Eating Calories Burned Off from Excercise

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Hello. I've been using the MFP tool for a little while now and I've discovered that when you add a workout it adds those calories back to the calories you need to intake for the day. If I'm supposed to eat the calories I just worked off then what is the point of working out? Maybe someone can explain this better... Thanks!

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  • forthefab5
    forthefab5 Posts: 187 Member
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    Exercise is good, not just the weight loss benefits but the health benefits! It helps your heart, skin, etc (and also helps to tone) so it is really good if you can get some in. Also, sometimes the cals MFP gives you is quite small so you may need it if you want to eat more. Alot of people here will also tell you that you do not have to eat your exercise calories to maintain a weight loss (and some people don't or only eat back half of the exercise cals)... see how it works for you and then choose which route you want to go. Good luck!
  • punkrawkcutie
    punkrawkcutie Posts: 439 Member
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    There are post work out benifits to exercise too, including continued calorie burn. Also, muscle needs more calories to work effectively so the increased # is really just to make sure you're not in starvation mode (which would just eat up the muscle you're working so hard for!)
  • lilmom1
    lilmom1 Posts: 69
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    It doesn't make any sense to me either! I don't eat mine because to me it is just eating what I worked off! Just my opinion!
  • trio25
    trio25 Posts: 34 Member
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    I've found I have to eat mine otherwise I would be really hungry. I seem to have a low starting amount and do quite a lot of exercise though.
  • jam3114
    jam3114 Posts: 250 Member
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    I have difficulty with that also but from reading other posts it seems that eating some of these calories worked off helps maintain your body to keep going. I've taken to eating the amount of exercise calories that I need to bring my totals back up to 1200. My daily calories is 1380 so if I eat all these & work out for 300/400 calories it means I'm only taking in about 1000 cals per day & I think from what I've been reading to eat at least 1200 so as not to go into starvation mode. Mind you with 80+ pounds to lose it'll be awhile before I starve :laugh: :tongue: :wink: