Am I underrating by TOO much?

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MasterZeddicus
MasterZeddicus Posts: 35 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Alright right to the skinny of it, I'm a computer tech/full time student so I put myself as sedentary life style. My weekly exercise that is guaranteed is about 240 minutes of walking (3.5mph) to school and back, plus walking my dog, and the one exercise we all enjoy ;). MFP put me at 1670 calories a day to lose 2lbs a week which is my goal.

Since I changed over to a darn healthy diet I actually find that I under eat that amount, but only by say approximately 50-100 calories a day. My big problem is the days I work out (the cardio not weight lifting.), I wind up having an extra 400 calories to nom up, but I'm just not hungry.

Now for strength training or intensive cardio I know it's absolutely important to eat back your calories or you'll burn too much muscle, but when it comes to light activity such as walking do I need to eat back those calories to avoid an adverse effect on my health? It's not that I can't eat, I surely could nom down an extra burger the days I do cardio, I would darn well enjoy it too! The question is do I have to? Or can I not eat back my calories at this level as long as I'm not feeling fatigued or the like and be alright?

Thanks!
Z

Replies

  • MasterZeddicus
    MasterZeddicus Posts: 35 Member
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    Sorry to bump, but I could really use an answer. ^.^
  • fiberartist219
    fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
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    If you are walking to school and walking your dog, I would say you are lightly active, rather than sedentary. No, you should not eat 400 calories below your goal.

    If you feel fatigued you should eat more, but since you are feeling alright, you could probably go either way... but I believe that eating those extra calories you burned would feel good and probably give you more consistent results than eating less than you are supposed to.
  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
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    The levels of activity you choose are not including exercise. It's for your normal, daily life activity. Not stuff you go out of your way to do to burn calories. if I had a desk job I would certainly consider it sedentary. If you're hungry and have exercise calories to eat then eat them. You need to be NETTING at least 1200. The more you exercise the more fuel your body needs.
  • jg627
    jg627 Posts: 1,221 Member
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    One way to find out, switch to maintenance calories or just a bit under, but significantly more than you are now, for about a week or two. If your weight goes up by more than a pound, then yeah, you were burning lean body mass.
  • jessof89
    jessof89 Posts: 23
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    I have the same problem i eat my calories during the day but on a tues and thursday i do 3 hrs of dancing which burns 1000 calories and there is no way i could eat that back in the space of 3 hrs i just have a bowl of porridge when i get home and a cup of tea which means my deficit is around 700 calories however for me i have lost 8 pounds is 16 days which i know is a lot but i can't really do anything about it.
    I think if your not hungry and don't feel like eating but like myself if you really want a treat during the week go for it. I have saturday as my diet free day and its something to look forward to :)
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    I have the same problem i eat my calories during the day but on a tues and thursday i do 3 hrs of dancing which burns 1000 calories and there is no way i could eat that back in the space of 3 hrs i just have a bowl of porridge when i get home and a cup of tea which means my deficit is around 700 calories however for me i have lost 8 pounds is 16 days which i know is a lot but i can't really do anything about it.
    I think if your not hungry and don't feel like eating but like myself if you really want a treat during the week go for it. I have saturday as my diet free day and its something to look forward to :)

    If you know you are going to burn 1000 calories or so, then spread them out through your day before you go - or even over two days. That way your body gets enough nutrition to keep you healthy but it doesn't make you feel pressured to eat when you get home.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    I have the same problem i eat my calories during the day but on a tues and thursday i do 3 hrs of dancing which burns 1000 calories and there is no way i could eat that back in the space of 3 hrs i just have a bowl of porridge when i get home and a cup of tea which means my deficit is around 700 calories however for me i have lost 8 pounds is 16 days which i know is a lot but i can't really do anything about it.
    I think if your not hungry and don't feel like eating but like myself if you really want a treat during the week go for it. I have saturday as my diet free day and its something to look forward to :)

    If you know you are going to burn 1000 calories or so, then spread them out through your day before you go - or even over two days. That way your body gets enough nutrition to keep you healthy but it doesn't make you feel pressured to eat when you get home.

    What she said.
  • jessof89
    jessof89 Posts: 23
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    I can't though i work monday to friday and i go straight to dancing after i finish work so i'l get a bottle of lucozade and a sandwich and by that time i'm dancing. it's physically impossible when i only have a 45 min break to eat a lot of food.

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