very confused any help please

bikini1234
bikini1234 Posts: 35
edited November 8 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone I am very very new to mfp and calorie counting I am so confused about the term eating calories back from exercise. I have no idea what this means , during my mfp setup it calculated I eat 1,280 calories per day and I burn 3,170 calories per week so does this mean I have to eat more than the 1,280 cals a day because I exercise I run 20 miles a week but upping it to 30 plus miles a week and I lift weeks 1-3 days a week I run 4 days a week so maybe I should eat more calories when I run as the type of running I do is a lot of distance, speed and hills any help at all would be great I know this my be a stupid post but I'm very unsure and confused I may not do it right thanks xxx

Replies

  • waterhaunted
    waterhaunted Posts: 21 Member
    MFP provides a base of calories a day. As you log in your exercise, it will subtract the calories consumed during your activity, providing you with net calories to eat for the day.

    Example 1000 to start without exercise, , exercise burned 500, total calories to at for the day 1500.
  • naomi8888
    naomi8888 Posts: 519 Member
    It can be confusing at first, you'll get there!

    Everyone has different opinions on this but IMO 1280 is really low anyway.

    When you set up your stats MFP has already included a deficit for you. If you have chosen 1 lb a week weight loss then it has factored in a 3500 cal deficit for your week. That means that any additional calories you burn will create a bigger deficit. 3170 exercise cals a week is heaps so IMO I think you'd have to eat back a fair few of them.

    See how you go for a week but don't get too low on calories or you'll hit a plateau pretty quick and surely will get stuck.

    Good luck!
  • jlr_12
    jlr_12 Posts: 170 Member
    When you log your exercise onto mfp, do you notice that the amount of calories you have left also increases? That bigger number is now your calorie goal for the day. Basically..MFP has already created a deficit for you to lose weight with...without counting exercise. So if you exercise, it makes the deficit bigger...often too big. You should eat all or most of your exercise calories back so that you're deficits aren't too large and your weight loss doesn't stall.
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