calories

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marilyn0743
marilyn0743 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am new and I can get up to 500 exercise calories a day. Do you eat those or just consider it a bonus to your loss. Thanks

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,843 Member
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    It depends.

    If you're already set up to lose 0.5-1% of your current body weight per week, it's probably not a good idea to lose even faster. Losing fast can make it hard to stick with calorie goal long enough to lose a meaningful total amount of weight, can trigger deprivation-related overeating bouts (or giving up!), can lead to fatigue/weakness over time, and at an extreme even increase the risk of health problems.

    If you're set up for a very slow loss rate, it may be fine to let exercise calories make your weight loss go a bit faster. %00 calories of exercise every day, accurately estimated, would be expected to amount to roughly one pound weekly of weight change, on average over a few weeks.

    In one sense, exercise calories aren't special, we just sometimes feel like they are because MFP has us add them on as a separate thing. Weight loss is the result of getting the total calories we eat a reasonable amount below the total number of calories we burn, whether we burn them through metabolic stuff like heartbeat and breathing, daily life activities like job or home chores, or intentional exercise. Total eating less than total burn = weight loss.

  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,692 Member
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    MFP is set up so you eat your exercise calories back. Some eat 100%, some 50%. How much you eat depends on how accurate the measurement of calories burned is and also how accurate you are being in logging your food. The MFP numbers include the calories you burn just by living, so can be high. Many machines (i.e. treadmills or exercise bikes) overestimate the calories burned. Watches may or may not be accurate. You have to give it time to see whether yours reflects your actual numbers.

    FWIW, I use the numbers that MFP gives me for the exercise I do. I mostly walk and run so the math is pretty simple, plus I burn a bit more than would be expected for someone my age. I eat all the calories given and have been able to lose 55 pounds and keep it off for several years.
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
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    If you do choose to eat them back then make sure you have the right activity level set in MFP for your level of activity OUTSIDE of any intentional exercise. This ensures you’re not double counting the burn from your exercise.

    Eg I train for triathlon on most days but my activity level is set to the lowest as I have a desk job and typically walk less than 5000 steps a day unless it’s intentional exercise.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    I always ate every single delicious exercise calorie and I continued to lose weight pretty much on plan.

    Try it for a month. If it works out for you, then you have your numbers dialed in - if not, adjust. It's what we all have to do.

    Here is the site's explanation of how they calculate your numbers:
    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
  • smwp4mpc4j
    smwp4mpc4j Posts: 2 Member
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    I am new here as well and have been eating back roughly 25-50% of my exercise calories. So far I have still been losing 2 lbs a week while doing that. My calorie consumption is 1200 without factoring in exercise. I am down 11 lbs (150-139) in a month. When I hit 135 plan to slowly up my calorie intake and will probably try to hit 100% of my exercise calories and see if I continue to lose. If/when I hit 130 lbs I will try to transition into maintenance whatever that looks like
  • zebasschick
    zebasschick Posts: 1,056 Member
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    is that 500 real calories or 500 calories according to MFP or the calories shown on various exercise machines or fitness trackers?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    smwp4mpc4j wrote: »
    I am new here as well and have been eating back roughly 25-50% of my exercise calories. So far I have still been losing 2 lbs a week while doing that. My calorie consumption is 1200 without factoring in exercise. I am down 11 lbs (150-139) in a month. When I hit 135 plan to slowly up my calorie intake and will probably try to hit 100% of my exercise calories and see if I continue to lose. If/when I hit 130 lbs I will try to transition into maintenance whatever that looks like

    Sounds like you only have 9 pounds left to lose? In that case, consider slowing your rate of loss now. There are many risks of undereating, including hair loss.

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