A question about cals and exercise

natanette

I've been trying to lose weight, I've been eating over 1,200 cals most days but I burn off the excess on an exercise bike. If I burn off the extra calories by exercising, will I lose weight? Or do I have to burn off all the total cals I eat in a day? Please leave an answer so I can know, add me too! Thanks.

KarenJanine

MFP has already worked a calorie deficit into your 1200 goal - this means you will lose weight even if you do not exercise.

When you exercise you will be credited with extra calories. MFP expects you to eat those calories, so your NET calories at the end of the day are 1200

e.g. if your baseline goal is 1200 and you burn an extra 300 calories in exercise, your total food intake for that day should be 1500 calories.

moment_to_arise

if your net calories are less than your TDEE, then you will lose weight, whether you achieve this by simply eating less calories, or by burning calories through exercise.

sherbear702

A good rule of thumb, at least for myself, is I try to stay at or slightly under my daily calorie limit. I exercise almost every day, but try very hard not to eat the "extra calories" that MFP gives me for exercising.