Eating the calories burned exercising

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Fitmami222
Fitmami222 Posts: 16 Member
in Food and Nutrition
im confused; how are you supposed to lose weight if you eat the calories you burn? Isn't the whole point of working out to get rid of those calories ? I don't mean heavy intense training, obviously then you need to compensate for some of that but just regular work outs. Ty everyone !

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  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,642 Member
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    your deficit is factored in (if properly estimated) BEFORE you add exercise to get the calories you burn during exercise. So assuming the calories you track for the activity are accurate you still have a deficit if you set MFP to weight loss (usually 500 cals under you total daily energy expenditure, TDEE)
  • Lalalindaloo
    Lalalindaloo Posts: 204 Member
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    Sooooo, if you set your MFP goals to lose 1/2 lb, 1lb, 1.5 lb, etc, the calorie goal they give you for the day already includes enough of a cut to lose that amount. If you then exercise, you can either increase that deficit by however many you burn during exercise and lose more, faster, or you can eat some or all of them back if you like to eat more than they allot. I usually ate about 2/3 of my exercise calories back because i like food and being full. I still lost consistently because of the built in deficit.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    _John_ wrote: »
    your deficit is factored in (if properly estimated) BEFORE you add exercise to get the calories you burn during exercise. So assuming the calories you track for the activity are accurate you still have a deficit if you set MFP to weight loss (usually 500 cals under you total daily energy expenditure, TDEE)

    This^

    Because you already have a deficit, eating calories back just gets you back to where you started.

    The hard part is figuring out how many calories to eat back. Calorie burn estimates are just that....estimates.

    Keep in mind you are exercising for fitness, not just calorie burn. You need enough fuel to keep the benefit of exercise. Example: strength training should help you keep more lean muscle while eating at a deficit....but if your deficit is very large...you could, in essence be working out to lose more muscle.

  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,642 Member
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    MeganMoroz89 wrote: »
    For me to lose .5 lbs a week I need to eat about 1350 calories a day (so this is what I need to net).

    So if I reach that 1350 calories but then I exercise I'll have burned off, let's say, 250 calories, which makes my new net calorie amount be 1100. But because in order to lose that .5 pounds, I can eat a NET amount of 1350, that means I can eat that 250 back, because my net still wouldn't be over what my goal is.

    and I feel for you women who have RAZOR thin numbers to hit goals as everything from food labels to energy expenditure during exercise is an estimate to WAG.

  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    _John_ wrote: »
    MeganMoroz89 wrote: »
    For me to lose .5 lbs a week I need to eat about 1350 calories a day (so this is what I need to net).

    So if I reach that 1350 calories but then I exercise I'll have burned off, let's say, 250 calories, which makes my new net calorie amount be 1100. But because in order to lose that .5 pounds, I can eat a NET amount of 1350, that means I can eat that 250 back, because my net still wouldn't be over what my goal is.

    and I feel for you women who have RAZOR thin numbers to hit goals as everything from food labels to energy expenditure during exercise is an estimate to WAG.

    This! Nicely added comment and VERY true..
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,642 Member
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    MeganMoroz89 wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    MeganMoroz89 wrote: »
    For me to lose .5 lbs a week I need to eat about 1350 calories a day (so this is what I need to net).

    So if I reach that 1350 calories but then I exercise I'll have burned off, let's say, 250 calories, which makes my new net calorie amount be 1100. But because in order to lose that .5 pounds, I can eat a NET amount of 1350, that means I can eat that 250 back, because my net still wouldn't be over what my goal is.

    and I feel for you women who have RAZOR thin numbers to hit goals as everything from food labels to energy expenditure during exercise is an estimate to WAG.

    Actually for me it's okay because I fill myself up with protein and I haven't had an issue hitting that calorie goal each day. Plus, technically I'm eating about 1600 a day which isn't far off from my maintenance of 1750 a day. It's only razor thin to you, a man, whose body is completely different than mine.

    I'm just smaller than most men so I need less food to be full so it's not hard. Also based on the types of exercises that I do I don't require more calories than that.

    I'm definitely not starving myself, not even close. But thanks for that WAG comment. Super appreciated.

    I meant it in the "wild *kitten* guess" form.
  • Fitmami222
    Fitmami222 Posts: 16 Member
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    Thanks everyone! I get it now
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    sonikaranirai713 wrote: »
    im confused; how are you supposed to lose weight if you eat the calories you burn? Isn't the whole point of working out to get rid of those calories ? I don't mean heavy intense training, obviously then you need to compensate for some of that but just regular work outs. Ty everyone !
    Because that's how MFP works. As others have said, your daily goal already has you at a deficit without any exercise - meaning you could eat to goal every day, do zero exercise and you'll lose weight. Burning more off through exercise makes the deficit larger, and this can cause problems in the long run. So the burned cals are added back in. Your daily NET cals should be at or near goal at the end of the day. You'll still be in deficit, and you'll still lose - it's far more sustainable because you're not cutting cals too low and ending up under-fueled.

  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,642 Member
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    MeganMoroz89 wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    MeganMoroz89 wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    MeganMoroz89 wrote: »
    For me to lose .5 lbs a week I need to eat about 1350 calories a day (so this is what I need to net).

    So if I reach that 1350 calories but then I exercise I'll have burned off, let's say, 250 calories, which makes my new net calorie amount be 1100. But because in order to lose that .5 pounds, I can eat a NET amount of 1350, that means I can eat that 250 back, because my net still wouldn't be over what my goal is.

    and I feel for you women who have RAZOR thin numbers to hit goals as everything from food labels to energy expenditure during exercise is an estimate to WAG.

    Actually for me it's okay because I fill myself up with protein and I haven't had an issue hitting that calorie goal each day. Plus, technically I'm eating about 1600 a day which isn't far off from my maintenance of 1750 a day. It's only razor thin to you, a man, whose body is completely different than mine.

    I'm just smaller than most men so I need less food to be full so it's not hard. Also based on the types of exercises that I do I don't require more calories than that.

    I'm definitely not starving myself, not even close. But thanks for that WAG comment. Super appreciated.

    I meant it in the "wild *kitten* guess" form.

    My mistake then, sorry.

    yeah, usually I'm so vague with my humor it's hard to tell, but I actually had to look that up to see how bad that could mean. But yeah, I was thinking wild guess all the way when I posted that. My apologies.

  • edack72
    edack72 Posts: 173 Member
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    Dont do it unless you have had a hard workout I have lost the most weight by being very careful about not eating back my calories burned in exercise if its something intense or heavy lifing of course I need to replenish so the body heals but I choose wisely....I am telling you that by not eating all my calories back I have lost 21 pounds since december and I feel great and I am stronger than ever
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    edack72 wrote: »
    Dont do it unless you have had a hard workout I have lost the most weight by being very careful about not eating back my calories burned in exercise if its something intense or heavy lifing of course I need to replenish so the body heals but I choose wisely....I am telling you that by not eating all my calories back I have lost 21 pounds since december and I feel great and I am stronger than ever

    I lost 121 pounds eating most of mine back!! ;)
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    edack72 wrote: »
    Dont do it unless you have had a hard workout I have lost the most weight by being very careful about not eating back my calories burned in exercise if its something intense or heavy lifing of course I need to replenish so the body heals but I choose wisely....I am telling you that by not eating all my calories back I have lost 21 pounds since december and I feel great and I am stronger than ever

    I'm telling you that I ate and still eat my maximum calories, and have lost about 25 lbs and kept it off for over three years now. :smile:

    My goal is to eat as many cals as I can while still losing weight. I like food, and food is fuel, so bring it on!

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