Will I still lose weight if....

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curvyalessa
curvyalessa Posts: 5 Member
edited January 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so my calorie intake is 1780. If I workout and burn 400 calories do I still have to stay under 1780 to lose weight? Or do I follow the calories it added?

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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    As long as you're eating less than maintenance, you'll lose weight. Ideally, you should be eating 1780 plus your exercise calories, but those can be greatly overestimated.
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
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    Most of us find it helpful to eat back about 50% of our exercise calories.
  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
    edited January 2016
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    I think we need a little more info. But here is an example - see if it matches yours.

    I put into MFP my height, age, and weight, etc... and that I wanted to lose 1 lb per week. I also put "sedentary" as my lifestyle. So, MFP gives me 1450 calories per day. Now, if I workout, and MFP gives me 400 calories, then I could eat 1850 calories and still lose 1 lb per week. Now - how are you figuring out your workout calories, though? Many machines and trackers overestimate, so you may not want to eat all 400 back, as that may be inaccurate.

    You also don't want to eat your workout calories back if you told MFP that you are highly active. They already account for those calories each day. Only eat them back if you were set up as "sedentary" and then added the activity.

  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    My biggest question is how did you calculate you burned 400 calories?
  • curvyalessa
    curvyalessa Posts: 5 Member
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    I put "sedentary" and when I log in workouts I manually enter the calories I burned. I found that a lot of the exercises I search seem to say I burn a lot more than I actually do. I recently started a workout routine and it has been going well. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't over eating. Thank you guys for the help. :)
  • curvyalessa
    curvyalessa Posts: 5 Member
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    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    My biggest question is how did you calculate you burned 400 calories?

    Heart rate monitor. Is that not right?
    I'm new to all of this so when I log in stuff I always calculate less on workout and more on food.
  • brb_2013
    brb_2013 Posts: 1,197 Member
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    curvyalessa wrote: »
    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    My biggest question is how did you calculate you burned 400 calories?

    Heart rate monitor. Is that not right?
    I'm new to all of this so when I log in stuff I always calculate less on workout and more on food.

    You just don't know 100% for certain that it's accurate is all. A HRM is a good estimate though!! Id say start out eating 50-75% of your exercise calories for several weeks and if you continue losing at the proper rate then the estimate is probably correct and you could then consider eating them all.
  • MrsJBro
    MrsJBro Posts: 59 Member
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    Safest bet, calculate your BMR (lots of calculators online). That is the number you should not eat less than, the bare minimum if you will. Go under that and you lose the wrong kind of weight, like muscle (which in turn slows the metabolism). If you exercise and it brings you below that BMR, you can eat back enough calories to hit the BMR level and still lose weight at a healthy rate :)
    I learned about it in University, and in my experience it works great for controlled loss without starving the body.
  • Garthweightlosspal
    Garthweightlosspal Posts: 73 Member
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    don't eat back your calories if you are cutting. if you are bulking after exercise go for it, but if cutting no.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    400 calories = for me is roughly 50 minutes intense steady state cardio like running at 9km/hr

    Just be careful with your calorie burns

    Eat back 50% for 6 weeks, if you lose weight faster than expected eat more
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Garthweightlosspal wrote: »
    don't eat back your calories if you are cutting. if you are bulking after exercise go for it, but if cutting no.

    Wrong for someone following MFP numbers

    Right for someone following a cut from TDEE method

    Apples and elephants
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    curvyalessa wrote: »
    Ok so my calorie intake is 1780. If I workout and burn 400 calories do I still have to stay under 1780 to lose weight? Or do I follow the calories it added?

    Also OP I don't know how tall and heavy you are but your activity level should be without purposeful exercise

    Mine is set to sedentary ...at 5'8 and 160lbs that gives me a TDEE of 1750

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