Extra Calories earned from Exercise

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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    loribethrice wrote: »
    RondaRiggle wrote: »
    I was wonder what the opinion was for NOT eating the extra calories that you are given for exercise? I generally do NOT eat them but I always keep them in mind if I want something extra that day or if I was out-to-eat one day.

    I never eat back any of my exercise calories. I feel like it's pointless because I'm just undoing what I did that day.

    The way MFP is set up is so you can lose weight without exercising. It already gives you a calorie deficit. When you exercise, that deficit grows and you want to bring it back to where you're supposed to be so you don't lose too fast/lose muscle.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    edited November 2014
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    kandi21785 wrote: »
    Just to clear up my own confusion....if mfp sets my goal at 1200 a day because I want to lose 1.5-2lbs a week then after I exercise and calculate all of my food should the NET be close to 0 or close to 1200?
    For example, yesterday on my screen it says FOOD 1591-EXERCISE 790 =NET 801. That would mean I only ate 801 calories? I know that isn't enough to be healthy.

    Here's a screencap from my own diary showing you how it should be done. My goal this week was at 2400 (diet break, eating at maintenance), so 2400 + 306= 2706, which is that day's new goal. I usually eat 100% cals back but this week I've sometimes just not felt like eating the last little bit because it's a PITA to find something with so few cals haha
    Capture_zps5a039339.png
  • kandi21785
    kandi21785 Posts: 3 Member
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    :D thank you
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Unless you're having trouble getting through whatever exercise you're doing, you don't need to worry about eating back exercise calories.
  • summerhaze71
    summerhaze71 Posts: 1,204 Member
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    I struggle with "eating back" my calories. I can barely make the 1200 on some days. So, I make sure to eat the recommended 1200 at least and consider the rest padding. But, I'm probably burning less than 500 in exercise a day since I mainly walk/hike at an average of 3.5-5 miles a day.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Unless you're having trouble getting through whatever exercise you're doing, you don't need to worry about eating back exercise calories.

    NEAT method = non-exercise activity thermogenesis. Unless the activity is VERY light, e.g. burning 50 calories, the calories should be eaten back.

    If doing TDEE, total daily energy expenditure, you do not eat back calories because they are already included into your daily intake.

    So yes, anyone doing NEAT should be concerned with eating back at a minimum 50% of their logged exercise calories.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Keep in mind that MFP bases its daily calorie goal off of estimated RMR but the exercise calories are based off of the MET number for the activity. This results in double dipping, not to mention that the estimated calories burned per activity tends to be inaccurate. So, don't eat back everything you burned, but you do need to eat back some of it. Watch you weight for a couple or three weeks. If you're consistently losing more than you expected to, then increase the amount you are eating back.
  • summerhaze71
    summerhaze71 Posts: 1,204 Member
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    How do you figure TDEE?
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    summerhaze71 wrote: »
    How do you figure TDEE?

    for TDEE (calorie needs with exercise included), using a calculator will help you get a starting estimate. I like health-calc.com and exrx.net because both work for calculating TDEE and NEAT, so if someone wants to switch methods they can easily do so with the same tool.

    On these websites you'd average your weekly exercise into your daily estimate. So e.g. you do moderate exercise for 30 mins 4x a week, that's on average 17 minutes. So you'd put that into the moderate section. Then 8hrs sleep, maybe 6hrs standing on average (e.g. 8hr 5x a week, then almost no standing on weekends, averages to ~6hrs a day), etc. If this gave you a maintenance estimate of 2200 calories, then deduct 10% (0.5lbs/week), 15% (0.75lbs/week) or 20% (1lb/week) - these are all estimated loss rates of course! Whatever % you choose will give you the calorie goal to work with that includes weekly exercise, adn you'd monitor and adjust as needed.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    kal900 wrote: »
    I rarely eat back my calories. I'm on 1330 daily, and can earn up to 1000 (on a hard day) on exercise. I try to stay within my general allowance and only use my earnt cals for treats or backup if I undercalculate my cals. Not doing too bad... lost 31lbs since july 1st and building muscle nicely. Do 6 days of cardio, two days pump, one day combat and 3 days pilates.
    What you're essentially saying is you're netting 300 calories a day. That is not good.

    You aren't building muscle because of your deficit.

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