Can someone help me understand ...

The forums are split between people that believe you should and people that don't.

Personally I use MFP to track the calories from my food. I do track some exercise but I don't eat them back. To me your recommended intake before exercise is what should be consumed. However IF I go over my limit I will increase exercise to level it out. Some people seem to eat close to 3000 calories a day with their excerise and that just isn't healthy for a man or woman in my opinion.

However really this site is based around being selfish and getting healthy or losing weight for yourself. If you want to eat exercise calories or if you don't then that is your choice and it shouldn't really be anyone elses buisness.

For me personally: I went to a dietitician whom measured my resting metabolic rate = 1400/day just to do nothing but lay in bed. This is the amount that my body uses. I eat 1200/day because the deficit stimulates my body loose weight. I exercise 3-5x week and do not eat back those calories, because while I can see the logic of "it all balances out to 1200 total"; I still feel like I'm cheating myself. I have a weight lifting friend whom does eat all his exercise calories back, but he needs them more for building muscle and maintaining. We are on 2 very different paths. I'm trying to loose weight and he is building muscle. Good luck to you and your choice in this matter.

I am having the same dilema at the moment.
After much debate I think I am going to try to eat my exercise cals but not sweat it too much if i can't manage them all....which i usually cant!

I've just recently starting tracking everything on here 10 days ago. In the first week I lost the 2lbs mfp suggested and caluclated...and so far this week another lb, so i am on track to losing the 2lbs again. but in all honesty i have mixed it up depending on how i feel. eat if you feel hungry. the beauty of having the exercise cals is that you can eat them if you need to which you probably will because your body will need more fuel and you will be hungry.

good luck!

it's simply the way the site gives you your calories.

it's no different than how a trainer would do it. it's just a different starting point.

ask yourself how one would lose weight. You lose weight by creating a MODERATE calorie deficit. When you go through your goals wizard, MFP creates that deficit for you regardless of exercise.

when you exercise and put those calories in, MFP simply adds those calories in to KEEP you at your target deficit.

MFP does this because some people don't exercise, and this still allows for them to lose weight correctly.

This is a simple sample day with exercise

(random number I just pulled out of thin air, adjust for your personal situation)

Your maintenance calories: 2000
your weekly goal : 1 lb per week (which equals a 500 calorie per day deficit from maintenance)
Daily calorie goal: 1500 (this is BEFORE you touch the exercise portion)

now say today you exercise for 500 more calories.
Add exercise to maintenance
2000 + 500 = 2500 calories.

NOW if you didn't adjust for the exercise and just ate what MFP originally set, you'd be at a 1000 calorie deficit (2500 - 1500 from above)

so MFP adds 500 calories to your daily goal to keep you at that 500 calorie deficit. (1500 + 500 = 2000)

so after exercising your maintenance is now 2500 (the first line I.E. Mainenance PLUS 500 exercise calories) and your calories allowed from MFP is 2000, subtract and you get a 500 calorie deficit AFTER EXERCISE (2500 - 2000 = 500)

So you see, if you exercise and eat those exercise calories with MFP (MFP means My Fitness Pal by the way) then you are keeping your goal at a 1 lb per week deficit.

It's just another way to do it, the math is the same as any other program. Once you get used to it, it's quite easy to understand.

You may ask: "But why don't I just keep the bigger deficit?"
Answer: Because if you set your goal correctly for your body and how much weight you can lose, that goal is about as fast as you can lose (some minor tweaking will be necessary in most cases), going way under your goal calories for an extended period ( usually between a few days and a few weeks, depending on body factors) you can enter what is called "starvation mode" which is a state where your body begins hoarding fat and burning lean tissue in preparation for upcoming famine. It also begins to slow down your metabolic rate to compensate for lack of incoming calories. This is bad, You don't want this, it screws up all the numbers.

I have created a quick tutorial on deciding what your calorie deficit should be here.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

it's not perfect, but it's a good start, to get a rough idea of where your deficit should be.

hope this helps,

-Banks

Listen to Banks, he's like the God of Calories, and that link he posted is his Bible.

Thanks to re-reading it, I find I'm now in the zone where I should consider changing my goals to lose 1/2 lb a week. I hear and obey, and I'm hungry, so good news!

lol, no god here, just a dude who's been studying nutrition and human metabolism for a very long time and is a numbers dude, so I get the formulas pretty easily. Oh and a college chemistry background doesn't hurt when it comes to understanding all those stupid college graduate level text books on advanced nutrition and human metabolism (Anatomy and Physiology is a PITA if you ask me, but it ties all the theories together, so I suffer through them) :ohwell:

But thanks for the kind words BerryH.

Don't be shy if you have questions. I'm always glad to help if I can.

Hi Banks,

I'm copying your post, so I can send it to anyone that asks this question.

You have described it quite simply....


Thanks

feel free, everything I post here is public domain, use it as you see fit. if you find someone that REALLY needs to understand, I also have a (free) blog (that doesn't promote any monetary gain on my part, not even any ads! Refreshing right? ) that goes over many beginner and intermediate nutrition and health topics. you can find it here

http://bankshealth.wordpress.com

Feel free to sign up for email alerts when I put out a new blog post. I usually try to get one out once every week to two weeks.