exercise calories

17746991
17746991 Posts: 35
in Fitness and Exercise
should I eat back my exercise calories if im trying to lose weight?
will It hurt if I don't? if so, how?

Replies

  • RosieWest8
    RosieWest8 Posts: 185 Member
    MFP calculates your calorie goal with a deficit already added to lose weight. So if you told MFP that you wanted to lose 1lb/wk -- your calorie goal would reflect the required deficit to lose 1lb/wk without working out at all.

    It gets a little confusing depending on what you listed as your 'activity level'. I list sedentary so that I can just always just add all exercise calories -- I think it's simpler that way.

    As far as eating them back....that's where you may get differing answers. MFP can overestimate calories burned for some exercises...so it's important to try to find a good way to get an accurate-ish estimate of your burn. I got a Polar HRM for like $40 and then just used my avg. heart rate for the amount of time I worked out and used an online calculator to calculate calories burned. I have also found that IFF you put your correct information into a treadmill (or other machine) like height and weight, if possible -- it will more or less estimate your calorie burn accurately. You can manually override MFP calories burned just by typing in your own. I'm pretty much to my goal right now so I don't really keep track of anything, but when I was keeping track I ate back all of my exercise calories. Some people only eat back 1/2....you just have to kind of try eating back some or all and see how you feel and adjust accordingly. If you don't eat back any, you will have a much higher daily deficit than you need and won't be getting enough calories if you're burning a lot.

    Hope this helps. Good luck!
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    it depends.

    details: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/383956/exercise-calories-explained/p1
  • NoelFigart1
    NoelFigart1 Posts: 1,276 Member
    I suspect that for me (short, overweight, middle-aged, a sedentary profession, sedentary hobbies, and a yo-yo dieter) that most exercise calories and BMRs are an overestimate.

    Heck no, I don't eat back exercise calories even though my workouts regularly record calorie burns of over 400.

    A young person who is tall, not a yo-yo dieter with an active profession and has active hobbies might have significantly different needs.
  • rhtexasgal
    rhtexasgal Posts: 572 Member
    I eat back about half of my exercise calories. If I don't do that consistently, I find that cravings start beating me over the head like if I was hormonal or something. Plus, I plateau when I don't eat back enough exercise calories.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    NoelFigart1 wrote: »
    I suspect that for me (short, overweight, middle-aged, a sedentary profession, sedentary hobbies, and a yo-yo dieter) that most exercise calories and BMRs are an overestimate.

    Heck no, I don't eat back exercise calories even though my workouts regularly record calorie burns of over 400.

    A young person who is tall, not a yo-yo dieter with an active profession and has active hobbies might have significantly different needs.

    Yo-yo dieting is one reason I eat calories back (now).

    I look at it this way.....I've lost fat+muscle (eating 1200 gross)....then gained back fat....just fat. This put my body fat % higher than when I started. Plus I'm old....I've lost muscle for sheer laziness too.

    OP - the amount of weight you need to lose and how aggressive your weekly goal is are important factors too. Closer to goal you should eat a portion back to help retain lean muscle. Aggressive goal, you are already pushing the limits.
  • goanothermile
    goanothermile Posts: 98 Member
    jacksonpt wrote: »
    it depends.

    details: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/383956/exercise-calories-explained/p1

    ^^ Great explanation.

    Personally - I eat most (and sometimes all) of the exercise calories back. Each day I try to come in under the goal, but not by very much.

    A lot of my exercise has been running and that burns a lot of calories. My body needs proper fuel in order to have the energy to do that. Before a really long run or a race, I'll even intentionally go over my calorie goal for a day or two to make sure my energy stores are topped up. So far, that has worked really well for me.

    I'm not looking for a quick fix. I'm trying to learn and train myself to eat in a way that will be sustainable.

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