Minimun Calories and working out

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vorsilva
vorsilva Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm new to trying to lose weight. At first I was just reducing my calories, but now I have added in about 300 calories of exercise a day. Do I take these negative calories into account when I'm making sure to meet my minimum calorie requirement? Thanks for your help.

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  • KT_3009
    KT_3009 Posts: 1,042 Member
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    What is your current calorie intake per day? And also if you are doing that kind of exercise I'd recommend eating 50% of those exercise calories back.
    vorsilva wrote: »
    I'm new to trying to lose weight. At first I was just reducing my calories, but now I have added in about 300 calories of exercise a day. Do I take these negative calories into account when I'm making sure to meet my minimum calorie requirement? Thanks for your help.

  • MMMendoza007
    MMMendoza007 Posts: 157 Member
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    I think everyone is different. For instance, I try to meet the goal intake before exercise is added in, but if I'm having a rough day and needed more to eat, I might get closer to the adjusted total.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
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    vorsilva wrote: »
    I'm new to trying to lose weight. At first I was just reducing my calories, but now I have added in about 300 calories of exercise a day. Do I take these negative calories into account when I'm making sure to meet my minimum calorie requirement? Thanks for your help.

    It sounds like you are asking if you should eat back your calories that you burn. the answer is no.
    Calories in vs Calories out. You will only loose weight at some sort of deficit.

  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    It would depend on what method you used to calculate your initial calorie goal.

    If you used MFP, then yes you should eat some extra to account for the calories you burned because the goal MFP gave you already has the deficit built in and assumed zero exercise. Your body requires extra fuel to support the exercise that MFPs goal didn't account for.

    If you used some sort of online TDEE calculator which specifically asked you how much and how often you exercises as part of the input used to calculate your goal, then no you wouldn't eat additional as they are already accounted for in your goal
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    Commander_Keen wrote: »
    vorsilva wrote: »
    I'm new to trying to lose weight. At first I was just reducing my calories, but now I have added in about 300 calories of exercise a day. Do I take these negative calories into account when I'm making sure to meet my minimum calorie requirement? Thanks for your help.

    It sounds like you are asking if you should eat back your calories that you burn. the answer is no.
    Calories in vs Calories out. You will only loose weight at some sort of deficit.

    MFP is set up so that you eat back the calories you burn. Now burns are exaggerated usually so, OP, I would recommend starting eat half of the exercise calories back and see what your weight loss is like. and then you can play around with the percentages then
  • vorsilva
    vorsilva Posts: 2 Member
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    Thanks everyone
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    edited November 2015
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    Both my dietitian and my doctor (endocrinologist specializing in weight issues) told me NOT to "eat back"
    exercise calories. In fact, my asking was the first they'd heard of such an idea.

    1 - most people underestimate what they eat
    2 - most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned

    For most people, in most situations, those errors more or less cancel out.
    So just aim for your calorie goal.
    Exercise because it's good for you & makes you feel better, be stronger, lowers your cholesterol, strengthens
    your heart, etc.
    If I'm really hungry at the end of the day, I might have 1/3 - 1/2 of what I think I've burnt in exercise as a snack,
    but it's not an everyday thing.

    If you need some help figuring out a healthy goal for weight, calories, macros, look here.


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  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Yes, MFP is designed to earn extra calories through exercise. Most will eat only a portion, to accommodate miscalculations is logging and overestimations in burns.
  • MarcyKirkton
    MarcyKirkton Posts: 507 Member
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    I don't but my exercise calories are really suspect.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    Everyone is different. Find out which method works for you and then let's us know so that others who are similar to you can use you as an example.

    I eat mine back but I'm not you. Good luck!

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