I signed up for www.myfitnesspal.com about 2 weeks ago. It suggests that I eat 1200 calories per day + however many extra I burn through work outs (usually about 250 to 350 a day for me). So, most days it says I can eat between 1200 and 1500 calories.
I've heard a lot of people on this forum say that they're on a strict 1200 calorie diet, so I was curious if people stick to their calories or if they add on the number burned in exercise to that restricted limit? Just curious how others are doing it!
Last week I lost about a pound and a half. This week so far I've been the same weight.
Also just curious, how many calories per day do you aim to burn? I'm curious if my goals are too low.

Thanks!!!

I never ate back excercise calories, until I reached maintaince. When I was activity losing, I kind of thought the point of excercise was to keep a nice steady loss going, so I wasn't about to eat back that benefit of doing it. Though, I have never been a hardcore excercise queen. I don't go to a gym or anything, I just work hard doing stuff.

Well i eat 1,250 calories sunday through Thursday...and then eat 1350 friday and saturday..if im over a lil like 5 to 10 calories i dont really care..but i usually always hit those numbers....& i have no idea how many calories i burn during a work out lol..for me i don't work out to worry about the numbers so i can eat them back nor do i really care how many i burn or anything like that, when i work out its more about getting this this and this done and knowing i worked hard & worked my body good & thats good enough for me. && its been working so far I think if your really hungry you should up your calories..i get hungry just a little bit during one part of the day, late afternoon.. but its not a intense crazy hungry..to where i HAVE to eat.

Im diabetic, so I cant ignore the signals, when my body says its hungry I MUST EAT.
I eat 1500 calories a day, regardless if I exercise or not.

I've lost 18 lbs since end of December, so something is working right...
Good luck!!!!!

I always eat back my exercise calories so that my net is never below 1200. On days I do not exercise, I eat about 1350. If I exercise and burn 400 calories, then I will eat around 1500-1700. After a ton of research and talking to the nutritionist at my university, I have found out about net calories and those should never be below 1200. So my 1600 eaten minus my 400 for exercise gives me a net if 1200. If I didnt eat back my exercise calories, then my net would be like 900 which isnt good.

750cal/day plus unlimited salad, me. it's a medically supervised VLCD bec my doctor says "weight off - NOW" and i've got 100lbs to lose.

i stick to it pretty good but i try to schedule fewer cals so that if i do get the noshies, it's covered.

I've never eaten back my exercise calories. I don't want to equate exercise with the amount I eat (although I logically acknowledge that the two are connected) because in the past when I did that, if I screwed up on one of those two things, I would throw in the towel with the other. I'm trying to view exercise as something that relieves stress and that makes my body look and feel better.

I have 1650 cals a day and I burn 2400 I SHOULD ALWAYS have a deficit of 750 at these cals in order to lose.


I use apexfitness

I'm curious now to see what fitness pal says it should be

I'm more confused than ever now! Hah... It's good to know that others have been told the same thing that I was. My net calories are usually around 1000 or 1100 after exercising according to the site. Still not sure if this is good or not!

If you google "Net calories", you'll find lots of information about why your NET shouldn't be below 1200. Just because people lose from having a net below 1200, it doesn't mean it is healthy or smart. My university has a bachelor degree program on nutrition and food, so we have a mass amount of nutritionists running around. I met with one of the professors to talk about my diet and she went over how net calories work and how they should never be below 1200 (unless medically recommended and watched by your health care professional)

I just typed in "Net calories 1200" into google and there are lots of people asking the same question. Almost all of the answers they received state that 1200 is only good if your sedentary, and if not you need to eat back your exercise calories.

Thanks, Candeka! That's great information. I'm about to google up a storm. lol...

My counting app is set at about 1600 calories a day to loose 1 lb. a week. I generally eat between 1300-1500 per day. I've been losing over 1 lb.+ a week this way. On days that I work out, I find that I'll eat a bit more and don't worry if I need to go over 1600 that day. I'm usually a bit more hungry on work out days anyways and feel like it is just fine to eat back some calories if you need to.

I thought the point of net calories was to create a deficit. I've been reading online that you need to have a negative net calorie balance. Now I'm confused...

I use caloriecount.com btw. It's a great website.

Not while losing... I will once I get to my goal

I've read lots of stuff lately about how dangerous going under 1200 net calories is, even if you are successfully losing weight while doing it. What I'm doing now is working better for me. 2 meals a day of about 500 calories and a couple 100 calorie snacks for a total of about 1200 calories. Then I supplement that with protein bars, etc. on days when I workout. Seems to be working well and I have plenty of energy! Thanks for the information about net 1200 calories, Candeka!!!!