Hello From Myrtle Beach - Question on Calories

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telko44
telko44 Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
Hi Everyone. I just started with this program on my Android phone and came to the website to find an answer to my question. I didn't realize there was so much stuff on this site. It's definitely motivating me even more.

The one question I have is regarding your target calories for the day. If you are at 1200 calories and you burn 300 in exercise, are you supposed to be eating the 1200 plus the 300 from exercise for a net of 1200?

I'm afraid that if I eat the additional exercise calories, that I will be eating too much, but if I don't eat them, then I might be eating too little, which is just as bad.

Let me know what your thoughts are!

Thanks!
Trish

Replies

  • BK120
    BK120 Posts: 107
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    Curious to how the MFP friends respond to this. I have the same question.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    Go to General Diet and Weight Loss Help and click on "Newbies Please read me" (has a stick pin next to it). It explains everything.
  • girlsaint
    girlsaint Posts: 209 Member
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    The answer is to eat your exercise calories. The 1200 calorie goal already has you at a calorie deficit, to lose the weight. To keep and improve the amount of calories you burn at rest, you need to let your metabolism stay in a healthy state, therefore, exercise=increased muscle=more fat burned at rest.

    It is taking me awhile to get this in my head, and some days, I find that I am not eating enough, don't worry your MFP app will tell you you haven't eaten enough at the end of the day.

    Strugglin' with ya
    Kelly
  • runningneo122
    runningneo122 Posts: 6,962 Member
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    Yes! By all means, eat the calories. The net calories is the total after you subtract the calories you exercise. I start every day with a run on the treadmill that puts me 700+ calories in the hole. If you don't eat enough calories and have cheat day once a week to mix up your system your body will go into "starvation mode" and start storing fat and cut down on your energy to work with. Good luck and I hope this helped.
  • rubywell
    rubywell Posts: 2
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    You should stick to the 1200 calories. I lost over 50 lbs, on average 2 lbs a week on a 1200 calorie diet. The only exercise I did was walking and Leslie Sansome walking videos. It took me about 6 months to lose it. If you find you are losing to fast you can up your calories, but be sure to use all your calories for the day and never drop under a 1000 calories, your body will go into starvation mode.
  • telko44
    telko44 Posts: 2
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    Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of the responses and I also checked out the Newbie posts.

    Now tell me that's not an incentive to get your butt out there everyday! Who doesn't want more calories????
  • staceyb_2003
    staceyb_2003 Posts: 396 Member
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    You should stick to the 1200 calories. I lost over 50 lbs, on average 2 lbs a week on a 1200 calorie diet. The only exercise I did was walking and Leslie Sansome walking videos. It took me about 6 months to lose it. If you find you are losing to fast you can up your calories, but be sure to use all your calories for the day and never drop under a 1000 calories, your body will go into starvation mode.

    hi ruby just seen this post how often did you do the workout i've just started the 2 mile one :-)

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