Calories and Exercise Question

When I started using Myfitness pal last January, I dutifully recorded all my exercise and ate the calories... to find I'd gained a pound after 2 weeks!

What worked for me was not eating the exercise calories, and actually keeping under the daily allocation. My daily allocation is 1290 calories - and I've lost a stone (14 pounds) by keeping strictly within that (usually under) and increasing my exercise.

Good luck!

Read this http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

I have a question. My calorie goal is 1600. When I exercise I do not eat those calories back, it's just extra. When I have lost weight I find that it's when I am below 1600 (1500 or so) and then maybe burn 400 or so with exercise. I see people referring to eat back the calories. confused. why would you do that to lose weight. thanks.

There is a weight loss deficit net of exercise built into your calorie GOAL. Your calorie GOAL is not a maintenance level of calories and your activity level should NOT include exercise when you set it up in MFP. This is called the "NEAT method" whereby exercise is extra activity and the additional calories from exercise provides incentive to get up and move your *kitten*.

It is confusing because most people are accustomed to either using the TDEE method (exercise is already accounted for in your activity level) or just trying to create a weight loss deficit with exercise. With MFP, your calorie GOAL results in weight loss with no exercise whatsoever.

Understand and know the tool you are using. Not eating back exercise calories may result in a deficit that is too large and counterproductive to your goals. Too large a deficit results in loss of more muscle along with your fat...this results in reduced metabolism. VLCDs can also result in metabolic damage and stuff like hair falling out, etc.

Again...know your tool.

Great info on this link!

Lets just say you maintain your weight on 2000 calories for these examples below.

Example 1: You maintain your current weight on 2000 calories, you eat this everyday and you decide to exercise everyday and burn off 500 calories. Your NET intake is now 1500 calories, thus you lose 1lb a week because of the 500 calorie deficit every day. In this example, you would not eat back your exercise calories because it is the only way you are obtaining a caloric deficit.

Example 2: MFP tells you to eat 1500 calories a day to lose weight without exercise. You do this and lose 1lb a week because you are creating a caloric deficit by eating fewer calories, with zero exercise.

Example 3: MFP tells you to eat 1500 calories, you then decide to go to the gym and burn off 500 calories. You log this exercise on MFP and it tells you to eat 2000 calories to get to your 1500 NET calories because 2000-500=1500.

I lose better when I manage the deficit and I feel better if I find that m
y deficit is more than 500 I will eat back to where I should be for my day and I still lose an average of 2lb a week. I don't
want to go into starvation mode and screw up my metabolism because I ate too little for my activity level.
.

And on the other side of the equation...I always ate back all my exercise calories when I first started losing weight. Never stopped me losing weight. I tracked everything I ate and drank, ate back exercise cals and lost every week. When I began weight training I switched to my TDEE minus 15-20%. Don't do what other people do because they say it's the only way to do it. Try eating them back, give it a few weeks and watch your weight/measurements and work out for yourself what works for YOU.

^^This seems perfectly reasonable to me