does adjust your goals, so you wouldn’t go over all three unless you went over your calories