Food and exercise calories

SarahElittlebit

Okay...here's my question. I have always thought that we should focus on the daily intake for calories and that was all we were allowed to have. Now this site adds calories to my day if I exercise. Should I ignore the extra calories and count them as bonus calories or go ahead and eat something extra??? Would love to hear what you all think.

Sarah

fitterpam

The way I see it is that sometimes the exercise calories can be off so I don't tend to eat more than 50% of my exercise calories to make sure that I'm not going over. I find that if I eat all of them that I gain weight immediately.

It really depends for me how many exercise calories you're actually getting. With me, I get between 100-300/day a couple times a week. It doesn't make sense for me to eat them all the time when I am above 1200 calories even after I remove the exercise calories. If you are a speed demon and run daily or do some other high-impact cardio workout and burn 600-800 calories/day, every day, then absolutely you should be eating them back or else risk fatigue and not feeling well in the long term.

Everyone will have a different answer to this question. Some eat their calories back absolutely, some never do, some do but only when they need them, some aren't sure so they throw a coin first and if its heads they eat them back :laugh:

You need to decide what's best for you. Try doing it one way - if you notice a negative impact on your weight loss goals, switch it up.

EDesq

Hey Now:
I ignore the extra calories...I can put the same exercise on FitDay and they give Me calories back about 150 less...I determine My intake on how much I want to lose per week, and how much I can intake per day and feel reasonably good at the end of the day when all I need to do is done, including an exercise routine. My personal belief is that we don't need an exercise routine to lose weight, regular activity and lower calories will do it...but most of us should have an exercise routine to keep our range of motion and to stay healthy and mentally sharp. Unless someone plans on running a race or marathon some of these extreme workouts I see are "crazy" and will eventually lead to joint, back and leg problems...that's NOT Healthy or Wellness!

I know My Body and I know that with moderate activity, moderate to low cardio workout routine and eating anywhere from 700-1500 calories per day, I can get through My day feeling good and lose weight steadily (1, 2, 3 pounds per week.) So far (last 12 months) I have lost a total of over 75 lbs. (so I am learning even more about what works well for Me), I only found MyFitnessPal about 3-4 weeks ago and started logging (it's a better sight to Me than FitDay.) But you have to know what works for you, My personal belief is that a woman should not eat more than 1700 calories a day unless she is an Athlete and a man no more than 2000 calories per day unless he's an Athlete. Our lifestyle in the USA is wayyyy to sedentary for the high daily caloric intake that is recommended...we no longer live in an agrarian or industrial cultural, we don't need all these calories, sodium and sugar...it's killing us. Anyway, just My .02 Be Well, Live Well

rjadams

Check out all the newbie thread answers here. It will help you answer your questions.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

fitterpam

Hey Now:
I ignore the extra calories...I can put the same exercise on FitDay and they give Me calories back about 150 less...I determine My intake on how much I want to lose per week, and how much I can intake per day and feel reasonably good at the end of the day when all I need to do is done, including an exercise routine. My personal belief is that we don't need an exercise routine to lose weight, regular activity and lower calories will do it...but most of us should have an exercise routine to keep our range of motion and to stay healthy and mentally sharp. Unless someone plans on running a race or marathon some of these extreme workouts I see are "crazy" and will eventually lead to joint, back and leg problems...that's NOT Healthy or Wellness!

I know My Body and I know that with moderate activity, moderate to low cardio workout routine and eating anywhere from 700-1500 calories per day, I can get through My day feeling good and lose weight steadily (1, 2, 3 pounds per week.) So far (last 12 months) I have lost a total of over 75 lbs. (so I am learning even more about what works well for Me), I only found MyFitnessPal about 3-4 weeks ago and started logging (it's a better sight to Me than FitDay.) But you have to know what works for you, My personal belief is that a woman should not eat more than 1700 calories a day unless she is an Athlete and a man no more than 2000 calories per day unless he's an Athlete. Our lifestyle in the USA is wayyyy to sedentary for the high daily caloric intake that is recommended...we no longer live in an agrarian or industrial cultural, we don't need all these calories, sodium and sugar...it's killing us. Anyway, just My .02 Be Well, Live Well

May I just say that you hit it on the head!!! It's about feeling better about what we are capable of doing, who we are, not what the numbers on the scale tell us or the numbers in the tool even, although most of us need both to realign our lifestyles with where we should be! Finding out what works for you is part of the experiment to living a healthier life.

KeriA

Thanks for this question. I was new here and had the same one. I followed the links one reply had and learned alot about why you want to eat those extra calories or many of them. Anyway you don't want to slow your metabolism which too few calories can do. Anyway there is definitely something to be said about knowing yourself but that is why I am here to be able to figure out and track information. I was definitely getting more exercise but not losing. In the process I learned what a bump was. I also added some more measurements on my check-in.