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Questions about calories

ShannoNamaste
ShannoNamaste Posts: 12 Member
edited February 26 in Food and Nutrition
Hello! I am trying to buy my food for the week and I am on a 1800 calorie diet (It is what finally works for me). My question is hoiw do I account for the extra calories I am going to need when I work out? That is one part I always seem to mess up. I either eat too much on recovery or don't eat enough before and I get reaaaaallly sluggish, tired and cranky. I want to be a success this time, but I feel like I need some help. Thanks! :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    MyFitnessPal allows you to log exercise. It can overestimate some things, so I recommend eating back only 50-75% of the calories. So, if you went for a 15 minute walk and MFP says you burned 100 calories, I would only eat back about 50-75 calories. MFP lets you "earn" calories with exercise. If you find you aren't losing or are too hungry and losing a lot, you can adjust how many of your exercise calories you eat back.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Hello! I am trying to buy my food for the week and I am on a 1800 calorie diet (It is what finally works for me). My question is how do I account for the extra calories I am going to need when I work out? That is one part I always seem to mess up. I either eat too much on recovery or don't eat enough before and I get reaaaaallly sluggish, tired and cranky. I want to be a success this time, but I feel like I need some help. Thanks! :flowerforyou:

    When you log workouts in MFP you get an estimated number of calories added back. Many people eat a portion of these calories back to get to what MFP calls "net" calories. People generally start by eating a percentage back....50-75%......use this as a test to see if more (or less) calories are needed. Calorie burns are hard to nail down.

    You can eat the calories anytime of the day. I workout after work, so I add them throughout the day.

    If you don't like the up/down of exercise calories you could use TDEE less a percent. TDEE would include your workouts as an average throughout the week.
  • ShannoNamaste
    ShannoNamaste Posts: 12 Member
    Thanks so much. I guess I just needed a boost. I am glad I have MVP and all of y'all to help me out. :glasses:
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