The FastDay Forum

Hi there

I'm a newbie to 5:2 and it's working great for me so far. Apologies if these questions have been asked before but I am a tad confused.

1. if my TDEE is 2000 can I net off additional calories consumed with exercise? So if I do exercise that burns 400 cal can I eat another 400 cal theoretically and still be on track? I'm actually not going to do that as it is a slippery slope for me, will be sticking to TDEE of 2000 and hoping I reap some benefits.. just curious really

2. As a Fitbit addict I was wondering how accurate people think the Fitbit calories burned calculation is. I tend to be quite conservative regardless but again just curious

thanks!

To me the whole point of exercising is that you create additional calorie deficit by putting in an extra effort. Therefore I wouldn't account for burnt calories in my daily TDEE.

I have no idea about the Fitbit though.

I don't think you're meant to do that in this way of eating - I'm no expert but I've seen other threads where people have said just to stick to the TDEE regardless of exercise cals. Seems simpler to me

When you put your information into the calculator it asks you what your activity level is. So the exercise is already calculated in to the formula. So the short answer is no. Or should I say, its up to you, but it will slow down the weight loss you are enjoying at the moment.

[carieoates]

I agree with what's been said. It's nice to see how many extra cals you are burning, but I still stick to my TDEE, not adding extra because of exercise as like Julie says it's been done in the tracker already.

I assume that my Calories used on Fitbit is the more accurate measure, but I don't usually eat to my TDEE anyway. As @gorba said creating a bigger calorie deficit is a good thing and there seems to have been a lot of stuff lately about exercise not being an efficient method of loosing weight because people feel they can treat themselves to extra calories because they have done exercise

[carorees]

TDEE includes exercise that's why it's called total daily energy expenditure! If you want to adjust your calorie intake according to your actual exercise you have to take your BMR and then add the exercise calories. Also, remember that most calculators that tell you how many calories you've burned while doing some kind of exercise include the BMR during that period of time, whereas you need to know how many calories you've burned in addition to your BMI. That's why it's easiest to get your TDEE calculation based on your average exercise level and just eat to that calculation. Of course the calculation can be wrong for a variety of reasons so if you don't lose weight it could be that the calculation is not correct for you!

[Tracieknits]

My TDEE is what my fitbit says it is -- generally somewhere around 2400 calories a day if I get my 10K steps in.

I allow myself 25% of THAT DAY's TDEE on a fast -- so if I exercise more, I allow myself to eat 25% of those extra calories as well as what I normally burn just by breathing.

I utterly and completely ignore any TDEE calculation anywhere except on my fitbit. What it says I'm burning that day is what I'm burning that day.

To be clear - so if I did exercise that said I burned an extra 400 calories, I would allow myself to eat an extra 100 calories -- so I both get to eat more *and* have a bigger calorie deficit. Win-win

thanks everyone! much appreciated. I'm going to stick to the TDEE on my tracker (which as a bit of a data nerd I really love! thanks to those who built it!) and the exercise can be a bonus.