Help!

JubilantJulie · August 2013

I am trying to figure out what I need to be eating daily. Do I need to be eating up to net calories after exercise or eat what my goal calorie is and ignore what the net calories say after I exercise?

kml07071 · August 2013

I try and just eat my calorie goal and look at what I burn exercising is anything extra to help me lose weight (if losing weight is what you want to do). If you consume your goal plus your exercise calories you may stay where you are.

baxtersbh · August 2013

I agree with kml07071, I TRY to ignore the extra calories it gives you when you exercise. You need to burn 3500 calories to lose 3500 calories. I think they add it to your caloric intake to help show you in the food diary how many calories you burned...even though they show it in the exercise log.

1princesswarrior · August 2013

MFP already builds in a deficit when it calculates the calories you should eat. Your net calories should at least equal your BMR. The BMR is what your body needs to feed your internal organs, it's what they would feed you in the hospital if you were in a coma. MFP has a BMR calculator in the apps section.

This thread is going to start a daily debate. I recommend learning about BMR, TDEE, and macros to figure out what you should be eating.

Good luck!

cjlarsen77 · August 2013

It depends on how fast you are trying to loose weight. For example, for medical reasons (gallstones) I should not lose more than 1 lb/week. So, I put that 1 lb/week weight loss goal in, along with my weight and other info and MyFitnessPal calculates how many calories I should eat to lose 1 lb/week. If I exercise and burn calories, I need to eat more calories to balance the calories burned.
Net Calories Consumed = Total Calories Consumed - Exercise Calories Burned

The Your Daily Goal number that you see at the beginning of the day in your Food Diary (before you add any foods) is the
Total Calories Consumed number of calories you should eat if you want to achieve the weight loss goal you put into MyFitnessPal (e.g 1 lb/week)
If you exercise, you can eat the calories burned by exercise and still meet your weigh loss goal.

If you want to lose weight at the rate you put in as a goal. Eat the Net Calories Consumed amount.

If you want to lose weight faster, either change your goal (which will change your Total Calories Consumed goal) and still eat the new Net Calories Consumed, or don't eat all of the exercise calories.

You can change your weight loss goal by going to MyHome, then click Goals. Note that on this page there is a section titled Your Diet Profile. It lists
* Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity (eat this much, don't exercise, and your weight will not change)
* Your Daily Goal = Net Calories Consumed = Total Calories Consumed - Exercise Calories Burned
* Daily Calorie Deficit 500 calories
* Projected Weight Loss 1 lb/week

Notice that Your Daily Goal + Daily Calorie Deficit = Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity
What this means is that MyFitnessPal has calculated for you how many calories you should eat if you want to lose weight at the rate you put in as your weight loss goal. You should eat Net Calories Consumed. So yes, you get to eat the calories you burned by exercising.

If you want to change your weightless goal, just click on the Change Goals button on the MyHome>Goals page

CipherZero · August 2013

I try to 'eat back' the calories burned, and I've still been consistently losing weight. I try to fill the "earned calories" with protein / fats as opposed to carbohydrates, but my goal of building muscle mass may not be *your* goal.

I've calculated out my BMR and TDEE and both seem to come out far FAR higher than what I actually need. to maintain or lose weight. For instance, MFP calculates by BMR as 1636, but sets my daily calories (sans exercise) at 38 calories below this to lose a pound a week.

Something doesn't track in that math.

the tl;dr version: Use the base, add calories for exercise, and your mileage may vary.