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eve4cowboy
eve4cowboy Posts: 2 Member
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Can anyone tell me when logging your food & exercise it recalculates how many calories you have left (Increases). Are you suppose to eat those extra calories or stay with your calorie goal before the increase

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  • KosmosKitten
    KosmosKitten Posts: 10,476 Member
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    You don't have to, but you can if you choose. A lot of people here seem to advocate eating maybe half of your exercise calories back (if you feel the need to).
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    You can eat the exercise calories if you wish to. Be careful that you log exercise accurately. A lot of people only eat about half of their exercise calories, though.
  • eve4cowboy
    eve4cowboy Posts: 2 Member
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    I thought the idea was to lose weight by exercising...so was baffled when it adds those exercise calories back in. Thought maybe your body needed the extra calories for increading the metabolism
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    Oh, no! Exercise if you want to, but weight loss happens when you live in a calorie deficit.

    Think of it as: Exercise for your strength and heart.

    Live in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

    If you notice your food diary before you log your exercise, you will see that everything goes up when you add exercise. Calories, carbs, fat, and protein. That is no accident. Your needs have risen, and you can eat to satisfy them.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    If you are using the MFP calorie goals - it does not include exercise in your calories and you need to fuel your body when you work out

    Most ppl have success eating back a potion of calories burned - cause remember the winner is the person who eats the most while still losing weight :)
  • ap1972
    ap1972 Posts: 214 Member
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    eve4cowboy wrote: »
    I thought the idea was to lose weight by exercising...so was baffled when it adds those exercise calories back in. Thought maybe your body needed the extra calories for increading the metabolism

    No need to exercise for weight loss although it can help. If you burn 2,000 through during your normal daily routine then you will lose 1lb a week if you eat 1,500 with no exercise. If you eat 2,000 but burn 500 extra calories a day through exercise but eat 2,000 then you will still lose 1lb a week as the deficit is still the same. If you don't eat back the calories the deficit would be twice as much so you would lose 2lbs a week. Bear in mind 500 cals is quite a lot to burn through exercise though.
  • km8907
    km8907 Posts: 3,861 Member
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    Exercise calories aren't super accurate on here so take it with a grain of salt, but exercising let's you eat more. My tdee if I didn't exercise would allow me to eat 1,900 calories a day and still lose weight. If I were to moderately exercise, that number gets bumped up to about 2,400. That's why you see athletes needing to eat 5000+ calories.
  • WhisperingNighthawk
    WhisperingNighthawk Posts: 138 Member
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    EXAMPLE
    1.You set your weightloss goal to lose 1 pound a week.
    2. MFP sets your daily calorie goal at 1200 to lose that 1 pound.
    3. You do 60 minutes of exercise each day
    4. Each workout session you burn 500 calories
    5. MFP then adds 500 calories to your daily total
    6. So now you can eat 1700 calories daily and still lose 1 lb. per week
    7. Or you can eat the original 1200 calories and lose 2lbs. per week with the extra 500 calories you're burning with exercise and not eating those calories back.

    (3500 calories equals 1 pound. So 500 per day/per week is equivalent to 1 pound.) Just makes my illustration easier!

    As the poster above states MFP might not be accurate in calories burned which is why I never eat burned calories back. I just stick with the original amount. (In this example being 1200.)

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