why do you get calories back for excersizing?

Drealicious
Drealicious Posts: 59
edited September 22 in Health and Weight Loss
hello everyone:)
i am just curious to know why every time i excersize, the computer gives me those calorieds to eat. my goal is 1200 calories a day. I thought that in order to looses weight, you had to burn more than you take in. So does that mean i naturally burn 1200 calories from just walking around, and excersize just gives me room? Or should i really be tring to no eat more than 1200 even if i excersized???

Replies

  • Fiestie
    Fiestie Posts: 8 Member
    I saw that too. I still stick to my calorie goal that it originally set for me. I don't understand that either, but its kinda good to know
  • denitraross
    denitraross Posts: 325 Member
    MFP set you at 1200 calories a day - which is already a deficet - meaning a lower calorie count and if you eat that you will lose weight. when you exercise you burn more calories, so you can eat more....and yes you need to eat them, if not, your net caloried intake will be less than 1200 which means you body is going in starvation mode and you will not lose....well not continuously. I was not eating my exercise calories and did not loss a pound until I started to eat them. I don't always eat all of them, but most of them. and besides, you need the energy if you are working out, etc.
  • amymeenieminymo
    amymeenieminymo Posts: 2,394 Member
    Short answer, yes eat them. I'm sure others will pop in with some very useful links that will explain it more scientifically, but you're already eating less than you did before, (MFP builds in a calorie deficit for you) so if you didn't eat your calories back, your body wouldn't get enough fuel.
  • rosegreen
    rosegreen Posts: 2 Member
    I have wondered the same thing so hopefully someone will answer this question. I always wait until the end of the day to log my exercise so that I don't think that I can eat those extra calories.
  • NatalieWinning
    NatalieWinning Posts: 999 Member
    At 1200 you are already set to go under what you ate with the exercise for your normal activity level. You set your normal activity level when you set up your profile, and you can alter that any time.

    Any exercise above the normal average things you do every day, you can pile on top of your 1200 calories as additional calories you can eat back. Some people try not to eat them, or eat only some of them back. I usually end up eating most of them and I'm loosing weight.
  • quara
    quara Posts: 255 Member
    Your calorie goal already has your daily calorie deficit built in - 500 or 750 calories, to make you lose 1 or 1.5 or 2 lbs a week. (Your body does burn 1500-2000 or more calories a day just doing your daily thing, so eating 1200 will cause you to lose weight). Exercising on top of that is a bonus - but if you were to exercise off 1000 of those calories and not eat them back, your net calorie intake would only be 200 calories, which is actually too low to get a good weight loss - your body will hold onto what you have stored rather than burn them. You should stick to around 1200 "net" calories to see results.
  • JLeeAlton
    JLeeAlton Posts: 311
    Because when you exercise you burn off extra calories. Your body is already burning calories all day and the number they set, 1200 is to recover what you burn naturally. When you exercise you are burning more.. for lack of a better word, unnaturally. So you have to eat them back to get back to 1200.... or higher depending what your number is set at. Rule of thumb.. never eat less than 1200 calories a day, whether or not you exercise.
  • cjusticeg
    cjusticeg Posts: 90 Member
    bump
  • 4x4n8
    4x4n8 Posts: 29
    Ugh but i am struggling big time trying to even get 1200 in! :(
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