Daily Calories

MissMingLeee

So I'm just getting into the whole calorie counting and macros. I workout 3 times a week with my walking boot on, so I'm limited with exercises that involve a lot of leg movements . I just do a lot of strength training with dumbbells . Should my calorie intake stay the same on days that I don't work out or should I just be eating the same calories every single day?

DebLaBounty

MFP intends that you eat to your calorie goal every day. When you exercise, input that activity into MFP (I don't know how to do that for weightlifting) and MFP will calculate your calorie burn. For instance, say you burn 200 calories lifting weights for 30 minutes. You are entitled to eat your normal daily calories PLUS the 200 calories you earned. I typically eat my daily calories plus 50% to 75% of earned calories just in case the calorie burn was overestimated. This is the way MFP is set up, so please eat those additional calories. You will still lose weight!

kimny72

If you let mfp set your calorie goal, it does not include exercise. So you should eat your goal on non-exercise days, and when you work out you should log it and eat back at least some of those exercise calories.

If you used a TDEE calculator, it is averaging your exercise calories over the week, so you eat the same cals every day.