Caloric intake

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germanimcneill
germanimcneill Posts: 7
in Introduce Yourself
Hi. I have been using myfitnesspal for about a week now. I am a little confused. Am I supposed to eat all of the calories? For example, I burn over a thousand calories with each workout a day, am I supposed to eat over 2,000 calories a day? On the days that I don't exercise, I am only allowed 1,340 calories. Any help is greatly appreciated.

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  • liddienicole
    liddienicole Posts: 45 Member
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    Hiya! Wow, you do great workouts, I'd never be able to burn that much. Well done! If MFP has given you 1340, you have to eat back all/most/at least half of your exercise calories as otherwise you'll only be netting at 340 calories a day which is incredibly low and is bad for you. You need energy to fuel your workouts, so because you do so much exercise you can eat back your exercise calories and so you will be eating over 2000 a day - but netting at 1340.
  • Melo1966
    Melo1966 Posts: 881 Member
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    How sure are you of the 1,000? You may want to even it out and eat like 1,700 a day whether you exercise or not and see what you lose after 2-4 weeks and adjust up or down from there.
  • mcobleigh61788
    mcobleigh61788 Posts: 1
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    I never eat back all of the calories I burn. If I burn 800 calories, I will eat back maybe half of that to leave a 400 calorie deficit. You don't have to eat it all back and in fact I don't recommend it. However, you do not want to be have a net intake of less than 500 calories... you will not be fueling your workouts. I would be sure to double check the calories you're burning in your workouts, also... I work out for an hour and a half a day (which includes 60 minutes of cardio) and hardly ever hit 1,000 burned calories. A great place to get an accurate count on the calories you're burning is: www.healthstatus.com
  • germanimcneill
    germanimcneill Posts: 7
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    I only do cardio. I use the calorie trackers each workout.
  • germanimcneill
    germanimcneill Posts: 7
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    Thanks
  • chelstakencharge
    chelstakencharge Posts: 1,021 Member
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    I run daily and have lost over 81 pounds! I never eat back any of my exercise calories. You have to find what works best for you!
  • mile626
    mile626 Posts: 29
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    Your calorie tracking looks spot on to me, except perhaps for the treadmill walking. 740 for an hour walk is on the high side. Perhaps you are using an extremely high incline, or you walk very fast.

    In general, an hour on a treadmill walking at 3.5-4 mph would burn about 400-500 calories.
  • mile626
    mile626 Posts: 29
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    I'd say that so long as you do not feel worn down by the low calorie diet you are on, and have enough energy to do your workouts and other activities throughout the day, stick with the calories given, and do not eat back the exercise calories.

    If you are feeling hungry, a great time for a snack is after your workouts. For a 30 minute window post workout you have a heightened insulin response that will take that energy to restore the glycogen you used during your workout to your muscles.

    A 100 to 200 calories snack post workout, with a mix of protein and carbs is a great way to fuel your future workouts and repair your muscles. I drink a lower carb fresh fruit protein smoothie after my workout. It's about 24g of protein and 20g of carbs.
  • germanimcneill
    germanimcneill Posts: 7
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    I use the max incline of 15% and a speed between 3.5 and 4.0
  • mile626
    mile626 Posts: 29
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    Then that calorie number is accurate. Good for you! a max incline is very hard!

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