Just joined

RedGeezer

I've just joined MFP. I've put my details in, height and weight and my desired weight. I've put that I exercise 90 mins a day on my exercise bike. MFP says that my daily goal should be 1,540 calories a day. That's fine, I can handle that, but I'm confused about my calories burned whilst exercising? If I eat 1,540 calories a day, but burn say 600 calories a day on my exercise bike, I'm actually only consuming 940 calories a day. Do I eat my calories burned back? I apologise if I'm being naive and stupid, I just would like to know if I'm doing things correctly.

Liftng4Lis

MFP is designed to eat back exercise calories. Your deficit is already built into that 1540. Most will only eat back a portion as burns tend to be overestimated.

PaytraB

Your exercise goals aren't taken into consideration for the calculation MFP makes for your daily calorie goal. Listing your exercise is more of a reminder for yourself to try to reach that goal.
Lifting4Lis is correct: when you add your bike sessions into MFP, eat back 50-75% of that on top of the 1514 calories you have every day. Monitor your weight loss for a month or more. If you're losing too fast, eat back more of your exercise calories. If you aren't losing enough, eat back a little bit less.

chap4stick26

You're not the only one who is a bit confused with all that. I exercise a lot every day and I can barely eat the calorie intake that they say per day. So I don't really log my exercise, not sure if that's good or bad . So if you figure it out let me know okay.

wrebecca02

@chap4stick26 - My very active teenager kept losing weight. We had to keep the calorie intake at 6,000 calories plus. You definitely need to add your exercise in so you can see your actual calorie intake. You may need to add protein shakes to balance out your diet so you meet the calorie intake that you are striving to achieve. It is a balancing act.

chap4stick26

I will try to do so thanks much.