Help with Calories and excercise

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ejdutton
ejdutton Posts: 329 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi,

Im sure that this has already been discussed many times before, however I would like to get some clarification on what I should be doing!
Im on a calorie controlled diet, restricting myself to 1200 calories a day. I work out 3 times a week burning around 500 calories each time. My question is should I then eat more than the 1200 calories in that day or should I just stick to the 1200 calories and look at the 500 calorie burn as a bonus?

Im really confused so any help is much appreciated!

Thanks all :)

Replies

  • michybeans
    michybeans Posts: 106
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    Hi,
    1200 seems low to begin with, but I don't know your stats (height, weight etc) so I can't say for sure. Also I'm not a doctor... Anyway in terms of exercise stuff. MyFitnessPal is setup so that you eat your exercise calories back, this is the way it was designed to work (and work it does!). The total number it tell you to eat everyday already factors in the deficit needed to lose weight.

    So if you eat 1200 calories a day, then burn 300 at the gym, you should be eating 1500 calories on those days. And 1200 on non-exercise days.

    Hope that helps.

    I know some people don't eat back their exercise calories but because you are on such a low number, you definitely should because it's not healthy to go below that - your body needs fuel to burn fat and live! :)

    Good luck.
  • Srarojas
    Srarojas Posts: 170 Member
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    If I were you I would eat back about half of them. Most machines and definitely this app overestimates calories burned.
  • Guffog
    Guffog Posts: 4
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    Hi ejdutton,

    Thanks for asking this question. Being new to this site it is something I was wondering myself.
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,377 Member
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    Yes, you should eat back all or most of your exercise calories.

    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • UrbanLotus
    UrbanLotus Posts: 1,163 Member
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    You need to NET 1200 calories, so eat back the exercise calories. You'll see when you input your exercise cals on MFP you will have more cals to eat. Your calorie goal is a GOAL - you need to meet it.
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member
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    Hi,

    Im sure that this has already been discussed many times before, however I would like to get some clarification on what I should be doing!
    Im on a calorie controlled diet, restricting myself to 1200 calories a day. I work out 3 times a week burning around 500 calories each time. My question is should I then eat more than the 1200 calories in that day or should I just stick to the 1200 calories and look at the 500 calorie burn as a bonus?

    Im really confused so any help is much appreciated!

    Thanks all :)

    i think what you WANT to do here is net 1200 cals.

    however, what you SHOULD do here is eat at 75-80% of TDEE.
  • Liss_Bee
    Liss_Bee Posts: 187 Member
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    I agree do what works for you! I get 1200 calories and work out everyday burning at least 260 calories (most days now more), for a long time I was not eating all my exercise calories, then I started eating them all and now I've hit a brick wall. I'm trying many different things to get past this, but it's all what works best for you. I listened to all the others saying "you have to eat back all your calories, you're not eating enough... BLAH BLAH BLAH" and yeah I tried it and seriously has not worked for me.

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