Exercise and Calorie Counting

MAMarkulik

HI ...
I have been using "My Fitness Pal" since February 2012 and I am still confused. First let me state that I have lost weight using this tool (8 lbs so far).

Here is my question... I am allowed 1,200 calories per day according to My Fitness Pal. What should my calorie intake be if I do high intensity aerobic exercise for an hour and burn approximately 550-625 calories?

I do not believe that I am supposed to eat them back ... should I?

Thanks
Margie

BrianSharpe

Yes, you should eat back (if not all, at least a portion of) your exercise calories MFP has already calculated a caloric deficit based on the information you provided.

The alternative approach would be to calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) which accounts for exercise calories and subtract the deficit needed for your planned weight loss.

MAMarkulik

Thank you!

drmattski

This only works if you measure your calories accurately. I get lazy and try to approximate a serving, but usually wind up with 1.5 cups instead of a cup in a big bowl (i tlooks small). My solution is to use a one-cup bowl, can't go over then! As yu can tell, part of my proble is portion control, and estimating is hard to do, so measure whenever you can.

Cheers,
Matt

erickirb

If you don't eat them back it would be like eating 575 cals and not working out (575 is not enough for anyone, even a child) 1200-625=575, if you eat them back you get back to your 1200 as 1825-625=1200 which is your MFP goal.