Balancing calorie goal with burned calories?

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meganlr_
meganlr_ Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
When trying to hit my "Calorie Goal" of 1200 a day and I burn a lot off with exercise - Do I then have to eat that much more a day??

I made this account last year and gave up rather quickly. I'm now starting over and I was confused today after I did my workout and burned 800+ calories that my calorie goal went up. Do I have to eat more today (and in the future) to lose weight?? I'm confused because my goal is 1200 calories but I would end up consuming 2000+ if I do what the app says.

I really dislike that little message when I don't eat enough calories that it will be harder to lose weight if I don't consume enough and doesn't give me a very motivating weight loss estimate.

Sorry if this is confusing!

Help?

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Yes, to use MFP as it's designed, you are meant to eat your exercise calories back.

    That being said, MFP's database notoriously overestimates alot. If you're using it, eat about half of them back. If you are going by machines, eat 70-80% back. If you wear a HRM you can be safe eating them all.

    Your calorie deficit is already built into the calorie goal MFP gives you, you don't need to create a larger one through exercise. Make sure you're netting above 1200 calories (amount of calories consumed after exercise).

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