Newbie question about eating and exercise

crazydv

Hi All

I have been following this program for about three weeks and I'm very happy with my results of between 1/2 - 1 lb a week. My questions is

When I exercise, I am able to eat more. I usually earn about 500-700 calories a day. I start out with 1200 and i don't usually eat more than 1500 calories in a day...therefore I have never been able to eat all of the calories in a day. Will this effect me negatively at some point? Do you eat all of your calories each day or sometimes do you have some left over?

Thanks in advance for your help!

MJBez

Everyone is probably going to give you a different answer...
I try to eat back about half (some days a bit more) of my exercise calories. Some people eat them all back, I just find that is a lot of food and I do like losing weight at a slightly higher rate. If you find you hit a long plateau you may want to consider bumping up your calories.
If what your doing is working, and your not feeling hungry, you're probably doing just fine!
Good luck!

bobie1978

It really depends on how many calories. If you are going with the bare minium 1200 calories I def would. You are going to be hungry anyway! Normally I eat at least half of my calories back everyone is diferent though.

cyclerjenn

HI, Just go by what your body is telling you. If you feel tired and hungry then eat some of your calories back with a healthy filling meal like oatmeal or fruit and nuts.

crazydv

Thanks everyone for your input and suggestions!

hnsaunde

I usually eat some of mine back, but not all of them. I don't use a heart rate monitor anymore (mine broke and I haven't replaced it yet) so I'm always paranoid that MFP is overestimating the calories that I burn during exercise.

Also, although I weigh the majority of my food now, there are some cases where I'm probably still underestimating my count, so I take that into consideration as well.