Do you use or ignore the net calorie calculation?

pinelakecutie
pinelakecutie Posts: 28 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've only been using MFP for about a week. For those of you who've been using it for awhile and have lost weight, do you ignore the "net" calorie difference from exercising and just stick to your set daily caloric intake? Or do you add the calories back in so you can eat more?

Thanks.

Replies

  • kim_mcintire
    kim_mcintire Posts: 19
    It should add them in for you so you can eat more. It has worked fine for me. I have kept my weight off for almost two years. Good luck!
  • Jamcnair
    Jamcnair Posts: 586 Member
    I like to eat back my calories---I would suggest eating at least some of them back so you don't net super low and mess up your metabolism
  • vjrose
    vjrose Posts: 809 Member
    I do in the sense I always try to net 1200 at least. Works for me, down 60lbs.
  • lachesissss
    lachesissss Posts: 1,298 Member
    I use the net. I had stalled a bit, then increased the quality of my food and made more of an attempt to hit my net calories and it seems to be working.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    I feel like ignoring the net calorie calculation is like ignoring how many miles you drive in between trips to the gas station. Food is fuel; in order to take the body where you want, you have to give it sufficient fuel (without overflowing the tank).

    I'm aware that there are folks on here who steadfastly believe you should ignore the TDEE and simply go by baseline BMR numbers. I wish them good luck.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I ate back all my exercise calories and it worked perfectly. It's healthier to do it that way so why not do it?
  • maru84
    maru84 Posts: 128
    You should search the forums, there are a billion posts about this and you'd get a ton of info. I am still trying to figure out what works, if MFP knew EXACTLY how many calories you were burning and if you were traking EXACTLY what you were eating (down to the gram), then you could eat back every exercise calorie with confidence. However I wouldn't eat back ALL the exercise calories unless you're 100% sure they're accurate (I feel like they're inflated). But I'm still (obviously) trying to get it all right myself! For people I'm friends with who have lost big, they seem to eat back nearly all of their exercise calories as well as their baseline calories.
  • Querian
    Querian Posts: 419 Member
    I kind of set my own goals and ignore the way MFP calculates things but I set a range of 1600 net calories or 2000 max regardless of how much I exercise. That way I can eat back some if you look at it that way. But you have to figure out what works for you. There are a lot of paths to success here. :flowerforyou:
  • mygrl4meee
    mygrl4meee Posts: 943 Member
    I don't burn 500 or more calories and set out to eat them. However, I do cycle the calories. If I come in way under one day. I know on a day like today where I work all day and can't work out. I can go over on calories and still have a loss. Its been working for me.
  • kusterer
    kusterer Posts: 90 Member
    I weigh so much that I have a very high calorie number in the first place. I do teensy weight stuff and mild cardio things for an hour or more, like walking at a slow pace or in water, and MFP gives me so many more calories, it seems ridiculous. I believe that in theory you should eat the extra calories, but so far I don't and I am losing just fine.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    I do a third option. I enter all my workouts as 1 calorie. And then comment on them if I want to keep track of the calories burned. I do this because I prefer to manage my macros myself. IE: because I run doesn't necessarily mean I want more protein, or carbs or maybe sugar...

    (I am doing TDEE-20%, not letting MFP tell me to eat 1200)
  • shellykzoo
    shellykzoo Posts: 21 Member
    I have to eat the extra calories I earn with exercise otherwise, I stall. I don't mind at all :)
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
    I ignore it. Actually I now change my calories burned by exercise to 1. I don't want it changing my numbers.
  • aquaventure
    aquaventure Posts: 29
    I have not been eating back the calories and my weight loss has been slow. Age is 55 so I know it will be slower and I have thyroid issues. In 10 weeks down 10 lbs and 9.5 inches so something is working. I keep thinking I need to eat more and I did for about 10 days and gained. I am eating under my BMR and TDEE -20%. I just started using a HRM and it is showing I am burning more calories than I thought. Still trying to figure out works for me.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Totally eat back my calories. Otherwise you're getting too much of a deficit.
  • Dan4495
    Dan4495 Posts: 130 Member
    I ignore it.
  • deanjcrawford
    deanjcrawford Posts: 83 Member
    I decided yesterday that i'm going to eat half back. I don't think the calculations MFP gives are correct so i'm being cautious.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
    One issue is that the MFP cardio database tends to really overestimate calories burned, so I am hesitant to eat back all those calories. For that reason, I only eat about half back. This way I get a bit of extra fuel to compensate for the extra burned calories, but I don't worry about eating too close to maintenance or going over.
  • daoc1972
    daoc1972 Posts: 92 Member
    If you are just starting, you should eat back your calories as this is how the site is designed to help you. It's based on solid evidence even though it is not perfectly tuned to individual differences. When you learn more about nutrition, you should tweak it to your liking as long as you are fully aware of why you are doing so. Missing your mark by +/- 10 % will not be too terrible in the long run, but ignoring them altogether without a good reason (like you calculated the numbers for yourself based on some evidence like HRM) will leave you frustrated.

    I'm telling you from experience. I initially ignored the earned calories (basically by not logging my exercise) and lost weight. But I stalled for longer than I lost. I started to learn about nutrition. I now understand the numbers and how they work for me. I started losing again. I still stall, but I now know what to do to rev things up sooner than three months in the same spot.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    If you are just starting, you should eat back your calories as this is how the site is designed to help you. It's based on solid evidence even though it is not perfectly tuned to individual differences. When you learn more about nutrition, you should tweak it to your liking as long as you are fully aware of why you are doing so. Missing your mark by +/- 10 % will not be too terrible in the long run, but ignoring them altogether without a good reason (like you calculated the numbers for yourself based on some evidence like HRM) will leave you frustrated.

    I'm telling you from experience. I initially ignored the earned calories (basically by not logging my exercise) and lost weight. But I stalled for longer than I lost. I started to learn about nutrition. I now understand the numbers and how they work for me. I started losing again. I still stall, but I now know what to do to rev things up sooner than three months in the same spot.
    That's very good advice.
  • pinelakecutie
    pinelakecutie Posts: 28 Member
    Thanks daoc1972 and everyone else. Great advice all around. I've been eating my calories back, so I'll continue to do that, unless I start having problems. I'm a budding endurance runner, so it'll be even more important for me to watch my nutrition and make sure I'm getting enough to eat.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    I use it. MFP is a great tool, and this is a part of how that tool works...and it does!

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