Exercise Calories

You also have to remember that MFP ALREADY has a deficit built into your daily calorie intake so if you have 1200 calories/day and you want to lose 1lb a week, MFP actually has you at 1700 calories/day - 500 calories/day = 1200 calories/day for a 1lb/week weight loss goal. MEANING that you need to eat back your exercise calories to maintain the 1200 calories/day min recommended by MFP and keep your metabolism up.

1200 calories is the least amount of calories you should eat. It is your baseline. When you set up under mfp you answered questions about how active you are and how much you would like to lose a week and MFP gave you your daily deficit. It won't go lower then 1200 calories / day. Eat this and some of your exercise calories you earn. How much? that depends on your deficit. WIth me, my daily deficit is 750 calories. So if I exercise and burn / earn 500 calories. I will eat at least 250 extra calories (1200 + 250 = 1450 ) That gives me a deficit of 1000 calories / day and that is a number you don't want to go over.
WHY? Because your metabolism will adjust to use calories more efficiantly and you will slow in your progress of losing weight. This is often reffered to as starvation mode. This is real, I didn't believe it, then I stopped losing until I ate more.
Keep it healthy, take your time, think about nutrition, getting your protein and iron and vitamon C. Don't focus on fast weight loss. Good luck.

I think the point is so you dont run too much of a deficit in calories to starve yourself.. for example I eat 1500 cals for the day and burn off 1200 in exercise class (I have exercised myself into the negative before), my body needs more than 300 to function so I gotta eat some of them back just to replenish my body

Thank you for explaining the answer to this question because it makes sense the way you put it.

Somebody needs to mention this.

Everyone has a BMR/RMR (Basal metabolic rate/Resting metabolic rate) which is basically the amount of calories your body burns every day just by existing. You could be sitting in a chair not doing anything and your body is still burning calories. Your deficit is calculated by what your BMR/RMR is and how much you want to lose/how quickly you want to lose.

My RMR is 2042, so if I want to lose 2lbs a week I need a deficit of 1000. This means I would be scheduled to eat 1042 if I didn't exercise. This is unhealthy because science shows that unless a female eats at least 1200 calories per day her body may start actually shutting down which is an evolutionary tactic to handle famine. However, if I burn 1000 calories by exercising, that would bring my daily calorie burn to 3042 and then I could happily eat 2042 and still lose 2lbs a week.

Check out Caloriesperhour.com, it'll give you the skinny on everything and even help you calculate an estimate of your BMR/RMR so that you can see the math for yourself. This is estimated based on your height, age and weight. Muscle mass also affects your BMR/RMR but you'd need to go to a doctor or a nutritionist to get a more accurate number.

Hope explaining the science behind it helps

OK, this will be long. Please read it if you are confused. Disclaimer: I am not a dietician or a doctor, just a successful loser and maintainer, who has consulted both doctors and dieticians.

Question #1:

Should I eat all my calories?

Yes. MFP is already figuring a deficit for you to lose weight. This deficit is based on what you need to eat based on your everyday activity, not counting exercise. In the end, it's all about "net calories" (you can view yours under reports)

Example: you need to eat 2,000 calories to maintain your current weight (random number)
MFP will tell you to eat 1,500 to lose one pound per week (500x7=3500=one pound loss).

Let's say you exercise, and burn 500 additional calories.
UH-OH, now you are at a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. You need 2,000 calories to maintian, are already restricted to 1500, so now your net calories are a 1,000 a day. This is starvation central. Your body, which is very good at keeping you alive, will store and save calories. You WILL stop losing weight. You WILL want to throw your scale out the window.

Eat your exercise calories. At least eat most of them.

Question #2:
I'm eating 1200 calories, I feel like crap and I'm not losing weight. What gives?

Answer:
Run, don't walk, to "tools" and use the BMR calculator. Please, please, please, eat at least your BMR calories every day. You might lose weight more slowly, but you will still lose, and you will not longer feel a sudden urge to fall over every time you do, well, anything.

Question #3:
I'm doing "everything right" and the scale won't move.

Answer #1: The scale is the devil. Step away from the scale. Buy a tape measure, notice how your clothes are (probably) fitting better. Muscle is more dense than fat, and takes up less space on your body. More muscle on your body will make the scale freeze or (gasp) move upward.

Answer #2: You're not being honest. In order for this to work, you must record every morsel of food that goes in your body. Also, if you ride a stationary bike for 30 minutes and barely break a sweat and can still chatter on your cell phone (OK, that's my personal gym pet peeve) then you're probably not working "vigorously". Don't overestimate your exercise calories. (this was a big mistake I made in the past.)

Answer #3: Your body might be re-adjusting. How you feel is the most important mark of progress. It's very easy to fixate on numbers, but feeling better really should be its own reward.

Question #4:
So, if I'm eating my exercise calories, what's the point of exercise?

Answer: (warning: extremely opinionated answer ahead)
You don't. You can lose weight through diet alone. But, then you will be skinny and flabby. Is a model skinnier than me? OH, YES! Is she healthier than me? probably NOT. She couldn't survive the hour-long spin class that I take three times a week. Trust me. Her skin is a mess, she smokes, and she looks like crap in person.