Questions about calories

midwesternwind
midwesternwind Posts: 20 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Ok I am given a certain amount of calories at the beginning of the day. When I exercise it gives me extra calories per day...now do i use the extra calories or just stick to the amount I start off at the beginning of the day? I am trying to lose weight.

Replies

  • 10peter73
    10peter73 Posts: 1
    Good question, I would also like to know the answer
  • sprintto50
    sprintto50 Posts: 410 Member
    The program is designed for you to eat the extra calories provided by exercising. Those extra calories are enough incentive to get me out of bed at 5:30am.
  • jeh123
    jeh123 Posts: 5
    Yes you eat the extra calories. You body needs a certain amount of food just to keep going. You will still lose weight and workouts (especially strength training) will continue to burn more calories after you are done. :)
  • Deb_kar
    Deb_kar Posts: 17 Member
    I was wondering the same thing, I know i'm supposed to eat them but I worked so hard to burn them off, lol :ohwell:
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Yes, MFP is designed for you to eat the extra calories ASSUMING that you have your activity level set to sedentary. However, MFP also has a tendency to overestimate how many calories you burn doing certain activities so some people will suggest you only eat a portion of those calories.
  • majope
    majope Posts: 1,325 Member
    Yes, MFP is designed for you to eat the extra calories ASSUMING that you have your activity level set to sedentary.
    This is not correct. MFP is designed for you to eat the exercise calories (which are not "extra" but part of your daily goal once you've exercised) no matter what activity level you use. It adjusts your base calories by only a small amount per day if you change activity level--in my case, 120 calories, which is nowhere near enough to cover my exercise calories.
    However, MFP also has a tendency to overestimate how many calories you burn doing certain activities so some people will suggest you only eat a portion of those calories.
    Agreed. But it's a better idea to get a heart rate monitor so that you have a more exact idea of what you burn during exercise.
  • EllenTsampika
    EllenTsampika Posts: 2 Member
    I do not eat my extra calories! If I eat them I'm losing only one pound a week even though I'm working out every day for 60-90 min. a day. (and it sucks!) It's all about math! To lose one pound a week you have to burn 3500 calories. I will use me as an example. My daily goal are 1300 calories and my daily calorie deficit is 640. So I lose one pound a week from my diet. My fitness goal is to burn at least 3500 calories a week (cardio and circuit training). That's another pound. I'm losing two pounds a week and I'm very happy about it. :happy:
  • rachiepoo91
    rachiepoo91 Posts: 18 Member
    I would recommend experimenting with your calories and exercise. You might try consuming the maximum calories allowable for your activity level/extra exercise, at first. As weight loss progresses, the body sometimes starts slowing down. You might encounter times when you need to decrease or even increase your intake to continue losing.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I ate back just about everyone of my exercise calories and lost just fine.
  • Angeloftheshore
    Angeloftheshore Posts: 227 Member
    I lost very little weight, very few inches until I started eating most of my exercise calories back. I don't usually eat them all back, I leave a little room for error.

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