MFP: Do you eat the exercise calories?

[shattered77]

Hi, I'm in week three now. I've got 1500 calories per day to lose a pound a week. It's synced with my Fitbit. What is best, eat the exercise calories or not? A friend said that you need to eat them to keep your metabolism going. Any advice? I want a stone off quickly but also love eating, so it matters!

I dont eat all.... It depends how hungry I am. I dont tend to pig out on a snickers bar after exercising anyway.

No - the calorie estimates from devices aren't great, so its better to think of them as offsetting any small errors in your portion control etc imo

Thanks for the advice. I guess it is better to see the exercise calories as a buffer . My phone went to auto correct buffer as buffet

I try not to but if I'm gagging for a snack or something then I'll do enough exercise to make up for the calories I want and I'll use those if I need to... because that's exercise I wouldn't have otherwise done, if that makes sense!

I cant physically eat them! marathon training,so long runs can burn 1800 calories,added to my allotted 1400. no way! over 3,000cals in one day is impossible

I do usually because its not easy to stick to 1200 cals, so if i exercise, it means i can stick to it more easily.

If im not hungry, I wont eat them on purpose though.

I did used to when i was running every day because otherwise i would have got too thin

My extra Fitbit calories are just from walking. I follow Fitbit's calorie allowance over MFP's (the latter is usually around 100 calories higher per day) and I have estimation off (I think? My allowance increases throughout the day with burning).

I eat almost all of my calories, I eat when I'm hungry so I don't push myself to eat more if I don't want to and I look at the week as a whole as opposed to just each day. I am usually 200-300 calories under the given amount each week, which acts as a buffer, that would be like eating 30-50 calories short per day I guess. My goal is set to lose 1lb a week, I have been consistently losing 1lb per week this way for 3 months.