Do I have to eat the calories that I'm exercising ?

rosy0830
rosy0830 Posts: 3 Member
edited November 24 in Health and Weight Loss
I am not sure how this works my calorie intake is suppose to be 1400 to lose weight then I see when I exercise it shows I have more calories then I read an article and it says you have to eat 500 less calories to lose a pound ?

Replies

  • mamabear1114
    mamabear1114 Posts: 140 Member
    It seems like the consensus on here is to eat back 25-50% of your exercise calories. Hope that helps. :)
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    You have to eat 500 calories less, correct. But your body burns way more calories throughout the day than just exercise. MFP has already set you up to lose weight without exercise. This way when you do work out, you can (and should) eat more. Maybe not all of your exercise calories, but at least some. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited January 2018
    Yes eat back your exercise calories, thats the way MFP works, the calories they give you doesn't include exercise so if you earn them you can eat them. Why some people don't eat them all back is because sometimes the calorie burn is overestimated. I ate back around 75% of mine when I was losing because I knew the burn it gave me sounded too high.
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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,421 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    mamabear1114 wrote: »
    It seems like the consensus on here is to eat back 25-50% of your exercise calories. Hope that helps. :)

    nope, i eat 100% of mine

    ^^This. I've always eaten 100% of mine. Why wouldn't I? That's the way this website is set up.

    I lost all my weight that way and have been maintaining for years.

    @rosy0830 here are the "Getting Started" posts, read them for more understanding:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    mamabear1114 wrote: »
    It seems like the consensus on here is to eat back 25-50% of your exercise calories. Hope that helps. :)

    nope, i eat 100% of mine

    Me too. Always have.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    rosy0830 wrote: »
    I am not sure how this works my calorie intake is suppose to be 1400 to lose weight then I see when I exercise it shows I have more calories then I read an article and it says you have to eat 500 less calories to lose a pound ?

    MFP calculates that deficit already.

    You don't need to eat less than MFP recommends.

    That being said. Exercise calories are estimated and some are estimated better than others.

    If you aren't certain the estimate is correct, you may eat less. But you should certainly eat some of them.
  • freakyfantasy
    freakyfantasy Posts: 6 Member
    I usually just log half my exercise time to account for possible errors in calories estimations by MFP. I go for 1 h Zumba or Cycling class, I log 30 mins in the app.
  • JMcGee2018
    JMcGee2018 Posts: 275 Member
    I eat mine back depending on hunger. If I'm still hungry after dinner and I burned some calories working out, I'll eat. If I'm not hungry I won't eat and just take the extra deficit. Don't starve yourself for that extra deficit, though.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    rosy0830 wrote: »
    I am not sure how this works my calorie intake is suppose to be 1400 to lose weight then I see when I exercise it shows I have more calories then I read an article and it says you have to eat 500 less calories to lose a pound ?

    500 calories less than maintenance requirements...if you put in that you wanted to lose X Lbs per week, this calculator calculated your deficit...so 1400 calories is your deficit, not maintenance. if you stated that you wanted to lose 1 Lb per week, MFP is estimating your non-exercise maintenance calories to be 1,900...so 1400 would be a 500 calorie deficit.

    Exercise isn't accounted for in your activity level...so if you exercise, you log it and get additional calories to account for what is otherwise unaccounted for activity...if you got 300 calories for exercise you could eat 1700 calories and still have a 500 calorie deficit because your non-exercise maintenance would have gone from 1900 to 2200 calories with additional activity and 2200 - 1700 = 500 calorie deficit still.
  • KWlosingit
    KWlosingit Posts: 122 Member
    Oh and the 500 is x 7 or 3500 to lose a pound. People usually say 500 because that is per day.
  • rosy0830
    rosy0830 Posts: 3 Member
    I eat only my 1400 and I had 700 calories of activity if I don't eat all my calories is if I don't eat any of my activity calories will that cause me not to lose I have been doing this for 2 weeks now and I know it's still early but I have remained the same weight
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    rosy0830 wrote: »
    I eat only my 1400 and I had 700 calories of activity if I don't eat all my calories is if I don't eat any of my activity calories will that cause me not to lose I have been doing this for 2 weeks now and I know it's still early but I have remained the same weight

    If you're in a deficit you'll lose weight. But a higher deficit will cause muscle loss, hair loss, fatigue, dry/brittle nails, hormonal imbalances (especially those associated with the reproductive system), organ malfunctions, and a host of other health issues.

    That said, you still need to make sure your logging is as accurate as possible. How are you measuring your calorie intake?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    It will really depend on how accurate your logging is. If you're eyeballing everything, it's probably best to ignore exercise calories altogether.
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