Extra calories for exercising

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katieredmond5243
katieredmond5243 Posts: 31
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi am just wondering do I have to use the extra calories I get from working out and doing cardio??

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  • faceoff4
    faceoff4 Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Depends on your goals. If its to lose weight then no. If you want to maintain or gain then usually yes you should try to stick close. I burn a lot each day and almost never eat enough to get to my calorie goal. Hope this helps!
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
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    Depends on your goals. If its to lose weight then no. If you want to maintain or gain then usually yes you should try to stick close. I burn a lot each day and almost never eat enough to get to my calorie goal. Hope this helps!

    This is not terribly good advice. MFP assumes that you are eating back all exercise calories, and the closer to your total goal, the better. Undereating will promote weight loss, but it will not promote fat loss. At small deficits, your body will tend to use fat reserves as they are readily available and easily obtainable. As the deficits get larger, your body will begin to hoard the fat deposits against a continuation of the large deficit and will start to burn lean muscle tissue in its place. The longer this trend continues, the more likely it is that your body will shift the ratio away from burning mostly fat. To maximize fat loss, you should eat back all exercise calories. Your other option is the TDEE method, as explained in the link below.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet?hl=short+and+sweet&page=10#posts-15694678
  • katieredmond5243
    katieredmond5243 Posts: 31
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    Thank you to both of you :-) am trying to lose weight and I want to lose about 20 poubds if not more in 2 months will cardio and eating my calorie intake if 1300 help me??
  • katieredmond5243
    katieredmond5243 Posts: 31
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    Thank you to both of you :-) am trying to lose weight and I want to lose about 20 poubds if not more in 2 months will cardio and eating my calorie intake if 1300 will this help me to lose that*
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Thank you to both of you :-) am trying to lose weight and I want to lose about 20 poubds if not more in 2 months will cardio and eating my calorie intake if 1300 will this help me to lose that*

    20lbs in 2 months averages out to 2.5lbs per week. If your profile picture is recent I'm going to suggest that 2.5lbs per week may prove very difficult as you don't appear to need to lose weight. The nearer we are to our so-called "ideal" weight the harder it is to lose fat.
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
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    20 pounds is an ambitious goal, but theoretically possible.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet?hl=short+and+sweet&page=10#posts-15689310

    The above will be a fairly good guide to determining how many calories you should be eating.

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