Livestrong's MyPlate feature helps you set a calorie target based on your weight goal. When recommending a daily calorie goal, the MyPlate calorie calculator takes into consideration your current weight, height, age, general activity level and whether you want to gain, maintain or lose weight. Although the suggested caloric intake refers to the number of calories you can take in through your diet daily to meet your weekly weight goals, adding exercise to your routine makes it possible to accomplish your weight goal even if you eat slightly more than the recommended amount.
Energy Basics
Setting an appropriate calorie target plays a significant role in weight management. However, how much you eat is only one side of the weight-management equation. The basic calorie target suggested by Livestrong takes into account your general level of activity, meaning that the calculation considers the amount of calories you typically burn through everyday activities, your job and recreational activities such as gardening. When you add exercise to the equation, you burn additional calories not accounted for in your calorie target formula.
Exercise Factors
If Livestrong suggests a daily calorie target of 1,500 for you to lose 1 pound a week based on the personal factors you plugged into the calculator, for example, exercise adds a component to your calorie needs not accounted for in the formula. Regular exercise is recommended for health and weight management benefits, and actually helps boost your weekly weight-loss potential. If your caloric intake matches your daily calorie goal suggested by MyPlate, exercise will burn additional calories, which means you may lose weight at a faster pace than you would with calorie restriction alone. On the other hand, you can use exercise as a way to take in more calories and still meet your weight goals.
Subtracting Calories From Exercise
If you want to use exercise to boost your weight-loss potential while meeting the calorie goal recommended by Livestrong's MyPlate calculator, continue your workouts but skip the fitness tracking option. However, you can essentially have additional calories in your diet by adding the calories you burn through exercise into the equation. For example, if your daily calorie target to lose 1 pound a week is 1,500, you can consume 1,700 calories, burn 200 calories through exercise and still meet your weight goal.
Considerations
Livestrong's MyPlate requires you to register to take advantage of the available weight-management tools, but the process only takes a minute and doesn't cost you anything. You have the option of receiving information via email, but you can access the weight management and nutrition tools even if you opt out of the free electronic tips and information.
Although the food and fitness tools provided by Livestrong represent healthy approaches to weight loss, you should check with your doctor before starting a new diet or exercise program if you have a history of health problems.
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