have a ? i am new to this

mslorri2005
mslorri2005 Posts: 3
edited September 29 in Introduce Yourself
Hey everyone..can anyone help me here? Ok I am really confused..I keep track of my food and all that and i worked out but now its saying i have another 800 calories to eat?? my goal is 1250...i ate around 900 and i did 1 hour of treadmill..and it gave me back 6-600 calories to eat??? how is that if i want to loose weight? i am really confused..i thought i would eat the 1250 and no more and then workout and i am set for that day? but everytime i workout its tellin me i have to eat more????

Replies

  • gcumpson
    gcumpson Posts: 39
    I know when I work out i get hungry after and it allows you to eat more. I love it and it works for me. good luck
  • maryd4love
    maryd4love Posts: 164 Member
    - I, personally, have yet to figure that all out. I very rarely eat my excercise calories back because in my head that makes no sense.
  • literaryshots
    literaryshots Posts: 66 Member
    You may not need to eat all your exercise calories back, but if you aren't careful you put the body in starvation mode-then it hangs on to the weight you have for dear life-if you are working hard add a couple of extra snacks, but let your body say whether or not you need to eat the full amount. And make sure it's energy, not just stuff, of course :)

    Have seen many tales on here of people not eating enough to lose weight. Tricky business is weight loss, it's why so many struggle I suspect.
  • sunnymoon8
    sunnymoon8 Posts: 14 Member
    You earn calories to eat when you exercise. I was confused by that too. You may need to eat a little bit more than 1250 if you are burning hundreds of calories.
  • darcyrobillard
    darcyrobillard Posts: 42
    You do not have to eat your exercise calories back, but you do have to eat at least 1200 cal a day (for woman). When I burn a ton of cals such as you did on the treadmill, I would eat 1/2 the cals back. If you were to eat all the cals you burned you would lose whatever your setting is per week (i.e 1 pound) If you don't eat them back you would lose more than that. Hope this helped.
  • micklepickle61
    micklepickle61 Posts: 73
    Hello,

    Welcome. I hope I explain this correctly.

    In order to lose weight, you have to create a calorie deficit. You have to burn more calories than you eat. Your goal of 1250 calories each day was calculated to create a deficit that should cause you to lose weight at the rate that you selected when you set up your profile. However, it did not account for any calories that you might burn when you exercise. Therefore, any calories that you burn by exercising creates a larger deficit. You can eat them back and still be at the original calculated deficit, or you can not eat them back and have a larger deficit. This would presumably lead to a faster weight loss.

    Hope this helps

    Mike
  • Lauriek70
    Lauriek70 Posts: 2,087 Member
    Mike gave a good answer but here is some more details about how this site works and why you should eat your calories back.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics
  • mslorri2005
    mslorri2005 Posts: 3
    oh ok ty everyone...to me i was thinking why would i want to eat all the calories that i just burned off? and to be honest i am not sure how much calories i am actually burning off? i hit the fast burn on my treadmill for 300 cal...i do that in the morning and at nite...i was hoping it was right by 300 each time??/
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