exercise calories

Yes you are suppose to eat them it is how MFP is designed and is the whole premise of this program.

Not eating them is only a good idea if you increase your activity level to account for your exercise (changing your activity level to active or very active) this will give you more calories so you will be eating enough, without the thought of "eating your exercise calories".

Essentially you would be setting your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) then creating a deficit from that to lose weight. This is what most trainer/doctors/nutritionists do. Most professionals will tell you not to eat your exercise calories back because they added it into your TDEE, whereas MFP ignores exercise and only accounts for it when you perform it. Either way should get you to the same place.

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" may tell you to eat 1750 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 12,250 (1750*7) almost the same number of cals for the week. 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 1750/day above.

As an example your day to day requirements are like a tank of gas. if you use a tank of gas/week going to and from work, if you go on any extra trips or errands you will need to add more gas in order to have enough gas to get to work. So if you need 1200 for day to day stuff (you will lose weight with 1200 cals and no exercise), then when you do extra (workout) you need to put more calories in your body.

See. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390145-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories

If you don't eat them you also risk having too large a deficit so your body uses a large % of the lose from lean muscle, not the fat you want to lose.

do what you feel....i now eat mine back because im hungry all the time...but lets say you burn 200 calories from exercise...i dont think its mandatory to eat those back if your not hungry....lets say you burn 700 calories....maybe eat some back if you get hungry...i call it wiggle room...dont force yourself to eat them but its there if you need too.

Yes you are suppose to eat them it is how MFP is designed and is the whole premise of this program.

Not eating them is only a good idea if you increase your activity level to account for your exercise (changing your activity level to active or very active) this will give you more calories so you will be eating enough, without the thought of "eating your exercise calories".

Essentially you would be setting your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) then creating a deficit from that to lose weight. This is what most trainer/doctors/nutritionists do. Most professionals will tell you not to eat your exercise calories back because they added it into your TDEE, whereas MFP ignores exercise and only accounts for it when you perform it. Either way should get you to the same place.

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" may tell you to eat 1750 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 12,250 (1750*7) almost the same number of cals for the week. 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 1750/day above.

As an example your day to day requirements are like a tank of gas. if you use a tank of gas/week going to and from work, if you go on any extra trips or errands you will need to add more gas in order to have enough gas to get to work. So if you need 1200 for day to day stuff (you will lose weight with 1200 cals and no exercise), then when you do extra (workout) you need to put more calories in your body.

See. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390145-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories

If you don't eat them you also risk having too large a deficit so your body uses a large % of the lose from lean muscle, not the fat you want to lose.

Your "net calories" are the important number in this issue. Eat back your calories for good health & good weight loss!