Calorie count

Clonert100
Clonert100 Posts: 1
in Getting Started
Okay so I'm suppose to eat about 2,417 calories a day. I've only eaten 671 calories! I'm not actually that hungry! My calories remaining says 2952. I'm confusing since it rises instead of going down. This is SO confusing. I've burned about 1,206 calories today from exercising. Shouldn't it say I have 1746 calories remaining since I've eaten 671? Or 540 calories if you include the calories I burned during exercising??? HELP?!

Replies

  • Diddy0621
    Diddy0621 Posts: 4 Member
    You have to eat back the calories that you have burned. So now you are in a super surplus basically. The more you work out the more you can eat. In my research I have learned that you should drink a protein shake before your workout and after your workout eat foods high in protein; chicken breast, turkey, eggs, etc. I also learned that you after a work out, you need to refuel the body. Trust me... IF YOU DO NOT EAT BACK AT LEAST 50% OF THE CALORIES THAT YOU HAVE BURNED, YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT!!! The scale will not move. Now the upside is you will in fact lose inches. But if you are similar to me, I need numbers (the scale and the inches) to decrease.

    Good luck!
  • MBrothers22
    MBrothers22 Posts: 323 Member
    You have to eat back the calories that you have burned. So now you are in a super surplus basically. The more you work out the more you can eat. In my research I have learned that you should drink a protein shake before your workout and after your workout eat foods high in protein; chicken breast, turkey, eggs, etc. I also learned that you after a work out, you need to refuel the body. Trust me... IF YOU DO NOT EAT BACK AT LEAST 50% OF THE CALORIES THAT YOU HAVE BURNED, YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT!!! The scale will not move. Now the upside is you will in fact lose inches. But if you are similar to me, I need numbers (the scale and the inches) to decrease.

    Good luck!

    1. You don't HAVE to eat back exercise calories.
    2. "If you do not eat back at least 50% of the calories... you will not lose weight"-- completely 100% untrue.

    Please don't take this persons advice.
    The reason your calories are like that IS because of the exercise. About that exercise though, how do you know you burned 1200 calories because that is a massive workout? You need to eat more today though. Your body needs it's nutrition. If you're male, you really should hit AT MINIMUM 1600 no matter what.

    You don't HAVE to eat any exercise calories back but a normal thing to do is at least eat SOME back. But again, I'm curious to know how you determined a 1200 cal burn. MFP calculators overestimate a lot so if that's what you use I would recommend cutting that number by 20%.
  • Diddy0621
    Diddy0621 Posts: 4 Member
    You have to eat back the calories that you have burned. So now you are in a super surplus basically. The more you work out the more you can eat. In my research I have learned that you should drink a protein shake before your workout and after your workout eat foods high in protein; chicken breast, turkey, eggs, etc. I also learned that you after a work out, you need to refuel the body. Trust me... IF YOU DO NOT EAT BACK AT LEAST 50% OF THE CALORIES THAT YOU HAVE BURNED, YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT!!! The scale will not move. Now the upside is you will in fact lose inches. But if you are similar to me, I need numbers (the scale and the inches) to decrease.

    Good luck!



    1. You don't HAVE to eat back exercise calories.
    2. "If you do not eat back at least 50% of the calories... you will not lose weight"-- completely 100% untrue.

    Please don't take this persons advice.
    The reason your calories are like that IS because of the exercise. About that exercise though, how do you know you burned 1200 calories because that is a massive workout? You need to eat more today though. Your body needs it's nutrition. If you're male, you really should hit AT MINIMUM 1600 no matter what.

    You don't HAVE to eat any exercise calories back but a normal thing to do is at least eat SOME back. But again, I'm curious to know how you determined a 1200 cal burn. MFP calculators overestimate a lot so if that's what you use I would recommend cutting that number by 20%.

    You certainly do not have to listen to me or the person whose post I just quoted... But what you should be listening to is your body. It will tell you exactly what you need. Please see below.... This quote came from MFP... I didn't make this up. So again listen to your body. Weight loss is not linear. However, I do know that SEVERAL people will tell you that the reason your calories count increases after a work out IS because now you give your body what it needs... Nutrients.... Please browse other posts and you can check it out for yourself.

    "*Net calories consumed = total calories consumed - exercise calories burned. So the more you exercise, the more you can eat!"
  • natstar26
    natstar26 Posts: 130 Member
    ok simple terms the 2417 is the calories you have to eat if you sat on your bottom all day, these calories are just for you to "function" BUT since you did exercise and burnt 1206 calories from exercise you have to eat your original 2417 calories and the 1206 calories as well so that is a total 3623 calories you would have to eat or THAT DAY. If you don't exercise at all you just eat 2417calories. How ever many calories you burn you add that to 2417 and eat all that. The reason why is simply to give your body the energy is requires to move ect and it will actually help with weight loss :) eat less does NOT help at all, your body will hold on to everything you eat, if you don't consume enough calories and you wont have enough energy to workout ect.
  • Diddy0621
    Diddy0621 Posts: 4 Member
    ok simple terms the 2417 is the calories you have to eat if you sat on your bottom all day, these calories are just for you to "function" BUT since you did exercise and burnt 1206 calories from exercise you have to eat your original 2417 calories and the 1206 calories as well so that is a total 3623 calories you would have to eat or THAT DAY. If you don't exercise at all you just eat 2417calories. How ever many calories you burn you add that to 2417 and eat all that. The reason why is simply to give your body the energy is requires to move ect and it will actually help with weight loss :) eat less does NOT help at all, your body will hold on to everything you eat, if you don't consume enough calories and you wont have enough energy to workout ect.


