Is it possible to not have the exercise calories I have "earned" added to my daily calories?... other than not tracking any exercise?

Thanks

I had the same issue - so heres what I did.

I logged the exercise, but overwrote the calories burned with 1 calorie (don't think it lets you enter 0 calories). Hope this helps

That's the only solution I've heard to the problem. Personally, I like the record of how many calories I burned, so I add them; but I just make sure I don't eat them back - I stick to my 'no exercise' calorie number.

As far as I can tell, no. I just take the time to track everything and look at my calories AND my net calories. I don't eat back all of my exercise calories each day, but I do find seeing both numbers useful. I like to know what I am burning each day and each week... just like I note what I eat each day and on a weekly basis.


ETA: I do eat back some of them on particular days. If you would like me to explain BMR, TDEE, and why I do so, you may message me Wood. I don't want to bore people here. ;)

You could just manually enter 0 calories after entering your exercise minutes and types.

Just don't eat them if you don't want. But, why you wouldn't is another story :)

I just don't eat them back...or I eat back a very minimal amount. Either way, I leave the deficit.

Also - if I want to keep track of the actual calories burned but not have them added to the daily calories, I creat my own Cardio exercise for example:

"Walked 5 miles, Vigorous Pace - 300 Calories" - this is the exercise description, but then fill in 1 calories in the actual Calories consumed box.

There is a huge debate about to eat back exercise calories, or not. You are an adult, and capable of making your own decision. Coming from someone else who has tried many times and failed, I think you may want to consider eating some of them back. If you start to feel deprived, and like this is a diet, not a lifestyle change, it may be harder to stay with for the long haul.

Just to make sure you understand how MFP is set up. You entered your lifestyle, without exercise, your gender, weight, age, and so forth. MFP set up the number of calories you need to eat, WITHOUT exercise, to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week...whichever you chose.

Now, I totally agree that there are errors in the calorie counts of some foods...or maybe the measurements wasn't exact. I also think MFP tends to "award" too many calories burned for many, if not all, exercise. Therefore, I eat back SOME of my calories, but not all. And if, like yesterday, I'm not hungry, or simply don't have time to eat them back, I don't. For what it's worth, my two cents, is that you do not want to go too low on net calories. I know that's why I've failed in the past.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks all... a few things to consider :)

I appreciate the feedback!

Hi Woody,

You don't have to log your exercise calories, but when you do, amazing things happen. When you close out the day, MFP tells you how much faster you're going to lose weight based on how much you ate and how much you exercised. And it's alot faster when you exercise, even if you had to exercise to burn up calories you went over with.

Whether you eat back those exercise calories is up to you. One fella on here says he tries not to eat back more than half of what he burns off in exercise, and he lost alot of weight doing that.

You're still going to lose weight eating 2000 calories a day. If you're really having knee problems right now, just try lifting some arm weights and avoid injuring your knees above all. Laying on the sofa or bed doing leg lifts and arm lifts can work and will not stress knees. Any lean muscle you can building will help you build calories.

Exercise is a powerful tool for health, and it doesn't take much. I hardly break a sweat when I exercise, but I have been able to lower my blood pressure and reduce my medicines! I am a namby pamby compared to some others on here, but I just try to stick with the 5:30. Five days a week, 30 minutes a day, nothing needs to be any more stressful than walking. Gentle and consistent. It's excellent protection against diabetes and stroke too.

I do on occasion get a little gourmet and go over, and the exercise helps sponge it up. It's an incentive to work out too.

Ruth

Correction - Any lean muscle you can build will help you burn calories.

Thank you, all. This helps. I am just getting started with MFP. I'm excited when I'm burning calories, but I don't want to eat them all back. But I also want to see those totals. This was my main question on here, so I'm glad I found some nice folks to answer. Thanks to all.