daily calorie intake change daily depending on exercise?

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adampierce142
adampierce142 Posts: 27 Member
in Getting Started
Having put my details on this website, MFP has calculated that my daily calorie intake should be around 1,800 calories, however ond days when i do cardio (usually 3,5miles of running up to 4 times a week) i usually burn around 350 calories.
Do i eat these back? When i log my exercise activities my calorie intake goes up, to around 2,150 - why is this the case?

i understand that i am/.have already made a calorie deficit of 500claories a day by maintaining my intake to 1800, but this is increased by 350 each day i do cardio (3.,5miles).
Any advice, or some clarification please?

Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    Its like bonus calories you get to eat on the day's you workout. Some people do not eat them back (myself), others eat 1/2 of them back (gives you room for errors in calculations), still others eat all of them back.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    If you don't eat them back, you increase your deficit. Some peopel think, hey, that's great, I'll lose faster. But what you'll lose faster is muscle, not fat. The body needs adequate nutrition and you'll be denying it of that if you don't eat the calories back because by exercising, you increase your deficit from 500 to 850. Too much!

    The other option is to follow the TDEE-% method. That way you have the same # of calories per day based on average exercise. Check out the link below for instructions:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • adampierce142
    adampierce142 Posts: 27 Member
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    thank you for that :)

    I did calculate that my TDEE - 20% is around 2,000 a day, so in essence then if i stick to my TDEE calorie intake of 2,000 then i don't eat the calories i burn back (350 cal per session), but if i follow the BMR my intake should be around 1,800 and i do eat the (350 calories of cardio sessions back don't i?
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • Frood42
    Frood42 Posts: 245 Member
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    In short, yes, you eat back your exercise calories if using MFP's NEAT method.
    MFP values are calculated using daily activity modifiers that do NOT include exercise.
  • sherambler
    sherambler Posts: 303 Member
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    I eat a few of them back when I've done at least 40 mins of cardio, but try not to when I've done less than that. Anything less than 40 mins of intense cardio, I feel like I'm undoing all the good work I just did by eating them back. MFP's exercise burns are sometimes accurate, but mostly overestimate the calories burned. So I worry that by eating all or even half of those calories, I'd be consuming more than or close to what I'm actually burning.

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