Can we settle this calorie debate???

Motions28 wrote: »

If MFP says my goal is 1500 calories, and I burn 600 calories, should I be eating a total of 2100 calories? Or get my 1500? I've been told both by friends on here. I don't use a food scale every time so I adjust for variage counting. I would love to get a definitive answer on this. Thanks in advance....

There is a definite answer on how you are supposed to do it according to how MFP is supposed to work. The program is designed to build in your calorie deficit when you set up your profile. So 1500 already includes your deficit. Therefore, any activity you do above and beyond that, you are supposed to eat the calories back so your NET calories are 1500 and your deficit remains constant. If you don't eat the exercise calories back, your deficit gets larger.

Now, whether or not the 1500 MFP chose for you is accurate or not and how accurately you track exercise calories are the things that you have to experiment with because everyone is different.

So if you want a definitive answer to follow do what MFP is intended to do. Eat your 1500 + exercise. If you don't lose, you are likely overestimating exercise or the MFP calculation is not correct for you and you have to tweak things a bit.

I try not to eat mine back because I want to lose more weight...

debradonothin wrote: »

I try not to eat mine back because I want to lose more weight...

Can i ask how many calories you're eating and how many you are burning off with exercise? If it's only a couple hundred exercise calories a few times a week, probs not a big deal.

I'm kind of surprised no one has asked this yet...
OP, your goal is 1500? How much weight are you trying to lose? What rate of loss did you select? 1500 is the lowest recommended calorie goal for a male, so if you are burning more than that through exercise, even if your 600 cals is overestimated, you really should be eating exercise cals back.

Others have given you good suggestions about how to determine how much to eat back based on your actual rate of loss, but I was surprised no one commented on the baseline cal goal of 1500.

For what it's worth I'm a 5'2 female and lost 30 lbs eating back all my exercise cals and grossing between 1600-1900 cals. I use a FitBit now and eat back all those cals and am maintaining with a TDEE of 2200.