adding exercise to app or no

samanthamuredda
samanthamuredda Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! So right now my calories are around 1,700 a slight calorie deficit, and I was wondering if I should add my exercise (calories burned) in because let’s say i have 700 calories left the exercise then bumps me up to like 1100 again, I feel like I would just be eating them back. Hope this makes sense, i am new to this so please let me know! I train hard 5-6x a week!

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it was given to you with the intention that you eat back exercise calories. Your feeling that you'd be eating them back is accurate, it's the way the system is designed.

    If you're training hard, it's going to be very difficult for you to be successful if you're not accounting for that in your plan.
  • amberclem6
    amberclem6 Posts: 12 Member
    For me, I am new to TDEE and it has helped me the past week. I also work out 5-6x times a week (but again I am new to working out that much-just finished week one of my program) and I have found that using a TDEE calulator has helped me even though it feels like I'm eating too much daily. To answer your question, I don't use the MFP exercise log due to it being very inaccurate (for me) when I compared my workout to other apps or to the equipment I was using. I used a TDEE calculator that was referenced in a different post not too long ago. It was from the website Damn Ripped and their articles are pretty insightful.
  • amberclem6
    amberclem6 Posts: 12 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it was given to you with the intention that you eat back exercise calories. Your feeling that you'd be eating them back is accurate, it's the way the system is designed.

    If you're training hard, it's going to be very difficult for you to be successful if you're not accounting for that in your plan.

    True, MFP uses the NEAT system to help. I didn't find it useful but others have.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    amberclem6 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it was given to you with the intention that you eat back exercise calories. Your feeling that you'd be eating them back is accurate, it's the way the system is designed.

    If you're training hard, it's going to be very difficult for you to be successful if you're not accounting for that in your plan.

    True, MFP uses the NEAT system to help. I didn't find it useful but others have.

    There are lots of people here who prefer TDEE. I've been very successful with NEAT, but at the end of the day they're two different ways to get to the same place. For me, the main consideration is that my energy needs vary a lot throughout the year due to training and I didn't want to bother re-calculating my TDEE frequently.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    samanthamuredda wrote: »
    Hi! So right now my calories are around 1,700 a slight calorie deficit, and I was wondering if I should add my exercise (calories burned) in because let’s say i have 700 calories left the exercise then bumps me up to like 1100 again, I feel like I would just be eating them back. Hope this makes sense, i am new to this so please let me know! I train hard 5-6x a week!

    If your 1700 goal comes from MFP, then yes you should log them and eat at least some of them back. MFP uses NEAT, so it already has you in a big enough deficit without considering your exercise. Some people find MFP overestimates exercise calories, so if you are concerned about that, eat back a portion of them and judge based on how you feel and how much weight you are losing per week if you should eat more or less.

    If you used a TDEE calculator to get that 1700, then you don't log your exercise, because the TDEE formula already incorporates your exercise calories and divides them out over the week.
  • samanthamuredda
    samanthamuredda Posts: 16 Member
    my goal came from MFP! So what I am taking from all your comments is that yes I should add exercise and eat maybe a portion of them back because i need those calories because it gave me a deficit without exercise already.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    samanthamuredda wrote: »
    my goal came from MFP! So what I am taking from all your comments is that yes I should add exercise and eat maybe a portion of them back because i need those calories because it gave me a deficit without exercise already.

    Exactly :smile:
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    Like Jane said, MFP works off of Neat which assumes you are going to eat any added exercise calories back. When you enter in your stats and activity level, that activity level should not include added exercise. If it does, then you're using the tool for TDEE and should not eat those cals back. It looks like of like this:

    Lets say you enter in all of your stats with a goal to lose 1 pound per week (a 500 cal deficit per day) and it spits out the number 1700. Basically it's saying.

    2200 cals TDEE - 500 cals = 1700 cals per day to lose 1 lb per week.

    Now, let's say I add in a 3 mile run which burns 300 cals. Now my TDEE has increased.

    2200 cals TDEE + 300 exercise cals = 2500 cals TDEE

    Now, with the new TDEE the equation looks like:

    2500 cals TDEE - 500 cals = 2000 cals er day to lose 1lb per week.

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