help! understand the whole exercise calories thing...

Baby_Belles

Hey!
So I think I understand it but am just trying to be sure if I originally have 1200 calories and then I workout for an hour and get a few hundred more calories put on, does that mean I should eat those calories or just leave them. Shouldn't I be burning more calories than what i'm consuming?

Thanks!

porcelain_doll

You should eat those exercise calories. As far as burning/consuming goes, you need to create a 500 calorie deficit per day to lose 1 lb./week (1 lb. = 3,500 cal). Your body uses calories to be able to function, so you do not want that deficit to be too large, otherwise your metabolism will slow down and you will go into starvation mode.

To sum it up: eat the calories that MFP tells you to - it does all the numbers for you based on what you plug in. Even when you are told you can eat more calories on the days you exercise, there is still a calorie deficit being figured in, so no worries.

trisha329

It's up to you if you choose to eat them. Some do, some don't. I do occasionally, but you should always aim to eat at least a minimum of 1200. Hope that helps!

lastchance2010

I wonder the same thing. Sometimes I eat the cal's back but a lot of times I don't just cuz i'm not hungry. But that's a question ppl ask frequently...and well...I am still not sure. All I can say is that when i ate back my cal's my weight wouldn't budge but when i had leftover cal's it would only go down slightly. I just always make sure my net cals is at least 1200.

pilotgirl2007

You should eat them or at least some of them. When you signed up for MFP it calculated your caloric needs based on your daily lifestyle then reduced it to meet your weight loss goals. It did not take into account anything that you burned later. Since you are already set to lose weight at your daily activity level when you exercise more you need to give yourself a little more fuel.

Try to think of those extra calories as extra fuel and make sure you eat something that is going to benifit you. I tend to eat some of my calories before I exercise so that I know I am going to make it through the workout and have the energy to make it a good one. Plus you need the calories to build muscle after a workout. If you don't get enough calories eventually your body will start breaking down muscle and that is the opposite of what you want to happen.

To sum it up you should always be aboce 1200 (and this varies depending on the person) and you need to refuel after (or before) a workout.

ashlee954

Yes you should burn more than you consume. Go to tools and find out what your BMR is. That is how many cals your body burns just to keep you alive. So like if you were laying down, not moving, just existing. Then you burn about 500 (total approximation) cals per day just doing regular things like getting up to use the bathroom, answer the phone, etc. THEN MFP created more of a deficit for you to eat less. That deficit depends on the lbs/wk you chose to lose when setting up your goals. MFP won't recommend you eat less than 1200 cals/day because it's not the most healthy way to lose weight. So even if you picked to lose 2 lbs/wk if that meant you had to eat less than 1200 MFP won't put you at that loss. The lowest for a female is 1200 and for men it is 1500. If you do not eat your exercise cals you are allowing your body less than 1200 cals to function off of (because you burned them away). When MFP sets up your goals it does not take into consideration your exercise (I know it asked you how much per week you would be exercising but it is not calculated into your loss per week). Your exercise is just an added bonus. But it is typically not healthy to eat less than 1200 NET cals/day for a long period of time. Unless a doctor recommends it of course. Some people will tell you to eat the exercise cals. Some will tell you to eat half. You really need to find what works best for you. Personally, when my cal goal is 1200 I eat them. If your cal goal is 1600 for example and you burn 200 through exercise that still leaves your body 1400. So in that case I may not eat them because of course you lose weight faster of you eat less. It's just not recommended that you leave your body less than 1200. I wrote a book! Sorry.

Bamacraft

search this forum on calories. You'll find several post from basic to really in depth.

I would not go in deficit any more than ~500 calories per day as suggested (this is based from your daily needs without gain or loss). Also wouldn't change everything (diet, calories, etc) all at once. Start with calories and 3-4 days per week exercising, after a couple weeks maintain the calories but take away most of the junk calories, a few weeks later maintain the healthy eating and start increasing cardio ~ 10% per week....Stay active working out 4-6 days per week and drink water, water, water! If you slip (and we all do), make it up to yourself the next day on the treadmill or pavement!!

Good luck to ya!

morganadk2_deleted

Maybe this will help


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits


"Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle tone, and reducing fat. This means is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode) "




Good luck on your journey!