Calorie question?

ILOVEMEmama

If my calorie goal/day is 1600 to lose 1 pound a week & I add my exercise (which allows me more calories).....Do I eat the original 1600, or eat the amount I "earned" to lose the weight?

melsinct

There is debate about this on MFP (search "eat exercise calories"). Some people eat the earned extra calories, some don't. Some people eat 50% of their "earned" exercise calories. It's up to you and what works for some people doesn't work for others.

shellbell525

I can't speak for everyone but i feel the best when i make my NET calories 1200 on the days that i work out. SOO if my typical goal was 1600 and i worked out for 500 theoretically to eat back all of them I'd have to eat 2100 calories but i find that I'm forcing myself to eat at that point. SO instead i make try to eat 1700 calories (1700-500=1200 net). Granted this may not work for everyone but it works for me... i get to spurge a bit yet i don't feel like I'm force feeding or that I'm going to explode.

jessashcher

I am not sure exactly how that would work for my body, so I'm not taking any chances, I just figure the more calories I burn and not eat those calories then the quicker I will lose this weight. I just think that if I ate the calories that I burned then it was pointless to burn them when I could've just eaten my original calories and sit on my butt and do nothing. That is just my outlook on it.

obrien821

I only get 1200 calories per day (according to MFP calculator) and usually burn around 500 on average per day during exercise. That gives approx. 1700 cals per day and I do eat back, at least, half of my exercise calories. I have been losing about 1 lb/week doing so. I don't think I could live on 1200 calories/day and think it's a bit low anyway. So, I think you'd be safe eating some of those exercise calories back. Just my humble opinion! :-)

MissMaryMac33

Keep your goals where they are....

Technically you are supposed to be eating that number NET -- which means even after exercise.
Your 1600 already has a deficit built in to allow you to lose 1lb a week --- so if you exercise 400 you can actually eat it back.

The problem is --- many foods are not accurate in the database, we don't always measure exact, and unless you have a good HRM your exercise calories are a guess as well. For these reasons, I try to eat at least half of my exercise back. Some days, I'm hungry and some I'm not --- I sure don't force myself to eat if I'm not hungry.

I always try and hit at least 1200 net -- you can see your net on your home page.
Its different on the mobile app.

MissMaryMac33

I am not sure exactly how that would work for my body, so I'm not taking any chances, I just figure the more calories I burn and not eat those calories then the quicker I will lose this weight. I just think that if I ate the calories that I burned then it was pointless to burn them when I could've just eaten my original calories and sit on my butt and do nothing. That is just my outlook on it.

You don't understand how the site works then. You COULD sit in your butt and do nothing and eat your calories -- and still lose weight. Your deficit is already built in. Your plan may work for a few weeks but it won't work forever if you're starving yourself ---

ILOVEMEmama

Thanks everybody for your help with this, makes more sense now

Adrenaline_Queen

Up to you.. But I find on this site the cals they say you burn are very high, I always put my down! As long as you are not hungry and you are over your dayley cals, good for you xx