Adding exercise calories back

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landace
landace Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
when I log my exercise and calories burned, it adds it to the amount of calories I can have per day. that doesn't make sense to me... Seems to me I worked out for nothing...?

Replies

  • angerelle
    angerelle Posts: 175 Member
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    Where would you expect it to go, and why?
  • MarcyKirkton
    MarcyKirkton Posts: 507 Member
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    Those are the calories you could eat and still hit your target calories for the day. I personally ignore those. I am not enjoying dieting enough to want to drag this out, so I don't eat back my exercise calories. Plus, I'm not about to start weighing food and all that. I'm fairly sure that I estimate close, but not precisely. And I'd be wary about actual estimates, even, of calories burned being all that accurate.

    What I personally do is keep a close eye on how fast I'm losing. 1-2 lbs a week is the standard loss for someone in my weight group and still be healthy. If I start losing faster, then I know I'm probably underestimating too much. If I don't lose 2 lbs, then I know I'm cheating a bit too much. I adjust, accordingly.

    Everyone finds their own systematic way. Find what works for you. Some posts will proclaim their way as "fact." I decided after reading awhile that's ridiculous. It's more art than science. The great part is.....when you DO find your groove, the lbs. come off consistently.
  • blessingsfromabove721
    blessingsfromabove721 Posts: 161 Member
    edited October 2015
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    The way that mfp is set up, it expects that you're not going to exercise, so the exercise calories you burn just gives you more "earned calories" to eat every day . So, the sedentary, lightly active etc has nothing to do with purposeful exercise.

    Most people on here will tell you to eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories...especially if your going by the mfp database or exercise machines because of the fact that they are notorious for overestimating calories burned.

    ETA: also, when you plug in all your information, mfp gives you a deficit based on how active you are and how much weight you would like to lose a week
  • angerelle
    angerelle Posts: 175 Member
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    I always eat my calories gained by exercise, otherwise life would be pretty miserable and I wouldn't sustain my weight loss. That's what spurs me on to exercise sometimes, tbh, knowing that I'll be able to eat a decent amount of food.
  • landace
    landace Posts: 2 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your input! Think I'll try to not eat them unless I think I am headed for a binge ! lol
  • blessingsfromabove721
    blessingsfromabove721 Posts: 161 Member
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    One more thing: you want to maximize fat loss and minimize lean muscle loss and you do that by avoiding too big of a deficit, that is why many people on here advocate for eating back your exercise calories. I would recommend getting either a fitbit or a HRM to get a more accurate estimate on how many calories you are burning.

    Best of luck to you!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    landace wrote: »
    when I log my exercise and calories burned, it adds it to the amount of calories I can have per day. that doesn't make sense to me... Seems to me I worked out for nothing...?

    the way MFP tool works is that you get a calorie target to lose weight based on your stats and general daily activity WITHOUT exercise. exercise is an unaccounted for activity...when you exercise and otherwise increase your activity you increase your body's energy (calorie) requirements and thus would obviously be able to eat more an accomplish the same goals.

    also, exercise is for fitness...the purpose of exercise isn't to burn calories...exercise is for you overall general health and well being and fitness. using energy (calories) is just a nice bi-product.
  • vivmom2014
    vivmom2014 Posts: 1,647 Member
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    angerelle wrote: »
    I always eat my calories gained by exercise, otherwise life would be pretty miserable and I wouldn't sustain my weight loss. That's what spurs me on to exercise sometimes, tbh, knowing that I'll be able to eat a decent amount of food.

    +1

  • michelle7673
    michelle7673 Posts: 370 Member
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    The deficit needed to gain weight at the rate you put into the system is already built in. The way that MFP is set up is aimed at educating and building sustainable lifestyle habits. If you are a person who exercises regularly, you need more intake to fuel that and maintain a healthy, stable weight. There is a fair question as to whether the estimates used for calorie burn are too high, but that's a different issue than whether it's set up for you to adjust your daily intake by accounting for exercise. It is.

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