eating exercise calories

muffinsandcakes

Hello Fitness Pals,
Am I supposed to eat back my calories if I calculate my TDEE from external site and set my goal according to it choosing Sedentary because this is my activity status right now ??

Chrisparadise579

Depends on the number they gave you but most likely not. TDEE is not designed to eat back your calories and is usually the most consistent way to track. For TDEE dont do anything less then 1600 a day.

onefortyone

If you chose sedentary/no activity to determine your TDEE, it does sound like any additional calories burned after that will have to be eaten back. If you calculate your TDEE assuming you will exercise 3x a week, then you don't have to eat them back (as they are already counted).

Hope this helps.

jah1360

I have a gold of 1200 cal a day so most day I eat back some but not all my exercise cal. I usually eat back less then half. Like today I earn 460 exercise cal I eat back 100 exercise for a total of 1300 cal. Just for add information I a 4 foot 5 in so that why i don't have such a high daily cal.

NoelFigart1

I'm a short, middle-aged yo-yo dieter, so in general I don't. That said, the way I monitor it is to track my weight over a ten day average (weighted average for the weight, and straight average for the calories) and try to aim for a 500 calorie deficit based on how I am losing. I did up my calories from 1500 to 1710 because I was losing faster than I wanted to. (I'm trying to keep it at a steady pound a week).

If my weight loss slows down, I'll adjust my calories downward. Or pump a lot of iron... or a combination of both, depending on how I feel

muffinsandcakes

onefortyone wrote: »

If you chose sedentary/no activity to determine your TDEE, it does sound like any additional calories burned after that will have to be eaten back. If you calculate your TDEE assuming you will exercise 3x a week, then you don't have to eat them back (as they are already counted).

Hope this helps.

yes I chose Sedentary so I think I should eat them back :--)

muffinsandcakes

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

Depends on the number they gave you but most likely not. TDEE is not designed to eat back your calories and is usually the most consistent way to track. For TDEE dont do anything less then 1600 a day.

after the TDEE -20% it is 1433 "Sedentary" so it is after a deficit. not the solely 1600

muffinsandcakes

thank you all!

Phrick

I'm not super clear here: If you want to use TDEE then you're NOT supposed to eat calories back. If you're calculating TDEE based on a Sedentary modifier but then eating exercise cals back, then you're not actually doing TDEE, you're doing NEAT (which is MFP's way).

You're supposed to be starkly honest about ALL of your activity, which includes your level of exercise, when calculating your TDEE; then subtract your % and eat that amount day in and day out, even if you have a higher or lower activity day (the idea being that they'll balance out).

If you don't like that then TDEE is not for you, plain and simple. If you are one of the folks who thinks "but if I eat more one day and don't exercise then it'll spell disaster for my weight loss!" Then you need to rethink TDEE as your approach. MFP's NEAT method (in which you DO eat back earned exercise calories) is perfectly suited for people who have that kind of thought pattern, or who have sporadic exercise capability/habits.

MsHarryWinston

This is why I don't do TDEE, because I can in NO way promise that my activity level will be the same every day. The NEAT method is so much more forgiving and flexible.

MityMax96

muffinsandcakes wrote: »

Hello Fitness Pals,
Am I supposed to eat back my calories if I calculate my TDEE from external site and set my goal according to it choosing Sedentary because this is my activity status right now ??

Going by TDEE, no, you do not eat back any calories.
Those calories are part of the calculation

MityMax96

Either way you go though, NEAT or TDEE....
You still need to track, and see how you trend over time....and if you are moving in the direction you want to go.....say over a 3 - 4 week period.
And then tweak the numbers up or down as needed.

muffinsandcakes

how to do NEAT method ??

MityMax96

muffinsandcakes wrote: »

how to do NEAT method ??

The way MFP does it.
Have a base line set of calories (what it is is based on ur goals) then eat calories to cover the need that is caused by exercise.

So for example. For me to lose weight and sit on my butt all day I eat 2000 calories.
But if I do weight lifting ~300 calories. Then I need to eat those 300 calories to cover that extra deficit.
Because if I don't. Then my net deficit is 1700 calories for the day. Not 2000

SideSteel

Chrisparadise579 wrote: »

Depends on the number they gave you but most likely not. TDEE is not designed to eat back your calories and is usually the most consistent way to track. For TDEE dont do anything less then 1600 a day.

Where did you get that rather arbitrary 1600 calorie number from?

50sFit

muffinsandcakes wrote: »

Hello Fitness Pals,
Am I supposed to eat back my calories if I calculate my TDEE from external site and set my goal according to it choosing Sedentary because this is my activity status right now ??

Using the MFP recommendations you always eat back your calories, because the deficit is built into our daily goals.
If you're on some other plan, do whatever. Good luck!

muffinsandcakes

thanks

jacksonpt

it depends.

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