Question about additional calories for exercise

MFP calculates your deficit based on your base metabolic rate, which is the number of calories you burn every day without exercise. for example, if your BMR is 2000 calories a day and you want to lose 1 pound a week, you need a daily deficit of 500 calories. So, MFP will tell you to eat 1500 calories a day. If you then go to the gym and burn an additional 500 calories, you can eat those calories back and still be at a 500 calorie deficit for the day. So, you can eat 2000 calories and still be on track to lose a pound a week.

When I work out, I want to make it worth my while so I usually burn a lot. I don't always eat every single one of my exercise calories back but I know that I can if I feel like my body needs (or I just want pizza) it and still be on track to meet my goals.

Hope this helps!!

Depends on what exercise.

Walking and running with very specific speeds, if you actually did that speed the WHOLE time you logged, is more accurate than HRM.

Biking is rather wide ranges, and again avg for the whole time, as long as up/down hill cancel each other out, and head/tail wind do to. But you'll usually burn more than given if you had lots of stops lowering your average speed.

Other stuff with no description of intensity - who knows if you are doing it the same level as the studies that gave those burns.

Strength training is actually pretty good estimate - seems low but that is true.

And strong concept to get down, which MFP supports.

Diet is for weight loss - done right just fat loss, done wrong includes muscle mass loss. Bummer.

Exercise is for heart health and body improvements - done right can support fat loss, done wrong can help muscle loss. Body improvements is usually weight gain, water mostly.

Only thing exercise helps with weight loss is causing your daily burn to be higher, so that when you eat less than that higher amount, you'll hopefully adhere to the diet.

Would you be more apt to adhere to eating 2000 if you burned 2500 daily which includes exercise, or eat 1500 with burning 2000 with no exercise?

Both are 500 cal deficit, both lead to 1 lb weekly loss if done daily.

Don't think bigger deficit is better, it's not. Especially not for exercise you want improvements from. And why else do the workout if no payoff.

I hardly ever eat back my exercise calories. Only when I feel I need to. I find those estimates to be wildly inaccurate. Even the heart rate monitor ones. I had a friend hop on my stationary bike for 50 minutes and her HRM said she burned 1200 calories.... And she insisted on eating back all 1200. :noway:

I hardly ever eat back my exercise calories. Only when I feel I need to. I find those estimates to be wildly inaccurate. Even the heart rate monitor ones. I had a friend hop on my stationary bike for 50 minutes and her HRM said she burned 1200 calories.... And she insisted on eating back all 1200. :noway:

See it tells me i burn WAY more than my bike tells me i have. So just to be safe I do not eat it back. But i do not know if i should because the IIFYM tells me to eat over 1600 hundred calories but i want to get the fat off so i eat only 1200. Might be shooting myself in the foot.

Shooting your body in the metabolism.

IIFYM is using different method than MFP.
Did you tell that site your hours of exercise weekly? Honestly too?
Then deficit is taken off what you on average will burn each day. But you better do the workout - this is where the confusion comes that exercise is required for weight loss - when it was included in the estimate of what you burn daily.

But MFP assumes none done, and provides weight loss on non-exercise days.
Same on exercise days by eating more, what you burned in the workout.

Read my post above.

Yes, the exercise calories are all over the place. It tries to tell me that I burn 600 calories for an hour of Aikido. If I went at it at 100% for the entire hour, then maybe. But a class isn't like that. There is sitting around while a technique is demonstrated, then you try to do it and fluff it for the first few goes. Then you get it and get into a rhythm and the instructor stops the class to show another technique. So I always divide the class time by at least 3 depending on what we actually did.

My point is, as has been said, there is no definitive count - every one is different!! The important bit is are you losing??? If the answer is yes, then carry on. If not, look for what could be wrong and change it a bit. Then stick with the change for a few weeks and reassess.

I see so many people get hung up on numbers here. I believe that people get lost in the detail and miss the big picture. KISS!!