I have two questions for you calorie counting experts:
1) I read a few times that it takes 3,500 calories a day to gain a pound, is this true? Can you gain weight eating less or is this pretty much exact science?
2) I sometimes eat back SOME of my exercise calories (not all) that are given on MFP. Some people say you should eat them back, others say don't. What's the right thing to do?
I've been calorie counting for a while, so hopefully I can help you out. I'm not sure if the 3500 calorie thing is an exact science. I think gaining a pound may be a combination of the amount of calories that you are eating and where your calories are coming from. Take a hot dog for example. A hot dog is about 160 calories, 140 from fat. I think you should try to avoid consuming too many of your calories from fat, but from my experience, as long as burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight.
On your second question, I don't think there is any way that you can NOT eat your calories back that you have burned. You have to eat to have energy throughout the day. So if you ran in the morning and burned 500 cals, you should still eat your calorie count of 1200 or 1700 or whatever you've decided to consume. You burn calories all day long, even if you're just functioning. I've heard that you can take your current weight, multiply it by 10, and that is your resting metabolic rate--the amount of calories you burn a day just existing. As long as you are under that amount, you should lose weight.
To gain one pound, the "science" is, that you have to eat 3,500 calories in excess of what you need. So, for simplicity's sake, let's say you use 2,000 calories each day for breathing, moving, all that jazz. To gain a pound in a day you'd have to eat 5,500 calories. Most people don't do that- but they might eat say 2,500 calories a day. 500 more than what they need. By the end of 1 week 7x500) they've eaten 3,500 calories too many and gain a pound. Of course, that's if everything worked perfectly and were ONLY talking about fat gain. You also may gain weight because you're retaining water, you need a bowel movement... But pretty much most people agree that 3,500 calories in excess= 1 pound of fat gain.
I hope that answers that question, and I understood what you were asking :P
As far as adding back exercise- I don't. I figure it's like a *bonus* for burning extra calories, and MANY people overestimate what they burn... For example, I ran 3.5 miles this morning at an 8:00/mile pace... I worked my butt of. According to my heart rate monitor and a few websites, I burned ALMOST 300 calories. Not what I used to expect.
However, I think it also depends on your level of activity. If I'm running a race (1/2 marathon) or have a long day of dance classes (5+ hours of rehearsal) yeah, I eat more because I'd feel like death without a little extra boost.
Find what works for you! There's a LOT of trial and error that comes with weight loss!
The 3500 calories are actually kilocalories. A calorie is a unit of heat, and the 3500 is what you get when you burn a pound of fat in a dvice called a calorimeter. In theory, a deficit of 3500 calories overall will create a 1lb loss. But that doesn't mean you can predict that every single time you create that deficit that you will automatically drop one pound. The human body is highly complex and many many factors influence the mobilization of fat from the cells to the bloodstream. Said more simply, fat loss is not automatic and is not linear. What I can tell you is that if overall you keep up your efforts and keep your calories down, you will see progress. Don't give up, and don't become so obsessed with the numbers that you can't see anything else.
I read once that our bodies are not a bank account, but a chemistry lab.
What happens inside the body during metabolism is not the same thing as what is determined to be a calorie in a laboratory. This is the basic disillusionment of calorie counting. If you ate a known calorie count such as a twinkie and I ate the same thing, it doesn't mean it will create the same effect (gain or loss) for one of us over the other. I may be diabetic and old, therefore my body metabolizes those calories in a different way than yours. To confound it all even more, even if we ate that same known calorie counts such as that twinkie each and every day, it would be metabolised differently each day depending on such factors as the activity level we had that particular day and the additional calories we consumed. And, lastly, our bodies are not geared to the 24 hour clock as our minds are, it doesn't compute intake or output exactly on a 24 hour basis. Neither does it process all the food and liquid taken in, rates of digestion can vary up to 3 days! So to think suddenly the tally is finalised because the clock struck midnight....we are fooling ourselves.
What I am trying to say, is that it is pointless to get too wrapped up in the numbers game, it is much better to think in terms of overall variances. Perhaps a general idea of how many calories it takes to generally maintain your weight (mixed in with your general activity level) will help you better determine how to reduce that general number for weight loss. As your weight decreases, so will your calorie needs, so don't go too low before you need to.
Over time, I figured out that I maintain my weight at about 1500 calories. To lose, I need to be 1000-1200, but not more, unless I also increase my activity level accordingly. When I don't lose at that level, I look at the foods I ate, to see if they were wholesome and not overflowing with too much junk. I certainly cannot lose weight if those calories are mostly sugar and starch. But I am also older and less able to take in what I use to be able to eat without bigger consequences.
Keep experimenting with how YOUR body reacts, what it takes to lose weight and base it less on actual numbers and more on results. It can change over time, learning to be flexible now will give you the key to success later on!
Last edited by mysleepingdragon; 05-16-2012 at 02:00 PM.
Calorie counting questions..
