Calories and Exercise = HELP!!!

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prettypawnee
prettypawnee Posts: 4
in Food and Nutrition
Good Morning!!

I am very confused, I am on a 1200 calorie diet, which at first scared the poop out of me because I thought 'I am going to starve!!' But I have been very satisfied and my blood sugar is improving!!
I use the food tracker and it is very helpful in letting me know throughout the day how many calories I have left but when I add my exercise, it always says I have MORE than the 1200 calories my diet allows, what does this mean???

Can someone help me understand what is going on. I don't want to sabatoge my own success, by not understanding!!

THANKS!

Replies

  • Jparedes06
    Jparedes06 Posts: 15
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    I just noticed that myself last night when I added my exercise and I have the same question!
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
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    The site encourages the eating of exercise calories as it already has incorporated a deficit into your caloric intake.
  • jrt9999
    jrt9999 Posts: 114
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    That is giving you more calories to eat to fuel the exercising you do. I love that, lets me eat good quality calories for the burn and still loose weight.
  • forgiven4life
    forgiven4life Posts: 451
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    When you exercise, you are burning the calories you eat which puts you below your 1200 calories. So when you add exercise, the tracker is adding back calories so your "NET" calories will still be 1200. Example: you workout and burn 250 calories and you have eaten 1200 for the day. Well you just burned off 250 calories putting your calories consumed at 950. So you would need to eat back a few to put you up to 1200 again. Hope that helps and makes sense.
  • ChelDM
    ChelDM Posts: 145
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    I DO NOT eat my extra calories and it has been working for me so far....
  • knittygirl52
    knittygirl52 Posts: 432 Member
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    MFP calculates an approximate calorie burn for your exercise. Frankly, I nearly always eat my "exercise calories" and I have lost over 70 pounds. So don't be afraid of them, just use them wisely--real food that will give you fuel for your exercise and your life--not junk.
  • Vicky14174
    Vicky14174 Posts: 715 Member
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    you need to eat those calories too!!!! or at least get close to those calories. this site is designed to help you and if you will just do what it tells you to do it will work a lot better than you doing what you think is right. that's why you are here as most of us where trying to do it "our way" with no results.
  • eillamarie
    eillamarie Posts: 862 Member
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    I DO NOT eat my extra calories and it has been working for me so far....

    Every body is different.
  • yazminetw
    yazminetw Posts: 85 Member
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    When you exercise, MFP adds those calories back to your daily total so you can eat more. It tracks Net Calories. So for you total calories = 1200; if you exercise and burn 500 calories, your Net calories are 1700. Basically it is saying that since you burned those calories during exercise you can eat more to make it up. If you did not, using the same scenario above you eat 1200 and burn 500 that means your body only has 700 calories for fuel. Even though it adds it back to your total you are still tracking to 1200 calories a day total for eating and burning during exercise. You are not sabotaging yourself. I hope I answered your question and did not confuse you.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    If you eat 1200 and burn 300, it is as if you ate 900 and did not exercise, which is not enough. So to get you to the 1200 Net MFP adds the calories burned so if you burn 300 your goal is now 1500 and it is as if you ate 1200 (1500-300) and did not exercise. This calculation is all based on your weekly weight loss goal. To meet your goal you must eat all of the cals that MFP suggests including exercise calories, otherwise you may lose weight too fast or have other issues with not getting enough fuel.
  • kao708
    kao708 Posts: 813 Member
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    Do what works for you. Don't let anyone here tell you that you should or should not eat those back. It is up to you and the way your body works. MFP calculates your daily intake goal based on the assumption that you will NOT be working out. If you burn calories, MFP adds them back to your daily intake total to keep you from going too low.

    There are 100's of posts about this on the boards, if you want to search you will get tons of responses.

    My suggestion is do the program the way MFP calculates it. Give it a couple weeks and then decide if you think you need to tweak things a little.
  • jrt9999
    jrt9999 Posts: 114
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    Yes they are...I just know that in my quest to develop a good healthy food relationship with food, which I must admit has not been good for years, I find learning how to eat properly while exercising is a must.

    Good luck all!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I DO NOT eat my extra calories and it has been working for me so far....

