Question about the calories you burn on MFP

fruitypop88
fruitypop88 Posts: 19
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
When you burn calories on MFP can you eat more food because you have calories available or do you stick to you daily allowance and ignore the calories you have burned?

Replies

  • alexsmith01
    alexsmith01 Posts: 350 Member
    Depends who you ask :) I used to not eat them back and was eating 1200 but found it really difficult, so I have changed my loss amount to 1lb per week (base of 1500 calories) and am eating half my calories.

    I think the general consensus is that you already have factored in however much you want to lose per week - 1-2lb, so if you eat back the exercise calories you will continue to lose at that weight, but if you don't eat them back you will either lose more each week (if you don't believe in starvation mode) or plateau (if you believe in starvation mode).

    Probably best not to eat back all of mfp calories burnt as they tend to overestimate calories burnt, that's why I eat half - I have read other people just subtract 100 calories and eat that much but up to you.

    As I said, it's all about who you ask! If you can stick to your diet without eating back the exercise calories and continue to lose weight I don't think there's any point forcing yourself to eat more - but if you want to eat those extra calories then you can do that without feeling guilty cos you earned them and will still lose weight :)
  • alexsmith01
    alexsmith01 Posts: 350 Member
    There's heaps of topics about this already if you search for them - I've read heaps of different views from heaps of different people and basically everyone does it differently. Just do what works for you :) Try one way, if it doesn't work try it a different way - there is never going to be a one size fits all.
  • RNMachine
    RNMachine Posts: 17
    I agree with alexsmith01, find a system that works for you. This really is trial and error for all of us. We can just take the info we have, tweak it to fit us, and roll on, right?
  • vabrewer33
    vabrewer33 Posts: 185
    Most of the forums on here agree that you should be eating around 1200 NET, which means you can eat back your exercise cals until you reach that number...but make sure you are looking at your "net" calories versus "gross".
    I agree with the people above and say trial and error to see what works for you!
  • fruitypop88
    fruitypop88 Posts: 19
    Thanks for your replies. Ahh right ive only been on this 2 weeks and wasn't sure whether too or not, see I could not go to work or bed hungry and I do tend to eat the calories I burned but not all of them. I tend to use them on cups of tea or treats.
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