Questions?? Help ?

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apattonfit
apattonfit Posts: 16 Member
in Getting Started
So I'm wandering, if I set my activity level to sedentary then work out and track it should I eat the calories it adds back on for exercise? Or should I just set my activity level to moderate since I workout 5 days a week ? Then would it have me eat more as well? I typically burn 500-700 cal at the gym. So if I am set at 1500 a day and then burn 500, should I eat those 500 ores be them? I'm a little confused.... Lol

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  • suruda
    suruda Posts: 1,233 Member
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    something I've read on here often that has stuck with me this time around is that we most often underestimate the calories we consume and overestimate the calories we burn. I find that when I eat the calories back that I "earn" through workouts, my weight loss is not as good. I keep them as extra for if I go over on a day...a little more like the weight watchers philosophy.
  • apattonfit
    apattonfit Posts: 16 Member
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    I have a polar with heart rate monitor that tracks my cal burned at the gym, so it's pretty accurate. I usually do not eat back the cal I burn, but wasn't sure what everyone else thought!
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    If you are super dedicated to your workouts then you can include them in your daily goals and not worry about logging and eating back exercise calories. I would suggest calculating out your calorie goal yourself instead of using a general calculator so you can be as accurate as you can. If you would like instruciton on how to do this feel free to pm me.

    If you are not so super dedicated to your workouts then logging exercise and eating back is probably a better method. That way you are not eating calorie you did not actually burn when you skipped a workout.

    As mentioned above make sure you are being accurate in both your intake logging and your exercise logging. If you are not then only eating back a portion of your exercise calories is a great strategy for keeping your weight loss on track.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    Your daily goal at MFP has you in a calorie deficit before exercise no matter what your activity level is set to, and they intend that you should eat back the exercise cals, or at least a good portion of them. If you are tracking burns with a HRM you're probably getting a more accurate estimate of the burn that with what a machine or MFP estimates, and if you are weighing and measuring foods as much as possible, you're ahead of the game there too.

    And then there's not reason why you would NOT want to eat back those exercise cals - as I said, the daily goal has you at a deficit before exercise, so when you burn off more cals with a workout, you're creating a much larger deficit for yourself. This may sound like a good idea for faster weight loss, and you may see the scale go down at first, but really you could be selling yourself short, under fueling your body and eventually run into problems - lack of energy, lousy workouts, tired, etc, even a stall in weight loss, and it often leads to burn out and quitting.

    Slow and steady - create a small calorie deficit, lose the weight at a reasonable pace and keep it off, rocking your workouts because your body has the proper amount of fuel.

    Good luck!
  • dontjinxit
    dontjinxit Posts: 82 Member
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    I tend to trust my body. If I'm feeling hungry, I eat them back. If I'm not, I don't. But I'm not super dedicated to the cause. As long as I see the scale going down, I don't care if it's a little faster or slower.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited February 2015
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    The activity level should be set excluding any purposeful exercise

    So if you're a desk job yes choose sedentary

    Log your exercise and eat back 50-75% of the calories MFP or machines give you

    The alternative is to follow a cut from TDEE method ...some people do this

    The maths should work out the same
  • pplastics
    pplastics Posts: 135 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Eating back my exercise calories is usually my main motivator for exercising in the first place!! I earned those calories! I am darn well going to eat them!
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf

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