Do I have to eat my exercise calories?

It might. How many calories are you burning? How tall are you?

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

You just want to make sure you have enough fuel to fuel your workout. If you're feeling sluggish or light headed during a workout, you haven't had enough to eat. You'll get more out of your workout and probably burn more calories and be more efficient if your body has some fuel. The recommended number of calories are those to allow you to lose weight and that is a NET total. So if your total calories required are 1200, that's food + exercise. So if you burn 400 calories working out, you should eat 1600 calories throughout the day. But if you're not feeling overly fatigued, you're probably fine. It depends on your body. I personally need the extra calories for a workout and feel sluggish on only 1200 food + exercise.

SEARCH FUNCTION, PEOPLE!!! Someone just asked this less than two minutes ago!

If you set up MFP right to start with then the daily calorie goal that MFP gives you already has a calorie deficit built in to lose weight. That said, you should eat close to the calorie goal MFP gives you each day including eating back most of your exercise calories. Depending on how far under the daily calorie goal you are you are very likely to cause your body to hang onto to the fat it has slowing down or even stopping fat lose. It may not happen right away but eventually you will most likely plateau.

If you have a lot of weight to lose you can get away with it longer but as you have less to lose your body will plateau easier.

I like to check these threads and read what the 'oldies' say. Fantastic entertainment when I'm almost finished with work!

there are two methods to weight loss to create a calorie deficit. You can either eat maintenance and exercise to create a deficit. Or you can eat a calorie deficit but if you do go to the gym then you eat your exercise calories back. You should not do both. You will shut down your metabolism over time. Though some people have enough fat reserves that they can do this for awhile.

Every now and again someone comes along and sums it up so succinctly. :flowerforyou:

I haven't really been eating the exercise calories, I might eat some of them, but I've been trying to stay around 1200-1300 calories no matter how much I exercise. Part of this is that I plan out my meals before I know how much I am going to exercise. I may add in a cup of fro yo or something if I worked out a lot. I'm also generally pretty full around 1200 calories. Is it going to be a problem or slow down metabolism if I don't eat them?

Thanks!

An alternative method might be to set your daily deficit pretty low, like say....200 calories and aim for a weekly calorie deficit by filling in the remaining calories via exercise. Basically you'd be aiming for a weekly calorie deficit instead of a daily one. This way you'd have flexibility in your workout schedule and you can just eat at the same level every time regardless of whether or not you happen to workout that day or not.

Of course, this method would reduce MFP's utility.....

there are two methods to weight loss to create a calorie deficit. You can either eat maintenance and exercise to create a deficit. Or you can eat a calorie deficit but if you do go to the gym then you eat your exercise calories back. You should not do both. You will shut down your metabolism over time. Though some people have enough fat reserves that they can do this for awhile.

Well Said!