Can I really eat my exercise points???

adam1885282

I use them as cushion but never eat more than half. I think MFP overestimates. Runkeeper consistiently gives me credit for fewer calories than MFP does. If you're not using a heart rate monitor, no measure will be perfectly accurate.

jennifermartinez1112

i was told by my nutritionist that i should eat them to back, but i only eat back about half of them

Leslie85

Or is it just a cruel ploy. I've done at least three hours of fairly heavy gardening today and it says I've burned over 700 cals which its added to my available calories. Is this right? Could all of the digging up roots have paid off?

To be frankly honest I would not add that to my "exercise" portion of the MFP. But thats up to you. Yes I would eat my exercise calories. Good Luck and keep it up

I don't add anything like this either. I don't garden, but I work on a University campus, so I do a ton of walking (sometimes light jogging when I'm running late haha) and I don't log it. I only log actual exercise- and I eat back the calories, but I've got wiggle room because there's a lot of stuff I don't log.

msmata

MFP is a great app to manage what you eat so that you do not over eat. But I have realized that what you log in for your daily exercise and the calories it says you burn is not accurate. Actually it is waaaayyy over what you are truly burning. I would suggest if you want to keep using MFP to log your exercise maybe trying finding a great calorie calculator and figure out what you are really burning that way you know what you are really doing.

erickirb

Or is it just a cruel ploy. I've done at least three hours of fairly heavy gardening today and it says I've burned over 700 cals which its added to my available calories. Is this right? Could all of the digging up roots have paid off?

MFP is designed for you to eat them, but the cals burned the site gives tend to be too high.
You may have burned 700 during that time, but some of it you would have burned had you not gardened anyway. In 180 minutes you probably burn 180 to 270 cals if you did nothing, and those would already be accounted for in your daily intake in MFP. If you are going to eat the exercise calories I would urge you to back out what you would have burned had you not exercised, so in this case you would override the number MFP gives you with 430-520 (700-180 to 270)

softballsharie

I eat every single calorie that I exercise off back, and I've lost 47 lbs. in 6 months. MFP already sets you at a deficit, so no matter what, you're still eating at a deficit. Also, it's dangerous to not eat enough calories. So I say if you've earned it, indulge a little. ;]

ZombieSlayer

Or is it just a cruel ploy. I've done at least three hours of fairly heavy gardening today and it says I've burned over 700 cals which its added to my available calories. Is this right? Could all of the digging up roots have paid off?

YES! That's the way the site is designed to work... and gardening burns a ton of calories if you're doing it right. (Per BodyBugg, my highest calorie burn days, over the last year, were heavy cleaning or gardening days).

reggie2run

My rule of thumb is to eat only half of your exercise points. It's a little bonus, but you're not over-doing it, either!!

This!

Leslie85

MFP is a great app to manage what you eat so that you do not over eat. But I have realized that what you log in for your daily exercise and the calories it says you burn is not accurate. Actually it is waaaayyy over what you are truly burning. I would suggest if you want to keep using MFP to log your exercise maybe trying finding a great calorie calculator and figure out what you are really burning that way you know what you are really doing.

Another reason I don't log things like walking all over campus multiple times a day and cleaning and cooking and all that good stuff. I log my exercise, which I figure is more than I actually burned, but I don't log anything else that burns calories (like walking all over campus and climbing 3 flights of stairs several times a day). That way, it probably all evens out in the end.

erickirb

MFP is a great app to manage what you eat so that you do not over eat. But I have realized that what you log in for your daily exercise and the calories it says you burn is not accurate. Actually it is waaaayyy over what you are truly burning. I would suggest if you want to keep using MFP to log your exercise maybe trying finding a great calorie calculator and figure out what you are really burning that way you know what you are really doing.

Another reason I don't log things like walking all over campus multiple times a day and cleaning and cooking and all that good stuff. I log my exercise, which I figure is more than I actually burned, but I don't log anything else that burns calories (like walking all over campus and climbing 3 flights of stairs several times a day). That way, it probably all evens out in the end.

If you do a lot of non-exercise stuff, then you should have your activity level set to active or light active, which will give you cals towards those extras.

WaterBunnie

Extra exercise calories are a great incentive to exercise and help fuel your body through the workout. I calculate mine through FitBit's site which is less generous than here and consider them all fair game to eat either on the day they were burned or carried forward to a day you know you would otherwise have been going to be over - meals out or situations where you can't choose what you are being fed. I'm losing 2lb a week as per my calorie deficit and feel healthier eating back what I burn.