Confused extra calories earned ???

maxwella125
maxwella125 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 17 in Introduce Yourself
Hi. I am new to this app and so confused on the extra calories earned and if I want to
Loose weight I have always been taught (I am a big weight watcher person) to eat my calories and not up them if I work out. Can someone explain and what if I don't use them. I am confused how this works
Thank You !!!

Replies

  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    MFP is based on a principle called NEAT (net energy adaptive thermogenesis) which means your calorie recommendations don't include purposeful exercise - so you should eat back a portion of those exercise calories butned
  • ladypew
    ladypew Posts: 89 Member
    I usually try not to eat back calories earned unless I'm hungry, but that's just me.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    edited April 2017
    ladypew wrote: »
    I usually try not to eat back calories earned unless I'm hungry, but that's just me.

    Mfp is designed so that you can lose weight WITHOUT exercise, so you should be eating at least a portion back, or you risk undereating.
  • buhller
    buhller Posts: 28 Member
    MFP sets your calorie recommendations based on your goals: if your goal is to lose a pound per week, that means you need to eat a total of 3500 calories less than you burn. MFP also knows how many calories you burn to stay alive (and maybe some calories you burn by going about your day, depending on your activity settings), and does the math accordingly. So if at the end of your day it says you still have 300 calories left, what it really means is "you've actually eaten 800 calories less than you've burned today -- you could eat 300 more and still lose weight because we did that math for you." That way, if you stick to your calorie budget, you can still lose weight on days you don't work out because it's building in a calorie deficit to your plan.

    Judging by hunger is generally fine as someone said earlier in the thread -- if you're not hungry, don't eat them! However, if you consistently never eat your calories back or if you're consistently netting under about 1200 (depending on your BMI), you may find that you start to feel tired, hungry, irritable -- signs your body needs more fuel to survive. Pay attention to these signs. Consistently staying too far under that threshold will make weight loss harder and take longer.
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