Exercise and extra calorie eating

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jigsaw00
jigsaw00 Posts: 5
in Getting Started
Using MFP for the third week now. Down 3 lbs as of end of the second week. Feeling pretty good about that. Decided to increase my activity level some rather than just accept the 45 to 90 minutes of martial arts training two - three days a week. Am adding in 45 to 60 minutes of cardio either on a bike or treadmill, daily. This works well with traveling and staying in hotels as they all have a fitness center with one or the other or both. Heck I "jogged" for a mile and a half today for the first time in I don't know how long... :smile:

Four days in and so far so good.

I've been logging the calorie expenditure based on what the machine says rather than what I find in the database as the machine comes in at roughly 1/2 what I see in the database. No need to falsely inflate things...

My first thought was to not log and ignore the increase in calories I'm allotted each day. Thought being that I'd burn off the weight faster that way. Then I read about needing to eat more if you exercise more and eat less if you move less to achieve weight loss.... Always thought it was just eat less and exercise more...

So, what to do? Should I try to consume the "bonus" calories (keeping in mind protein, fat and carbs of course) or only eat a percentage of them or none at all? Back in the WW days I ignored them altogether which could partially account for the long and disappointing plateau had on that program...

Having an extra 400-500 calories a day would be nice but it seems like a lot... Even the 1800 I am allotted now feels high though I'm am shrinking so maybe it's ok...

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  • cbernard676
    cbernard676 Posts: 3 Member
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    In the past i have eaten the bonus calories. I am startibg fresh today and i will not be eating them. Hopefully i have better luck this time around. Good luck to you!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    The calorie deficit you need to lose weight according to your goal is already built into your calorie allotment for the day. MFP is designed that way so you can lose weight without exercise. So when you do exercise you're going to get more calories to eat to maintain that exact deficit and your target weight loss for the week.

    The decision is yours whether to eat those extra calories or not. You may lose weight faster if you don't (not always a good thing) but you may be more hungry as a result. It's up to you and your body to decide which you should do. I will say that as you get closer to your goal, and your daily calorie allotment drops, you may find that you need to eat those calories to stay happy but you can always adjust then.
  • jigsaw00
    jigsaw00 Posts: 5
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    Nice explination SuelnAz, and GL to you too Cbernard.

    For now, at the front end of things I think I'll use them when/if I feel the need, hunger and all. Since I'm not jonesing for snacks or anything I'll just hold off, but if that starts to change I'll adjust as needed. It's nice to know that even eating them I should still be maintaining a deficit and would continue to be on track.

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