Help! How do I figure net calories?

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jeanniebaker
jeanniebaker Posts: 7
in Food and Nutrition
I'm confused about something. My daily allowance of calories is 1200. If I work out and burn 300 calories, am I supposed to still eat 1200 or am I supposed to eat 1500? Today I didn't eat enough (got busy painting my daughter's bathroom, plus had a grilled chicken salad at McDonalds for lunch so I was really full) and it's telling me I need 1000 calories, which hardly seems right. I didn't notice before, but I see now that most days the site has been telling me I ate 300 or more calories less than I needed, even though I always eat 1200. Does anyone know?

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  • uubulldawg06
    uubulldawg06 Posts: 102 Member
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    MFP already builds a deficit into your calorie goal. when you exercise you need to eat those calories back, so you are providing enough fuel for your body.
  • jeanniebaker
    jeanniebaker Posts: 7
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    So I should be eating 1500 calories when I exercise?
  • ghoztt
    ghoztt Posts: 69 Member
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    If you burn off 300 calories you need to eat 1500 calories that day to net 1200 calories for the day. You don't have your diary public but it sounds as if you only had the chicken salad as your only meal for the day if you still have 1000 calories to eat. I would recommend getting in the habit of eating breakfast to give your metabolism a kick start in the morning so you don't have a huge surplus for dinner.
  • uubulldawg06
    uubulldawg06 Posts: 102 Member
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    Yes. I don't always eat all of my exercise calories back, but make an effort to eat at least half of them back. I try to keep my weekly average as close to my goal as possible.
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
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    Must...resist...urge...to...reply...in...usual...fashion...

    Default answer before I get banned: www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

    Copy/paste > read > click > read > click links > read > ??? > profit!
  • jeanniebaker
    jeanniebaker Posts: 7
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    I did eat breakfast-I had a Slimfast shake (the kind in the can) but that was only 180 calories and the salad with no dressing or croutons or tomatoes is only 255. I always eat breakfast-I never used to, but I can't even maintain my weight, let alone lose, if I don't. Plus if I don't eat enough during the day, I'm super hungry at night and then overeat right before I go to bed. I didn't want to do that tonight, but obviously I needed to eat something. I just never noticed it before (I hadn't been clicking the button that says you've entered everything). I've only been working on losing weight for a week, so there's probably no harm done. I just didn't understand. I've had 3 back surgeries and had to lose weight after every one. I did Weight Watcher's the first time and the 2nd time I tracked my calories on another site. I don't remember it from before, so I wanted to be sure. Thanks for the help1

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