Total frustration!

kimderella12

I have been really serious and strict on my exercise and food intake for the past 2 weeks. When I log in my exercise on here, it regenerates my calories, so I have been eating the calories to stay at my intake goal. Why is it I didn't realize, or no one told me I should NOT be putting the calories back, therefore only maintaining? Am I just an idiot for not realizing this? The days I didn't consume the ex amount of calories burned, it would tell me I was under and not eating enough, so I decided to Google it. Sure enough...I shouldn't be eating the burned calories. I feel like I have been busting my butt to stay at an undesirable weight and ultimately getting no where. I am truly, truly frustrated!!!!

emmie0622

I do not at mine back but there are those that swear by it - do what works for you.

carpetcop24

I had the same issue when I first started using the app for my Android. As an outdoorsman, I would go hiking and carry a 20 pound backpack. When I'd get back, I'd log it in and the app would tell me that I could eat like 15,000 calories for what I'd burned in the day long hike I'd done. The idea is to add the exercise while staying under the calorie goal. It's tough, especially if you're training for a 10K like I am, and you're constantly hungry, but you can do it!

joannbrunton

i don't totally understand either but i think mfp makes you eat (for me it's 350 cal) less than it takes you to just live and breath and you eat back all but that many calories and i am set to lose .7 pounds a week and have been doing that since i started june 4. someone else may be able to explain better.

kwedding5409

The whole thing is pretty confusing. I try to stay under the calorie goal and consider anything I gained by exercising a bonus. But ya, I don't totally understand how it works.

socalblondie

I actually do not log my exercise on here because it regenerates the calories and I do not want to eat what I burned... If you do not eat those you are burning more calories. I do track what workouts and how long on a separate calendar though so that way I can keep track!

LowcarbNY

Your calorie goal should have a calorie deficit built into it based on how many lb/week you told mfp you want to lose.
500 calories for 1 lb/week, 1000 for 2 lb/week .....
Even with eating back your exercise that deficit should remain BUT

Realize that all of these numbers are, at best close guesses and at worse really bad guesses.

Your BMR, the calories in the food you ate (food labels have a legally allowable error and they are still often wrong beyond that ), the calories in the exercise you did. All of those are guesses and the errors can add up and there you are.

It is just my opinion mind you but I think that a lot of the burn numbers for activities that I see in MFP are on the high side.
So even when I have a 1000 calorie burn day I try to only eat back 1/2 of that. I need to eat back some of it because experience has taught me that if I don't I'll be "sucking wind" the next day.

rgm66

I was confused about it also so I talked to my doctor and she told me I didnt need to eat my calories back

chezileigh

My understand is this. In order to lose a specified amount of weight in a week, you need to eat a certain amount of calories less than you burn. Therefore, when you join MFP you tell it what activity level you are at, and then if you do additional exercise on top of that, if gives you the calories back. This is because the site has already taken away the right amount of calories for you to lose the weight you have said you want to lose. As long as you have the activity level set correctly, so that you aren't duplicating your exercise calories, you can eat the whole amount the site allows, and should still lose weight at the rate you have set it at. You don't have to eat those calories back, and if you don't, you will lose weight faster as the calorie deficit is higher. If you are hungry, then you should at least eat back enough of the exercise calories to satisfy your hunger in my opinion, otherwise you may feel tired or crabby.

Does that make sense?

Personally I log quite a high level of exercise, and I have the profile set to sedentary, so I can log any exercise I do without worrying that I could be encouraged to eat too much. I then eat back as many of the exercise calories as I like, but don't feel that I have to eat them all if not hungry.