I'm under my calorie allowance, I burned even more calories,

carlyoishi

I'm still confused about whether or not I "can" eat a portion or all of the calories I "earned" doing exercise.

I've consumed 1,040 calories so far today. I've burned 653 (I'll even knock off a couple of hundred for variance sake). Given that, I still have a "spare" 600+ calories.

I don't know if I should eat or not.

And don't ask me if I'm hungry because of course I am (Ha.)

sufikitkat

I would absolutely eat back at least half of those calories. Being under 1200 calories without exercise is not healthy...add exercise into the mix and you will really be depriving your body.

chevy88grl

Yes. Eat.

nana81

I usually just stick to my calorie allowance (1500) then when I burn calories when I workout I dont eat more. This way if there is a day you don't work out and maybe you go over you daily calorie allowance it'll still evens out throughout the week. If you stay around your daily allowance you'll be fine.

dayzeerock

The SEARCH FUNCTION is a great tool for this kind of question.

kr3851

Are your calories still in the green? That's the go ahead to keep eating if you're still hungry. If not, just try to get your net above 1200.

bj27

no you're not supposed to eat the "earned " calories.. those calories if they total 3500 by the end of the week would equal one pound of weight... 3500 cal burned = 1 pound
so whatever your daily food intake is set at ( mine is 1400) you can eat that much.. then minus the burned calories and it should leave you with calories left... DON"T EAT THE EXTRA ONES... BUT make sure you are getting enough or your body will go into starvation mode and you'll gain weight..
if you're hungry eat something with fibre.. an apple or some oats which will fill you without lots of calories...

Pebble321

So, your NET calories for the day are around 400????
Yes, you need to eat!
Have a read of the FAQs to help you understand why you need to eat more.

taso42_DELETED

you're never gonna believe this, but this has come up before...
http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

and, bj27... major fail in your explanation there, as the calorie deficit is already factored in.

chevy88grl

no you're not supposed to eat the "earned " calories.. those calories if they total 3500 by the end of the week would equal one pound of weight... 3500 cal burned = 1 pound
so whatever your daily food intake is set at ( mine is 1400) you can eat that much.. then minus the burned calories and it should leave you with calories left... DON"T EAT THE EXTRA ONES... BUT make sure you are getting enough or your body will go into starvation mode and you'll gain weight..
if you're hungry eat something with fibre.. an apple or some oats which will fill you without lots of calories...

But that isn't how this website was designed to work. It is designed for you to get your calories as close to zero as possible. Yes, you want to keep them in the green - but considering the deficit is already built in ... having hundreds of calories leftover for the day isn't how it is supposed to work on here.

Aim to have your number as close to zero as possible - but keep it in the green (staying within 100 calories either way is considered successful for the day!)

vettle

no you're not supposed to eat the "earned " calories.. those calories if they total 3500 by the end of the week would equal one pound of weight... 3500 cal burned = 1 pound
so whatever your daily food intake is set at ( mine is 1400) you can eat that much.. then minus the burned calories and it should leave you with calories left... DON"T EAT THE EXTRA ONES... BUT make sure you are getting enough or your body will go into starvation mode and you'll gain weight..
if you're hungry eat something with fibre.. an apple or some oats which will fill you without lots of calories...

you are really really REALLY misinformed. You don't minus those burned calories from what MFP gives you. If you're going by a 3500 calorie defecit from burning calories, then you eat your maintainence calories (which is probably something like 1900 calories at least) and then add in what you burn. Then you'll NET 1400. Please please learn how to lose weight properly.

Pebble321

no you're not supposed to eat the "earned " calories.. those calories if they total 3500 by the end of the week would equal one pound of weight... 3500 cal burned = 1 pound
so whatever your daily food intake is set at ( mine is 1400) you can eat that much.. then minus the burned calories and it should leave you with calories left... DON"T EAT THE EXTRA ONES... BUT make sure you are getting enough or your body will go into starvation mode and you'll gain weight..
if you're hungry eat something with fibre.. an apple or some oats which will fill you without lots of calories...

No, don't listen to this advice!
To lose weight you do need to create a calorie deficit, ie to burn more than you eat, and with a calorie deficit of 3500 cals you should lose 1 pound.
But, this poster is missing the critical point that MFP has already created that calorie deficit when it calculates your daily calorie allowance. You can eat ALL your exercise calories and you will still have that deficit and will lose weight.
If you don't eat the calories burned through exercise you are creating a much larger calorie deficit. Depending on how much weight you have to lose, your body might respond well to very low calories, or it may cause your metabolism to slow down and then you'll find it much harder to lose weight.
In my opinion, creating a moderate deficit, keeping your metabolism fired up, eating plenty of good food and losing weight steadily is a great way to go - it's worked for me!

tigersword

no you're not supposed to eat the "earned " calories.. those calories if they total 3500 by the end of the week would equal one pound of weight... 3500 cal burned = 1 pound
so whatever your daily food intake is set at ( mine is 1400) you can eat that much.. then minus the burned calories and it should leave you with calories left... DON"T EAT THE EXTRA ONES... BUT make sure you are getting enough or your body will go into starvation mode and you'll gain weight..
if you're hungry eat something with fibre.. an apple or some oats which will fill you without lots of calories...

Absolutely wrong. The weight loss calorie deficit is already factored into your goal calories. Exercise calories cancel out calories you've eaten. So if you've eaten 1000 calories and burned 500 through exercise, you've only eaten 500 calories for your body to use for everything else. You need to eat back the exercise calories.