eating back calories? what?

chantalebelle
chantalebelle Posts: 43
in Fitness and Exercise
i'm new to all this lingo and don't fully understand what this means or why youre supposed (or not supposed?) to do it. i'm assuming it literally means to eat back the amount of calories you worked out. but i guess i'm just curious, won't that defeat the purpose of losing weight?

Replies

  • cw106
    cw106 Posts: 952 Member
    no.
    please,just search" eating back exercise calories" and you will be enlightened for life.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    MFPs calorie goal already has a deficit built in. If you exercise a lot, you may not be eating enough to fuel those workouts so yes, you should eat back your calories. That being said, exercise calories can be exaggerated so maybe try eating back 1/2 or so and see what happens. In all honesty, if you only exercise lightly, I probably wouldn't worry about it. If you exercise a lot and begin creating really large deficits, I would probably eat some of them back.
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
    edited October 2014
    This is one of the most asked questions on MFP

    Based on the information you supplied, MFP calculates a calorie goal for you to achieve your weekly weight loss aims without doing any additional exercise (Based on NEAT)

    Because it assumes you are not doing any exercise it then expects you to eat more if you do which is why it adds your exercise calories to your daily goals (its not trying to trick you here).

    It does not defeat the purpose, you will lose faster if you dont eat them back but faster does not always mean healthy.

    The most important three things in all of this are accuracy accuracy and accuracy. Accurate logging of food (there are some real duff member entries on the database) accurate logging of exercise burns (MFP overestimates as do a lot of other devices) and just making sure your data is as accurate as possible by weighing solids on a digital scale and measuring all liquids
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  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
    Also please read this and the other articles it links, extremely useful information

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    MFP gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. That way people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight.

    The reason for eating some* calories back is to keep the deficit from becoming too large. A large deficit, especially if you don't have lots of weight to lose, makes it hard for your body to support lean muscle mass. You want to minimize muscle loss...to reduce your body fat %.

    *Some calories - MFP and many machines give inflated estimates. Start with a percent 50-75...and adjust as needed.
  • chantalebelle
    chantalebelle Posts: 43
    thanks everyone, i'll read up a little more on it and start eating back accordingly
  • wolverine66
    wolverine66 Posts: 3,779 Member
    don't worry about eating back calories today, though. after i ate all of mine back, i ate all of yours back too
  • SKME2013
    SKME2013 Posts: 704 Member
    Read this:
    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/eating-back-calories-burned/
  • xmichaelyx
    xmichaelyx Posts: 883 Member
    If I were a marathon runner, I would eat back calories. But I'm not, so I don't.

    The key is to find the caloric levels that work with your goals. Eating back calories might help, or it might not. Try it and see what happens. Or don't and see what happens.

    Everything about calorie counting is inexact, and needs to be tweaked for the individual BY the individual. (If I ate what MFP told me to -- including eating calories lost from working out -- I'd be a fata$$.)
  • Chezzie84
    Chezzie84 Posts: 873 Member
    wolverine66 wrote: »
    don't worry about eating back calories today, though. after i ate all of mine back, i ate all of yours back too
    HahahaHahaha this made me giggle =)
  • nomoredoughnuts
    nomoredoughnuts Posts: 130 Member
    I started eating back calories and got over my ridiculously long plateau. Lost 9lbs in a month!!
    wolverine66 wrote: »
    don't worry about eating back calories today, though. after i ate all of mine back, i ate all of yours back too

    I think I love you.

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