Do you eat back the calories you exercise off?

LCFlo

I'm on a 1200 calorie diet (5'0 female here) but I find I'm typically eating around 1600-1800 calories. I exercise them all off through my job, pilates, and running, but I've read people saying that myfitnesspal overestimates the amount you burn. Should I be trying to keep below 1200 even though I'm fairly active?

Lilly_the_Hillbilly

I eat back most of my calories from working out. I usually leave about 100 or so though for margin of error on both my part (estimated burns and potential weighing errors) and MFP part (general assessment of burns cannot accurately tell you what you are actually burning ).

I've lost 21 kilos following that format.

pamcris

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I tend to eat at least half of my workout calories back since I burn around 800 calories per workout.

And yes mfp overestimates the amount you burn. I am a SAHM of two toddlers and spend a great part of my day chasing after them, picking up stuff from all over the house and lifting them. According to that I would have fit at least in the "light" lifestyle, but according to my Jawbone UP, I am barely reaching the calories I need to be in the sedentary one (workout aside of course).

cookmtn

I eat half my exercise calories back but most of my exercise is badminton, not steady state. I see you do pilates, not necessarily steady state, I would think. I would start out eating at least half back and see how you feel and how fast you lose. If you lose too fast, not good( counter intuitive, I know, but muscle loss is not what you want), if you start to feel run down, hair loss, brittle nails, want to binge like crazy every few days, you probably need to up your calories. It's all about what is sustainable, healthy, and gets you results.

gabrielleelliott90

I eat my tdee calories- 1615. I don't eat back exercise calories. I think I was told to just log it as 1 or 2 calories when I exercise, but I don't bother.

gabrielleelliott90

And no, always make sure you are netting 1200 calories.

meltedsno

I don't eat back my exercise calories but know that they are there if I need them. Last night was my first "real" meal in over 18 months... by "real" I mean that I had a hamburger on a bun with bleu cheese crumbles, cheddar cheese and onion rings. This meal was the most I've eaten in one sitting (okay 2 sittings as I saved 1/4 of the burger which I could not eat -- in the "old" days, I'd have devoured that and looked for more).... It was a scary moment for me to do this, but I also know that I had 18 months of exercise calories saved up to enjoy this... and that I did!

JessRaddatz

I do not eat my exercise calories back, but I have also had my Dr. tell me I don't have to. I eat between 1300 and 1500 calories a day and burn at least 500 calories (the calories are based on my BodyMedia armband, so I know they are not being over estimated). So, I net way less than 1200 calories a day. I do have about 70 pounds to lose, though so maybe that's why she says there is no need to eat my exercise calories back.

Kalikel

If what you're doing is working, why change?

It is the exceedingly rare day that I eat back all the calories. But if I'm especially hungry, I will.

You have to find what works for you. What works for others doesn't really matter, KWIM?

llUndecidedll

I used to, but after 'black Friday' I'm trying something different now.

I usually guesstimate my exercise calories and eat all of them back. It has worked for me, but now starting today, I will eat my exercise calories back once a week.

I have to keep changing things so I'll stay on track. My methods have worked for me so far.

MSeel1984

Yes. Not 100% I mean days I run I seem to be SUPER hungry. So if I run 11 miles I usually eat back like 80% of them.
I've managed to maintain my weight loss that way, not that I'm looking to lose a bunch.

kr1stadee

leeanncflood wrote: »

I'm on a 1200 calorie diet (5'0 female here) but I find I'm typically eating around 1600-1800 calories. I exercise them all off through my job, pilates, and running, but I've read people saying that myfitnesspal overestimates the amount you burn. Should I be trying to keep below 1200 even though I'm fairly active?

Are you counting your activity at work as exercise? If so, then you should bump up your activity level.
Are you losing weight? Yes? Keep going. No? Unless you're wearing a HRM, then you should eat back 1/2 (ish) .. MFP does tend to overestimate some things.

MFP has a deficit built in already., so you'd lose weight even if you didn't exercise. Diet = weight loss. Exercise = health.

AnthonyThrashD

sigh, some times I eat back more calories than exercise off

kittykatfarquhar

It doesn't really matter if you eat back the exercise calories or not but you should always have a NET calories at the end of the day of at least 1200, this is what your body needs to function. Any less and your body slowly goes into starvation mode and your metabolism slows down. I've been on MFP for 154 days and have stuck to this method and have lost 13kg so far. Consistency is key in keeping your metabolism up and losing weight

AestheticStar

Definitely have to eat 1,200, even if you aren't active, or your body goes into starvation mode. I usually eat back about 400-500 of my exercise calories, 'cause I don't tend to burn a lot.

