suma-ya-c's Journal, 05 Dec 20

In the past I've done both and both works. With WLR (weightlossresources) you eat your exercise calories but with this app I just eat my daily allowance which for me is 1500, regardless of how many exercise calories I have. I think both works but its safer to do it this way as unless you've got a really reliable bit of kit that gives you a true measure of your calories burnt during exercise, it could be possible to over estimate your exercise calories and then eat too much and gain x 

Thanks mighty Rose. That's a good point about the over-estimation of exercise calories. Think I need to ease into my calorie reduction over the next couple of weeks. 

To lose weight you need a proper, real, actual calorie deficit. That is, you have to eat less calories than you burn. You will struggle to lose weight if you try and 'earn' extra calories by exercising more. The main aim of exercise is to keep fit. And it is a great tool to help you maintain a healthy weight or to help prevent putting on even more weight if you are overweight. I only lose weight if I eat 1500 calories a day regardless of how much exercise I do. 

Eating more calories because I’ve exercised is where I’ve gone wrong in past. Also if you have fitness/step watch ignore the calories it thinks you’ve consumed! 

I don’t believe it should be that way but people normally go lower not higher but the app normally suggests higher than 1700 normally over 2000 personally I tried 1000 but at first it was nearer 1200 but after a while I was able to keep to 1000 but my point is find the right level for you and adjust it if you need to 

I don’t know how it works for others but I actually wanna it less when I exercise. On lazy days I always have this desire of eating some chocolate or any other junk food, and it’s not very pleasant feeling when you just deny yourself this stuff, but when I go to gym I feel extremely good without any cravings for junk food. Sooo, maybe give yourself some time without extra calories on exercise days, and you’ll feel you don’t need them 

I'm at a loss also as previous app was allowing me 1200 calories a day which was very achievable for my weight loss journey. Now this app said 1400 so I've reduced it to what I know will work hope this helps 🤞 

Exercise is awesome for many reasons, hormone regulation being one of them. This includes the appetite-regulating hormones Michelle. That is probably why you notice those effects. So it is great to exercise as part of a healthy regime as it assists you to keep within your daily calorie limit. Spot on! 

Kalisy, I think this app is generous with the calorie allownaces. They probably dont want to be seen as encouraging people to under eat. It allows me 1800 for weight loss but that is more like maintenance for me. I go for 1500. 

Thanks everyone. Very useful tips. I'm going to have to reduce my calories weekly - I always feel deprived if I go too fast and then spiral into self sabotage. Would love to start the new year 3kgs lighter! 

I’ve done body weight (in lbs) x 15 = maintenance calories. Then I’ve deducted 500 calories for my weight loss calorie total. That makes 2100 calories a day. Also a lot of that should be protein. However, I’m eating around 1800 and losing but veeeeeeeery slowly. I’ve gone lower to around 1400 calories but didn’t notice much difference so I’m thinking perhaps I’m then cutting too much (if you don’t eat enough your body starts burning muscles instead of fat and you can stop losing). I’ve massively started exercising the last couple of weeks but so far not much difference. I’m getting a feeling it’s all a bit trial and error and there can be so many other factors such as stress, medication etc. and you just have to keep trying to find the right balance for you. 

Eating more calories on the exercise day would be pointless if your goal is weight loss rather than muscle gain. All you'd do is wipe out the benefits of the calories burned through exercise 

Thanks munchie and lulu. Helpful calculations to give me a rough idea of where I should try to pitch my daily calories. Will try it this week and see how I get on🤞.