I am so confused on calorie counting and eating

beatingobesityforlife
beatingobesityforlife Posts: 121 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
So I heard we are supposed to burn more calories than we eat, then I hear we are suppose to eat back the calories we burn. I have 120 lbs to lose and do not know what the correct answer is. Can anyone explain this to me?

Replies

  • ruststar
    ruststar Posts: 489 Member
    MFP builds a deficit in for you when you set how many pounds you want to lose per week. Any exercise you do should be eaten back to maintain the deficit you chose (be it 250, 500, 750, or 1000 calories) and not make it too large. A too large deficit can backfire on you - perhaps not at first when you have a large amount of weight to lose, but in the long run it sets up an unsustainable habit and won't fuel your body properly, which can slow down your metabolism and then your weightloss.
  • jensine2
    jensine2 Posts: 149 Member
    I would like to know the answer to that too. From my understanding we earn those extra calories to eat but I'm afraid I won't lose weight and then if I don't eat them I'm afraid my metabolism rate will decrease
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    You are confusing two different issues. Your BMR is the calories your body needs for maintaining basic functions, like breathing, if you were lying in a coma. Let's say that your BMR is 1300 cals a day, and you work out and burn 300 calories. If you eat only 1300 calories total, you are not putting enough gas in the tank, because the net calories, after exercise, is 1000.

    Obviously, none of us are lying in comas. So, that's where TDEE comes into play. This number takes into account your lifestyle and exercise, and will be higher than BMR. Basically, this is the number of calories you need to eat, in order to maintain your current weight, given your current lifestyle. If you eat at a deficit from your TDEE, you will lose weight.

    So, you can take two approaches to calorie counting. You can either net your BMR or a little above, or just eat a certain percentage less than your TDEE (like 20). Given that you have a high weight loss goal, you can get away with eating below your BMR for some tim, but that will change as you shed the weight.
  • oats4breakfast
    oats4breakfast Posts: 225
    Surely this question has an FAQ or something in MFP ? There must be 100 threads an hour on this topic in here.
  • beatingobesityforlife
    beatingobesityforlife Posts: 121 Member
    You are confusing two different issues. Your BMR is the calories your body needs for maintaining basic functions, like breathing, if you were lying in a coma. Let's say that your BMR is 1300 cals a day, and you work out and burn 300 calories. If you eat only 1300 calories total, you are not putting enough gas in the tank, because the net calories, after exercise, is 1000.

    Obviously, none of us are lying in comas. So, that's where TDEE comes into play. This number takes into account your lifestyle and exercise, and will be higher than BMR. Basically, this is the number of calories you need to eat, in order to maintain your current weight, given your current lifestyle. If you eat at a deficit from your TDEE, you will lose weight.

    So, you can take two approaches to calorie counting. You can either net your BMR or a little above, or just eat a certain percentage less than your TDEE (like 20). Given that you have a high weight loss goal, you can get away with eating below your BMR for some tim, but that will change as you shed the weight.
    Would the best thing to do is eating most of it back, but not all of it?
  • beatingobesityforlife
    beatingobesityforlife Posts: 121 Member
    MFP builds a deficit in for you when you set how many pounds you want to lose per week. Any exercise you do should be eaten back to maintain the deficit you chose (be it 250, 500, 750, or 1000 calories) and not make it too large. A too large deficit can backfire on you - perhaps not at first when you have a large amount of weight to lose, but in the long run it sets up an unsustainable habit and won't fuel your body properly, which can slow down your metabolism and then your weightloss.
    How can I find the deficit on here.
  • redcat17
    redcat17 Posts: 267 Member
    Read this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    MFP builds a deficit in for you when you set how many pounds you want to lose per week. Any exercise you do should be eaten back to maintain the deficit you chose (be it 250, 500, 750, or 1000 calories) and not make it too large. A too large deficit can backfire on you - perhaps not at first when you have a large amount of weight to lose, but in the long run it sets up an unsustainable habit and won't fuel your body properly, which can slow down your metabolism and then your weightloss.
    How can I find the deficit on here.

    What did you select for weight loss goal weekly?
    1 lb is 500 deficit daily. 2lb is 1000. math for the middle values.

    For your goals, check on My Home - Goals.
  • hailzp
    hailzp Posts: 903 Member
    How can I find the deficit on here.


    You just put in your height, current weight etc. It should ask you when you joined. Then put in how much you want to lose a week. 1lb is good, then it will give you the amount of calories that you should eat to lose that weight. So with no exercise you will still lose weight eating that amount of calories. If you exercise then you can chose to eat back the calories, I recommend eating back some of them or if you have a HRM (accurate burn) then most of them. Because MFP has given you a deficit you have space to eat more and still remain within the deficit.
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