Earned Calories

vals83
vals83 Posts: 63 Member
edited September 23 in Fitness and Exercise
I've never been sure if I should eat the calories I've burned from working out. My friend says I shouldnt because then it defeats the purpose of working out. But why does MFP add them to my daily calorie count.

Replies

  • loushep
    loushep Posts: 191
    MFP adds them because you have already been given a daily deficit so you should still lose weight even if you eat your exercise cals. Personally i feel that as long as i eat 1200 cals net per day then exercise is a bonus and if i am hungry and want to use some of those cals then i can without feeling guilty. Hope this helps :)
  • neebelung
    neebelung Posts: 115
    There was just an interesting thread about this last night - in short, the posted indicated you should indeed eat them, because (as indicated above) the daily caloric intake was based on your weight, your normal activity, and the amount of weight you indicated you wanted to lose per week. Going too far below this (either by not eating enough to begin with, or exercising your way to a big deficit) can, in theory, put your body into starvation mode (and at the very least, might leave you feeling TOO hungry... which could lead to falling off the wagon, or binging).
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
    Are people just exercising for the extra couple hundred calories burned? I exercise to tone and to feel stronger and to get the blood pumping in the morning. Even if it didn't burn a single calorie, I think I can honestly say that I'd still do Zumba and other cardio. I eat my calories back because I earned them!
  • lushy20
    lushy20 Posts: 215 Member
    i think its an unhealthy attitude to look at working out just so you eat more.
    i eat more if im hungry if i have worked out.
    i work out to tone up and to feel better within myself knowing that i am getting healthier.
    i dont always eat my exercise calories only if i feel like i need to eat something else
  • ddadams
    ddadams Posts: 4
    I have a question regarding the tracking of the exercise. I noticed when I enter my cardio it gives me extra calories in my days total, but not for strength training. I know the workout I did this morning w/weights burned at least 485 calories. Any suggestions on how to get those calculated in my days total? I must be missing something.
  • neebelung
    neebelung Posts: 115
    I can only speak for myself, but I don't think anyone's working out just to be ABLE to eat more; I think the calories earned is more so you know you may NEED to eat more in order to fuel/recover if you've worked out particularly hard.
  • neebelung
    neebelung Posts: 115
    I have a question regarding the tracking of the exercise. I noticed when I enter my cardio it gives me extra calories in my days total, but not for strength training. I know the workout I did this morning w/weights burned at least 485 calories. Any suggestions on how to get those calculated in my days total? I must be missing something.
    Yeah, I wrestled with this, too. Strenght training doesn't log or calculate calories burned. And the MFP calorie burn estimates are by many accounts too high or too low, depending on the person. Best bet is to get a HRM for a more accurate account.

    What I do is log my cardio as what it is, then make a second cardio entry for my strength training "General Weight Training: Legs" or something of that nature, the duration, and the calories burned according to my HRM.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories