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Exercise = more calories per day ???

Posts: 6 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I have mentioned before that I have used weight watchers as long as I could remember, as WW and MFP are similar, I feel as though I am eating way more with MFP & I noticed when I workout that the amount of calories I am allowed to have per day increases..is this normal? It makes me nervous because I desperately want to get on the right track again and want to make sure I'm doing this right!

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Replies

  • Posts: 9,603 Member
    Yes, the more you burn, the more you need...and can eat! :)

  • Posts: 6,212 Member
    I have mentioned before that I have used weight watchers as long as I could remember, as WW and MFP are similar, I feel as though I am eating way more with MFP & I noticed when I workout that the amount of calories I am allowed to have per day increases..is this normal? It makes me nervous because I desperately want to get on the right track again and want to make sure I'm doing this right!

    Yes, because the goal MFP originally gives you assumes no exercise. So when you exercise, you should eat back some of those calories in order to properly fuel that additional activity.
  • Posts: 25,763 Member
    MFP gives you a calorie goal that assumes you won't be doing any exercise. When you exercise, you get additional calories so that your overall deficit doesn't become too large and to ensure you have energy for all your activities. Assuming that the calorie burn is calculated correctly, you can eat these calories and still be at a deficit (because your original goal already put you at a deficit).

    Be aware that many people have found that the calorie burns in the database are exaggerated, so they don't eat all the calories back (many people eat 50-75% of the calories back). Depending on how you are determining how many calories you burned, you may want to experiment with what works for you.
  • Posts: 11,232 Member
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Yes, the more you burn, the more you need...and can eat! :)

    this is a good portion of why i run.
  • Posts: 6 Member
    Evennnnn like today I did about a 10 min walk somewhere and realized my calories went up
  • Posts: 6,771 Member
    moyer566 wrote: »

    this is a good portion of why i run.

    This. My new found love of all things peanut butter make running pretty essential!
  • Posts: 3,322 Member
    this is how I see it.
  • Posts: 70 Member
    Yes.
  • Posts: 64 Member
    I've got a smaller frame and MFP exaggerates for me. I use it to track food and find my Fitbit closer to my actual rate of loss for activity.
  • Posts: 62 Member
    Just like in Weight Watchers where when you exercise you can earn more points, in MFP you can earn more calories. Most people only eat back a portion of their exercise calories though because they tend to be overestimates. So if you do eat back all of your exercise calories and are not seeing results, try only eating half of them back.
  • Posts: 8,626 Member
    why do you think i work out every day? LOLOLOL

    i only eat back about half though, to help compensate for miscalculations.
  • Posts: 15,147 Member
    YES, MFP is designed so you earn and EAT back exercise calories. Most eat half to accommodate miscalculations in both logging and overestimations of exercise.
  • Posts: 4,142 Member
    You probably are eating more on MFP than you are on WW. I did WW's for 4 months and had to stop because it was eventually too aggressive for me. My PT and I picked the plan apart and worked out I'd been eating around 1100 calories per day as per the 'leaders' instruction. On MFP, I eat 1500 in total each day. I don't eat back my exercise calories because they are all accounted for in that 1500 (I worked out my allowance using a TDEE method - not using MFP).

    You've been given some great advice so I won't add to that. I always like to speak up when I see WW mentioned Hehe! :)
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