Too many calories?

Cedura
Cedura Posts: 184 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Usually MFP starts me around 1700 calories allowed for the day. Today I exercised a lot and realized I could eat like 2600 calories and still be below my calorie goal because I exercised. I am new to this website, and still trying to adjust to how a calorie counter works.
Am I supposed to eat all the extra calories? Is it ok if I have 600-800 calories left at the end of the day? I want to lose weight and even though I exercise, I feel eating close to 3000 allowed calories would be counter productive. Anyone have advice for how they use this system, or what seems to be working for them?

Replies

  • Coco_UK
    Coco_UK Posts: 84 Member
    Hi there,

    I am sorry I am no expert on this. but I would think too that 2600 calories a day (unless you are an athlete or on atkins) seem like a lot too Then again different things work for different people, there is a group in here which is reporting great success and they are eating larger amounts of kcals.... they are called Eat More to Loose More (EMTLM) I believe...

    There are heaps of groups and information in this website... it trully is an amazing tool, I am sure that if you look around you will find the answer you need.

    All the best!
    Coco :-)
  • Cedura
    Cedura Posts: 184 Member
    Thanks, I will definitely look into that group and see what people are saying :) I have just always been told to lose weight you have to burn off more than you eat, so I would think that I wouldnt want to re-eat everything I burned off... but I dont know if by re-eating those calories it kick starts the metabolism or something... Im not a nutritionalist or anything, nor a fitness expert, so I am just a bit confused about how eating so much can be so healthy, even if it is all veggies and chicken haha.
  • Ronaldblue
    Ronaldblue Posts: 12 Member
    MyFitnessPal already includes your deficit in your allotted calories for the day. Any calories that you earn through exercise are yours to do with as you please. I would recommend eating them early on as it will help with hunger issues at the beginning of stricter diets, otherwise you are creating a large gap between what you need for maintenance and what you are actually eating. If you are confident in your self-control and diet, then you can eat back a portion of the calories or none at all. Either way, you should still see results.

    I personally always shoot for a net calories of 0 and I have lost 27 pounds since January. If I exercise a lot, I eat back enough calories to feel satisfied throughout the day, which is sometimes all and is sometimes only a fraction.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Leaving too many calories uneaten *can* result in lower energy/excessive hunger, which may in turn lead to binging/lower burn in exercises. Also depends on how much of a deficit you've given yourself in the first place. I try not to let my deficit get much over 1000/day, which is 2 lbs/week.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    MyFitnessPal already includes your deficit in your allotted calories for the day. Any calories that you earn through exercise are yours to do with as you please. I would recommend eating them early on as it will help with hunger issues at the beginning of stricter diets, otherwise you are creating a large gap between what you need for maintenance and what you are actually eating. If you are confident in your self-control and diet, then you can eat back a portion of the calories or none at all. Either way, you should still see results.

    I personally always shoot for a net calories of 0 and I have lost 27 pounds since January. If I exercise a lot, I eat back enough calories to feel satisfied throughout the day, which is sometimes all and is sometimes only a fraction.

    Um, do you mean net calories of 0 or calories remaining of 0?
  • Cedura
    Cedura Posts: 184 Member
    Ok glad to better know how this system is set up, and that I can re-eat with out worry. Thanks so much everyone :)
  • Ronaldblue
    Ronaldblue Posts: 12 Member
    MyFitnessPal already includes your deficit in your allotted calories for the day. Any calories that you earn through exercise are yours to do with as you please. I would recommend eating them early on as it will help with hunger issues at the beginning of stricter diets, otherwise you are creating a large gap between what you need for maintenance and what you are actually eating. If you are confident in your self-control and diet, then you can eat back a portion of the calories or none at all. Either way, you should still see results.

    I personally always shoot for a net calories of 0 and I have lost 27 pounds since January. If I exercise a lot, I eat back enough calories to feel satisfied throughout the day, which is sometimes all and is sometimes only a fraction.

    Um, do you mean net calories of 0 or calories remaining of 0?

    Calories Remaining, my apologies

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