Sued0nim

It depends how you estimate them. When I was using MFP I ate back 50% of the estimate their exercise database gave me

Now I use a fitbit flex - I am set to sedentary and let the fitbit update my cals with my daily movements and waking activity

I also wear a heart rate monitor when doing workouts at gym or exercise classes and I log that separately putting in the actual calorie burn - I'm currently trying to work out how accurate this is so I may yet cut the calories by 25% just to make sure it's more accurate

This all gives me a great rolling estimate of my TDEE averaged over months on the fitbit app that I plan to use when I finally get to maintenance

cronus70

I rarely eat back all my exercise calories, although importantly i listen to my body and if it's telling me it wants food i will eat a bit more into my exercise calories.
Typically i do intense cardio 5 day's a week, an hour at a time burning roughly 1000kcal (HRM) plus i also do 2/3 days of body weight resistance strength training as well to maintain muscle mass and increase strength.
Since January this year (pre MFP) when i started being serious about losing weight i have lost a total of 76Lb, so it's certainly working for me.

funchords

If you are losing weight as fast as predicted, then MFP is not overestimating anything. The MET calculations used by MFP are averages based on population studies. By definition, an average overestimate the calories for half of the population and underestimates for the other half. This is also true of your TDEE calculation from which your 1200 comes from. The real number for the individual you is something a little more or less.

funchords

Generally I eat back all of my exercise calories. 66 lbs. lost in 121 days.

kerrilucko

I sometimes do. But I work out in the evenings so often I'm just ready for bed after and I don't want to eat.

malibu927

AestheticStar wrote: »

Definitely have to eat 1,200, even if you aren't active, or your body goes into starvation mode. I usually eat back about 400-500 of my exercise calories, 'cause I don't tend to burn a lot.

There is no starvation mode.

Since almost all of my activity is through Fitbit, I try to eat back all but about 50-100 calories.

NoelFigart1

I don't. What I DO, however, is track my weight loss over time against my caloric average. My target is to lose about a pound a week. If I am losing less than that over a ten day average, I will lower my intake. If I am losing a lot more than that (say 2 lbs a week) I increase my intake. I'm training for some swims, so I do want to fuel my exercise ability while taking off weight.

Does this mean that functionally, my caloric intake increases with my exercise capacity? It does a bit! I was eating at 1500 calories a day and I've bumped it up to 1700 and am losing about at the rate I want to. While I do need to take off quite a bit of weight, I'm wanting to lose it relatively slowly both to avoid loose skin issues and to avoid issues that you can run into from long-term caloric deprivation. And because I want the strength to do the swims I want.

So, this novel of a reply is because I think that the only real way to know what you should be eating is to track it against how you are losing averaged over a longer period of time and tracked against average intake. Counting 3500 calories as a pound of fat is a decent approximation, but fat loss is slower than other sorts of variation, which is why to get a better approximation than simple weight loss is to track it against a moving average over a period of no less than ten days.

daffodilsoup

Yes. I exercise because I like to eat a lot.

berz82

if youre working out that day i would eat 1200 and some more to cover. tbh 1200 sounds kinda low anyway.

Liftng4Lis

If what you're doing is working, leave it. I personally do TDEE -. I log my exercise, but only for the benefit of seeing my work.

zyxst

No. I use TDEE and have exercise accounted for in my activity level.

ktekc

If you are active i think 1200 is a bit low. What is your activity level set at? I am 4'11" and 206 lbs and if I set it to active it gives me 1440( ish?) calories. Only sedentary gives me the 1200.

LCFlo

It's set at active. I put it to lose 2 lbs a week. That way if I go over, I know I still may be able to lose a pound or so.

besaro

every. single. one. its the only reason i run.

njitaliana

leeanncflood wrote: »

I'm on a 1200 calorie diet (5'0 female here) but I find I'm typically eating around 1600-1800 calories. I exercise them all off through my job, pilates, and running, but I've read people saying that myfitnesspal overestimates the amount you burn. Should I be trying to keep below 1200 even though I'm fairly active?

Is eating between 1600-1800 causing you to lose weight? If so, I'd keep doing it. Don't go below 1200, as it's not considered to be healthy.

I eat back some of my exercise calories if I have a day where I really want something that will cause me to go over my regular 1600.

PokeyBug

Generally, I don't eat back what I burn. I have very similar stats to you, and I do the 1,200 calories a day thing, too. I'm currently losing at a rate of about 1 lb per week, but if I only depended on cutting calories for loss, it would be a much smaller rate of loss. When you're as short as we are (I'm 5'2"), every little bit helps, lol.

I hate it when people judge what's healthy for me based on what's healthy for them. My TDEE is around 1500 calories, so if I DIDN'T eat around 1200 calories per day, I'd never lose, lol.