Calories and Exercise

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beckawall
beckawall Posts: 3
in Food and Nutrition
I've lost about 100 pounds so far, and have about 20 more pounds to go until my goal - a number right in the middle of my healthy weight range according to most charts. I've hit a bit of a plateau lately - Still losing weight, but at a muuuuch slower pace. Recently (for about the past 2 months) I have been eating around 1200 calories per day (my usual "goal" without exercise) and exercising for an hour and a half (an hour of cardio, 30 minutes of circut training) every day. of course there are some days where I dip into my exercise calories, but never more than 100 calories of whatever MFP says I burned. I know MFP is crazy-generous with calories burned during exercise, but should I be eating some of those back to try to up my metabolism more? Any advice on this front would be helpful. Thanks guys! :glasses:

Replies

  • evelyngrice
    evelyngrice Posts: 350 Member
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    It might be worth a try :)

    x
  • ctooch99
    ctooch99 Posts: 459 Member
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    I think it depends on how you feel. If you feel energized and good and not hungry stick to what you are doing and you will work through it. If you feel a bit tired and rundown I would take a break day and then up your calories a bit (with good food of course).

    When I have done this, I come back turbo charged and I have intense workouts which in turn jack the metabolism and help to get over the hump.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    Congratulations on your weight loss so far! I would say, if what you're doing now seems to have stopped working, certainly give eating back some of your exercise calories a go. The way MFP is set up, it gives you a calorie goal based on the assumption that you will eat your exercise calories back. It's not like a rainy day fund to "dip into" when you really need the extra calories, those calories are part of your overall goal. Other weight-loss calculators factor your exercise into your calorie goal to start with. Doing an hour and a half of exercise every day, you are far from sedentary - which is presumably what you told MFP you are, to get a goal of 1200 calories.

    When you have a lot of fat to lose, you can get away with larger calorie deficits without too many problems. A lot of people find that it doesn't work so well as they get closer to their goal. I do understand your concern about MFP's calorie burn estimates as they can be very inaccurate. Have you thought about getting a heart rate monitor, which would be a bit more accurate? Alternatively, you could work out your tdee (total daily energy expenditure), take 10-20% off that number and just eat that amount of calories every day, and forget about eating back exercise calories. You might find some good info at the Eat More To Weigh Less Group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less and also this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    (For what it's worth, I've eaten every one of my estimated exercise calories back since January, and not had any problems or plateaus)
  • Amy911Gray
    Amy911Gray Posts: 685 Member
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    This totally sounds like me...Great Question Great answers!
  • stuffinmuffin
    stuffinmuffin Posts: 985 Member
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    I know MFP is crazy-generous with calories burned during exercise,

    I don't find it too innaccurate. From HRM comparison it tends to underestimate walking cals and can be a little over-excitable with things like cross-trainer cals...BUT overall I'd say that it would be totally fine to use them as a guide. I used it for a year before getting my HRM and it didn't do any harm. x
  • dragonfly_em
    dragonfly_em Posts: 122 Member
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    is MFP overly generous with exercise calories burnt? my HRM says about half of what MFP does - i.e. spin where i know i am pushing myself my HRM says about 350 whereas it predicts over 600 here. I'm believing my HRM, so when i don't use it for gardening / housework i halve what is given here.
    Also my aim is not to eat the calories i have lost - well to allow myself a bit extra if i need it but not to just eat everything in sight but to be sensible - easier said than done
  • Krazy_Kat
    Krazy_Kat Posts: 212
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    A number from a chart is not necessarily your ideal weight. How do feel? Your loss so to date is amazing. Do you fit into the clothes you want? Are you happy with your body. Do you want to get stronger or fitter? Maybe you could eat at maintainence for awhile. or eat most of your exercise calories back and change to a 1/2 lb week loss. You're an inspiration. Well done.

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