Silly question lol

boney544
boney544 Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
I started out with a daily calorie goal of 1600 and i ate almost 300 for breakfast and then burned 300 at the gym...so now my goal is back up to 1600...do i still try to eat the 1600 that i originally started with or do i add the 300 that i burned back in? I hope that makes sense cuz im so confused lol

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    The goal MFP gives you doesn't include calories burned through exercise. When you exercise, it's expected that you eat them back to keep the deficit the same and fuel your body. However, calories burned are often overestimated, so many will only eat back half of the calories at most. 1600-1750 sounds like a good number to aim for today.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    If you are following MFP's calorie suggestions, it does not include exercise, so yes, you eat the 1600 original goal and add the 300 exercise for a total of 1900 calories, NET of 1600 (1900-300 exercise = 1600).

    Some people choose not to eat all the exercise calories back to err on the side of caution since there is a degree of error with every method of estimation (including HRMs). So some people eat 50-75% of them back.
  • sterrac
    sterrac Posts: 6 Member
    Was kinda curious about this as well, but to take it a bit further, I have been consistently ending my days 2 to 3 hundred calories under what is "recommended." Today I have 528 calories left, and am far from hungry. Is this OK, or do I need to maybe change some things with the way I have set things?
  • Melwillbehealthy
    Melwillbehealthy Posts: 894 Member
    I only eat back the exercise calories burned if I'm really hungry. So, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    sterrac wrote: »
    Was kinda curious about this as well, but to take it a bit further, I have been consistently ending my days 2 to 3 hundred calories under what is "recommended." Today I have 528 calories left, and am far from hungry. Is this OK, or do I need to maybe change some things with the way I have set things?

    You should aim to be as close to your base calories as possible. Of course, it depends on how accurately you are logging too. How much you have to lose, how active you are and what your calorie goal is plays a big role too. Someone with a lot of weight to lose can afford to have a higher deficit. Someone who only has a little weight or is very active needs to be a little more careful.

    Keep in mind that when you first start out, it isn't uncommon to not be hungry. Also, hungry isn't a reliable indicator if you really need to eat or not. Some obese people report constant hunger even when they do not need to eat. Anorexics often report not being hungry. There are many factors that influence hunger.
  • boney544
    boney544 Posts: 3 Member
    Thanks!!

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