Dont understand Exercise Calories

Striving4Fit_MrsOrtiz

Please help me understand exercise calories,, how to count them, how much to eat back. For example I eat 1450 calories a day. How much exercise calories should I have, and I how much should I eat back? I dont really understand what I am talking about either, lol

Cathyvil

If you follow how the website is set up, you eat all back that you earn. So if you burn 400 calories of exercise for the day, in your case you would eat a total pf 1850. As for how much you should have depends on how much you work out. You can determine how many your exercise activity earns you by using something like a heart rate monitor or the estimates found here when inputting what you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/add_to_diary?type=cardio

FYI, if you use the estimates MFP gives, it's generally well know that the site overestimates so you want to use that as a guideline. Most people subtract about 100 calories or so from what they are given using this method.

As for how much to actually eat back, you have to find what works best for you. Some people eat them all, some eat half and some don't eat any. Since everyone is different you just have to play with it until you see results. Personally I eat about half of mine if I'm hungry. If I'm not hungry I don't eat. I tend to be hungrier the day after an intense workout so I eat then. I just shoot for an overall weekly deficit because that's what works for me.

Hope my ramble helps!

rattler0812

Also check your MFP settings as based on if you indicate that your work is active versus sedentary, it might have a different approach to calculating your calories. I typically only track when I am doing something for 10 minutes or longer (or actually doing a workout). So if I am walking to a meeting in another building, I will typically track how long it takes me to walk to that building and add that to my cardio category. But, walking around the office space passing off docs and stuff, I won't track. There's not enough time to really get the heart rate up. Then when it comes to eating back my calories, I try and balance calorie intake with volume of intake in order to give that full feeling but with a modest calorie intake. Like Cathyvil mentioned, some will eat back all of their workout calories. Others only part. Some none.

csnooks82899

I do the same as Cathyvil and try not to eat back any workout calories. I too find that I am usually more hungry the more I workout. So I say give it a few weeks and see how it works for you. Good luck

junyr

I think it tends to also depend on how much weight you have to lose. Someone needing to lose 150lbs may not need to eat as may exercise calories back as someone needing to lose only 25.

I eat all of mine back when I can, if I can't I certainly make a nice dent in them.

YMMV