Understanding Exercise Calories... To Eat or Not To Eat Them

Soooo.... I know this comes up ALL the time around here but I thought I'd try and explain something using simple math so you understand where/how MFP is coming up with your daily intake, WHY it adds on more calories when you exercise, and WHY you should be eating them.

First thing is first... You need to figure out your BMR, this will tell you the amount of calories your body should be consuming to maintain your current weight.

Women: 655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years) = BMR

Men: 66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years) = BMR


*The amount you get from this is the amount of calories your body needs to function daily (before exercise).

We now need to factor in how active you are....

•If you are sedentary : BMR x 20 percent

•If you are lightly active: BMR x 30 percent

•If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 40 percent

•If you are very active (You exercise intensely on a daily basis or for prolonged periods.): BMR x 50 percent

•If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 60 percent

Now add this number to your BMR = This will give you your daily calories you need to consume to maintain your current weight.

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Just for sake of example I will use myself as the guinea pig to explain...

655 + 752.5 + 296.1 - 131.6 = 1572 (this is the amount of calories I need before factoring in exercise)

1572 x 40% (I excercise 6 days a week) = 628.8 (Add BMR to this number)

1572 + 628.8 = 2200.8 Calories per day to maintain my current weight.

Obviously, I want to lose weight, so I need to consume less calories...

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In MFP I put in my current weight and goal weight etc etc... It tells me to eat 1200 cals per day (b4 exercise) Which is WAAAAYYYY low compared to my maintainance calories (keep in mind the 2200.8 factor in how active I am, i.e. excercise I am doing already). MFP is NOT factoring in exercise for this base number.

If I burn 500 calories working out, MFP adds that on to my caloric intake for the day making it 1700 calories. Thats cutting 500 calories from my maintainance calorie intake which is about what "they" say you should cut to lose weight.

Now if I dont workout, I want to only eat 1200 cals because if you look back my caloric intake before exercise was 1572, so I am still cutting calories from my diet on days I dont work out (372).

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I know this was a little long... I hope it clears up some things, its definitely helped me understand. I think I finally get it, and I know I need to start eating all of, or close to all of my exercise calories so I dont go into starvation mode...

I am REALLY going to try and eat more calories, cause my weight loss has been slow... I will let you know how it goes, Good Luck everyone!!!! :flowerforyou: