newbie help please

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spazzashazza
spazzashazza Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi
i'm two days a newbie in here so please could someone help with the calorie counter ..
I plan my food for the day and add it to my tracker and had just over 100 cals left for the day and then added my 40 mins walk and so now my calories left for the day are about 450 but surely if i eat more then it will not help the weight loss??? So do i ignore the calories ive earned due to the walk or use them or use half and keep half??hellpp!!! please x

Replies

  • tamidav
    tamidav Posts: 11 Member
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    It is your choice whether or not you eat your exercise calories. I do eat them some days and others I do not. If you just eat the calories they have for you without exercising you will lose weight. The exercise will either earn you some extra food or it will speed up your weight loss. At least this is the way it has worked for me. I'm no expert, of course :) Good luck.
  • jppolito
    jppolito Posts: 6
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    If your trying to loose weight, don't eat them, if you want to maintain your weight then do eat them. :)
  • afteil
    afteil Posts: 162 Member
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    Theres a whole ton of topics about whether or not you should eat your exercise calories or not. The way MFP is set up is it gives you the amount of calories you need to eat to lose X amount of weight per week without working out. When you work out, it changes how many calories you need to lose that same amount of weight per week. Its your choice if you want to eat them back or not- but understand that even if you eat back those calories, you are still in a deficiet to lose X amount per week

    Hope this helps you, and welcome to MFP :)
  • missy1970eb
    missy1970eb Posts: 1,209 Member
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    i dont normally eat my earned ones:smile:
  • melissa_livesay
    melissa_livesay Posts: 8 Member
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    I don't unless I am starving! :)
  • missfittin_missy
    missfittin_missy Posts: 184 Member
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    Im the same way. I just kind of judge it with how hungry I am but you have to be careful doing that. I make it a point to drink a bottle of water and wait a bit to make sure that I really am hungry and not just thirsty or bored. Some days I do need those extra calories others not so much. It all comes down to figuring out what works best for you!
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    If your trying to loose weight, don't eat them, if you want to maintain your weight then do eat them. :)

    Sorry, but this isnt the way MFP is set up. MFP is designed around NET calories, so no matter if you workout or not you will lose. The daily goal you get already has your calorie deficit built in. Check out the "goals" page- you will see "Calories burned from daily activity" if you ate this + the calories you burn from exercising you would maintain. If you take this maintence number and subtract 500 (if your goal is to lose about a lb a week) you would have you daily calorie goal.

    So it would look like this:

    Calories burned from daily activity -(minus) 500= Daily calorie goal
    (Calories burned from daily activity+(plus) Cals burned from Exercise) -(minus) 500 = Amount of NET calories you should eat.
  • Ninny7
    Ninny7 Posts: 3
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    My thoughts are, if you're still hungry, eat more. If you're satisfied quit. The calories earned while exercising allow you to eat more and still be within your range. You'll lose weight faster the less calories you consume but remember, you want to stay healthy and an exercising body needs more calories than a sedentary one. So you can eat the calories earned by exercising and still lose weight! i hope this helps!
  • susancelli928
    susancelli928 Posts: 190
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    I don't eat my exercise calories. I have a hard enough time usually eating my daily calories (except for today, I choose to eat badly today) I think the exercise calories are for the extra hunger people get sometimes when exercising. Its your choice to do with what you want.
  • KatieJoMoore
    KatieJoMoore Posts: 15
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    You need to actually eat the additional calories that you've "earned" from exercising. MFP is setup to calculate a healthy calorie deficit for you. I've read a lot of blogs and reviews on MFP, and quite a few people have a lot of trouble losing weight after a while if they're not "eating back" their exercise calories. It could send your body into starvation mode, which causes it to store fat, and give you metabolism problems down the road. Always try to get as close to your calorie limit as you can and you should see results. Good luck!
  • Spayrroe
    Spayrroe Posts: 210 Member
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    The way this site is designed (and the reason it asks about your general level of activity just by doing your every day life) is so that your daily limit is the amount of calories you can consume per day and still meet your goal. I.e. You enter to lose 2lbs per week, and based on your demographics and say you pick sedentary as your activity level, the site tells you that your daily limit is 1300 cals per day. If you do nothing but your desk job and minimal other movement during the day, but consume 1300 or less calories, you should be able to lose about 2lbs in a week. Now if it's Saturday, and you decide all the tile floors in your house need a hard core scrubbing (which burns mad calories), and earn back 700 cals (completely made up, pulled out of the air number). Now you can eat those 700 cals to fuel your body more because your base daily goal does not account for extra calories spent exercising.

    I hope this helped :)

    -Spayrroe
  • Marlys101
    Marlys101 Posts: 100
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    I agree with Katie.
  • karilynn27
    karilynn27 Posts: 190 Member
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    I have found where if I eat my exercise cals then I just maintain my weight. If you want to loose don't eat them.
    Welcome to MFP! :)
  • spazzashazza
    spazzashazza Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks to you all, well fingers crossed this site helps me along the long long road ...x

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