Are you supposed to eat the extra calories given to you from

aarynisabee
aarynisabee Posts: 20
edited September 27 in Health and Weight Loss
I am pretty confused when it comes to my calorie goal, and the extra calories given to me once I've exercised. I have been a faithful MFP member for a few months now, but I'm kind of at a weight loss stand still. I'm trying to think of things that I may be doing wrong on accident. Can someone explain to me if you are supposed to eat those extra calories, or you're supposed to only eat to your goal and leave the burned calories alone. I have been trying to stay within my goal even when I exercise, i haven't been eating the extra calories... is this bad? is this good? i don't know. HELLPPPP! :)
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Replies

  • sizehealthy
    sizehealthy Posts: 13
    I would usually recommend eating them, but if you're at a plateau maybe not eat them for a week and see what happens? Or you could look into calorie cycling which I hear works really well when someone's plateauing! Best of luck!!!
  • SarahofTwins
    SarahofTwins Posts: 1,169 Member
    Personally I stay around 1200-1500 calories...I start zig zagging when I feel like my weight is going slow. Usually I dont eat all of my excercise calories back, I just have them there in case I eat something extra by the end of the day. It really depends how your body is responding on whether it feels hungry or not. I make sure to drink my water or snack on some stuff like fruits.
  • mangos4music
    mangos4music Posts: 126 Member
    i have always heard that to lose weight you have to burn more than you eat so i dunno. i dont eat all of mine back, only a lil bit of them
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
    The way MFP is designed you are supposed to eat them.

    MFP is created so you lose without exercising (so you run a calorie deficit no matter what) but this means that to lose healthily, you are meant to eat most of these (enough so your net number is 1200 at the end of the day) when you do extra working out/activity.
  • mangos4music
    mangos4music Posts: 126 Member
    Personally I stay around 1200-1500 calories...I start zig zagging when I feel like my weight is going slow. Usually I dont eat all of my excercise calories back, I just have them there in case I eat something extra by the end of the day. It really depends how your body is responding on whether it feels hungry or not. I make sure to drink my water or snack on some stuff like fruits.

    i agree with that. if your hungry and you have the calories, eat a lil snack
  • Rose91851
    Rose91851 Posts: 3
    What is calorie cycling?
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    It's not as simple as that, given that our bodies are not robots.

    A lot depends on your current stats - what weight and height are you? What's you current diet and exercise plan?
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
    Your NET calories (on your home page) should be as close to the daily goal MFP set for you as possible.

    Your REMAINING calories (on your homepage and food diary page) should be as close to zero as possible.

    MFP builds in a deficit for you based on the information you gave it: height, weight, lifestyle, goal weight loss, etc.. All you need to do is follow the calorie goals it gives you.
  • anglo1369
    anglo1369 Posts: 1
    Hey! I was confused by that at first also! But then I ate 300 calories less (not on purpose) than what my daily remaining calories allowed, and a notice came up that said I needed to eat more or my body would put itself into starvation mode cause my metabolism would slow down! So, yes, we are supposed to eat the extra calories!
    On a side note, you mentioned you were at a plateau, I was watching The Doctors the other day and a woman was on with the same concern. They asked if she was doing any strength training and she said "no" cause she didn't want to bulk up. They told her that strength training will help her lose the last 10-15lbs because for every lb of muscle you build, that muscle will burn a couple hundred calories.
    Hope this helps! Good luck!
  • ssc0303
    ssc0303 Posts: 36 Member
    I usually eat about half of them back. Your net calories should at least be 1200. A few months ago I was still getting into the swing of things and I wasn't eating my calories back at all. My net calories would be 50 sometimes...needless to say I wasn't losing weight as quickly as I thought I should have been.
  • PJS323
    PJS323 Posts: 115
    I never eat my exercise calories back. I eat anywhere between 1250-1550 calories a day. Regardless of the amount of exercise I do. I usually burn between 1000-1650 calories per day through exercise. You have to burn 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat, so how does eating your calories back equal weight loss? The more you workout, and the more muscle you build, the more you can eat. That is due to your resting caloric burn will rise with the weight lost, and muscle built. I have lost 21lbs in the last 5 1/2 weeks, and I feel that if I ate my exercise calories back, I wouldn't have been this successful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
  • absolament
    absolament Posts: 278 Member
    Yes. You are supposed to eat the extra calories given to you from MFP. I think it's mentioned in the post for new members.


