Exercise calories..Confused!! HELP ME!

Always eat your exercise calories. Always.

You will need to figure out what works for YOUR body. For me, I eat them back because I know what happens when my daily calories are too low - I gain weight. So, I always eat them back. I am happily maintaining my weight.

I would try and be as close as possible to the number that MFP gave you for calories since MFP already figures in a deficit because it assumes you aren't going to exercise.

If MFP tells you to eat 1200 calories a day - 400 calories burned = 800 NET calories (this is how many calories you are really eating) + 400 calories eaten back after exercise = 1200 which is your original goal. Now, MFP is going to say you ate 1600 total, but you are only NETTING 1200 since you worked out and burned 400 of them off.

If you know you are going to workout later in the day and are concerned with eating back the calories at night (BTW, I eat EVERY single night before bed and have lost 60lbs - it isn't WHEN you eat, but WHAT you are eating!) than make sure to add some calories to each meal through the day. That way - you'll have eaten those calories before you even go to the gym.

Nuts, peanut butter and protein shakes are an easy way to up your calories. Have some almonds as a snack in the afternoon, have peanut butter and apples with lunch, eat a larger dinner and have a protein shake with milk after you workout - you'll be able to add those calories in easily without overeating.

I've been there. If I don't consistently eat them back I plateau. Never fails. I went on vacation a few weeks ago and only continued my exercising not at all paying attention to what I ate. I stayed exactly the same weight. Got home, began my calories again and gained a pound. My husband told me, "I told you so. On vacation you were eating at least enough to maintain." I always eat them back. The road has been long and this has been shown to me over and over again that I need to eat them back. I was like you. I would burn those calories out in a workout too. Upwards to 700-800 a day and I couldn't come close to eating them back and I wasn't losing. Finally, I realized the truth that I HAD to eat them back so I had to cut my workouts down to burning between 4 and 500 calories a day. Otherwise, I just couldn't eat enough.

good luck,
Tricia

Now this is just what I have been told from my Curves trainers. The calories MFP gives us is far too many. I'm doing 1200 one week and then 1500 for 3 weeks and doing the cycle over again. Then your body never has a chance to plateau. Also my trainer says never eat your exercize calories. No one can really ever know how many calories they burn (i.e. sleeping, breathing walking, being alive in general). You can do it and I know you'll still get a lot of different answers on here, but kudos to you for doing something about your weight and health in general!

One thing is.. MFP works differently than other sources. When it gives you your daily calories - it has already figured in a deficit based on the information you put in. It just assumes you aren't going to exercise at all. This website is designed for you to eat your exercise calories back if you are following the calorie guidelines MFP is giving you.

For me, MFP gives me far too few calories a day. I have figured out what works for me and it isn't even close to what MFP wants me to have in a day.

I started eating them back this week, and after a two weeks of busting my *kitten* with no results, I dropped two pounds in one night. It works. That's all there is to it!!

I am so glad someone brought this up because I had the same exact concerns.

I copied and pasted the best feedbacks and will review them tomorrow to see what's what. (It's too late for "brain" work.)

I'm so excited about waking up tomorrow morning: I get to weigh myself and expect to smile at the numbers - I've been super good for seven straight days. :bigsmile: