Calories per Day

vvillalo83

When I add exercise to my diary, i earn extra calories for the day. Am I suppose to eat these extra calories or not? Will not eating them help me lose?

Thanks! :ohwell:

Edestiny7

Yes, eat your exercise calories. That is how the site is set up. You are already eating 500 calories less, so if you don't eat them, you are eating even less than that. Your net calories should be 1200 at a minimum. There are people that swear by not eating them as well, but it is healthiest to eat them, and I found the most success eating them.

erickirb

yes, this way your caloric deficit remains the same whether you workout or not. this way you reach your weekly goal, if you don't eat them you may not be eating enough to fuel your workouts.

superjae5

You are supposed to eat them, but you don't necessarily have to eat all of them. Make sure you hit 1200 for sure. MFP is giving you the limit according to your goals, including exercise that you do. Your daily goal will change if you exercise. For example, if you have 1200 as your limit and exercise 200, then your goal will be 1400. The 1200 limit is already LESS than what you'd burn if you laid in bed doing nothing. Even without exercising you're burning calories being out of bed. You have to make sure you aren't starving yourself or your body won't let go of the excess. I'd say eat some back, maybe something high in protein so you can build muscle--which helps burn calories quicker too.

SueInAz

Just be sure you aren't overestimating your exercise calories. MFP can give some really overblown numbers. Example: I ride my stationary bike quite often. My bike does know my height/weight and uses that and my actual effort to calculate the total. Last night, for 43 minutes, MFP says I'd burn 298 calories but my bike said 183. That's quite a difference but I've actually seen greater differences for other exercises.

I think it's best to either underestimate the exercise calories you enter or eat back a little less than all of them just to be on the safe side.

Andee08

Honestly, it depends on you. I find that if I eat my exercise calories back everyday then I end up gaining weight. I eat some of them back some days.

shellybsn

Take it day by day. Some days you may find you really dont want to eat them, other days you really need them to feel satisfied. Just make sure you're meeting your minimum and not feeling deprived all of the time, but they are yours to use--enjoy!

rainbowbuggy

*bump* interested in what others have to say. I was always told...eat them, eat them, eat them. However when I started eating them back everyday...I have not lost a pound, in fact...I gained 1.5lbs this week! Not sure what to do......

vvillalo83

Thanks everyone! I have been eating them when i feel hungry and need an extra snack... usually when i work out hard... and just leaving them if i don't feel hungry at all. We'll see how this goes!

SueInAz

*bump* interested in what others have to say. I was always told...eat them, eat them, eat them. However when I started eating them back everyday...I have not lost a pound, in fact...I gained 1.5lbs this week! Not sure what to do......

If what you're doing isn't working, it's time to try something else, right? Try eating back just half of them for awhile or go back to what you were doing before you started eating all of them, if that was working.