    Well Said!!!
  • MBrothers22
    MBrothers22 Posts: 323 Member
    ok simple terms the 2417 is the calories you have to eat if you sat on your bottom all day, these calories are just for you to "function" BUT since you did exercise and burnt 1206 calories from exercise you have to eat your original 2417 calories and the 1206 calories as well so that is a total 3623 calories you would have to eat or THAT DAY. If you don't exercise at all you just eat 2417calories. How ever many calories you burn you add that to 2417 and eat all that. The reason why is simply to give your body the energy is requires to move ect and it will actually help with weight loss :) eat less does NOT help at all, your body will hold on to everything you eat, if you don't consume enough calories and you wont have enough energy to workout ect.

    No no no no no.

    The 2417 is this persons calorie amount to lose "x" amount of weight, NOT their BMR which is what you are referring to by saying it's what he needs to function sitting on his butt all day.

    This person does not HAVE to eat all their exercise calories back, that is simply NOT TRUE.

    "It will actually help with weight loss"
    Well, if this person was chronically eating a very low caloric amount, say 500 calories per day, then eating more would help weight loss but starvation mode, which is what you're implying, doesn't work how you think it does.

    "If you don't eat enough you won't have the energy to workout"

    True, but again, this would really only happen if they eat SIGNIFICANTLY under their goal.


    OP here is the truth. Your goal to lose your desired weight is 2417. If you eat 2417 calories and burn 1206 that puts you at about 1200 net calories. If you are a male, you SHOULD at least try to NET 1600. Female a little less.

    If you eat your 2417 calories and burn 400 for instance, that'll put you at 2000 calories. You by NO MEANS WHAT SO EVER, have to eat those calories back, BUT YOU CAN. You can eat all, some, or none. Up to you.
  • MBrothers22
    MBrothers22 Posts: 323 Member
    You have to eat back the calories that you have burned. So now you are in a super surplus basically. The more you work out the more you can eat. In my research I have learned that you should drink a protein shake before your workout and after your workout eat foods high in protein; chicken breast, turkey, eggs, etc. I also learned that you after a work out, you need to refuel the body. Trust me... IF YOU DO NOT EAT BACK AT LEAST 50% OF THE CALORIES THAT YOU HAVE BURNED, YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT!!! The scale will not move. Now the upside is you will in fact lose inches. But if you are similar to me, I need numbers (the scale and the inches) to decrease.

    Good luck!



    1. You don't HAVE to eat back exercise calories.
    2. "If you do not eat back at least 50% of the calories... you will not lose weight"-- completely 100% untrue.

    Please don't take this persons advice.
    The reason your calories are like that IS because of the exercise. About that exercise though, how do you know you burned 1200 calories because that is a massive workout? You need to eat more today though. Your body needs it's nutrition. If you're male, you really should hit AT MINIMUM 1600 no matter what.

    You don't HAVE to eat any exercise calories back but a normal thing to do is at least eat SOME back. But again, I'm curious to know how you determined a 1200 cal burn. MFP calculators overestimate a lot so if that's what you use I would recommend cutting that number by 20%.

    You certainly do not have to listen to me or the person whose post I just quoted... But what you should be listening to is your body. It will tell you exactly what you need. Please see below.... This quote came from MFP... I didn't make this up. So again listen to your body. Weight loss is not linear. However, I do know that SEVERAL people will tell you that the reason your calories count increases after a work out IS because now you give your body what it needs... Nutrients.... Please browse other posts and you can check it out for yourself.

    "*Net calories consumed = total calories consumed - exercise calories burned. So the more you exercise, the more you can eat!"

    The reason their calorie count increases is because they just burned a bunch off, that's why, nothing else. That's how MFP works.

    Your equation and statement at the bottom IS correct, but you don't HAVE to eat the exercise calories back like you said. You certainly CAN but please don't say they HAVE to because that's simply not true AT ALL
  • spara0038
    spara0038 Posts: 226 Member
    IF YOU DO NOT EAT BACK AT LEAST 50% OF THE CALORIES THAT YOU HAVE BURNED, YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT!!!

    False. I've been at it for 4 months, barely ever eat back calories and have lost 22 lbs with a starting weight of 150.

    OP, you are basically in a super deficit, as someone else posted. MFP has a system where it figures out how many calories that you need, works in your goals, then tells you minimally how much to consume without exercise as your calorie goal. Exercise works as negative calories for MFP.

    For example, my calorie goal is about 1400. Sometimes I exercise after work, which brings my net calories to 1150, but I've still consumed 1400. For you 1400 may be too low, but I'm short, didn't have much to lose anyway, and my TDEE is pretty low.

    TDEE is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or how much you burn in a day. Usually your best bet is calculating that and subtracting 20% from it., then you don't have to worry about eating stuff back.

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