Confused over calories in/burned (2024)

Options

babyluthi Posts: 285 Member

June 2013 in Health and Weight Loss

So if MFP sets my calories to 1400.
Then I do say 1000 worth of exercise...

Do I eat the 1400 or do I eat the 2400?

I have my goals set to lose not maintain.

Any help would be appreciated.

Establishedn1986 Posts: 306 Member
June 2013

Options
MFP is set up for you to Net your calorie goal. Which means yes eat your calories back!
freyaheart Posts: 220 Member
June 2013

Options
I'm a little confused on this too.
CMB1979 Posts: 588 Member
June 2013

Options
So if MFP sets my calories to 1400.
Then I do say 1000 worth of exercise...
Do I eat the 1400 or do I eat the 2400?
I have my goals set to lose not maintain.
Any help would be appreciated.
Eat the 2400. Or at least part of if back if not the entire amount. If you start to gain weight, cut back a little and maybe only eat 1900-2200.
See Also
How Many Steps Do You Need Per Day To Lose Weight?30 30 30 Rule for Weight Loss - Steps, Benefits, Risks Calorie Maintenance: What you need to know - HealthNutrition How Much Protein You Need
AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
June 2013

Options
Be careful, calorie burn estimates are usually ridiculously high and if you eat all those calories, you'll probably be eating over your TDEE for the day. I prefer using the Katch McArdle equation to find my BMR and my TDEE and input it into myfitnesspal manually, and it takes your activity level into account so you don't have to input exercise into MFP.
girlfury Posts: 27 Member
June 2013

Options
From my understanding you can eat 1400 calories and still lose weight...u can eat the extra calories u burn off from exercising.
SkinnyBubbaGaar Posts: 389 Member
June 2013

Options
MFP is already calculating your calorie deficit based on your daily expenditure/needs without the added exercise. That said, if you do not eat back (at least some) of the exercise calories then your deficit will become too high.
I think a good plan is to actually target somewhere in between 50% - 75% of the exercise calories in order to account for inaccuracies in the calculation of your calories burned or calories consumed.
wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
June 2013

Options
How much are you exercising to burn 1000??? That's really high.
freyaheart Posts: 220 Member
June 2013

Options
How much are you exercising to burn 1000??? That's really high.
I can burn that after an 8 hour shift at work and my Zumba class. I useually walk 10,000+ steps before I even get done with work.

See Also
Unlock Your Genetic Potential: The Customized Workout and Diet Plan for Mesomorphs – Fitness Volt
babyluthi Posts: 285 Member
June 2013

Options
How much are you exercising to burn 1000??? That's really high.
It is a hypothetical number.
Although if you circuit,cross train and agressively garden I think it would be possible to do in a day.
shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
June 2013

Options
So if MFP sets my calories to 1400.
Then I do say 1000 worth of exercise...
Do I eat the 1400 or do I eat the 2400?
I have my goals set to lose not maintain.
Any help would be appreciated.
MFP estimates your daily calorie burn before exercise and makes your goal a cut off of that number.
Example:
MFP estimated daily calorie burn ( no exercise): 2500
2lb per week loss: -1000
Goal to achieve 2lb per week loss (no exercise) : 1500
Exercise burn: 500
MFP estimated daily calorie burn (with exercise): 3000
2lb per week loss: -1000
Goal to achieve 2lb per week loss (with exercise): 2000 or NET 1500
babyluthi Posts: 285 Member
June 2013

Options
What exactly is a NET calorie?
(I get to ask the daft questions)
DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
June 2013

Options
There's not much to be confused by. It says in big letters "Your daily goal". Eat what it says. It even has another big lettered portion that states "Remaining" as in, calories remaining. This is handy to determine how many calories you have remaining for the day (shocking, I know).
Try to eat as close as you can reasonably get to your daily goal.
Do this consistently.
Succeed!
herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
June 2013

Options
What exactly is a NET calorie?
(I get to ask the daft questions)
Net is what you end up with after you subtract your exercise calories. If you physically eat 1500 calories then do an hour of exercise and burn 700 you have netted 800 calories. That's why you eat those 700 back so you NET 1500 or whatever you goal number is. On MFP you just have to look at the section of your food diary called "Your Daily Goal". If you haven't added an exercise it will have a static number. If you have the number goes up giving you a new daily target.
babyluthi Posts: 285 Member
June 2013

Options
Thanks everyone:)
I guess I have been reading too many "Eat your calories back/don't eat your calories back" forum posts.
wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
June 2013

Options
And don't include gardening in calories burned. Yes it's possible to burn 1000 but many who estimate they do are way off. I can ru. For 75 min and only burn 600 ish cals. Depends on your weight of course, but make sure not to overestimate exercise cals
CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
June 2013

Options
If you have your calories set up correctly as MFP suggested and have incorporated your daily activities in (as in you have it set higher then sedentary):
If you're using MFP exercise calories eat at least half of them back (but probably not all of them, they tend to over exaggerate for some people, they're usually in the ball park for me).
If you're using a HRM and doing cardio then eat all of them back.
If you're using a HRM and doing strength training eat most of them back.
If you're using BMF eat all of them back.

Confused over calories in/burned (2024)

Categories

References