to eat or not to eat exercise calories?

urwhaturnot

I don't want to write a book, but essentially I am struggling with knowing if I should or shouldn't eat calories I earn by exercising. I am not used to counting calories, but rather points. (Weight Watchers) I decided to try the whole calorie counting thing when I disovered this site. I have lost a lot of weight with WW and love the program, however, I want to know all I can. Back years ago when I lost a lot of weight on the WW program, I had this same struggle. Well, fast forward, life changes..gained 70 lbs of my weight back and now getting on track. I am thinking that I lost more weight when I ate all the extra points on the WW program and exercised, but never could find the balance with the points plus program. (I lost my weight on the Core Plan) So, here I am learning a different way by counting calories and still wondering about the same things...am I eating enough or too much? I know I have seen on this site and on WW people saying, "I just can't eat enough calories." Well, I know that is not entirely the truth because none of us would need to lose weight if we couldn't eat enough calories or points.

cwolfman13

Why would you think that MFP would try to trick you...it's the way this program is designed...do you think this program is just trying to trick you?

Your goal is a deficit of maintenance sans exercise..exercise isn't included in your activity level. It has to be accounted for somewhere and MFP accounts for it when you log it and thus you get your exercise calories back. You just have to be careful to make sure you're estimating your burn close to reality....most people overestimate burn.

I lost 40 Lbs eaily following MFP's method and being consistent with logging and measuring and weighting, etc. Calorie counting is about precision...you have to be as precise as possible.

My MFP goal to lose 1 Lb per week was 1850...with exercise that came out to around 2100 - 2200 calories gross per day. When I finally switched to a method that incorporated my exercise calories in my activity level and then took the cut...I was grossing around 2100 - 2200 calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week.

You just need to research the tool you are using and the NEAT method vs. TDEE method for calorie counting and weight loss. MFP is a NEAT method calculator.

Losingthedamnweight

I do it like this. If I only had light exercise like walking or a light jog, I don't count it. I just consider it part of my daily activity. If I were to hit the gym and put in a really good workout with weights and machines and whatnot, I would eat half the calories I calculated since I put my body under so much stress. Make sense?

cwolfman13

I do it like this. If I only had light exercise like walking or a light jog, I don't count it. I just consider it part of my daily activity. If I were to hit the gym and put in a really good workout with weights and machines and whatnot, I would eat half the calories I calculated since I put my body under so much stress. Make sense?

That too....

A cardio workout for me consists of about 15 miles + on my bike and I will burn around 600 calories...with MFP, that isn't accounted for and would make my deficit far too large so I eat them back...having done this for a long time I know that about 600 calories for that activity is accurate so I eat them all back...but it really depends on how you're going about your estimate.

I also lift and lift heavy and swim and hike, etc...I don't really log going for a walk or anything like that.

MizSookeh

I've been halving whatever MFP tells me my burn is and eating that back. MFP estimates tend to run pretty high. I've just started getting into planned exercise, and afterwards I'm starving, I can't not eat them back!

But yeah, as has been said, I don't log things that are part of my daily routine, walking to/from transport and to/from work, etc. If I go for a significant walk that's not standard then I'll throw it in, but it's usually such a small burn, it doesn't make a big difference.