Exercise Calories

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Looking for some feedback regarding eating exercise calories back. I workout everyday, run or mountain bike. I love being able to enter the calories burned and being able to eat the extra cals, as it also motivates my workouts. I am worried that this might have a negative effect on my weight loss. I am looking for feedback from people that also log their calories burned and either eat the calories or do not. My settings are also set up as sedentary, so my basic calories are 1200. Thank you!

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  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    The only thing to worry about is possible overestimate of calorie burns. If you're using MFP calculations, they may be a bit high so to be on the safe side, plan to eat back 1/2-3/4 of the amount earned. If you're using a heart rate monitor (HRM) with chest strap, these calculations are still estimates but a bit more accurate so you'd be safe eating most/all of them back.

    MFP already includes a deficit in your daily goal so eating some of them back is necessary in order to make sure you're getting enough nutritents and to lose at a healthy rate.

    Ultimately it's trial and error so if you're losing at a good rate while eating them all back, your numbers must work out right for you.

    While losing, I ate most/all of the earned calories per my Polar F6 and Polar FT4 HRMs.
  • pinky7746
    pinky7746 Posts: 9 Member
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    Thank you! I am using a Polar HRM, so I think I will start to log only 1/2 of what the actual calories burned are. I am burning almost 700 calories on hard workout days, so that just seems like way too much extra calories to consume.