Do we compensate for exercise?

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mittencat77
mittencat77 Posts: 137 Member
in Getting Started
Hello, If my goal intake is 1200 calories (I am only 4’11) and I burn 250 with exercise, am I supposed to eat 1450 that day, or is it fine is I eat 1200 or 1300? Thanks!

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  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    You are supposed to eat 1450
  • mittencat77
    mittencat77 Posts: 137 Member
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    Thank you!!!

  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
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    Though - it may be worth being a little bit careful, as exercise burns are often overestimated. Some people prefer to start off by eating half back, and then adjusting as needed.
  • MarvinsFitLife
    MarvinsFitLife Posts: 874 Member
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    Hey fellow Canuck add me for support
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    iRyanS wrote: »
    I've always been weary of eating back the exercise calories in any capacity. Normally, I wouldn't, but if I did, it wouldn't be a huge number (10-20%).

    Why?

    If you are going by MFP's calorie intake goal, it assumes no exercise at all.

    As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    ceiswyn wrote: »
    iRyanS wrote: »
    I've always been weary of eating back the exercise calories in any capacity. Normally, I wouldn't, but if I did, it wouldn't be a huge number (10-20%).

    That works OK with a low amount of exercise.

    However after I've done 15 miles of hiking, you can bet I'm eating back more than 20%!

    Amen. If I burn over 300 calories, I eat back 90-95%. HOWEVER-- I adjust my calories based on how much I know I burned. I don't use MFP exercise numbers. I know my treadmill is more accurate, for example, so if MFP says "you burned 200 calories" and my treadmill says 120 cals, I put in 120 cals and probably eat 110 back.

    It also depends on what you have your rate of loss set to and how close you are to your goals. If you're set to lose 1/2 lb per week and you only have 5 lbs to lose and you're not seeing the scale change.. I'd eat back fewer calories since I'd know how slim the margin of error was. If you're 20 lbs to go, set to 1 lb per week and losing steadily, eat 'em back.
  • Riff1970
    Riff1970 Posts: 136 Member
    edited June 2019
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    I always try to stay under my calorie goal. Exercise or not. As long as you’re not dangerously low on calories, the only thing that will happen is you’ll lose weight a little faster if you don’t eat them back.

    This also gives you room for a splurge day. If I’m 200 calories below goal for 6 days, i’ll be 1200 calories below my weekly goal. I have a splurge day! Now I can go over on the seventh day by anything from 1 calorie to 1200 calories and still be on track. I’ll eat that 300 calorie bowl of ice cream or a 250 calorie chocolate bar, (or both!) and still be below goal. Splurge day is goooood!

  • tanishadw
    tanishadw Posts: 18 Member
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    I'm 4'10. I've been on and off MFP for years, but I've realised that the app can definitely over estimate exercise calories. Your BMR is probably really low like mine so it's hard to get a big deficit as it is.

    If you feel it necessary, eat back some of your calories, but not all. In my opinion and experience, it really slowed my progress.
  • mittencat77
    mittencat77 Posts: 137 Member
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    Thanks! Great to hear from someone else who is petite. It is so much more tricky for us.

  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    I am another 4'11 girl who was given 1200 calories a day. You bet I ate those exercise calories back - well 3/4's of them anyway. There is no way I wanted to limit myself to 1200 calories a day as that left little room for any treats while ensuring I was meeting my nutritional needs. I continued to lose weight just fine. I did put a lot of effort into logging accurately though as this can be a downfall for many, especially petites with little wriggle room for errors.

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