Do you/ dont you use fitness calories?

T1gana

Hi,

I am new to this and wandered if anyone could tell me if I use my fitness calories? The tracker adds them on and I am sure I am not meant to eat them?

erickirb

It adds them for a reason. MFP give you a caloric intake that creates a daily caloric deficit to lose your goal amount of weight. When you workout you increase the deficit, MFP adds them back to ensure you get back to your goal deficit to lose your goal amount of weight.

tnknights

Count the fitness calories. Your Net at the end of the day should be real close to your goal. Yes, you must eat your workout calories or your body will go into starvation mode and protect the fat.

fitsaxon

Hey!
Eat the calories that are added back from exercise. The base level that is consistent every day is for basic daily activities-- when you are more active, you need more calories to meet that base level and to be healthy and get the most out of your work outs!

Good luck!

SassyStef

I eat 85% of mine back

MZNIKKIBOO

bump--im burning 25k cal this mo for a challenge and i def dont wanna eat those all back so im sooooo confused on this matter and anxious to see others reply thanks for posing the ?--from another blog one person suggested seeing what works for you try 1-2 weeks eating them back track energy weigh/inches lost etc and then compare to another 1-2 not eating them back and see what works best..guess its different for different people but im still not sure what works best for me ! lol :-(

AtomicDarling

Had the same question. Thanks for the info everyone.

spike2die4

I just started this a couple of days ago, and now that I'm eating healthier food, I find it hard to eat all the extra calories I get after I've exercised. It's funny hearing myself say that! Me, too much food?

RNewton4269

I eat mine back sometimes..and sometimes I don't. Depends on how hungry I am.

jenilla1

Yes! Do what MFP says! It really works, people. :flowerforyou:

Airbear3

i eat them when the scale stops movin.

Smittyinthesun

I eat 2,200 calories a day (6 days a week) and I have 1 cheat day which is usually Saturday. I walk on average 40 miles on the treadmill and I bike another 40 in the gym 5-6 days a week. No I don't eat back the 3000 calories I burn daily why would I ?

I want to lose weight not maintain my current round figure. The point of losing weight is to have a greater burn than what you eat. My 2,200 calories and my cheat day is more than enough to fuel my body and keep it from going into the mythical "Starvation Mode" that everyone seems to fear on these boards.

I have lost 65 pounds since 2/1/11 so I must be doing something right !

Just because somone posts on a message board doesn't mean they know what they are talking about.


Let's do some math - 3500 calories = a pound.

If you eat 2000 calories a day and your body also burns 2000 calories a day for normal bodily functions, heart beating, breathing etc , then you have a net of 0 and you should maintain your weight. I

if you exercise and burn 500 calories daily more than you eat for 7 days you will lose a pound.

If you eat 500 calories daily more than you burn for 7 days then you will gain a pound.

Angel1066

I usually eat half my exercise calories back tonight i will be eating all of them i think

LovelySnugs

I eat 2,200 calories a day (6 days a week) and I have 1 cheat day which is usually Saturday. I walk on average 40 miles on the treadmill and I bike another 40 in the gym 5-6 days a week. No I don't eat back the 3000 calories I burn daily why would I ?

I want to lose weight not maintain my current round figure. The point of losing weight is to have a greater burn than what you eat. My 2,200 calories and my cheat day is more than enough to fuel my body and keep it from going into the mythical "Starvation Mode" that everyone seems to fear on these boards.

I have lost 65 pounds since 2/1/11 so I must be doing something right !

Just because somone posts on a message board doesn't mean they know what they are talking about.


Let's do some math - 3500 calories = a pound.

If you eat 2000 calories a day and your body also burns 2000 calories a day for normal bodily functions, heart beating, breathing etc , then you have a net of 0 and you should maintain your weight. I

if you exercise and burn 500 calories daily more than you eat for 7 days you will lose a pound.

If you eat 500 calories daily more than you burn for 7 days then you will gain a pound.

very good logic here, and an excellent explanation - but you're not accounting for the fact that MFP builds your 500 calorie deficit into your goals when you set up your acct.

HOWEVER! i suggest to the original poster (and the others who have expressed interest) to do a bit more research into the matter, because something like this is a VERY different issue that changes with each of our bodies - what works for you won't work for me, and what works for us now may not work for us in 20, 30, 100 pounds. also, what is SAFE for my Smitty here (apparently a tall adult male with a LOT of lbs to lose, based on profile pic and post) may not be safe for you, so if you wanna 'deviate' from what the system says, you ought to talk to your dr or a nutritionist first. just my thoughts!