Do you eat exercise calories?

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lisaauthier
lisaauthier Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
When I eat all of my 1530 calories and I enter my hour of Zumba it adds almost 600 calories?! I'm so confused whether or not to eat those added calories or just leave them. I want to lose weight around 2 lbs a week. Can someone explain this to me please?!?
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Replies

  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
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    The exercise calories here are not the most accurate. I eat pretty much all my exercise calories however I underestimate them to be safe.

    If I do 60 mins I will only enter it as 45
  • addies_mom
    addies_mom Posts: 40
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    I only eat the calories gained from doing exercise if I'm hungry. I believe the calorie goals for weight loss are based on your activity level (sedentary, active, etc), so they increase your calories if you do anything extra.
  • Sherbog
    Sherbog Posts: 1,072 Member
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    Absolutely I eat them if I am hungry.
  • lovinmysoldier
    lovinmysoldier Posts: 156 Member
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    The plan is not to eat them but if I'm hungry then I do.
  • EatClenTrenHard
    EatClenTrenHard Posts: 339 Member
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    I eat them back. But I count calories VERY ACCURATELY, i dont let a 10 calories to slipby per day.

    I also only use 75% of my actual excercise when i log it to be on safer side.


    But yeah i eat them.
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
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    I eat all my exercise calories.
  • Tdk4685
    Tdk4685 Posts: 293 Member
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    I usually eat my exercise calories. I feel like I need them.
  • big_eye
    big_eye Posts: 19 Member
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    At first I thought they were like "bonus points" and ate them, but realized I wasn't even hungry :(, so now when I do get active I am very selective about the "exercise calories".

    Usually anything fat/sugar free is a good choice, Im getting keen on sugar free jello's it's easy to make and fills you up...

    I have Type 2 Diabetes and really have to watch my carb intake, so I am extra careful about those exercise calories :)

    if weight loss is your ultimate goal, then try the sugar and fat free choices...
  • bergsangel
    bergsangel Posts: 131
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    I'm only allowed 1200, so yeah I usually eat a couple hundred of mine (if I have them). You may want to be aware that the exercise calories here on mfp are usually way overestimated. I burn about half of what it says on several things.
  • PammyKY
    PammyKY Posts: 129
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    Never... I feel it defeats the purpose of exercising. I don't exercise to eat more I exercise to lose weight.
  • xgg2rs
    xgg2rs Posts: 128 Member
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    I am still experimenting. I eat some of them at least if I am hungry as said above. Last week was my first week counting calories (Lost weight up until now just watching what I eat and exersizing alot) and I found out on my long run that I did not eat enough before hand and nearly passed out running. So I guess you will have to find the right balance, because if you don't eat enough you won't have the energy to do your next workout.
  • zombilishious
    zombilishious Posts: 1,250 Member
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    I don't eat my exercise calories back. MFP set me at 1200 calories. I bumped it to 1500, then reduced my carbs (I think to 35%), upped my protein (again, I think 55%). I'm doing cardio/weight training 4-5 days a week, and losing 1.5lbs a week.
  • elizabeth51608
    elizabeth51608 Posts: 31 Member
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    NO!!! What's the point???? I guess you could if you wanted to maintain your weight but if you want to lose, stick to your calorie goal. The calories you burn will only burn off POUNDS OF FAT if you don't eat them back!!!

    Also--I eat 6 times a day, and always make sure to fit the appropriate foods into my diet about 2 hours before my workouts--I am not saying you should starve yourself here!!! I drink a protein shake before every workout and I eat complex carbs, proteins, etc. during the day to keep my blood sugar level and keep my body going. I always feel GREAT when I exercise since I started doing this
  • bzmommy34
    bzmommy34 Posts: 229 Member
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    I've only been at this one week so I won't know how my method is working until I have my first weigh in tomorrow morning. With that said, I've been using freedieting.com to figure my exercise cals as it is one of the few sites out there that take your age, weight and height into consideration. To me that means it's more accurate (although obviously not guaranteed). My first two days I was using the counts found in MFP database until I found freedieting.com via another forum post. I did some comparing and found that freedieting.com was quite a bit less than the MFP database cal counts and from what I've read (and I've read tons of forum posts) there are alot of people on here that get their exercise cal counts elsewhere.

    Good luck and much success!

    Ha - I forgot to mention that I do eat mine back, for now anyway. We'll see what the scale/measurements say tomorrow and next week and if need be I'll do a couple weeks of not eating them back and go from there.
  • zeikiya989
    zeikiya989 Posts: 80
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    I do not eat my exercise calories back. I asked my personal trainer and she said for me that i will not, however she did say when we start increasing my exercise and i drop more weight she will go into that. Right now I am 302lbs, I do 45 min of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training with weights 5 days per week. So i guess it depends on your body type and how much weight you have to lose maybe. Before i even asked her i tried it for a week since i saw everyone on here saying you are supposed to and i didn't lose any weight during that time.
  • muppetsbear
    muppetsbear Posts: 80 Member
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    I try to avoid using them but sometimes I will depending on if I'm hungry or if I would like something special like a bit of ice cream but even then I just use a scarce few.
  • k0nfyo0zed
    k0nfyo0zed Posts: 313 Member
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    i eat about half of them back, if i'm hungry. i've found that if i go several days without eating exercise calories then i don't lose as much weight as if i eat some of them back.
  • junyr
    junyr Posts: 416 Member
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    The website is designed to calculate your deficit by doing NO EXERCISE so any exercise you do is above and beyond the existing deficit. Even if you eat every single calorie you get from doing exercise you will remain in your deficit calculated when you set up your profile here on MFP.

    The original calculation fuels your body for every day life. Eating back your exercise calories fuels your extra activity. Either way your deficit will remain the same.

    Eat for body composition, exercise for fitness, fuel both.
  • junyr
    junyr Posts: 416 Member
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    .
  • mesicali_chica
    mesicali_chica Posts: 71 Member
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    Usually I dont eat the extra calories I gain from working out. Sometimes after a work out feel like I need to replace some of the calories I have earned becuase I know they are there. I usually will eat a fruit or 8 oz. of whey protien shake to curb the craving or water.

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