A lot of extra "exercise" calories left over... Should I eat

So... what is actually the total that you're eating, and what are you burning off? (in a typical day)

I agree with RubyBelle, that seems like a huge deficit, and I would consider what all you are taking in to begin with. Please be careful, we all want to be healthy and look/feel good, but sometimes without thinking we can make this weight game very unhealthy. If you are only taking in 1200 calories and then your deficit is 500-800 so you are really only intaking 400-800 calories a day this is not a good thing. Also make sure that you have a HRM( a good one) that will tell you exactly what you are burning (unless of course you already know this!). I'm done!

It's not necessary for most people to have a really big deficit to lose weight - and only you will know if it's working for you.

Personally, when I exercise more, I eat more - partly because I enjoy eating, but also because I want to make sure that my body is getting enough energy to fuel all that exercise.

That's a pretty big number of calories to be adding to the deficit MFP has already given you - if it only happens occasionally, I wouldn't worry about it, but if that is every day then I tend to think that eating more is going to be better for your long term health.

Edited to add: lots of people say "listen to your body, only eat if you're hungry" - but "listening to my body" didn't work out very well for me. Eating what MFP recommends (including exercise cals) has been life-changing and body-changing for me.

GREAT.. I think the same way

Should I eat all my calories?

Yes. MFP is already figuring a deficit for you to lose weight. This deficit is based on what you need to eat based on your everyday activity, not counting exercise. In the end, it's all about "net calories" (you can view yours under reports)

Example: you need to eat 2,000 calories to maintain your current weight (random number)
MFP will tell you to eat 1,500 to lose one pound per week (500x7=3500=one pound loss).

Let's say you exercise, and burn 500 additional calories.
UH-OH, now you are at a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. You need 2,000 calories to maintian, are already restricted to 1500, so now your net calories are a 1,000 a day. This is starvation central. Your body, which is very good at keeping you alive, will store and save calories. You WILL stop losing weight. You WILL want to throw your scale out the window.

Eat your exercise calories. At least eat most of them.

If you look up your BMR, you can use that number as your guide for a minimum number to have as your net calories after exercise.

if you keep your MFP at -500 you can sometimes go another -500 with exercise calories. but most of the time I would make sure and eat those exercise calories. Sometimes I do it after, sometimes I do it ahead of my exercises.

I have already lost 30-40 and I am just letting more come over slowly. so I try not to have a big deficit very often.

Should I eat all my calories?

Yes. MFP is already figuring a deficit for you to lose weight. This deficit is based on what you need to eat based on your everyday activity, not counting exercise. In the end, it's all about "net calories" (you can view yours under reports)

Example: you need to eat 2,000 calories to maintain your current weight (random number)
MFP will tell you to eat 1,500 to lose one pound per week (500x7=3500=one pound loss).

Let's say you exercise, and burn 500 additional calories.
UH-OH, now you are at a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. You need 2,000 calories to maintian, are already restricted to 1500, so now your net calories are a 1,000 a day. This is starvation central. Your body, which is very good at keeping you alive, will store and save calories. You WILL stop losing weight. You WILL want to throw your scale out the window.

Eat your exercise calories. At least eat most of them.

FYI this is NOT TRUE FOR EVERYONE. Depending on what you told MFP when you set up your account, it will adjust accordingly. The programmed deficit they gave me is NOT 1000 a day, which would constitute 2 pounds a week. They only programmed a deficit of .5 pounds a week. Why? Because I told them I intended 5 workouts of 80 minutes. Going around telling people this is just plain incorrect.

Also, it is VERY particular to the person as to whether you should eat back "all or most" of your exercise calories. For some, they put in workouts that burn 300 calories, so eating a CLIF Bar they'll be fine. For *me*, I burn an estimated no less than 1800 calories a day in exercise. Most days, my exercise creates a calories allowance of 5-6k. I do NOT eat that back, hell no!

You have to look at your *personal* situation and goals. Look at what MFP did for YOU. I have so much to lose that I just eat my calories as they would be sans workout (2660 for me) and maybe a little over if I put in a bunch of cardio. What people on here don't seem to understand is that just as starvation mode is a real thing (which, btw, is very unlikely to happen if you eat throughout the day in little chunks, because your body will always know food is available), eating excessive amounts of calories can give you acidic problems in your stomach and make you ill. I've been in both places.

So this is something to take personal. lol
Sorry about the rant.

What do you do to get THAT much of a calorie burn from your workouts? lol. I looked at your food dairy and noticed the 3200 cal from workouts. O_O

Frankly, it's because I'm a huge person. I weigh over 400 pounds and I'm 6'1". The bigger the person, the more calories are burned to move said person.

I do constant long banks of cardio while I work on a mini-stationary bike. Today I put in 138 minutes, which generated the 3200+k calorie burn. I do realize this is possibly over-shooting (I don't have an HRM, but I monitor my heart rate at intervals to make sure I keep it up) It's a pretty regular thing for me to have a negative NET showing on here... Like right now, for example. I can't possibly think of ways I can fill more space without hurting myself... So I don't! I figure as I lose, my calorie goals will lower, and it'll be easier, but until then, I let the exercise burn go off my fat deposits, and I eat about 8 times a day to feed my BMR.

All I'm saying is that I see people repeatedly put in that MFP will mark down 500 calories a day if you have a 1 pound a week goal. It's simply not true. By that logic, it would have dropped me 1000 a day because I put in 2 lbs a week. I eat the deficit of .5 pounds, and I'm still dropping over 5 pounds a week as far as I know.

I just think it's dangerous for people to go around blanketing the forums with the same regurgitated information, when they don't ask for specifics. I doubt many people even took the time to look that closely at their goals.

However, thank you! It's been a struggle because I actually ate less than my BMR before I started so I'm constantly having issues with diet, but I'm slowly working it out. Almost been at this stricter logging a month now.