Do I have to eat my extra calories?

You don't have to eat your extra calories every day but you do want to make sure your average net calories are not under 1200 for an extended period of time. A common recommendation I see is use your weekly average for your goals and try and get it near your daily goal.

I always eat at least 1200 calories a day but sometimes when I get done with my workout I have extra calories and nothing to snack on to make them up. Is it okay not to eat them? Or maybe to "save" them for a big meal or dessert later in the week?

While I'm all in favor of zig-zagging my calories, as has been said, it's not healthy to go below 1200 net calories for too long. If you're consistently eating *just* 1200 and then you exercise on top of that, you're asking your body to subsist on those 1200 calories minus whatever you expended. Example: You eat 1200 calories, but you burn 600. Your net for the day would be 600 calories. Not healthy or sustainable over any length of time.

Personally I have my calorie intake set at around 1500, but I watch the net. I do my best to never let my net drop below 1200. Some days I'm right around 1200, some days closer to 1500. And I allow myself one "splurge" day each week. That doesn't mean I'm scarfing down fast food, just that I give myself a day off counting. So far it's working for me as I pretty consistently lose as long as I'm counting the other days.

It's perfectly fine to reconcile your calories over a few days, or even a week, instead of daily. However, I find it works best to reconcile within 24-48 hours.

I would recommend not eating less than your BMR, instead of using 1200 as a guide (unless your BMR is 1200). You can use the tools above to find an estimate of your BMR (MFP may be a bit low, but you can use fat2fitradio.com if you'd like to get a bit more accurate including measurements, etc.).

I would also recommend eating your exercise calories . . . because . . . WAIT FOR IT, YOU SKEPTICS: You will lose weight JUST as quickly and OVER TIME you will lose MORE weight and be able to sustain your goal weight ONLY if you eat them back.

Haters can hate, but we people at goal who STAY at goal know what we're talking about.

Here's a great group: EAT MORE TO WEIGH LESS. Read the stickies, look at all the people, a year or more at goal, then decide.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less


And now . . .

Your body gets used to how much you eat. This is not necessarily a good thing when you are eating too little.

WHY 1200 CALORIES (or fewer) MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA:

You lose weight for a while and maybe you will make it to goal (the bigger you are, the longer this will work, however most people can't get those last 10-20 lbs off at 1200 calories).

The longer you do this, the longer your metabolism has to adjust downward and get used to 1200 calories. Assuming you make it to goal, you want to maintain, right? What do you think is going to happen when/if you get there and it's time to maintain, when you start trying to eat "maintenance" calories? You'll gain. Welcome back to the yo-yo.


WHY EATING AT THE TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) OF YOUR GOAL WEIGHT MIGHT BE A BETTER IDEA:

Eat now, like the thin you at maintenance. Fat2Ftiradio.com can help you find the TDEE of your ideal weight: Choose ALL CALCULATORS, MILITARY BODY FAT%, then get your bodyfat estimate. Now calculate your BMR, and look in the chart below to see the TDEE of your goal weight -- that is how much the thin you will eat at maintenance.

Eating at maintenance for your ideal weight is a great idea because you will eat THIS SAME AMOUNT of calories for life. Your metabolism will not slow down to match too little fuel (1200 calories), and consequently stall on the way to goal, or cause you to gain when you try to increase calories later to maintain.

BTW, if you have been eating below your BMR for an extended period of time, and especially if you have been stalled/plateaued for an extended period of time, you may experience a slight gain for some weeks after you increase to the proper amount of calories. However, at the point where your body adjusts to the proper amount of fuel based on your dally activities, you will begin to lose again and break through the plateau.

Blessings.

Do you have to wipe your *kitten* after taking a *kitten*?

Well, you don't have to, but you probably should.

Same answer applies.

My first LOL of the day...epic!

OH....this is not gonna be good.

Can I just say, why in the world would anyone want to only eat 1200 calories?
It does not make you cool
It does make you have will power
It does not make you feel healthy...
I just don't get it...never have, never will.

Eat, just eat, burn and eat...your body will repay you with great things, like functioning kidneys, liver, and fabulous skin. I AM DONE..CAN NOT BELIEVE I CAME BACK TO THE BOARDS...Shame on me!

Re: "bump"

Well that really adds to the conversation. Thanks.

Re: "bump"

Well that really adds to the conversation. Thanks.

You know people do that when they're interested in a topic but don't have the time to read/post at that moment, right? Or, people do it to literally bump the topic back top the top of the page so that others can see it.

I've seen people on here insist you should always eat them all but I just read something in Runners world that said for weight loss you should only eat about 200 extra calories for a normal work out (unless you're a professional athlete)

Well, I am not a professional athlete, but my spin class will burn over 500 cals, I'll go cycling on a Saturday and burn over 1000, I lift heavy weiights, I paddleboard and I dance, and you can be dang sure I eat every last calorie.

I eat around 2000 cals a day; netting 1550.

You certainly don't HAVE to do anything, but . . . if you would like a fighting chance at success, you might like to look at what successful people do. And by successful, I don't mean people who lose weight lots of times.

blessings.

Excellent post/reply sleepytexan.

Just for the record... I never eat 1200 calories a day. I put that in there because I was trying to avoid people telling me that eating under 1200 is unhealthy. I guess I wasn't very clear.

What normally happens is I'll eat like... 1600. Then I'll exercise and burn about 350 (according to this site). Then I'll have like 100 or so left over. I was just wondering if it's bad to always leave them or if I should eat them in the same day, or if I should try to make them up in a certain amount of time.

Oh, 100 calories is pretty much a break even point... i would not worry about that at all... that is within the margin of error...