Help..so confused!!!

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JoyCarter
JoyCarter Posts: 37
in Introduce Yourself
I've been looking on the internet everywhere but I could find the answer to my question so I figured I would ask you. If I am on a 1200 calorie plan and burn 500 calories do I add that to my 1,200 making it 1700? By doing this am I sabotaging my weight loss?

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  • milesje
    milesje Posts: 40 Member
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    Everyone is different, but the general rule-of-thumb is that YES you eat the calories that you burn. Try it for a few weeks and if you do not see any weight-loss then try not eating the calories you burn.
  • sharonsylvester
    sharonsylvester Posts: 52 Member
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    ok, so what you are saying is that you are on 1200 calories a day, but when you work out you burned 500 calories; if that is the case you need to subtract the 500 calories you burn and then you would need to eat back that amount of calories before your body goes into starvation mode.
  • dragonflyjill
    dragonflyjill Posts: 94 Member
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    You have it exactly right! You are encouraged to eat the 1700 calories. There is lots posted about this in the newbie forums.
    Jill
  • obifatkanobi
    obifatkanobi Posts: 190
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    This was posted some time back, and I saved the link, it answers your question and why. It was helpful for my wife and I, hope it is for you, too.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • sammydiddly
    sammydiddly Posts: 16
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    You definatly need to eat your calories since you are on a 1200 calorie diet. If you eat below 1200 calories for the day your body goes into starvation mode and by excercising and then not eating those calories, effectivley it would be doing the same thing. I am also on a 1200 calorie diet and it seems weird for me because if I eat the calories I excercise I don't see what the excercise is doing but it's better that then the body going into starvation mode :)
  • duribe56
    duribe56 Posts: 10 Member
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    I think you need to find out what your BMR is and then minus the 500 calories , basal metabolic rate, the amount of calories your body burns , make an appt with your doctor, he or she can help
  • trejon
    trejon Posts: 203
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    Eat those extra calories or not is your choice. I never went over my daily allowance and I always exercised. I found that I lost more than the number of pounds that MFP gave me. However on a rough night when you eat more calories YES you can burn off the excess and still stay under your goal. LAUGHING - the 500 you burn does not give you the ok to head to Cold Stone's (lol). Hang in there all of this will become a habit. Until then keep asking questions.
  • LotusF1ower
    LotusF1ower Posts: 1,259 Member
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    I think you need to find out what your BMR is and then minus the 500 calories , basal metabolic rate, the amount of calories your body burns , make an appt with your doctor, he or she can help

    I fully agree with this.

    Personally, I do not eat my exercise calories, I am on 1200 calories per day, but everybody is different.

    It is the BMR rate that is the key though, some people have a BMR of, say 1600, others 1400 (that's what mine is).

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