Question on Calories...Please :)

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  • Kylieikerd
    Kylieikerd Posts: 82
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    bump
  • Smuterella
    Smuterella Posts: 1,623 Member
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    What you "should" do really depends on what stage of your weight loss you are at and how you have set yourself up.

    If you still have a lot to lose then you can probably get away with not eating your exercise calories as you have large fat stores. however if you have 20 or less lbs left you should eat those calories back as you want to keep the deficit per day small to ensure that you are losing fat rather than muscle.

    how you set up your profile also comes into this. If you included your workouts in your daily activity levels then you don't need to eat those calories back - they are already accounted for. Personally, i set myself up as sedentary as I prefer to then add in the actual exercise done as that calorie bonus is a great motivator to exercise in the first place.
  • Purple_Orchid_87
    Purple_Orchid_87 Posts: 517 Member
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    I make sure my NET is a minimum of 1200
    My GOAL is 1600 daily, so where I exercise, I eat back enough to get my NET to 1200

    If I end up eating 1600 and exercising 800 then i eat back 400 to being me back up to a NET of 1200

    some argue your NET and GOAL should be the same (eating back all your exercise calories) but if you have a lot to lose, and burn a lot of calories by exercising, it can be hard to eat all of them back - for instance, my HRM says that 30 minutes on treadmill @ 3mph with 8% incline burns just over 600calories - i also do other things, and I couldnt eat ALL those back
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,018 Member
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    My deficit is based on my maintenance calories which includes all daily physical activity. Most people start from the bottom BMR and work up and wonder if they should count housework.........it that sense, confusion will be the common denominator and you'll get a myriad of conflicting solutions.
  • melanieparker13
    melanieparker13 Posts: 110 Member
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    BUMP FOR LATER
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I eat just what I am allotted. Or try to. And then exercise. I do not try to make up for the calories I burned through exercise. That would kind of defeat the purpose. :P At least for trying to lose weight.

    actually it wouldn't defeat the purpose. exercise is good for your heart, endurance, strength, retaining lean muscle as you lose weight, but is not needed, and the way MFP is set up doesn't do a thing, for weight loss.

    MFP puts you in a deficit with your allotted amount assuming no exercise, when you exercise you body needs more fuel.
    As an example your day to day requirements are like a tank of gas. if you use a tank of gas/week going to and from work, if you go on any extra trips or errands you will need to add more gas in order to have enough gas to get to work. So if you need 1200 for day to day stuff (you will lose weight with 1200 cals and no exercise), then when you do extra (workout) you need to put more calories in your body
  • Bunnybeesweet
    Bunnybeesweet Posts: 165 Member
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    How about eating those exercise calories with fresh veggies?! That can't hurt!
  • boggsmeister
    boggsmeister Posts: 292 Member
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    If you eat back your exercise calories you will lose fat and maintain, or possibly gain, some muscle. If you don't eat back your exercise calories you will lose fat and muscle. You will lose weight faster, but for me it's about losing fat. I couldn't care less what I weigh as long as my bodyfat percentage is going down.
  • rextcat
    rextcat Posts: 1,408 Member
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    deerpopcorn.gif
  • nickyrobinson
    nickyrobinson Posts: 161 Member
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    I try to eat my exercise calories back, BUT... it appears that MFP overestimates exercise calories (at least for my height and weight). So I log 2/3 of the time on all my exercise (recording 30 minutes for every 45 spent). Then I try pretty hard to eat all of those calories back.

    However, I don't worry about it if I am a couple hundred calories under (which happens a couple times a week) as I am set for only 1 lb/week wight loss AND I am nowhere near the 1200 calorie minimum.
  • debinewb1
    debinewb1 Posts: 50 Member
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    I eat my daily calories and then some of the exercise calories so my body won't go into survival mode and stop burning fat. Everytime I don't eat enough, I get that message that tells me to eat more. I usually try to leave some behind. I'm losing about 1/2 to 1 lb a week. I recently bought a Fitbit to measure my movement and it has really helped me pick up my movement/exercise.
    Good Luck! I agree, you'll just have to let your body be the lead.

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