exercise/ calorie intake?

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lolacanaday
lolacanaday Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Should I to try and eat the calories I burned with exercise? I figure 1200 is my daily intake.. The more I burn the faster I would lose my unwanted weight, but will it be counterproductive if I don't eat more?

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  • dlaplume2
    dlaplume2 Posts: 1,658 Member
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    Yes. You should eat your calories. You should be netting 1200 not just eating 1200.
  • lolacanaday
    lolacanaday Posts: 21 Member
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    Ugh! I better break out the peanut butter when I get home! Is it ok if I'm under by a little?
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,020 Member
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    Your NET calories (on your home page) should be as close to the daily goal MFP set for you as possible.

    Your REMAINING calories (on your homepage and food diary page) should be as close to zero as possible.

    MFP builds in a deficit for you based on the information you gave it: height, weight, lifestyle, goal weight loss, etc.. All you need to do is follow the calorie goals it gives you.

    A little under is okay. A little over is okay. Plus or minus 100 will still lead to healthy weightloss.
  • hennessyn
    hennessyn Posts: 1 Member
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    So if my calorie intake is 1200 but i exercise and get up to 1500 I should eat almost 1,500 if I want to lose weight?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    hennessyn wrote: »
    So if my calorie intake is 1200 but i exercise and get up to 1500 I should eat almost 1,500 if I want to lose weight?

    Yes. Your NET calories are 1200.

    Unlike other sites which use TDEE calculators, MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated for them and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

    See also: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
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    Why not try and eat half of them back? Exercise calories are often grossly exaggerated. But at the same time you won't reach your chosen weightloss goal anyway. 1200 means you want too much too quickly and MFP defaults to this number to make sure you get enough nutrition. Exercising on top is similar to eaten even less and not exercising. Not good.

    Lets first have a look at your current maintenance calories. What amount of calories do you get if you set the website/app to not gaining nor losing weight? This can help us determine how you you can safely lose, and then eat back the exercise calories.
  • jjjsroach
    jjjsroach Posts: 31 Member
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    I don't eat back any exercise calories.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,207 Member
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    jjjsroach wrote: »
    I don't eat back any exercise calories.

    Do you do any exercise?
  • portexploits
    portexploits Posts: 5 Member
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    I always used to say, "When you're losing weight the goal is not to eat the minimum amount of calories that you can and lose weight, the goal is to eat as many calories as you can while losing weight."

    Not eating enough calories will decrease your metabolic rate.
    Resting metabolic rate is modulated by the amount of calories consumed in the diet relative to energy expenditure. Excessive consumption of energy appears to increase resting metabolic rate while fasting and very low calorie dieting causes resting metabolic rate to decrease.
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2204100/
  • jjjsroach
    jjjsroach Posts: 31 Member
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    Toot,

    Yes, I exercise 6 days a week....3 cardio and 3 strength training workouts. I also walk quite a bit. I use Apple Watch, gym exercise equipment, and log workouts in MFP. I get ridiculous calories burned estimates for my workouts. MFP gives me 443 calories burned for my 40 minute weight training workouts. Apple gives me another 450 for my elliptical workouts. Apple also gives me calories burned credits for my steps outside of workouts. Apple also double counts by giving me additional calories burned credits by giving me step credits for my workouts. If I ate back all these "exercise calories", I would gain 1 to 2 pounds per week.

    I used MFP to pick an initial daily calorie target. The target was too high...because I didn't lose any weight. I adjusted the calorie target down each week over 4 weeks until I got to a weekly loss rate that I was happy with. This is not an exact science. You have to trial and error until you find what works for you. The bottom line is...if you are not losing weight, you are likely eating too much. You have to log accurately and find your personal calorie target that gives you a daily deficit. That deficit needs to be 500 per day to lose 1 pound per week or 1000 per day to lose 2 pounds per week. Best of luck!

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