Exercising and calorie counting?

[JMPB]

Afternoon.

I am new to calorie counting as I have always had an active job which kept me fit.
however I am now 15 weeks PP and wanting to loose the bay weight. I have downloaded my fitness pal and have been going off there recommendation for the amount of calories I should be eating based on little to no exercise.

On the days I exercise (sometimes a good 4/5 mile walk and/or a home workout) should I be eating a few more calories to account for the ones I’ve burned? I don’t always find the time to do proper exercise with the baby but I do it when I can.

thanks :)

It's your calories over a week which are better to think about rather than a rigid number each day. Same with steps. What calories does MFP have you on? You should have the same number each day regardless of exercise unless you're doing mega long gym sessions or long runs etc

no, the calorie estimates for exercise are always way over, and we usually underestimate our calories in. Ignore the random number generated as exercise calories, stick to the basic number (well a range of about 100 cal either side).

Thankyou :)
It has me on 1250 a day. I’m 5ft 4 and trying to loose a stone and a half baby weight x

I use My Fitness Pal and factor my calories in when I've been to the gym as I tend to burn 700-800 calories (on my Fitbit) However if I go for a walk and burn 300-400 then I don't as the calories burned don't seem noticeable enough.

How much did you say you wanted to lose per week? (and what's your goal weight?)
FWIW I'm only 3 inches taller and I'm losing weight on roughly 1950.... Yes, i didn't have a baby this year (DS is 5 now) but that seems pretty low really

Your fitbit is escalating that drastically

You'd have to be in the gym for hours and lifting stupidly heavy for that to be the case

It isn't really to do with calorie counting and exercising though, that is far too simplistic - your body will simply compensate for your "energy deficit" by saving energy elsewhere.

You need to understand about which foods are going to trigger hormones that will increase weight gain, eg vegetable oil, sugar, artificial sweeteners, margarine, white bread/pasta etc - all things to avoid

Read "Why we eat too much" by Andrew Jenkinson

Just be careful if you are breastfeeding, you don't need to drop so low to loose weight. Add 400-500 calories if you are and the weight will still come off steadily. I lost a post partum stone each pregnancy with this. And remember your body is holding extra water for creating breastmilk, and is stretched out of shape, taking time to return to a new normal (your stomach may never be the same again). Your body took 9 months getting out of shape, give it the same again to recover. But calorie counting is a useful part of it (worked for me).

Funnily enough, I haven't eliminated anything and I'm losing weight.

So do thousands of other people in one group I belong to on FB.

This triggering of hormones stuff is not real, it's pseudoscience.

Explain that please @2greenroses

1250 is going to be unsustainable with a small baby and lack of sleep - please tell me you’re not breastfeeding?

I’m 16wks postpartum and down to my last 4kg to lose - currently on 1900 a day with breastfeeding. Exercise-wise, I’m running around 20km a week and trying to build this back up, plus 3 HIIT and at least 10k steps a day. Not eating back anything extra. I’m 5’7’’ and 64kg, aiming for 0.25kg a week.

I think you need to eat more calories, keep it sustainable or you’ll cave - I’m struggling on 1900 atm with lack of sleep! Be kind to your body, your baby’s still tiny and you’re still recovering.

Yes, @toothiepegs my best ever 'diet' was BF the heffalump child.
Not having another so back to the hard grind it is. I'll get there- same height as you but naturally sit rather heavier.

@Harrysmummy246 Oddly enough,, it’s only the last two weeks it’s started to come off and I wondered if I was just holding on to extra fat cos of bfeeding - I was getting really frustrated, tracking calories religiously and couldn’t get under 65kg - now it’s working as it should and I feel a bit better again! Lost 10kg straight after birth and then a bit more but it stalled pretty quickly.

I’m surviving the 4month sleep regression with cheese and chocolate though so this could all go south very quickly…

explain what? Maybe read up on it then come back and explain which bit you are querying. I'm hardly going to give you thousands of pages and decades of well established scientific research here on a Mumsnet thread, am I?

