Burned Calories - do you eat them?

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Replies

  • dalem14
    dalem14 Posts: 18 Member
    I eat back half. It works well for me.
  • richard0028
    richard0028 Posts: 6 Member
    I never eat back, particularly if your data is coming from some other source that habitually overestimate calories from exercise eg Strava.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,668 Member
    I eat back intentional exercise calories. If I don't, I get extremely hungry. I can't sleep when I'm hungry and lack the energy to do my runs the next day. Most people who are perennially starving will go off their diets sooner or later. You don't have to be miserable while losing weight.
  • crummywatertowr
    crummywatertowr Posts: 45 Member
    edited July 2017
    This is a good article about exercise and weight loss, that more importantly links to the actual studies instead of just saying "a recent study". I don't eat mine back unless I'm really weak and hungry because it is way too hard to accurately determine how many calories I burned.

    https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,907 Member
    I always have eaten all of my exercise calories. I used MFP's numbers all through most of my weight loss ten years ago and I still eat more on exercise days. So far I've been maintaining for ten years.

    This site is designed in a way that it is intended for you to eat more on exercise days than you do on non-exercise days. There are many ways to calculate a deficit and just as many ways to accomplish it. Your own personal numbers are your guide.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    This is, sadly, my first time to incorporate any exercise in my life, especially during a time when I'm choosing to eat better.
    Is it best to not eat your burned calories? Or does your body need more calories if you're working out and I should be eating then (or some)?
    Just curious on what works best for healthy weight loss. Thanks!

    Of course your body needs more calories when you're working out...the more active you are, the more calories you need.

    All you're doing here is accounting for that activity which is not otherwise accounted for in your activity level. I switched from MFP's method a long time ago and went with TDEE because I was pretty consistent in my exercise...basically MFP gave me around 1800 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...with exercise I was eating around 2300-2400 gross calories per day.

    Without exercise my maintenance is around 2,300 calories per day which is why I get the 1800 number from MFP...with regular exercise, my maintenance is more like 2800-3000...so I cut 500 calories from that and I get 2,300 - 2,500 calories per day...about the same as MFP after I logged the exercise.

    In essence, I'm "eating back" calories one way or the other...with MFP, it's more deliberate because I had to log it, etc...with TDEE my exercise activity is just built into the overall target.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    JerSchmare wrote: »
    Since I do TDEE, this question is irrelevant.

    ...or, is it?

    TDEE does take into account regular working out - but if you were to do something beyond the norm, I would probably look to eat back a portion of them
  • bikecheryl
    bikecheryl Posts: 1,431 Member
    I don't..... yet.
    I started needing to lose 120lbs, I've lost almost 40lbs so far.'
    Because of bad knees I haven't been able to exercise as much as I'd like - 30 to 40
    minute bike rides.
    I'm hoping to become more active as I continue to loose weight.
    When that happens, I will start eating back some of my exercise calories to fuel my increased activity.
  • timtam163
    timtam163 Posts: 500 Member
    You can set it up however you want, but yes you should eat your workout calories back. I mean, if you are eating 1300 (per MFP's suggestion) and burn 1200, you're left with net 100 for your body to run on which is not enough!!
  • accidentalpancake
    accidentalpancake Posts: 484 Member
    I prefer mine lightly sautéed, for what it's worth.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    I eat back all of the exercise calories my Fitbit gives me and I'm losing weight at the rate I expect to based on my data in MFP. If you want to know if you should eat yours or not do so for about 4-6 weeks and see if you're losing as expected. Once you have some data on how accurate your exercise calories are you can make adjustment as needed.
  • bethannien
    bethannien Posts: 556 Member
    edited July 2017
    I don't but the only reason I don't is because I've already factored my exercise into my activity level. I used to set my activity level to sedentary and just eat back 50%-75% of my exercise calories (which worked perfectly fine for me).

    But I've been a lot more active just in my day to day life on top of my intentional exercise so I changed my activity settings and I log my exercise as 1 calorie burned. My blood sugar is stable and I'm losing at about 1 lb a week this way, plus it actually is less work when I have the larger number to start the day and I don't have to try to figure out a healthy and filling snack that fits into my exercise calories I've added at the end of the day. I plan my day in the morning assuming I'll be active that day and no more scrambling for a snack at 9pm because I'm hangry after a run.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    I eat mine.
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    I eat back all of the exercise calories my Fitbit gives me and I'm losing weight at the rate I expect to based on my data in MFP. If you want to know if you should eat yours or not do so for about 4-6 weeks and see if you're losing as expected. Once you have some data on how accurate your exercise calories are you can make adjustment as needed.

    This is a great suggestion. It's what I do. I add up how many calories I've eaten, how many I've burned, and compare that to my weight loss. I usually do a month. It's how I know my activity tracker underestimates and I can enjoy every single exercise calorie without regret.

    I did try out not eating exercise calories when I first started. I lost very rapidly, but got more and more tired and noticed my step count was getting smaller and I was getting less burn through daily activity. When I eat back my exercise calories I have more energy to burn even more calories, so I get to eat more.