Do you eat your exercise calorie?

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  • afhowell757
    afhowell757 Posts: 8 Member
    I just started on MFP and I was so excited that they easily calculated how many calories you should eat even when you exercise. I have had the same exact problem not knowing my calorie deficit with other apps & websites I have used prior to MFP. They made it too difficult, especially when they incorporated calories burned just by resting.

    A health coach told me that I wasn't eating enough calories for the exercise I was doing. She actually told me to eat more. But I didn't know how to balance it out, and eventually I ended up gaining some of my weight back. I just started using MFP this week and have already dropped weight. The last two months has been a gradual weight gain.I also use a HRM so I know exactly how many calories I am burning through exercise.

    After reading all the posts, if you noticed, those who have lose 25 lbs or more, suggested to eat your exercise burned calories. I am following suit. You don't have to tell me twice.
  • drgndancer
    drgndancer Posts: 426 Member
    I swear I'm going to copy and paste this response into a text file so I don't have to keep retyping it. :-) This is an incredibly common question, and lots of people have give pretty good advice. I'm going to add this bit since I haven't seen anyone else say it. If you're burning relatively small numbers of calories working out, eating them is pretty optional as lots of people have said. You'll lose a little faster if you don't, but you'll lose either way. If you burn a lot of calories working out (the definition of "a lot" sort of varies based on height and weight, but say more than 500 calories 4 or more days a week for an "average" person) you probably want to eat back at least some of them. Me personally, I burn around 600-1500 calories most days running 5-12 miles and doing strength training. I don't think I could keep that up if I didn't eat at least some of them back.

    If you're walking a couple miles three time a week, by all means let them just add a bit more to your deficit. If you're running 5 or 6 miles 5 times a week, eat them or at least some of them.

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