    I do my best to eat close to the extra calories given to me:

    While I was losing weight I tried to stay within 100 more or less of my targeted goal after including excercise calories.

    Now that I'm in maintenance mode I try to stay within 200 less or 100 more than my targeted goal after including exercise caloires.

    I've managed to lose 1.5 pounds since starting maintenance mode 3 weeks ago. (I should add that maintenance mode put my net calories from 1350 to 1500).
  • gstolzenburg24
    gstolzenburg24 Posts: 3
    ...
  • Faye_Anderson
    Faye_Anderson Posts: 1,495 Member
    Why would you ever eat back your excersize calories?! To lose weight you have to burn more calories during the day than you consume period. If you're caloric goal is 1500 daily, you burn 1000 calories exercising throughout the day ( for all of you that freak out and say that's impossible,, try HIIT for an hour, or doing more than a 30 minute 2 mph walk) and you have a bmr of 2300 for example, MFP will tell you to eat an additional 2000 calories after entering the 1000. If you eat them back you have now consumed a total of 3500 calories and are now at a surplus and again gaining weight. CONGRATS!!!. As long as you average a TOTAL of 1200 FOR THE DAY you're net can be -650! As long as you eat 5-6 small and HEALTHY meals a day to keep your metabolism up. You would be fine eating 5000 calories a day as long as you burned more, you will still lose weight.

    There's so much wrong in this post I wouldn't know where to start
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    I am pretty confused when it comes to my calorie goal, and the extra calories given to me once I've exercised. I have been a faithful MFP member for a few months now, but I'm kind of at a weight loss stand still. I'm trying to think of things that I may be doing wrong on accident. Can someone explain to me if you are supposed to eat those extra calories, or you're supposed to only eat to your goal and leave the burned calories alone. I have been trying to stay within my goal even when I exercise, i haven't been eating the extra calories... is this bad? is this good? i don't know. HELLPPPP! :)

    MFP's system intends that you eat your exercise calories back to maintain your deficit. That said, it is REALLY easy and common for people to vastly overestimate the amount of calories they burn in a workout. As such many people here seem to be in the habit of eating back 50% of what they think they have burned just to compensate for that.

    You should eat at least 50% back though, it is a bad idea to take what is likely already a large caloric deficit and make it even larger by putting strain on your body via exercise.
  • Niecytwentyfive
    Niecytwentyfive Posts: 10 Member
    Yep, eat those calories back to balance your number to your daily goal. I burn up a lot of calories, too. I eat them back so that I am not too far under my caloric goal. A good way to get them back is with a good protein low or no sugar shake. :flowerforyou:



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  • randomusername5
    randomusername5 Posts: 36 Member
    I exercise solely because I can eat those calories back! Mmmm.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    I never eat my exercise calories back. I eat anywhere between 1250-1550 calories a day. Regardless of the amount of exercise I do. I usually burn between 1000-1650 calories per day through exercise. You have to burn 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat, so how does eating your calories back equal weight loss? The more you workout, and the more muscle you build, the more you can eat. That is due to your resting caloric burn will rise with the weight lost, and muscle built. I have lost 21lbs in the last 5 1/2 weeks, and I feel that if I ate my exercise calories back, I wouldn't have been this successful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

    Wow. Yeah OP do NOT listen to this person. Person who posted this, you are seriously doing it wrong...yes of course you are supposed to eat back your exercise calories to maintain a stable and HEALTHY deficit. The goal of exercise is improved fitness not making your deficit huge. If you view the purpose of exercise to be faster weight loss you are setting yourself up for muscle loss, poor fitness and damage to your body. The scale may be going down real fast for you but you will be losing muscle and bone density along with the fat.

    In the end ask yourself, is the point to weigh less or is the point to be healthier.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    NM
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    AH crap, ancient post...fooled again.
This discussion has been closed.

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