Eating the calories I burn through exercise

katiemseiss

Say I have a 1200 calorie per day allotment and I work out and burn 300 calories the food tracker gives me an extra 300 calories to eat. If I eat all 300 calories I burned at the gym will it prevent me from losing? What's the purpose of working out then??! Can someone please explain this to me a newbie! Thanks!

ladynocturne

The 1200 calories it gives you to eat already contains the deficit for the day. Exercise on top of that is meant to be eaten back to maintain that safe deficit.

Some people exercise to get more fit, or to be able to eat more while they're losing weight.

grimendale

It is calories in/calories out. MFP expects you to eat back your exercise calories to prevent your deficit from growing too large. The 1200 value your using is already below maintenance, so netting 1200 calories will still result in a loss. What exercise affects, and what the size of deficit affects, is the source of those calories. When you eat at a deficit, your body burns both fat and lean body tissue. When the deficit is fairly small, the majority of the calories burned are going to be fat, particularly if exercise is involved to convince your body that the muscle tissue is necessary. As the deficit increases, the ratio begins to shift towards burning mostly lean body tissue. This is because muscle cells require more calories to maintain that fat cells, so it is more efficient for making up a large deficit. If the defiict is large enough and continues for long enough, the ratio shifts to primarily muscle tissue to preserve as much fuel for future use as possible. If this continues long enough (typically over the course of many weeks), the metabolic rate of the body can be damaged. If your deficit is too large, you will still lose weight, but much of that weight will be muscle tissue rather than fat. A small deficit combined with resistance training is the best way to ensure that most of the calories burned are fat rather than muscle. Exercise also has a number of benefits for general health (increased stamina, greater lung capacity, more energy, lower blood pressure, etc.) beyond weight loss.

katiemseiss

Thanks!!! Very helpful!!