Should I eat extra when I have done exercise?

bevans666

I just wanted to know what everyone's general view was of additional calories when they have exercised.

When you add it to MyFitnessPal, it gives you extra calories for that day. I feel that by using them for food, you are going to lose less weight as you have written of your exercise as food, so essentially aside from the extra calories (always a bonus at the weekend), it isn't helping your general weight loss?

joe575757

It depends what your goals are. I only want to lose 1 lb/week, so in the past when I did cardio in my workouts I'd eat those calories back. I still lost 1 lb/week so I guess the estimate worked for me, but I was doing HIIT-style stuff and logging it as moderate intensity.

Most people seem to say that MFP overestimates how many calories you spend, that's even if you accurately report the exercise. Many of the newer machines also have a 'calories burned' estimator built in, but most people say those overestimate too.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Your deficit for weight loss is built in, so if you exercise MFP intends for you to eat back the calories. The idea is to have a deficit, but not too large of a deficit because it can lead to fatigue and generally feeling like crap, binging, and burning out. If you don't want to eat back exercise calories then I'd recommend setting a higher calorie goal to start with.