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i know this question has probably been asked a million different times but am i susposed to eat my exercise calories? ote im trying to lose weight not gain or bulking

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  • Tee2072
    Tee2072 Posts: 15
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    You can eat up to your exercise calorie surplus, but you don't need to or have to.

    So long as you eat your base calories, you'll lose weight.

    I tend to eat about half my exercise calories since exercising makes me hungry!
  • HollisGrant
    HollisGrant Posts: 2,022 Member
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    Yes, the MFP food and exercise diary is set up so you are supposed to eat the exercise calories back. If I am set up to eat 1200 calories for the day and burn off 500 in exercise, then I've only netted 700, so I need to eat the 500 I burned.

    It gets tricky because the calorie burns in the exercise diary are entered by the members and are sometimes too high. A heart rate monitor can give you more accurate numbers. A lot of people eat some of the exercise calories back but not all of them. I eat them back if I'm hungry, otherwise not (I don't force myself to eat or not eat).

    You can look up this topic in the search feature here and find a zillion discussions, some with good backup info.