confusion about exercise calories

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gettinfitmama
gettinfitmama Posts: 164 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I workout most days. YAY me
But I am confused by the exercise calories I earn after I record my exercise.
Am I supposed to be eating those if I am trying to lose weight?
Is there somewhere on the site that I can go to read more and understand this better?

Also I am trying to figure out what amounts of carbs, fats and proteins I should have....

Help, I want to do this right. :smile:

Replies

  • aherron06
    aherron06 Posts: 9
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    Yes, you should eat your exercise calories. The amount of calories this site allow you each day is 500 calories less than what you need to maintain your weight. Cutting 500 calories a day results in a loss of 3500 calories a week, or 1lb. If you dont each the exercise calories you burn you are cutting more calories on top of the 500 calorie defiect already present. You dont have to always each all your exercise calories, but if you cut to many your body will slip into starvation mode and hold on to the the weight your trying to lose. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions...
  • adopt4
    adopt4 Posts: 970 Member
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    yes eat your exercise calories, you already have a deficit and you don't want to put your body into starvation mode.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calories

    Look under community - general weight loss - and there's some sticky topics that have a bunch of links to questions like this, good to get a better understanding of things.

    There are many ways to do carbs, fats, proteins. MFP sets carbs at 55, which I've checked with a nutritionist and a personal trainer and that's ok for losing weight, and you can go down to 40%. It's really personal preference. Protein I set myself, MFP sets it too low. Normal recommendation is 20-25 per day, my doctor suggested 35 for me. so I set that particular setting myself.

    bottom line - mfp's general set up is fine, you can start with that, and if you feel you're eating too many carbs, then you can make adjustments after a while.
  • mamaof2girls
    mamaof2girls Posts: 332 Member
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    When you add your exercise to your diary, it will automatically add those calories to your food diary. You should try to eat all of your exercise calories because MFP has already calculated a deficit in calories in order for you to lose weight. If you create too much of a deficit, you could go into starvation mode which will hinder you from losing weight. I think there are some articles about this in the message boards for "newbies"

    Hope this helps! Good Luck on your lifestyle change! :flowerforyou:
    ~Erin
  • Erin_Weiler
    Erin_Weiler Posts: 9
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    Well, as far as proteins, fats and carbs, you want each to be about 1/3 of your caloric consumption. I'm sure that at the bottom of your food diary, it tells you how many grams of each they want you to consume each day and you should try to get as close as possible on all of those (though going over on your proteins is perfectly fine for you because you're exercising frequently and protein builds your muscles which help burn fat). And as far as your burned calories being added onto your total allotted calories, you should try to reach the new limit. If you don't, you risk reaching starvation mode and then your body will turn everything it consumes into fat when you finally catch up. I use exercise as a way to buffer any days where I think I might eat more...like if I have a birthday party or barbecue to go to. Honestly, all you really need to do is reach the goals set down for you and you'll be losing pounds before you know it. In fitnesspal, we trust! LOL
  • tabbydog
    tabbydog Posts: 4,925 Member
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    You should eat your exercise calories. Some days my only motivation to exercise is to earn more calories. I have to get up at 5:00 in order to have time to exercise, and thinking about that helps me more than an alarm clock! :laugh:
  • annaliza
    annaliza Posts: 809
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    I eat at least half my exercise calories or more. Some days are hard if you have 1000 exercise cals to eat lol!

    I make sure that I don't go below 1200 net calories though I do have it set for 1400 on non workout days.

    I also try to eat healthy/clean foods...that makes a big difference in going over protein/carbs/sodium etc. (pre-processed foods are so high in sodium and junk...once I cut those out, I hardly ever go over).

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