Should I be eating back my exercise cals?

kellykiana

Hi! I am so confused. Everyone says something different. My calorie goal is 1500. I exercise 5 days a week and log my burned calories on my fitness watch. I'm also on my feet all day at work and typically walk between 8,000-10,000 steps a day. If I burn 500 calories at the gym, should i be eating 1900? Or is that defeating the purpose of exercising? I'm trying to lose weight. Some people say yes and others say no.

harper16

I've heard to eat back half the calories burned.

serindipte

MFP is set up for you to eat back your exercise calories. It already includes a deficit. That said, exercise calories are often not accurate, so the prevailing wisdom is to start with eating half of them back for six weeks, then reevaluate.