I Don't Understand :/

KSoto2014

Do you have to eat back the calories you burned exercising? Isn't the point of exercising to burn more calories than you eat? And what about pre and post workout snacks, do they reall help and give you better results?

shadow2soul

Example:

TDEE: 2300
Daily Goal/amount you eat total: 1800
Deficit: 500 a day

That's a 500 calorie deficit so you're already burning more than you're consuming just by doing daily activities.

Add exercise to that and you get this:
TDEE: 2300
Daily Goal: 1800
Amount you eat: 1800
Exercise: 300
Net Amount: 1500
deficit: 800

You're now at an 800 calorie deficit. You could eat those exercise calories back, because over all your goal still puts you at a deficit. By eating them back, it will give you the 500 calorie deficit you have when you don't work out.

edit: Forgot to add

TDEE: 2300
Amount You eat: 2300
Exercise:300
Net amount: 2000
Deficit: 300

If you were to eat at maintenance and work out, then you wouldn't eat your exercise calories. This is because the exercise calories would be creating the deficit, instead of you creating it by limiting your intake.

harrisonda1

If you don't eat enough you will put your body into "starvation" mode. It will hang on to every ounce of you for dear life! Yes, I eat back most of the calories I burn exercising - however, every body burns calories differently and MFP only gives an average. Many factors contribute such as weight, age, and metabolism. There are other websites out there that will let you enter in those variables to give you a closer estimate.
Also, if you don't have enough calories to fuel your exercising body, your body may choose to burn muscle instead of fat.
I am not an expert by any means, but make sure you are consuming a healthy amount of calories, especially if you are hitting the gym hard. I notice that I lose weight faster at 1200 calories/day than at 1000 calories/day, with no workout.

KSoto2014

Thank you guys so much! Makes more sense now.