Eating too many exercise cals?

sweetdianachka

OK, I know why you eat back your exercise cals, and trust me I do it! (you dont have to convince me to eat mroe, thats why im on MFP in the first place ) But I use my HRM when i workout and usually the number ends up being way higher than what MFP would tell me for that activity and amount of time. So, I diligently log what my HRM says but then the other day I was thinking... If my cals for the day before exercise are taking into account my TDEE minus a deficit, then am I logging too many calories by going by my HRM since that half our or hour I spend working out is accounted for in my cals for the day? I test this I put on my HRM and sat in bed listening to a podcast for an hour and burned 100 cals. So if i work out for that same hour and burn 500 cals, should I really only be logging and eating back 400?? Does MFP account for this and thats why they always show a number lower than my HRM? (although from reading other posts it looks like most people's HRM numbers are lower than MFP)

julieh391

Wow. That's is a fabulous question. I never thought about calculating the difference between what my resting body would have burned in the time I'm exercising. I typically eat back 1/2 to 3/4 of my exercise calories, so I suppose that covers the issue.

mcrowe1016

I subtract my resting calories. However, I love numbers and end up making really complicated calculations just for fun. If you are losing weight at the pace you want while eating like you have been, there is no need to adjust. If you are losing slower than intended, than try for 75% of exercise calories.