What's the point of eating back calories? o.O

tennisbabe94

I burn anywhere from 400-900 calories a day and I know I should eat some of that back, but am I supposed to eat them all back? What was the point of exercising then? Ahhh so confused.

kaydensmom12

The daily calorie deficit is already figured out with the number that MFP gives you. Lets say your BMR is 1400 and your TDEE is 2000 calories. You eat 1450 calories and burned 900 for the day, that is leaving your body with 550 calories to use for its energy. That is creating a 1450 calorie deficit from your TDEE. From what I have learned and researched the body starts to break down muscle b/c it needs more energy than fat does and it needs the amino acids to convert to energy when there is too big of a calorie deficit from your TDEE.

You will hear a lot of controversy about eating calories back but I always eat most back. I do not overeat if I am full though, I try to listen to my body.
too large of a calorie deficit= muscle loss= my opinion:)
So the point of exercising is to keep lean muscle and to keep your body/metabolism going.

megsmom2

Read the posts for newbies..lots of good explanations of these and other topics. The program is designed to work that way.....and it does.

NJL13500

My boyfriend and I have both been using the site (and plan) for 10 weeks and we usually eat back at least a portion of our exercise calories. It seems to be working for us. We don't use the extra exercise as a reason to "pig out", but if we are hungry then we eat within the extra calories. It set us both at 1200 which seems pretty low to us on some days. We've both been pretty steady at 2 pounds a week loss. I'm sure I'll have to fine tune once I get closer to my goal weight though.