A question about exercise calories

itsfatum

So, I know that you have to eat the calories you burn during exercise.

I know my average calories per hour at rest (~100) and the HRM I use gives me the total calories for each workout. My question is whether I should subtract those calories from the number the HRM gives me or not.

e.g: I workout for 2 hours and the HRM tells me I burned 2000kcal. 2000kcal - 200kcal = 1800kcal. But if I don't subtract them I would have to eat 2000kcal. That caloric difference could basically kill my caloric deficit for the day and I workout 6d/w, so it would either make it impossible for me to drop any fat or get me at too much of a deficit, halting or slowing the fat loss.

This worries me more on Long Steady State days, when I workout for like 3-4 hours and that caloric difference could get up to 300-500kcal.

I'm at around 18% body fat, trying to get to the low tens (10-12%). I have MFP set to a 350kcal deficit per day, so that's where my worries come from. I plateaued at 67kg for almost 2 months eating 1900 kcal/day, and dropped to 64-65kg in no time by upping my calories to ~2100.

Should I subtract them or not? I would like to understand why yes or why not, so please explain your answer if you respond. I won't be able to implement any new ideas without understanding why.

Thanks in advance!

Hornsby

Yes, you should subtract.