Should I eat my exercise calories?

IECdispatcher

Sure, I have coffee and fiber one bar in the morning. A piece of fruit for midmorning snack. A smart one for lunch. A piece of fruit for midafternoon snack. My evening meal varies very much. Evening meal usually stays around 500-600 calories...

supermodelchic

average 1300-1500 calories a day. I do not eat back any calories gained from exercise , if you want you can add me as a friend and see what i eat in a typical week..

cwolfman13

When I was using the MFP method I ate back about 70-80% of my exercise calories as this tool intends for you to do so...I've dropped 30 Lbs doing so. You will note that in your diary you have a calorie GOAL. To my knowledge, the definition of the word GOAL has not changed...achieve your goals

Most people who have issues like this are underestimating their intake and overestimating their output. It's really easy to be off if you don't weigh and measure and/or you log arbitrary things like house work as exercise.

ajhugz

There are a lot of reasons you may not be seeing the loss you are expecting.

1.) If you recently started exercising 5-6 days a week you may not see much of a change in weight because of water retention.
2.) Are you weighing yourself under the same conditions each time. I weigh once a week early in the morning after peeing and before drinking or eating anything.
3.) Take your measurements. You might be gaining muscle and losing inches, but not lbs.
4.) Maybe your food calories and calories burned from exercise aren't as accurate as you think. You could be eating more than you think.
5.) You could be eating too little.

If you are close to your goal you have to work harder to reach it.

Try changing the type of exercise you're doing. Make sure you drink enough water. Don't eat back all of your exercise calories if you aren't positive that the calorie burn number is accurate. I had a cheat /rest day and lost more weight when I weighed in. Most of all be patient and give what you're doing enough time to work.

*edited for typos smh

Laura8603

Increase the intensity of your exercise. If you are only earning 200 calories, it sounds like you are walking which won't do much to help you lose weight.

psuLemon

MFP is telling me to eat 1200 calories to lose 1 1/2 pounds per week... Sad, huh? Lol!!

1.5 lbs per week is too aggressive with someone that has 7 lbs to lose. It will not supply your body with enough fuel. Below is a good standard to follow when it comes to per week goals. Too aggressive and your body will fight to conserve energy. You will slow down your resting metabolic rate down and burn less calories. Depending on how long you have suppressed calories, it could take 1 - 6 months to reset that. Increasing the intensity of your workout will just increase the amount of calories your body requires. Again, if you create a larger deficit, your body will continue to fight harder to preserve, which will include depleting muscle to create energy.


If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

IECdispatcher

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