Do you have to eat the calories you burn in exercise?

bcscho
bcscho Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
I set my calorie goals at 1000 because I'm doing a lot of exercise. But, the daily goal goes up when you work out. Do you have to eat those calories?? Some programs say no...this one says yes.

Replies

  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    Why do you feel that you have to eat 1000 calories in order to lose weight?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    The more active you are, the more you are supposed to eat. Having very large deficit can lead to increased muscle loss (which can lead to greater metabolic adaptation), make it difficult to get all your nutrients and can lead to binges.
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
    Why are you only eating 1000 calories?

    With MFP, you should enter your stats (honestly) and see what it gives you based on what you want to lose. Whatever goal it gives you, eat that, plus at least half of your exercise calories so that your NET calories are about what your goal is. MFP is set up with a deficit that would allow you to lose without ever exercising.
  • jakicooke
    jakicooke Posts: 149 Member
    1000 calories is very low to begin with never mind if you are then working out hard!

    I would say up your normal calorie intake to say 1200 minimum and then try not to eat your calories back or certainly not all of them.

    how are you finding out how many calories you are burning? HRM?
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    I don't eat exercise calories. That said, 1000 calories is exceptionally low.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • trinatrina1984
    trinatrina1984 Posts: 1,018 Member
    with only 10lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal amount to lose per week. I f you add your dets into mfp with this weight loss goal it should give you a sensible calorie goal - you should aim to eat your net calories. 1000 cals especially if you are very active is very low
  • bcscho
    bcscho Posts: 12
    I had set my calories @ 1200 but with all the activity, it just seemed like I was eating too much with the Net Calories. For counting, I do a 5 mile run/walk that takes 90 minutes and gives me about 600 cals. When I bike, I use the 10-12 mph calorie counter in MFP and enter minutes biked. And I go to Planet Fitness, use the machines & do weights. The weights don't count...but the arc trainer and eliptical are pretty consistent with the calories by minutes in MFP. And I'm NOT losing weight!!!
  • bcscho
    bcscho Posts: 12
    I'm averaging about 700-800 calories of exercise every day. That's bumped up from my average of about 550/day two weeks ago.
  • bcscho
    bcscho Posts: 12
    Interesting commentary, http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf, RGv2. Thanks for sharing.
  • bcscho
    bcscho Posts: 12
    So...based on all the comments, I'm going to consume 1/2 of my exercise calories and up my base to 1200. We'll see how this next week goes.
  • jakicooke
    jakicooke Posts: 149 Member
    I may have misunderstood but I would not take the calories used/burnt doing exercise from MFP I would always take them from a heart rate monitor.

    In my case MFP ALWAYS over estimates by quite some way how many calories used I find the same on Map My Run too.

    Maybe you just are not eating enough calories for all the workouts that you are doing? 1000 is very low
  • Lythy89
    Lythy89 Posts: 57 Member
    I honestly think if you start eating a bit more you will see weight loss.

    Good luck!
  • joanna_82
    joanna_82 Posts: 151 Member
    My calorie goal is 1640 and I generally earn around 300-400 calories in excersise. I eat half of them usually, so tend to eat around 1800 a day. I'm still losing on average half a pound a week. It works!
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
    So...based on all the comments, I'm going to consume 1/2 of my exercise calories and up my base to 1200. We'll see how this next week goes.

    Give it longer than a week. It could take 3-4 weeks for your body to get used to it and actually start progressing. If you try something for a week then change, you aren't giving it enough time. Weight loss is not a fast process, especially if you only have 10 pounds to lose. You didn't gain it overnight, you won't lose it overnight.

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