Exercise Calories - Help!

Hiya. I read this post, think it explains what you should do:

https://api.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/713460--eating-back-exercise-calories-simple-breakdown

xx

1200 is the minimum calories that most women should be eating, so yes if your exercise nets lower than that you should eat them back. if your exercise nets higher than 1200 then i would say it's your choice whether you want to eat them back or not, depending on your weight loss goals.

I just really need a simple answer to this as I have been trawling the MFP forums regarding exercise calories and everyone just seems to go off into huge arguments with each other about what is right and wrong.

Basically my calories are set at 1200 per day, if I then exercise adding up to say 500 calories for example my NET calories for the day are 700 that's too low right?

Should I be aiming to eat those calories back and have my NET calories at 1200?

Yes. That is how MFP is designed to work.

However, expect just as much disagreement on your thread as any other.

Emma, I feel exactly the same! I too was almost 'enjoying' feeling hungry as towards the end of last year I never did because I was constantly eating rubbish!

I too have just increased my daily allowance from 1500 to 1700 and it's really hard to increase those calories without feeling 'bad'. In the past I would have stuffed chocolate sweets or cake down my throat but now I'm trying to make a sensible choice, somehow not eating is easier!

good luck!

I have worked out my TDEE and then as suggested on other posts I have taken off 30% (I have 69lbs to lose) to give my calorie allowance to lose weight. However, it also states not to eat below your BMR and taking 30% off my TDEE goes below BMR so I have had to go with minus 25% to keep me within BMR but this is still eating 1700+ calories that's 500 more calories!!! Still really confused and disheartened now and have no idea what I am bloody doing

Try not to get too stressed out over it. Try one way for a few weeks and see how you get on. 1700 sounds very reasonable - if you're doing the TDEE -25% method, then don't eat back additional exercise calories. If you're going with a lower MFP goal, then eat back additional exercise calories. Pick whichever way you think would suit you best. If you think you'd rather eat the same number of calories every day regardless of whether you exercise or not - then the TDEE method would be better. If after a few weeks things aren't going as planned, you can tweak things.

And 1700 is not a huge amount to eat - it's less than the average recommended amount for women, so don't worry about not being able to eat it. It might just take a bit of planning at first to make sure you get enough in. If you really struggle, aim for calorie-dense foods (cheese, nuts, seeds, nut butters, avocados, full fat dairy, olive oil... basically thing with fats) so you get more calories without feeling stuffed.