Do you eat all your calories for the day?

Get ready for ALL kinds of opinions! Just remember that you need to experiment and find out what works for you.

You will not starve to death if you stick with 1200. I dont care what anyone says. You wont.

Eat if you are hungry! . If you want something not so healthy once in a while, make room for it with exercise calories. I don't mean a big binge, nasty fried food, a bag of candy, chips, etc., but maybe a single serving of something a few times a week so you don't feel deprived.

See your Dr. for a checkup and ask her/him how many calories you should eat per day, for YOU. Try it and see how it works.

I've done both. In my experience, I did NOT lose weight while eating most of my exercise calories back. I am now back to 1200-1400 per day (suggested by my Dr.), period, and the pounds are coming off, I still have energy and I'm very active. I think the key is to make sure you exercise daily, eat healthy food and snacks and maybe a 200 or so over your recommended intake. I've lost 33 pounds, I rarely get hungry, but I do eat the right things. (most days) I'm also short and small boned. I think that the 1200 cals a day & exercise calories is too much for me, obviously. I checked on what my maintenance calories will be when I reach goal weight and it's less than 1200!

Yesterday I had a deficit of over 1,000 and I actually woke up hungry, but that's rare for me. I have a hard time convincing myself that by 8:30pm, if I have a deficit and I'm not hungry, that I should stuff myself so I don't have a deficit.

Read up on this in the forums and see what people have learned from experience. Try some, ignore some, do what works for you and don't worry about the millions of opinions out there, including mine!

I eat all my calories, exercise calories included! This is what works for me!

That 500 calorie deficit is from the calories your body burns up... I am fairly sure that your body burns a LOT more than 1200 calories just by sitting around, let alone when you exercise. 1200 is a really low number, are you sure that's what you should have your goal set to?? Did you fill in all your info (height weight age etc) ?

To answer your question, yes I eat all my calories. I have my goal set to have a small deficit (Less than a 200 calorie deficit) which is 1800 and I eat all my exercise calories on top of that.

There should never be a point where you are below 1200 FOOD calories/day. Activity calories aside, you should be consuming 1200 calories of food for you body to not start catabolizing muscle rather than using fat for energy. A deficit from exercise is ALWAYS good, but under no circumstances should you be eating less than 1200 FOOD calories/day. You will never boost your metabolism if your body is constantly starving for energy.

High protein/fiber, moderate GOOD carbs (avoid processed sugars and AVOID chemical-filled artifical additives), and healthy fats will easily allow you to hit your 1200 calorie/allotment and still continue to lose weight. Health studies by the NIH and the Mayo Clinic (among MANY others) advise you to not go below 1200 calories if you are looking for successful long term weight loss.

If you are eating less than 1200 kcals/day your body will eventually go into a food frenzy and you'll binge. It's not about diet, it's about lifestyle changes.

wow... I just joined up and I am averaging going over my calories by 500-900. I am NOT trying to lose weight, but to gain it and MFP is recommending me to take in over 3000 calories, I been taking in 3500-3900 so far. I actually use the food diary to help me with my course of action. I am actually going for a zigzag carb diet. (BTW) eating less doesn't help burn fat, higher metabolism helps burn fat, in order to do that, you actually have to eat spread out throughout the day, not just 3 meals to put your metabolism in hot mode.
if you put your metabolism in a hot zone, you will achieve your calorie intake. experimenting with different foods will help you feel full and stay in your target calorie zone.
I am not over stuffing either, I can actually consume more calories, but since I am on a new ZigZag diet, I am logging my intake

MFP has already built the deficit into the 1200 calories they gave you and the exercise you do is just increasing that. I eat back most (if not all, some days) of the exercise calories I get (which I track with a HRM for accuracy) and net my BMR daily. I lose 1-2lbs a week consistently.

I'm so stupid, I don't know how to do that.

You don't know how to do what?

Calculate....I'm at 1380 a day, 35, f, 138 lbs 5 4"...3 times a week workout...I dunno all that deficit stuff...told ya I'm too stoooopid.

That is why you don't have to calculate MFP did it for you....just make sure that you eat the 1380, if you exercise just make sure that you net 1380. Its not rocket science, it is done for you.

I consume them weekly, but not daily, and I eat every last one. I actually have my goal set low because I know that I will frequently go over. So, I eat mine, and then I eat some of yours too.

I don't eat back mine unless there is a REALLY big deficit. Am I wrong? I need to know as well....I didn't want to start a topic b/c it seems the "know-it-alls" on here point and laugh, or post stupid captions up to make fun of us who are new or misinformed. (Now I've opened up the floodgates for captions, I know, I know)

I would suggest you check out the eat more weigh less group. It's packed full of awesome info.

MFP has already built the deficit into the 1200 calories they gave you and the exercise you do is just increasing that. I eat back most (if not all, some days) of the exercise calories I get (which I track with a HRM for accuracy) and net my BMR daily. I lose 1-2lbs a week consistently.

I'm so stupid, I don't know how to do that.

You don't know how to do what?

Calculate....I'm at 1380 a day, 35, f, 138 lbs 5 4"...3 times a week workout...I dunno all that deficit stuff...told ya I'm too stoooopid.

That is why you don't have to calculate MFP did it for you....just make sure that you eat the 1380, if you exercise just make sure that you net 1380. Its not rocket science, it is done for you.

Well excuse me for asking a question.

If you're eating your exercise cals its probably good to have a deficit in case the MFP calorie burned estimate is incorrect (which it most likely is). That's the reason I don't eat back my exercise cals (and if I do I only eat back maybe 25% of them...)