will eating back your exercises calories benefit you.

Basically, you tell it 'hey I'm going to work out 7 days a week' and MFP says 'yeah, right, sure, I'll believe it when I see it - how about you just eat XXX and if you DO exercise, THEN we'll talk'. LOL So when you actually log in a workout, MFP is like 'dang, you know I totally didn't see that coming, I thought you were messing with me. Well, I gave you a goal that put you at a deficit already, so now that you've blown my mind and actually worked out, well now you need some extra energy so how about you go have a snack'. That's why it adds extra calories to your goal for the day when you log in a workout. You said you were going to exercise, it didn't believe you and told you what to eat in order to be able to lose weight even if you didn't do what you said you were going to do. Then when you did it, MFP adjusted your calorie goal up so that you would still have the same deficit that you originally requested.

Love the personality you just gave MFP. Lol!

Basically, you tell it 'hey I'm going to work out 7 days a week' and MFP says 'yeah, right, sure, I'll believe it when I see it - how about you just eat XXX and if you DO exercise, THEN we'll talk'. LOL So when you actually log in a workout, MFP is like 'dang, you know I totally didn't see that coming, I thought you were messing with me. Well, I gave you a goal that put you at a deficit already, so now that you've blown my mind and actually worked out, well now you need some extra energy so how about you go have a snack'. That's why it adds extra calories to your goal for the day when you log in a workout. You said you were going to exercise, it didn't believe you and told you what to eat in order to be able to lose weight even if you didn't do what you said you were going to do. Then when you did it, MFP adjusted your calorie goal up so that you would still have the same deficit that you originally requested.

Haha +1

Love the personality you just gave MFP. Lol!

As long as you number is green at the end of the day you're good. Just remember to log your exercise honestly. Peace.

The calorie goal that MFP calculates for you actually does NOT include the exercise that you said you are going to do. It is based off of your BMR (calculated from height, weight, and age) and your activity level only. It does not include that extra exercise that you pledged to engage in. MFP only counts that exercise when you actually *do* it and log it on the site.

MFP gives you a calorie goal that will allow you to lose weight even if you don't exercise. Basically, you tell it 'hey I'm going to work out 7 days a week' and MFP says 'yeah, right, sure, I'll believe it when I see it - how about you just eat XXX and if you DO exercise, THEN we'll talk'. LOL So when you actually log in a workout, MFP is like 'dang, you know I totally didn't see that coming, I thought you were messing with me. Well, I gave you a goal that put you at a deficit already, so now that you've blown my mind and actually worked out, well now you need some extra energy so how about you go have a snack'. That's why it adds extra calories to your goal for the day when you log in a workout. You said you were going to exercise, it didn't believe you and told you what to eat in order to be able to lose weight even if you didn't do what you said you were going to do. Then when you did it, MFP adjusted your calorie goal up so that you would still have the same deficit that you originally requested.

I wish I would had read your insight on this subject when I first started MFP back in March. You broke it down in "easy to understand terms" thank you:bigsmile:

I've always eaten mine back.... and I've lost 49 lbs so far...

Horses for courses, it is mostly trial and error, i eat mine back as i feel like rubbish if i do not. So i am with everyone in saying eat them back. But i do know others who dont't and some plateu and others still loose.

Oh and LOVED the break down on how MPF works

The one danger with eating back your exercise calories is it's very easy to overestimate how much you actually burned. Make sure you use a HRM, and not the calories burned reading from either the machines or MFP, and remember to deduct what you would have burned anyway.

I.e. Your HRM says you burned 1000 calories in those 2 hours. Deduct what you would have burned in those 2 hours doing nothing. To get this divide your BMR by 24, that's how many calories you would have burned anyway in an hour. Times that by 2, and deduct it from the burn you did. For me, that'll be around 1000-150 = 850 cals to eat back.

I'd like some more clarification on this. When I told MFP that I would do NO exercise, it gave me a daily calorie goal of 1240. Once I changed my goals to 30-minute workouts 5 times a week, it upped my goal to 1380. Then it STILL adds in my exercise calories. So I am confused about whether or not I should eat back all of the exercise calories when MFP has already added some in. Is it better to tell MFP that you're not going to exercise at all? What's the deal?

You know what? Maybe I changed my activity level or something. I just went back in and played with it, and the exercise is not affecting my calorie count. Sorry about that!

Yep, MFP will change up your goals if you change your activity level. Also, for every 10 lbs you lose, it will prompt you to adjust your settings/goals to reflect your new weight. (since your smaller weight requires less calories for maintenance)

One thing to be mindful of is do NOT count that extra exercise as part of your activity level if you plan to log your specific exercise calories. For example, if you would generally consider yourself sedentary but you've started exercising more and decide to bump up your activity level to 'lightly active' or 'active', that means you're counting your exercise in your activity level and MFP is giving you extra calories for it. If you were to log your exercise calories in your exercise diary in ADDITION to having counted it when you decided on your activity level, you'll end up with MFP giving you those calories twice (once when you counted it as part of your activity level and once when you actually logged the exercise). If you were to THEN eat your exercise calories on top of your goal calculated from your activity level, you might actually end up over-eating. If you plan to log your exercise calories for the purpose of eating them, DO NOT count that exercise when you're deciding on your activity level. My general daily activity is pretty sedentary if I don't count my specific exercise. So I have my activity level set to 'sedentary' and then I log my exercise and can confidently eat my exercise calories since I know I'm only counting them once.

The calorie goal that MFP calculates for you actually does NOT include the exercise that you said you are going to do. It is based off of your BMR (calculated from height, weight, and age) and your activity level only. It does not include that extra exercise that you pledged to engage in. MFP only counts that exercise when you actually *do* it and log it on the site.

MFP gives you a calorie goal that will allow you to lose weight even if you don't exercise. Basically, you tell it 'hey I'm going to work out 7 days a week' and MFP says 'yeah, right, sure, I'll believe it when I see it - how about you just eat XXX and if you DO exercise, THEN we'll talk'. LOL So when you actually log in a workout, MFP is like 'dang, you know I totally didn't see that coming, I thought you were messing with me. Well, I gave you a goal that put you at a deficit already, so now that you've blown my mind and actually worked out, well now you need some extra energy so how about you go have a snack'. That's why it adds extra calories to your goal for the day when you log in a workout. You said you were going to exercise, it didn't believe you and told you what to eat in order to be able to lose weight even if you didn't do what you said you were going to do. Then when you did it, MFP adjusted your calorie goal up so that you would still have the same deficit that you originally requested.

Let me start by saying this made me laugh, so thanks for your fun way of describing this. I too struggle with the thought of eating back all the calories I burn. However, in all honesty, I am very glad MFP doesn't count your exercise until you actually do it because more often than not I do not do it.

So I have my activity level set to 'sedentary' and then I log my exercise and can confidently eat my exercise calories since I know I'm only counting them once.

This is what I do and I am conservative on logging exercise so I am confident as well. And that is a good feeling!!!

This^^^
I do wear an HRM also just to be sure I'm logging is accurate.

CM, best explanation of eating exercise cals, EVER!
To the OP - yes, I eat most or all of my exercise cals and it's worked really well for me.

I've found that, since I sit at a desk for my primary profession, sedentary is most accurate for me. I do have a Fitbit and burn almost exactly what MFP calculates as my normal daily activity burn. If/when I work out, I do eat part of those calories.