    So far is the operative word. If your caloric deficit is too large over a period of time your metabolism can slow down, your body may use muscle instead of fat for fuel, which would appear that you are losing weight but it is not fat that you are losing. You may become malnourished and/or slow your metabolism down so that if you return to eating a higher amount of cals you may put weight back on very easily.
  • kao708
    kao708 Posts: 813 Member
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    If you eat 1200 and burn 300, it is as if you ate 900 and did not exercise, which is not enough. So to get you to the 1200 Net MFP adds the calories burned so if you burn 300 your goal is now 1500 and it is as if you ate 1200 (1500-300) and did not exercise. This calculation is all based on your weekly weight loss goal. To meet your goal you must eat all of the cals that MFP suggests including exercise calories, otherwise you may lose weight too fast or have other issues with not getting enough fuel.

    Very well stated...it's like you have answered this question before! LMAO! :laugh:
  • 1hottime
    1hottime Posts: 3
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    I'M NEW TO THIS ALSO. I LOVE WORKING OUT AND MY FRIEND MAIA, HI MAIA, TOLD ME ABOUT THIS SITE, SO I'M ANXIOUS TO SEE WHAT THIS DOES FOR ME. I PLATEAUED A LONG TIME AGO AND NOW HAVE GAINED BACK 20 LBS. THAT I WANT GONE PLUS SOME EXTRA. SO I'M GIVING THIS A TRY. I BELIEVE MY PROBLEM WAS THAT I EXERCISED A LOT AND EAT VERY LITTLE SO MY BODY WAS HOLDING ONTO IT. ALAS, WE SHALL SEE. I'M ALSO THINKIN OF SWITCHING UP MY WORKOUT, NEED TO GET MORE THINGS DONE AT HOME AND MY TEENAGER ,AS WELL AS MYSELF IN SCHOOL..OH THE STRESS...LOL...BUT I'M ALWAYS GAME FOR SOMETHING NEW.
  • judlebug
    judlebug Posts: 1
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    If you don't eat the calories it has calculated for you, your body will go into starvation mode. You might lose weight to start with but you will be actually slowing down your metabolism making it harder in the future to lose any more weight. Your 1200 calories calculates in a very large deficit anyway. So eat the calories and enjoy them. You earned them.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    If you eat 1200 and burn 300, it is as if you ate 900 and did not exercise, which is not enough. So to get you to the 1200 Net MFP adds the calories burned so if you burn 300 your goal is now 1500 and it is as if you ate 1200 (1500-300) and did not exercise. This calculation is all based on your weekly weight loss goal. To meet your goal you must eat all of the cals that MFP suggests including exercise calories, otherwise you may lose weight too fast or have other issues with not getting enough fuel.

    Very well stated...it's like you have answered this question before! LMAO! :laugh:

    One or two......... (hundred) times. :wink:
  • finity559
    finity559 Posts: 59 Member
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    I DO NOT eat my extra calories and it has been working for me so far....

    So far is the operative word. If your caloric deficit is too large over a period of time your metabolism can slow down, your body may use muscle instead of fat for fuel, which would appear that you are losing weight but it is not fat that you are losing. You may become malnourished and/or slow your metabolism down so that if you return to eating a higher amount of cals you may put weight back on very easily.
  • finity559
    finity559 Posts: 59 Member
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    I agree with how u may slow your metabolism by not eating enough. Before I started MFP I think mine was dormant. The more I ate good food & exercised the more it "woke up" and I began losing. If you end up under your calorie goal at the end of the day by adding your exercises I think its ok, if its only abt 200 or less. If your going to bed hungry and u have 500 or 600 calories left & u waste them you are only harming yourself.
    We need fuel to function.
    You wouldn't run your car until it completely runs out of gas or oil would you? :)
    (Well most people won't....lol)
    Be good to your body, give it exercise & plenty of healthy fuel. :)
  • prettypawnee
    prettypawnee Posts: 4
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    Sorry I haven't responded sooner, but Thank You all for the responses, they are all very helpful...although I have just started the diet and exercise on Monday, I am feeling 100% better than I did last week.

    I totally understand (a little bit more) about the calories eaten/ calories burned, but at the end of the day and when I turn in for bed I am still satisfied from the day of meals and couldn't possibly think about eating another 400-600 calories...and I don't want to get back into the habit of eating a HUGE dinner...

    I NEED to exercise and I NEED to be on the 1200 calorie diet...where's a Happy Medium???

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