Calories vs. Exercise

cmoon00 · May 2012

I swear you took the words right out of my head. I have more to lose than you do, but MFP set my calories at 1200/day because of the sedentary lifestyle I had when I started. I have since been exercising 3-4 times per week burning at least 400+ calories at each session for a month now. I lost 4 pounds the first week but since then.. nothing. In fact I keep going back and forth between 165 and 159. I bought into the "eating back my exercise calories" idea, but I realized that I was already eating at 1200 calories before starting any of this and eating an additional 400 calories on work out days leaves me stuffed and sleepy and feeling awful. I'm not losing inches, pounds, or seeing any other results. So, I went back to just eating 1200 even on work out days and still... nothing. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm very interested to see what ends up working for you from the advice you've gained here.

YAY (I think) I'm not alone!! LOL...

I'm getting two concepts from this message string...

1. I'm possibly not eating enough calories even at 1310 a day.

2. I need a heart rate monitor to better calculate my calories burned while exercising.

alizah79 · May 2012

You don't have to eat them back the same day. I spread mine out over the week.

This is something I've never heard. That would be so much easier than trying to eat an additional 400 calories per day on exercise days.

cmoon00 · June 2012

Your calorie intake could be too low in the first place (I don't know your height/weight/activity level though so I couldn't say for sure). I would recommend using some other calculators to figure out your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and try not to eat below that (I eat my TDEE -15% (total daily energy expenditure- you can calculate all that at http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and I'm doing pretty well on it. Often when people are eating too little they will lose weigh quickly at first and then start hitting a speed bump. I had this happen and I did some research and it turns out MFP had me way too low on calories (which it does for a lot of people). I upped my calories and started losing again. Basically I wasn't fueling my body properly and it didn't like it lol.

ETA: The Eat More to Weigh Less group has a lot of great info on this

Holy Crap! LOL...so here is what I came up with when I used your calculator on the site you referenced:

TDEE set to 15% - 5 meals a day - desk job little exercise. 5'9....150lbs.

BMR = 1484

Daily calories to maintain weight (TDEE) = 1781

Daily Calories based on goal in Step 6 = 1513

So I need to be eating at least 1513 calories a day if I want to lose weight???

ChasingSweatandTears · June 2012

Your calorie intake could be too low in the first place (I don't know your height/weight/activity level though so I couldn't say for sure). I would recommend using some other calculators to figure out your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and try not to eat below that (I eat my TDEE -15% (total daily energy expenditure- you can calculate all that at http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and I'm doing pretty well on it. Often when people are eating too little they will lose weigh quickly at first and then start hitting a speed bump. I had this happen and I did some research and it turns out MFP had me way too low on calories (which it does for a lot of people). I upped my calories and started losing again. Basically I wasn't fueling my body properly and it didn't like it lol.

ETA: The Eat More to Weigh Less group has a lot of great info on this

Holy Crap! LOL...so here is what I came up with when I used your calculator on the site you referenced:

TDEE set to 15% - 5 meals a day - desk job little exercise. 5'9....150lbs.

BMR = 1484

Daily calories to maintain weight (TDEE) = 1781

Daily Calories based on goal in Step 6 = 1513

So I need to be eating at least 1513 calories a day if I want to lose weight???

Sounds about right. That's what I eat per day and I'm 143 and 5 foot 2

I'm losing, but slow and steady and I did hit a monthlong plateau after raising cals from 1200, but now seem to be losing again after a couple of even higher cal days and a few days of rest. My body rewarded me by dropping 2.5 pounds

Sarauk2sf · June 2012

1. Sounds like you had something that worked and broke it. I would go back to it.

2. Exercise doesn't do a massive amount for weight loss in general, 50 years ago you would have been laughed at if you even suggested it. The creation of large calorie deficits by adding exercise on top of food intake reductions often appears to cause people problems. There are also measuring issues where you might overestimate your exercise and eat more with a resulting loss of calorie deficit.

3. A sore muscle is a swollen muscle, you'll be carrying water around in those sore places which will appear on the scale.

Your responses to 1# and 3# are not consistent. If it is water weight (which I agree with) per #3, then she has lost 'real' (i.e. non water) weight if the scale is the same.

Re #2, exercise has a load of other benefits other than weight loss.

JeffGDDG · June 2012

I'd take some Advil or something for the soreness. It'll get better. Your diary looks good to me. If I did anything I would move that protein shake to first thing in the morning from dinner. It'll help get your metabolism going and stoked for the day.

Sarauk2sf · June 2012

2. Exercise doesn't do a massive amount for weight loss in general, 50 years ago you would have been laughed at if you even suggested it.

Great point that isn't talked about a lot.

It's not talked about a lot because it is ridiculous.

Sarauk2sf · June 2012

Your calorie intake could be too low in the first place (I don't know your height/weight/activity level though so I couldn't say for sure). I would recommend using some other calculators to figure out your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and try not to eat below that (I eat my TDEE -15% (total daily energy expenditure- you can calculate all that at http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and I'm doing pretty well on it. Often when people are eating too little they will lose weigh quickly at first and then start hitting a speed bump. I had this happen and I did some research and it turns out MFP had me way too low on calories (which it does for a lot of people). I upped my calories and started losing again. Basically I wasn't fueling my body properly and it didn't like it lol.

ETA: The Eat More to Weigh Less group has a lot of great info on this

Holy Crap! LOL...so here is what I came up with when I used your calculator on the site you referenced:

TDEE set to 15% - 5 meals a day - desk job little exercise. 5'9....150lbs.

BMR = 1484

Daily calories to maintain weight (TDEE) = 1781

Daily Calories based on goal in Step 6 = 1513

So I need to be eating at least 1513 calories a day if I want to lose weight???

To clarify - you should be eating near that number to lose weight in a healthy sustainable manner.

Sarauk2sf · June 2012

You don't have to eat them back the same day. I spread mine out over the week.

This is something I've never heard. That would be so much easier than trying to eat an additional 400 calories per day on exercise days.

I find it easier to do that - I estimate my total 'burn' for the week, including exercise and then set my daily goal based in that - so I eat a static amount each day. I find it easier to plan my food that way.

kdeaux1959 · June 2012

Good Morning All,

I need some advice here....

When I first started MFP, I had my calorie intake set to 1200. I sit at a desk all day for work, so not very active, and I was not working out at the time. Each day I was staying under 1200, but coming close to it and I dropped 4 lbs. very quickly.

Now, I have started working out consistantly again. So I have increased my calorie intake to 1310 since I am now working out at least 3 days a week thus burning additional calories. On the days I am NOT working out, I am making sure that I am still at least hitting 1200 with my calorie intake, as that is what the goal was when I wasn't being active.

Question is -

1. Am I even doing this right??

2. I'm not dropping weight now after adding in the exercise and increase in calories, why?

3. Side note, what do all of you do for EXTREME muscle soreness besides Epson salt, icy hot, etc? (I've been walking around for a week looking like a 70 year old lady. It looks even worse when I try to sit down!)

Any advice/suggestions you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
Catrina

This is not uncommon. Many times when you first start exercise, you will see an increase in water retention due to the muscle building process. This water weighs something. It is temporary however and you should be able to see progress soon.

The way many of us use the site is to set our calorie goal and base activity level based upon what we usually do (in your case, sedentary)... Then we add the exercise that we do with an estimate of what that exercise burns... This will automatically increase your goal calories accordingly. As for me, I eat back a portion but not all my exercise calories because I am not convinced that the actual rates of burn are that terribly accurate .. especially if you are using the MFP estimates (they cannot take many factors in consideration such as weight, exertion due to complicating factors such as incline on treadmills, etc.)...

As for the pain, try taking an Ibuprofen (if you can tolerate it) or a Tylenol or Aspirin if you can't -- prior to your work out.

kdeaux1959 · June 2012

Oh, if the pain is a sharp pain and in or near a joint, stop exercising temporarily and have it checked out. If it is just muscle soreness (more likely), just try the ibuprofen trick... Oh, and eat a banana... Potassium levels being low can cause muscle soreness.

ladyraven68 · June 2012

Your calorie intake could be too low in the first place (I don't know your height/weight/activity level though so I couldn't say for sure). I would recommend using some other calculators to figure out your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and try not to eat below that (I eat my TDEE -15% (total daily energy expenditure- you can calculate all that at http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and I'm doing pretty well on it. Often when people are eating too little they will lose weigh quickly at first and then start hitting a speed bump. I had this happen and I did some research and it turns out MFP had me way too low on calories (which it does for a lot of people). I upped my calories and started losing again. Basically I wasn't fueling my body properly and it didn't like it lol.

ETA: The Eat More to Weigh Less group has a lot of great info on this

Holy Crap! LOL...so here is what I came up with when I used your calculator on the site you referenced:

TDEE set to 15% - 5 meals a day - desk job little exercise. 5'9....150lbs.

BMR = 1484

Daily calories to maintain weight (TDEE) = 1781

Daily Calories based on goal in Step 6 = 1513

So I need to be eating at least 1513 calories a day if I want to lose weight???

Sounds about right. I eat at 1600, and I'm 165 lbs, 4ft 11, and sit at a desk all day.

I haven't exercised for a month due to starting a new job and having a longer commute, but it's still coming off.

Calories vs. Exercise

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