Daily Calorie Limit and Exercise

I've always been very confused about this. I am supposed to have 1200 cal/day to reach my weight loss goal. But I also work out. Does working out allow me extra calories to eat?

For example:

In the morning I have 1200 calories. I eat a 200 calorie bagel, which brings me down to 1000 calories. Then I burn 200 calories exercising. Does this mean I get 1200 calories for the rest of the day? Or should I not count the exercise calories and still plan on eating only 1000 calories for the rest of the day?

Hope that makes sense.

MFP as designed expects you to eat exercise calories back. That way people who can't workout still lose weight.

A couple things you should know. 1200 is MFP's lowest minimum default. It could be a correct number for you, it could be an error in your initial set up.

Calorie burns are estimates. MFP gives rather generous estimates.

Some threads (really good info) to get you started:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

Actually, you *should* eat your calories back. You should look at the "net" calories when you log. Those should be around 1200 if that's your goal.

Actually, you *should* eat your calories back. You should look at the "net" calories when you log. Those should be around 1200 if that's your goal.

So confused. I get different answers from everyone. Guess that's the nature of the internet haha.

If you eat using MFP guidelines alone, then you are supposed to eat them back. If you use the TDEE (as suggested by other people), that's not the case.

No. You will want to eat the calories back.

This website expects you to log food AND exercise. It then adjusts your calorie limit to let you eat more if you burned extra calories working out.

There are alternatives to eating the calories back, but I find that I more consistently lose weight without starving when I aim for a deficit instead of a specific caloric intake.

So if your goal is 1200 and you exercise for 200, then you will want to aim for 1400 calories that day.

When you initially set your account up, it's important to let MFP calculate your calories without exercise though. For instance, I use sedentary for MFP even though I workout almost every day. I use that because, without working out, I am sedentary. If I workout, I add the calories back in.

If you use a heart rate monitor, you can adjust the estimates MFP gives you for your workout and it will learn what your caloric burn rate is for a specific exercise.

Beware of some heart-rate monitors. My current one calculates the total number of calories I burn during a workout, but it doesn't subtract my BMR from it. Since I burn 2400 calories a day doing nothing, I need to adjust my heart rate meter some when I enter the calories. If I burn 600 calories in and hour, I have to subtract the 100 calories I would have burned otherwise. Usually this can be ignored, but I'm a math nerd so I like to track my deficit rather closely.

Finally, welcome to MFP. It really works and it's not as hard as most people think.

PS. This has worked for me very well. I can quite literally track the 1 lb of weight loss for every 3500 calories of deficit. I lost 60 lbs a couple years ago with this method. Now I need to lose 25 again, but that's what I get for not tracking things.

I read today that you should eat your calories back, hadn't realised I wasn't helping myself when I was not doing so. But the issue I have now is trying to fill my calories back, today has been a struggle. I have eaten though I didn't really want to or need too to fulfil the calories, and even had a chocolate cake and some cheese to help me do this (treating myself from all the times I didn't), but it's so hard...

If you're not hungry, there is no need to eat your calories back. I find that I go through days of not needing the calories followed by days where I just can't do the 1k deficit. Eat when you're really hungry and don't eat when you're not. That said, there is something to be said about eating before you get too hungry because it will prevent you from wanting to devour the next meal you see.