Eating Fitbit Points?

Exercise calories are the best calories. If you are following MFP's calorie recommendations, you are supposed to eat them. Otherwise you risk underfueling your exercise.

mifow86 wrote: »

Sorry for the noob question but if you are eating your exercise points/ calories are you not in the same position you would be in if your hadn't done the exercise?

That "position" though is the calorie deficit needed for weight loss. So, if you can eat 2000 calories a day to maintain and want to lose a pound a week, you eat 1500 per day. That's your MFP goal. If you exercise for 500 calories, netting you 1000 calories, eating another 500 gets you back to that 1500 daily target to lose one pound per week. That's the magic of MFP.

ETA (for my safety): There is an entirely different conversation regarding the accuracy of calorie burns. Most time are overestimated, so general recommendation is to eat 50-75% of the calories burned back.

TCakes14 wrote: »

Thanks for reply, Do you still lose each week?

I'm down around 70 pounds and I eat my exercise calories back. I don't lose the same amount every week, though, all kinds of things affect it, and when you look at the chart, it's chunky not smooth. As long as it's going down, I don't freak out about what the scale says any particular day.

mifow86 wrote: »

Sorry for the noob question but if you are eating your exercise points/ calories are you not in the same position you would be in if your hadn't done the exercise?

Nope, I wouldn't be as strong without exercise, and I'd have more cabin fever too.

The way this works is you choose how fast you want to lose weight: 2 pounds a week, 1 pound, 1/2 pound, whatever. Eating your exercise calories back keeps you from losing weight too fast, so your hair doesn't fall out and your muscles don't wither. Basically, it helps you look as good as you possibly can when you finish your journey.