Calories eaten and exercise

[Juliat 6]

On myfitnesspal.com when I exercise, it adds to my calories. So, if I get 200 calories from exercise, it raises my calories for the day to 1400. Which is cool to me, MORE FOOD!

Just kidding.. Anyways, do I still try to keep under 1200 calories or do what it says and add the calories. I'm confused because my RN says to definitely stay under 1200.

What do ya'll think?

J.

[vickyd 24]

Just because MFP adds it back to your allowed calories doesn't mean you have to eat them...I never eat my exercise calories. If I were you, I would stick to what your RN says unless you stop losing. If that happens you might want to bump your calories up a bit.

[JanB23 23]

On myfitnesspal.com when I exercise, it adds to my calories. So, if I get 200 calories from exercise, it raises my calories for the day to 1400. Which is cool to me, MORE FOOD!

Just kidding.. Anyways, do I still try to keep under 1200 calories or do what it says and add the calories. I'm confused because my RN says to definitely stay under 1200.

What do ya'll think?

J.

I was eating my exercise calories and my weight never moved. I stopped eating the extra and cut back to between 1000 & 1200 calories as recommended and i have started to loose again. I stopped adding my exercise because it does trick you in to thinking you have more calories to play with and that messes with my brain.

[Melissannde 41]

My question would be what are you using to calculate your calorie burn?

If you're using the calculators on a machine such as a treadmill, those are notoriously optomistic, as are websites that have estimates of calorie expenditure.

A HR monitor that uses a chest strap is a little more accurate, but still not perfect.

I use livestrong.com/thedailyplate to journal my food and it also adds back in my exercise (and I use a Polar HR monitor to estimate my burn). I try not to eat back my exercise calories, but if I'm truly hungry (waited 20 minutes after my meal.. and extra Water, extra plain veggies just aren't cutting it) I will eat back some of them. I try to keep it at no more than half of what I've supposedly burned.

It's sometimes good to have a day of 900 calories and then a day of 1400 calories.. keeps the body a bit confused. As long as what you are doing is working for you, keep at it.

[debbie815 0]

On myfitnesspal.com when I exercise, it adds to my calories. So, if I get 200 calories from exercise, it raises my calories for the day to 1400. Which is cool to me, MORE FOOD!

Just kidding.. Anyways, do I still try to keep under 1200 calories or do what it says and add the calories. I'm confused because my RN says to definitely stay under 1200.

What do ya'll think?

J.

I am not a lapband poster child. I was at 1200 calories + I was excersizing and not using those calories. I've had 3 fills but haven't lost any weight. I have dropped my calories down to 800-1000 and still not doppping weight. My PA doesn't really know what to say. I'm trying to eat very few carbs to see if that helps. I think that all of our metabolisms are different. If anyone has any insights or suggestions please let me know.

[Juliat 6]

Thanks everyone for replying! Melissannde, I'm just using whatever myfitnesspal says I'm burning. I usually walk 2 miles (40 minutes) during lunch and it says I'm burning about 200 calories.

I'll keep eating the 1200 calories and see what happens. I just started really working out so I don't know what's working yet. It'll be interesting.

J.

[nurse535 30]

Debbie, you may actually need MORE calories to stimulate weight loss. When I was on WW I saw many posts on their message boards from members who weren't losing and it turned out they weren't eating their whole daily point allotment or using any of their exercise points or extra points, and when they started eating MORE they'd start losing! Some people say starvation mode is a myth but I think some people really do have that response. It might be as simple for you as adding back full-calorie items (whole or at least 2% milks, full-fat cheese instead of low-fat cheese, etc). Hope something changes for you soon!

Juliat, I think you will have to try it and see, because some people do need more calories when they're exercising to stay healthy. I've just started "really" exercising (I've been going on leisurely walks in the neighborhood, but now I'm hitting the treadmill at the gym and actually breaking a real sweat for at least 30 min at a time) and I've noticed my appetite has increased. I've only been banded 3 weeks so I'm still figuring things out, still not eating all foods yet, and no fills yet...so many variables!!!