To eat back exercise calories?

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mady2806
mady2806 Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Should I be eating my exercise calories back since MFP already puts in a deficit because of my working out everyday? I just wonder if I'm getting enough food. I stick to the 1200 calories a day abut then I burn 400 or more a day and I'm still eating 1200 calories. Please help.

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    MFP is designed to eat your exercise calories back. It's important to fuel yourself, especially if you are on the lower end of consumption (as you are). However, gym machines and the MFP calculator often over-estimate the actual burn. To solve for this, many people (including myself) only eat a portion of the calories back -- usually 50 to 75%.
  • mady2806
    mady2806 Posts: 23 Member
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    Great thanks for your help. So maybe that's why I haven't lost anything yet. :)
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
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    I just don't bother with eating back exercise calories. There is no truly, 100% bulletproof way to know what you have burned doing any activity and it is far more tempting to overestimate burns than underestimate them. So I exercise for health and to look better, not to lose weight specifically.
  • markjacobs1987
    markjacobs1987 Posts: 162 Member
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    First off are you only eating 1200 calories a day? That's pretty low and you should probably eat a bit more than that. 1200 calories is really the minimum amount a female should eat so if you plateau you leave yourself nowhere to cut. As for calculating deficit with MFP I wouldn't stress that much over it. Pick a calorie amount that is good for you and works and don't worry about calculating the exercise into your figure. I would try bumping up your calories to 1400 a day and see how that works for you. Remember you want to lose between 1-2lbs a week and no faster than that. If you fall in that range you're in good shape.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    mady2806 wrote: »
    Great thanks for your help. So maybe that's why I haven't lost anything yet. :)

    Netting too few calories won't keep you from losing weight. If you are eating 1,200 and not losing weight something else may be going on (you may have a logging issue and you are eating more than you think, for example).
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I've been eating back half mine and it seems to be working well for me.

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