Net calories...confused-help!

tmraines87

I'm so confused on calories I've eaten for the day and then the net calories shown after exercise.

Which do I go by? I have an open diary if anyone cares to shed some insight. Thank you!

kgirlhart

If you used mfp to set your goal then your calorie goal includes your deficit without doing any exercise. So you can eat that number and lose weight even if you do not exercise. If you do exercise then that will increase your deficit. So mfp is designed for you to eat back the exercise calories. So if your goal is 1400 that is what you eat. If you exercise and burn 300 calories then you now need to eat 1700 to keep the same deficit. Some people find that mfp overestimated the calorie burn so they just eat back a portion of the exercise calories. You can start by eating back half and after about 4 weeks reevaluate. If you are losing faster than expected eat back more if you are losing slower than expected eat back less. Ideally you want your net calories to equal your goal.