You might as well say "I don't believe in science - explain that"

Yeah I can see how all the starving people in the world are hanging onto body fat due to their body compensating for their calories deficit. FFS I am so sick of people buying into this shit!! If you eat in a calorie deficit you will lose body fat, regardless of what those calories are made up of. Obviously it's a smart idea to eat a decent range of foods including lots of protein fruit and veg etc 🙄

Thanks for all the advice, I know it’s early days but I was spiralling into a habit of eating crap and wanted to break it, and I do honestly feel better since eating better.
I’m not breastfeeding anymore, unfortunately that journey came to an end for us when baby was about 8 weeks old.
ill up my calories a bit and see what happens, some days I’ve been under and some a little over. It’s all new to me so I’m still learning, I’m also trying to learn about the macros and how much of each is good for your body but it’s all quite confusing! For context my daily meals seem ok I just top up with a lot of salad/veg but I do miss having a snack every now and again.

The problem is lack of understanding of biology. We are not machines. "The energy in-energy out = energy retained" formula works for a simple machine, but not for a living body, which can vary the use of the energy budget in literally thousands of ways. And yes, compare us to a population living permanently with a fraction of our daily energy intake - you will find they will NOT be losing weight! Even with a life of hard physical work every day. That should give you a clue! Mainstream scientific understanding of this moved on several decades ago. But some people are very deeply bonded to old misconceptions, maybe because they find the more advanced information harder to understand.

I don't think people are blindly hanging onto old misconceptions it is more that the simple calculation of energy in energy out still works for so many people. WW, slimming world, IF, 5:2 etc all works for literally thousands upon thousands of people and none of those factor in what you are eating, simply how much you are eating. I also truly believe that for a person such as the OP who is starting this journey the simpler it is the better to begin with. Don't eat this or don't eat that is restrictive and confusing and totally unnecessary.
OP I would bring your calories up to 1500 a day, don't track calories burned by exercise, try to eat protein and fruit and veg with every meal. Don't cut out snacks completely but factor them in to your allotted calories. Get your steps up to 10000+ a day if you can. Weigh yourself daily at the same time and note it down. BE CONSISTENT. This will not happen overnight. Stick with it for at least four weeks before you change anything.

It IS simple though.

Cut out processed food - as far as possible

Cut out refined white flour products - as far as possible

Cut out sugary food or food with artificial sweeteners ( the calorie content is relevant, but actually, the insulin spike is what causes obesity, and sugar, or artificial sweeteners both trigger an insulin spike, because they taste the same)

Cut out vegetable oil and margarine totally

It is NOT true that calorie counting has worked for thousands of people - calorie counting is known to cause weight gain in the long run, for thousands of people

Eat fresh food - eat lots and lots of veg

I get that and believe me, I tend to use these numbers loosely but based on this info from Google I'm not too far out...

If you can run at a speed of 10 miles per hour at a pace of 6 minutes per mile for 45 minutes you'll cover 7.5 miles. If you weigh 150 pounds you can expect this run to burn 851 calories, or 18.91 calories per minute

I tend to run, spin and do weights for 1.5 hours when I'm in the gym.

But you're missing the most influential part of weight loss - behaviours. If you tell someone to cut this out and cut that out then it becomes restrictive. The binge restrict cycle is so common, especially in women. Counting calories causing weight gain...maybe so...but counting calories to create a calorie deficit can not physically lead to gaining body fat. It is physiologically impossible to gain body fat whilst eating in a deficit!

And for what it's worth I am leaner than I've ever been, very low body fat, training hard, sleeping well, feeling good...and I don't restrict a single thing from my diet. Just had full blood work done and I'm healthy in every way. Nobody needs to cut anything out

I agree with @22greenroses.

In summary though op, no, do not eat more on days you're doing a bit of exercise

Track your calories, don’t try and eat the calories you burn through exercise. It’s about the amount totalled through the week too so if you eat more one day, eat a little less the next. Eat food you enjoy, don’t cut crazy amounts of food groups out. Eat well and include fruits, veg and protein, nuts seeds and pulses ( watch the calories)
Eat less processed food where you can but it doesn’t have to be obsessive. Too much restriction isn’t always realistic and more prone to failure.

Even on days when you aren’t formally ‘exercising’ move more even just around the house or a quick walk around the block.

But this is where the fundamental misconceptions lie. You cannot. Relate a ‘calorie deficit’ by calorie counting and exercising. Exercise accounts for a tiny proportion of the calories your body burns. Eat less and exercise more, your body simply readjusts the other 95% of day calories burnt, growing nails, producing hormones, whatever. And including calories saved from these other activities, yes, you can gain body fat. This is all part of our defences against starvation.