Extra calories for exercising?

IHopie
IHopie Posts: 14
in Food and Nutrition
So what's going on? My calorie count that I am allowed keeps going up higher with more and more exercise. Doesn't seem right to me. What good does it do to eat more? I know I don't want my body to feel deprived and think it's starving but that's an awful lot of extra food.. How is it figured out?

Replies

  • DrmWmn
    DrmWmn Posts: 8
    Hey! With my fitness pal, we are supposed to aim for a daily caloric intake that will allow us to safely lose weight. When we exercise, that's an additional calorie deficit, so we are supposed to EAT those calories back to keep us from consuming too little.

    So if your daily caloric goal is 1500 (based on your current activity level and weight), which is cutting out 500 a day to lose a pound a week, then if you exercise and burn off an additional 600, that leaves you only consuming 900, which is below where you need to be.

    By working out and eating your calories back, you ensure a safe and sustainable weight loss :smile:

    I hope that helps!

    ~Dawn
  • jwhit31
    jwhit31 Posts: 450 Member
    MFP has already created a deficit for you to lose the whatever weekly amount of weight you chose. Exercising creates a larger deficit so MFP factors it back into your daily foods totals. HTHs

    ETA: Guess Dawn and I posted at the same time. She gives a better explanation though. :smile:
  • IHopie
    IHopie Posts: 14
    Thanks, never thought about it that way but it sounds right. I just know that I can't always exercise at the levels I have the past couple of days so it concerned me that I was adding to much back on. Guess I can still consume something tasty like fresh fruit and honestly, it's way to late for me to eat another 500 calories. This old lady needs sleep..<G>

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