Calorie and exercise

[Bonnifer]

Hi

Just after some advice.

If I eat 1800 calories a day, and burn 400 through exercise, does that mean my calories for the day are 1400?

[Titwillow55]

I think generally you're better not eating back your exercise calories. People tend to underestimate what they've eaten (milk in tea or more butter on the toast than they guesstimate etc) so the calories from exercise are a good buffer for that Also lots of people over estimate exercise calories.
I've tried it both ways but now don't eat back my calories at all.

[Bonnifer]

Thank you - that’s what I thought!

[CortieTat]

I think it really depends on the type of exercise and also on your calorie tracking. I sometimes eat back some or all of my exercise calories, sometimes I don’t.

I also don’t pay attention to the so called “active calories” my watch is showing me, I find them way too optimistic. I move a lot during the day but I only track and count the actual exercise (running, strength training, HIIT, yoga and martial art classes) . I also count everything I eat, including milk in coffee (I measure out 100 ml) and butter as PP said. This approach worked well for me, I’ve lost weight on a small deficit.

[Menora]

the golden rule is never eat your exercise calories back

they are a bonus addition to your deficit so ignore them

the only problem with this approach is if you cut too low into a massive deficit and then do an extreme amount of exercise

just make sure you have a sensible balance