Do you eat based on MFP calorie adjustments

76thrasher

Or do you simply stick to your daily calorie goal? I work out 5-6 times a week. When I do, I don't typically eat back calories from the adjustment. On rest days, I don't typically burn near as many calories so my calorie allotment is pretty low. On these days, it seems silly to cut way back on calories as I figure it all evens out throughout the week.
Am I missing something? Should I increase my activity on 'rest days'?
What do you do?

malibu927

MFP gives you a calorie amount that you can eat and lose weight without exercising. It's based on your day-to-day life otherwise (i.e. if you have a desk job, you would be considered sedentary). When you do exercise, you burn more calories than expected. In order to fuel your body and keep your deficit consistent, you should be eating a portion of those calories back.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation#latest

kgirlhart

What @malibu927 said. The way mfp is designed you will eat your goal plus exercise calories on days you work out and on days you don't work out then you will just eat your goal. If you want to just eat the same goal every day then use. Tdee calculator to set your goal. It will give you a higher goal than mfp because it will add in the exercise calories when setting the goal. Mfp is assuming no exercise.

cwolfman13

I went on a 30 mile ride yesterday and burned over 1,000 calories...if I didn't account for that activity, and just ate the before exercise calories, I would have provided my body a mere 800 calories or so...I burn around 1700-1800 just being alive...does that sound like it would be very healthy?

Exercise is unaccounted for activity in your activity level...common sense would dictate that additional activity beyond what has been accounted for in your activity level should be accounted for somewhere. Not properly accounting for exercise activity can hinder performance and ultimately result in recovery issues and lead to injury. Of course, this also depends somewhat on what you're doing...I do a lot of endurance work and lift...I'd run into a whole host of health issues if I didn't account for my exercise activity.

InkAndApples

I use a weekly overview, I'm rarely super hungry on my active days so I like banking calories and saving them for when I fancy a bigger intake

sophie7591

Been on here a month and changed my diet in April. I have yet to eat any exercise calories. It scares me lol. And no, I'm not starving.

Muana1005

I eat back all my exercise calories. Have PCOS (so lower BMR than normal folk) but have maintained weight using MFP for years. I'm now on the next stage of my loss programme and strategy is working just fine for loss too. But I walk a fast paced 5-10miles a day so I need to.

If you don't eat back exercise calories you'll be miserable and less likely to stick to the programme long term. I'm the only one of my friends who ate back, and law and behold I'm the only one who hasn't gained the weight back.

sophie7591

That's great advice and maybe I'll start eating the calories back eventually. But my motivation is health related and I'm not going Back because my health depends on it. I find that when someone has a health scare it keeps them on track as opposed to wanting to fit into a smaller size outfit. I'm feeling better physically and haven't felt the need to overindulge on anything .

SafioraLinnea

I learned the hard way a few years ago to eat your exercise calories! I was not doing that back four years ago when I was only eating a flat 1200 calories daily. I exercised 1.5-4 hours a day doing fairly high intensity stuff like hiking, roller skating, swimming, jogging, etc. Let's just say my CICO balance was excessively low and a negative number more days than not. Don't do that!

I got so so so sick. It was crazy how sick I was. I was dizzy all the time. Fainting while seated. Tunnel vision. Nauseous constantly. Always thirsty. My muscles would tremble while I was trying to sleep. My heart would race. I started sleeping 14+ hours a day still feeling exhausted. I was miserable. I spent a ton of time at the doctor but all my tests kept coming back normal. It was scary.

It took eight months after I went off my diet to feel vaguely normal again.

Now I eat between 1850 and 2200 calories a day (after exercise and breastfeeding allowances I net about 1500-1800 calories daily) depending on my exercise level, and I am still losing weight in a safe and sustainable way. The scale isn't dropping at the same pace it did before, but it's still pretty stinking fast for the amount of calories I consume. I've lost more than 50 pounds in six months.

I could easily maintain this level of intake for the rest of my life without feeling cheated or sad about it.

TigerLily100

I go on weekly figures, so at weekends I tend to burn a hell of a lot less but eat the same as throughout the week. So on exercise days I am under and over on weekends. All works out perfectly when I look at the figures weekly.
This works much better for me, I don't like having so much food one day and so little the next.