Question about calories

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royalgigi80
royalgigi80 Posts: 10 Member
in Getting Started
When I workout, the calorie tracker adds calories to my total for the day. Should I try to eat my original goal calories (before the workout) or do I need to eat what the program suggests? Will it effect weight loss either way? Thanks!

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  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,543 Member
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    You'd be wise not to eat ALL of those calories added (after exercise) as they can be overestimated. If you're burning calories though, you can and should typically eat some of them back.

    EX: You're allotted 1400 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week and you burn 300 exercising.

    This is 1700 calories you can consume that day (in theory) and still be on track to lose a pound that week. To make up for overestimation of exercise calories though, the consensus around these forums is to usually only eat back about half of your exercise calories.

    Half of 300 is 150 so you'd be safe to eat 1550 calories that day. I know I may have oversimplified this process but I didn't want to miss any steps. Be sure that you're accurately logging what you eat so that you're not underestimating those calories as well.

    Hope this helps.
  • pzarnosky
    pzarnosky Posts: 256 Member
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    It's up to you. If i'm hungry I do. But MFP overestimates calories burned. So I only eat back 25-50% of what they give me for my exercise.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited July 2015
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    If you are using MFP as designed then you eat exercise calories back. MFP doesn't assume any exercise, that way people who can't exercise will still lose weight also.

    BUT - keep in mind that calorie burns are estimates. Many MFP users just eat back a portion (50-75%).

    When you say tracker (?) what brand, what are the settings? I have a FitBit One and have negative adjustments enabled, it will take calories away if I don't live up to my activity level. A FitBit is pretty good for step based workouts. Find the group (here on MFP) for your specific tracker to get a more accurate idea.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • royalgigi80
    royalgigi80 Posts: 10 Member
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    The calorie tracker I use is just the MFP one for now but the fitbit does sound like a more accurate option. Thanks for the great feedback!
  • royalgigi80
    royalgigi80 Posts: 10 Member
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    pzarnosky wrote: »
    It's up to you. If i'm hungry I do. But MFP overestimates calories burned. So I only eat back 25-50% of what they give me for my exercise.
    Thank you! Probably a good rule of thumb to only eat when I'm hungry too! Haha--why didn't I think of that? ;)
  • royalgigi80
    royalgigi80 Posts: 10 Member
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    _incogNEATo_ wrote: »
    You'd be wise not to eat ALL of those calories added (after exercise) as they can be overestimated. If you're burning calories though, you can and should typically eat some of them back.

    EX: You're allotted 1400 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week and you burn 300 exercising.

    This is 1700 calories you can consume that day (in theory) and still be on track to lose a pound that week. To make up for overestimation of exercise calories though, the consensus around these forums is to usually only eat back about half of your exercise calories.

    Half of 300 is 150 so you'd be safe to eat 1550 calories that day. I know I may have oversimplified this process but I didn't want to miss any steps. Be sure that you're accurately logging what you eat so that you're not underestimating those calories as well.

    Hope this helps.

    Wonderful--yes very helpful. Thanks!
  • royalgigi80
    royalgigi80 Posts: 10 Member
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    If you are using MFP as designed then you eat exercise calories back. MFP doesn't assume any exercise, that way people who can't exercise will still lose weight also.

    BUT - keep in mind that calorie burns are estimates. Many MFP users just eat back a portion (50-75%).

    When you say tracker (?) what brand, what are the settings? I have a FitBit One and have negative adjustments enabled, it will take calories away if I don't live up to my activity level. A FitBit is pretty good for step based workouts. Find the group (here on MFP) for your specific tracker to get a more accurate idea.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

    The calorie tracker I use is just the MFP one for now but the fitbit does sound like a more accurate option. Thanks for the great feedback!
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
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    royalgigi80 wrote: »
    pzarnosky wrote: »
    It's up to you. If i'm hungry I do. But MFP overestimates calories burned. So I only eat back 25-50% of what they give me for my exercise.
    Thank you! Probably a good rule of thumb to only eat when I'm hungry too! Haha--why didn't I think of that? ;)

    It sounds too easy, right? Some days I eat every single one of my exercise calories back because I am hungry. Some days I barely touch them. It all works out over time.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
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    If you get a tracker, make sure it's one with a heart rate monitor. That will be the most accurate you can get. Still won't be perfect, but it's closer than anything else I've found.
  • royalgigi80
    royalgigi80 Posts: 10 Member
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    dubird wrote: »
    If you get a tracker, make sure it's one with a heart rate monitor. That will be the most accurate you can get. Still won't be perfect, but it's closer than anything else I've found.

    Great tip--Thanks!
  • royalgigi80
    royalgigi80 Posts: 10 Member
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    jaga13 wrote: »
    royalgigi80 wrote: »
    pzarnosky wrote: »
    It's up to you. If i'm hungry I do. But MFP overestimates calories burned. So I only eat back 25-50% of what they give me for my exercise.
    Thank you! Probably a good rule of thumb to only eat when I'm hungry too! Haha--why didn't I think of that? ;)

    It sounds too easy, right? Some days I eat every single one of my exercise calories back because I am hungry. Some days I barely touch them. It all works out over time.

    Encouraging to hear that it works out over time--I don't want to obsess about every little calorie but definitely want to see progress! Thanks!
  • luvred51
    luvred51 Posts: 163 Member
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    bump
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    royalgigi80 wrote: »
    When I workout, the calorie tracker adds calories to my total for the day. Should I try to eat my original goal calories (before the workout) or do I need to eat what the program suggests?

    If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, eating back your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

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