MFP allows us to eat calories burned? Why?

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Shabnam222
Shabnam222 Posts: 35 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
question for the Vets- why does MFP allow me to eat my burned calories? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of working out?Someone enlighten me please!

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  • Ashalena
    Ashalena Posts: 162
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    ^ ^^ Yep. I've always asked the same thing.

    I don't even track my calories burned because i don't want to eat them back.

    More calories going out of your body than in your body just makes sense for weight loss.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/163249-do-i-need-to-eat-back-the-calories-i-ve-burned-exercising
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/448299-need-help-confused
  • fatty_to_fitty
    fatty_to_fitty Posts: 544 Member
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    I wondered to start. Mostly because I'm not always hungry enough to eat it back but want to do the right thing.

    You calculate how many calories to cut back in diet alone to lose say 2lb per week so you eat 1200

    You exercise and earn 500 cals back a day

    If you ate only 700 cal a day mfp would tell you off because you need to eat more and by that principle 1200-500=700 which is not good for you long term

    So you need to eat it back to be healthy and have energy to function.
  • kylesmommy89
    kylesmommy89 Posts: 356 Member
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    They already calculate your calorie deficit into the calorie goal. I don't have a heart rate monitor though so I'm not sure if what I'm logging is totally accurate. I only eat back like half of my exercise calories just to be safe.
  • horndave
    horndave Posts: 565
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    MFP puts you at a calorie deficit already. If you eat back your exercise calories you are still eating at a deficit. Creating a larger deficit can sometimes (more often than not) hinder weight loss by putting your body in what some call starvation mode.
  • Hotmess2012
    Hotmess2012 Posts: 37
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    I never understood that either, I think it is to just replenish tbe calories you burned to give you more energy to use. But yah totally confusing. I never understood calories in calories out theory. There is no way I can lose 1230 calories in a day which is what my max intake per day is. Anyone clear on this?
  • fatty_to_fitty
    fatty_to_fitty Posts: 544 Member
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    ^ ^^ Yep. I've always asked the same thing.

    I don't even track my calories burned because i don't want to eat them back.

    More calories going out of your body than in your body just makes sense for weight loss.

    I wonder if you would consider not eating then running a marathon? You would be running on empty. By not eating at least some of it back you are running on empty. Your energy levels peak and dip or you can go into starvation mode. For healthy muscles and all round body performance you need energy to function.

    Exercise cals aren't an excuse for bad food though. :)
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/163249-do-i-need-to-eat-back-the-calories-i-ve-burned-exercising
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/448299-need-help-confused
  • Ashalena
    Ashalena Posts: 162
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    MFP puts you at a calorie deficit already. If you eat back your exercise calories you are still eating at a deficit. Creating a larger deficit can sometimes (more often than not) hinder weight loss by putting your body in what some call starvation mode.

    very helpful. thank you.
    this makes complete sense why I've been complaining about my slow weight loss.
  • Bitemeh
    Bitemeh Posts: 8 Member
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    Here's from one of the links :

    Now onto the question of "Eating your exercise calories"

    As I have hinted to throughout this summary of metabolic process, the body has a "range" in which it feels it is receiving the right amount of fuel. The range (as most doctors and research scientists agree) is somewhere between 500 calories above your maintenance calories and 1000 calories below your maintenance calories. This means that the metabolism won't drastically change it's functionality in this range, with that said, this is not exact, it is a range based on averages, you may have a larger or smaller range based on the 3 factors of metabolism stated at the top.
    On our website (MyFitnessPal), when you enter your goals, there is a prebuilt deficit designed to keep you in the "normal" metabolic functionality while still burning more calories then you take in. This goal DOES NOT INCLUDE exercise until you enter it. If you enter exercise into your daily plan, the site automatically adjusts your total caloric needs to stay within that normal range (in other words, just put your exercise in, don't worry about doing any additional calculations). Not eating exercise calories can bring you outside that range and (if done over an extended period of days or weeks) will gradually send your body into survival mode, making it harder (but not impossible) to continue to lose weight. The important thing to understand is (and this is REALLY important) the closer you are to your overall healthy weight (again, your metabolism views this a a range, not a specific number) the more prominant the survival mode becomes (remember, we talked about efficiency). This is because as fat becomes scarce, muscle is easier to break down and transport. And thus, the reason why it's harder to lose that "Last 10 pounds".

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