Another question about eating your exercise calories

atucker_mom

Sorry to post another question about this, but I just need a little clarification. I know I am supposed to eat my exercise calories, and I understand why. BUT.... do I eat all of them back, or just enough to get me back above 1200 net calories?

Thanks for the help.

husker_gal

I think if you eat to get to a net of 1200 you will be ok. BUT I'm not an expert on that so don't quote me on that.

rachellepilcher

you should make sure that you do not go more than 1000 calories under regularly and not less than 1200 regularly

funkyspunky871

You're MFP daily allowance is supposed to be NET calories. So, yes, you're supposed to eat all of them back to get closest to your personalized goal.

Really though.. It's up to you. I see no problem in trying to eat them all back for a few weeks. If it doesn't work out for you, then only eat them back to get a net of 1200. If that doesn't work either, then don't eat them back at all. When I was first starting out, I couldn't eat them back or else I'd gain. Now that I'm closer to my goal weight I still don't eat them back, but I eat 200-300 more calories than I used to (and since I normally burn 200-300 calories a day from exercise, it's as if I really am eating them back, you know?)

How many times can I say 'eat them back' in one post? LOL. Eight... Eight 'eat them backs'... Nine, now.

snowsquall

I just eat my base 1700cal im allowed with my weight and height, for instance today i worked out for 2250 cals wich give me 3950 cals , there is no way i''ll eat hardly any of it , probably 1900 to 2200 total otherwise u'll waste your workout cals.

SamRu

today i worked out for 2250 cals

What on earth did you do to burn 2250 in a day?!

LacieLamp

My daily calories are only 1200 to start with and I usually eat some of my exercise cals back but I always eat my daily 1200. It seems like everyone else on here has a really high daily calorie amount. Is mine so low because I'm just starting??

jenomaha

I try to eat most of mine back because I workout a lot and I have a healthy appetite But on my heavy workout days, i.e. I burned 1400+ calories, so my calorie goal was 2662, I ate 1740, but still only netted 922 calories. I love trying to eat my calories and it's been working for me so far

baisleac

It seems like everyone else on here has a really high daily calorie amount. Is mine so low because I'm just starting??

You might have your target set too low. If you asked MFP to help you lose 2 pounds per week it WILL give you a 1000 calorie deficit down to 1200 calories/day. However, the less you have to lose, the smaller your deficit should be. A good rule of thumb is to set your deficit (manually) to 80% of your daily maintenance calories. (There are scores of websites that can help you calculate that.) You WILL lose weight, but not so quickly that it will be difficult to keep off.

snowsquall

elliptical for 60 min level 9 for 1205 cals this morning and treadmill 70 min for 1045 cals , before supper.

psuLemon

You really should shoot for consistency but I know some days are hard so you eat too much or too little and it's ok. My opinion would be just get back to your normal schedule. The biggest thing is making sure you are eating enough to workout and not cause a huge deficiet. Mean, figure out what your BMR is, how many calories you burn in a workout and subtract 300-500. Now i you want, you can theoretically figure out your calories for a week to level things out. So if you under eat by 200 calories one day, you can eat those later in the week. The bigger thing to worry about is making sure you eat every 2-3 hours and try to drink at least half your weight in ounces of water.


Example

My estimated BMR - 1920
Calories I burn during workout - 600
Calories I should eat (1920+600-500)= 2020

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

There is a calculator.