extra calories earned through exercise

amnaimon

So i have a question regarding extra calories that you earn everyday with exercise. According to my goal i'm allowed to have 1200 calories but i try to burn around 300-400 calories/day which raises the calorie intake to 1500-1600. so should i eat those extra calories too for weight loss? i hope you understand my question !

Sheeshy

Hey! It's a good question - I wondered this myself for a while. It seems a lot of people have different opinions and very strong ones, but after doing some reading and research, it made the most sense to eat those extra calories. I don't always eat all of them, but usually most of them. I kind of use them as a buffer if that makes sense. I'm still losing weight, and I feel a lot better than when I didn't eat the extra. There are a ton of really good posts about this if you enter "Exercise Calories" in the search function.

Pebble321

Yes, you should.

The short answer why is that MFP works out your daily calories allowance and builds in a deficit to let you lose weight, without taking exercise into consideration.
If you don't eat those extra calories you are making a really big calorie deficit each day. If you have a lot of weight to lose your body might cope just fine with this big deficit, but if you have less to lose your body may react by slowing your metabolism down, meaning you won't lose weight as fast.

If you want the long answer, here is one post, but you will find plenty of others if you use the Search button.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

Givemewings

Yes , eat them , or at least most of them. I do, and it has worked for me. You will still lose the weight because there is a deficit there.

redraidergirl2009

I felt pretty terrible working out and only eating 1200 calories a day so I eat most of them back so I eat about 1400/1500 on an average day if I worked out. I can manage on 1200 if I don't work out. I def feel better eating them back. So if you feel you are lacking energy or feel bad then eat them back or just eat alittle extra, throw in an extra snack, protein shake or something. Only you know your body best.

moon_light10

Am new to this, and it all gets very very confusing, but I am going to eat some of them, but not eat them for the sake of eating,

Blackthorne99

So i have a question regarding extra calories that you earn everyday with exercise. According to my goal i'm allowed to have 1200 calories but i try to burn around 300-400 calories/day which raises the calorie intake to 1500-1600. so should i eat those extra calories too for weight loss? i hope you understand my question !

The calories that MFP calculates is the NET calories you need to stay under to lose or maintain (whichever you are trying to do).
You *can* eat those extra calories without gaining weight because you have burned them off with exercise. And since it's a good idea to feed your body before and after exercise, that's a perfect time to use those bonus calories for muscle-building foods that will help you recover from the exercise.

taurie

Eat them and if you experience a plateau for 3+ weeks lessen the amount you eat back.

My own personal experience - I hit a plateau after losing 9 lbs and continuing to eat most of my exercise calories back. Now I only eat my exercise calories back on the weekends and I'm losing again.

raven1114

i try and eat at least some of mine back.