Why do I need to eat the amount of calories I burn?

ediesmommy

Ok, maybe this questions seems stupid to some, but I thought the purpose was to burn calories and watch my caloric intake. Why is it telling me that if I have burned 400 calories, I have to eat an additional 400 calories? I am having a hard time getting to 1200 daily, but I never EVER hit the 1600 or 1700 some odd calories it says when I burn more! What's up with this?

Meaganandcheese

The calorie goal that MFP gives you incorporates a deficit without exercise. You should eat back at least some of your exercise calories to ensure that you're not creating too large a deficit (which would potentially slow or stall your weight loss over time). It might seem counter-intuitive, but you have to feed the machine.

If you're struggling to hit your calorie goals, try adding things like protein and healthy fat. Cut back on processed diety foods in favor of their full-fat/calorie counterparts. You can also open up your food diary for more specific advice if you want it.

benflando

So you don't die. 1200-1300 calories per day is only properly supplying a very light person. If you weight about 100 lbs than yes that would be fine. Also it is to keep your metabolism going. Finally it keeps you out of "starvation mode" . Which is basically your body using muscle as full and not the fat.

ediesmommy

Thanks. I guess I need to add a little more to my daily intake.

Glucocorticoid

You don't. Here's an idea most people here don't care for, but is more efficient.

1. Set a modest deficit (15-20%)
2. Don't count how many calories you burned and don't eat back exercise calories
3. Lose weight

Much simpler that way.

Obviously if you're going to 3 hours worth of high intensity cardio everyday, the deficit may need to decreased, because more of a deficit will be created from exercise expenditure. But doing that level of cardio would likely be counter-productive for most people here anyway.