New to this, can you help?

snowwhite80

I have only just started on MFP and am a bit confused about exercise calories.

For example today I have burned 1400 calories doing cardio at the gym and level one of JM 30 day shred.

It is saying I have 1694 calories remaining and have a net of -494 (I don't know what the net means)

Should I eat these back or not? Its a lot of calories to eat back 4 or 5 times a week (how often I go to the gym). Will I lose weight if I don't eat these back?

Any info would be greatly received.

AmeChops

Wow...that's a lot of calorie burn...well done!! You are supposed to eat back your exercise calories as MFP has already built in a calorie deficit to your daily goal. However, saying that I find it hard to eat all my calories too...just aim for what you can...I'm not about to start eating when I'm not hungry. Today I've got another 1065 (I think) to eat back and it's 21:30 at the moment...unless I scoff an entire pizza I'm not getting anywhere near that lol!!

There are a lot of 'sticky' posts you can have a read of to explain it on more detail.

Happy losing to you :-))

Edit: p.s. I don't know what this 30 day shred is all about??

eates

do a search on here for exercise calories. There's tons of info about it.
Long story short. EAT. Net means what your body is actually getting. You need to give your body enough fuel to survive. A great example is like a gas tank in a car. If you're only putting $12.00 (or 1200 calories in for example) each day but you're driving $25.00 (the 1400 you burned at the gym plus a VERY low BMR (what your body needs to keep you alive each day) of 1100) then you're going to run out of gas. You'll eventually go into starvation mode and your body will hold on to every ounce in attempt to keep enough fuel to keep you alive and moving around.
Your goal that MFP gives you includes a deficit of calories to help you lose weight (what ever your loss goal is set as)

snowwhite80

Thanks for the replies. I have seen lots of different posts on this but some of them are conflicting and confusing. I don't know what to do for the best. I'll try and eat some of them back and see how I get on at weigh in on Friday.

pattyproulx

Technically, yes, you should eat them back. As someone said though, don't eat if you're not hungry.

Also, that's a lot of calories to have burned. That's great but make sure you don't burn yourself out. Your body needs the occasional rest to recover.