Please Help Me -- Unsure about something

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Please help me...If my calorie intake to maintain my weight is 2200, then to lose 1lb a week just for example my calorie intake for the day is 1700 without doing any exercise. If I burn say 150 calories when exercising... Should my intake for that day be the 1700 + 150 that was burned or should I just stick to the 1700??? Thank you again for the help. I don't know if I'm posting in the right place either. My apologies if I'm not

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    To keep your weight loss at 1 lb/week you would eat the 1700 + 150 (1850) as eating 1700 and not exercising is the same as eating 1850 and burning 150 they both net 1700.
  • SueGeer
    SueGeer Posts: 1,169 Member
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    MFP advises that you eat back your exercise calories. But, like everything, else what works for one may not work for another. Play around a bit, eat them all for a week; maybe eat some for the next week & then eat none and see how you get on. It's a personal choice......do whatever works best for you.

    Good luck!!!

    Sue :smile: x
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
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    Very commonly asked question this...

    Simple answer is this: weight loss comes from calories in minus calories out. So, if you are targeting a 1lb a week loss, that means that you want your calories used to be 500 more per day than your calories consumed.

    if you do exercise, you are increasing your calories used. If you eat them back you will still loose 1lb a week.

    You can choose to eat back less than you use and loose weight faster - but be careful not to under eat as you will feel tired and grouchy and will probably not do any exercise the next day.... As a man I recommend that you try not to net less than 1400 calories (i.e no more than 200 calories left over on any day) - and you don't do that all the time - I lost weight quicker netting 1600 calories than 1400!

    Note that getting fit is a separate but equally important goal to loosing weight - if you are fit and do regular exercise you will feel better in yourself (releases endorphins) and you will find it much easier to maintain your weight when you have finished dieting. Plus its fun :)
  • PrettyLittleLiar79
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    WoW! So what happens if say I have a a 1400 calorie diet....I ended up just eating like 700 calories then I worked out and burned 900 but went home and ate..After all said and done according to calculations I had 1,195 calories remaining....Am I working against myself if I don't eat them?
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
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    WoW! So what happens if say I have a a 1400 calorie diet....I ended up just eating like 700 calories then I worked out and burned 900 but went home and ate..After all said and done according to calculations I had 1,195 calories remaining....Am I working against myself if I don't eat them?

    Yes!

    I mean, if you do it on one day as an exception then it wouldn't matter - but do this regularly and you will make yourself ill!
  • Emwalker3406
    Emwalker3406 Posts: 308 Member
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    I was wondering the same thing. Monday between my normal workout and added activity I burnt 1533cal (no this is not normal for me AT ALL) my goal is 1200 I ended up eating 1343 and was full was going to try a snack but was tired and not hungry so I went to bed with a net of -190 and it got me thinking.
  • Lucylaser
    Lucylaser Posts: 94 Member
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    My only caveat would be that most gym machine calorie counters and tables of calories burned by exercise tend to over estimate how many calories you are actually burning. Do you ever wear a heart rate monitor? I think wearing it can give you a little more insight as to how much you are actually burning.
  • Reaper049
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    Thank you for the help. Its much appreciated.