Do I have to eat the calories I burn at the gym?

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imanahole662
imanahole662 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I need help figuring out what my calorie goal should be because someone told me 1200 is too low. I'm 24 years old, 5ft 5in and weigh 147. I go to the gym 4 times per week and usually burn around 400 calories. I do not like eating back my calories because it's too much food and I feel like it defeats going to the gym. Someone please help because I'm confused and still have 17 pounds to go.
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  • tracimorris
    tracimorris Posts: 18
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    bump
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
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    if its too much food-then don't eat them back-that simple.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    Try this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013 :happy:
  • acrowder99
    acrowder99 Posts: 63 Member
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    I eat my calories back from exercise. I have a goal of 1200 net calories to lose 1.5 pounds a week. I exercise about an hour a day & burn up to 550 calories some days. If I only ate 1200, then burned 550 I would only have 650 calories left for my body to function. I would never go on a 650 calorie a day diet - first it would be ineffective & second I would give up fast! I look at exercise as calories earned for more food & part of toning my body but not part of weight-loss. I know that kind of sounds silly but it's my own little reward system, lol.
  • imanahole662
    imanahole662 Posts: 3 Member
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    Thanks for the help everyone. I followed that link and from that post said I should be eating 1,837 calories. I just feel like I can't eat that much. By the end of the day I wind up eating cookies or something just to get rid of the rest of my calories. And typically I don't eat junk food it just happens to be a small amount of food with a lot of calories.
  • lilpoindexter
    lilpoindexter Posts: 1,122 Member
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    If you aren't hungry, don't eat the exercise calories, and especially don't eat cookies or what not.
  • BodyFreak
    BodyFreak Posts: 68
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    What lmao if your trying to lose weight why are you eating back the calories you burn? That just defeats the purpose of dieting and doing cardio
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
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    What lmao if your trying to lose weight why are you eating back the calories you burn? That just defeats the purpose of dieting and doing cardio

    No it doesn't if you are following MFP as a deficit has already been factored in. If you don't log and eat those exercise calories back your deficit will be too large and could be counter productive to your weight loss.
  • Yooperm35
    Yooperm35 Posts: 787 Member
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    I love peanut butter on almost anything to use up my extra calories. 190 calories in 2 tbls of Jif- yummy!!!
  • tuxedord2
    tuxedord2 Posts: 69 Member
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    What lmao if your trying to lose weight why are you eating back the calories you burn? That just defeats the purpose of dieting and doing cardio

    No it doesn't if you are following MFP as a deficit has already been factored in. If you don't log and eat those exercise calories back your deficit will be too large and could be counter productive to your weight loss.

    Agreed. As I understand it -- you take 20 percent of your everyday living burn to arrive at the recommended calorie intake to achieve weight loss. But if you exercise on top and do not adjust your input then your 20 percent deficit is going to be higher. Some people would say that is okay-- you'll lose quicker. Some people would say that will slow your metabolism and create a host of problems.
  • BodyFreak
    BodyFreak Posts: 68
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    MFP Program is completely inaccurate to me. The total calorie intake and macro nutrients it suggests make no sense. My formula i use is way better and gets me to my maintenance calories based on my weight and metabolism speed, from there i just subtract 500 calories and from that number i break it down into the different macro's my body needs. Typically its a 45% carbs 35% Protein 20% Fats. I weight lift 5-6 days a week and do about 5 hours of cardio a week, I'm 7 weeks into dieting and i've lost about 15 pounds so far which is 2-3 pounds a week which is perfect amount. If MFP works for you go for it i just wouldn't recommand it personally.
  • badtastebetty
    badtastebetty Posts: 326 Member
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    If you don't feel deprived, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Your body will let you know if you're not doing it right :wink:
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    What lmao if your trying to lose weight why are you eating back the calories you burn? That just defeats the purpose of dieting and doing cardio

    You must be new around here. Read the FAQs. That's how MFP works.
  • AndyLL180
    AndyLL180 Posts: 57 Member
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    It depends on what activity level you put in. If you put in "Moderately Active: Moderate exercise or activity 3-5 days per week." then your workouts have already been calculated into your TDEE and your MFP calculations. ( and you wouldn't log your exercise )

    If you put Sedentary then you need to log your exercise and eat enough to make your remaining calories as close to 0 as possible.
  • ashleab37
    ashleab37 Posts: 575 Member
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    If you don't feel deprived, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Your body will let you know if you're not doing it right :wink:
    BS. Anyone who got themself into the position of being overweight should NOT listen to their body early on. Listening to our mind and body is what got us here.
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
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    MFP Program is completely inaccurate to me. The total calorie intake and macro nutrients it suggests make no sense. My formula i use is way better and gets me to my maintenance calories based on my weight and metabolism speed, from there i just subtract 500 calories and from that number i break it down into the different macro's my body needs. Typically its a 45% carbs 35% Protein 20% Fats. I weight lift 5-6 days a week and do about 5 hours of cardio a week, I'm 7 weeks into dieting and i've lost about 15 pounds so far which is 2-3 pounds a week which is perfect amount. If MFP works for you go for it i just wouldn't recommand it personally.

    Yep its worked for me. I've lost 21kgs. It's worked for many others also.
  • mindyjo74
    mindyjo74 Posts: 68 Member
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    It sounds like that macrodiet would be more diffucult to track and follow. Mfp has worked for me...im down 19 pounds.
  • mindyjo74
    mindyjo74 Posts: 68 Member
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    MFP Program is completely inaccurate to me. The total calorie intake and macro nutrients it suggests make no sense. My formula i use is way better and gets me to my maintenance calories based on my weight and metabolism speed, from there i just subtract 500 calories and from that number i break it down into the different macro's my body needs. Typically its a 45% carbs 35% Protein 20% Fats. I weight lift 5-6 days a week and do about 5 hours of cardio a week, I'm 7 weeks into dieting and i've lost about 15 pounds so far which is 2-3 pounds a week which is perfect amount. If MFP works for you go for it i just wouldn't recommand it personally.



    It sounds like a lot of work to stay on this type of diet....
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
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    I followed MFP the way it was meant to be used and that was to eat back my exercise calories.It tells you to eat them back when you join. Your deficit is already built in so there is no need to eat even less because that just does more damage you your body than dieting is already doing.

    I ate every one of those exercise calories back and I lost it all.
  • SteveJWatson
    SteveJWatson Posts: 1,225 Member
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    MFP Program is completely inaccurate to me. The total calorie intake and macro nutrients it suggests make no sense. My formula i use is way better and gets me to my maintenance calories based on my weight and metabolism speed, from there i just subtract 500 calories and from that number i break it down into the different macro's my body needs. Typically its a 45% carbs 35% Protein 20% Fats. I weight lift 5-6 days a week and do about 5 hours of cardio a week, I'm 7 weeks into dieting and i've lost about 15 pounds so far which is 2-3 pounds a week which is perfect amount. If MFP works for you go for it i just wouldn't recommand it personally.

    Then you just change your macro settings and calorie goal to suit. Its a calculator and all parts of it are adjustable - I have my macros adjusted to I eat 1g protien/lb of lean body mass/day. I forget what percentages I had to use to arrive at that.

    However, if you are using MFP the way it is set up, then you do need to eat excercise cals back - although I have my suspicions that cal burn it suggests for cardio are a bit over, so I don't eat all of those back, the strength training values it give me seem to make more sense, so I eat all those. However, if I was at 1200, I would certainly eat them all back to be on the safe side.

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