Eating back exercise calories

ayreka7

This concept has perplexed me for quite some time. I've searched through the forums, talked to my fit friends, etc...still confused. I weigh 229 lbs as of my last weigh in. I have an office job and sit at my desk 40 hours a week. When I get home from work I have been working out every day since I started 20-ish days ago. I also have 2 kids so I do a lot of running around for them and cleaning etc. My workouts are usually a P90x DVD or a Turbofire DVD. I've been calculating the calories there from P90xcalories.com or using the Kickboxing (including Turbo Jam) option on MFP. I know both those options aren't 100% accurate but my HRM isn't the greatest and haven't gotten around to getting a new one yet. My question is, do people usually eat back their exercise calories? Or should I just change my activity from sedentary to something else since I'm exercising and doing stuff 30% of my day? I have been eating back my calories this week and lost the same amount as I did last week not eating any back (a little less actually). I want to lose weight at a steady pace but tone up while doing it so I'm not a saggy baggy elephant when I get to my goal. I'm aware muscle weighs more then fat and I can clearly see I'm building more muscle and my loss of over 12 inches in my measurements so far is evidence of that. However, my net calories are always under 1200. I eat more then 1200 but with exercise it takes it under. As my exercises are usually after work...i don't want to eat all the calories back as I would have to eat over 1000 calories (combining what i've left originally for dinner and exercise calories) and frankly, I'm not hungry enough to do that and don't want to eat just because the calories are there.

My other question is, I see a lot of my MFP friends log in cleaning and cooking as exercise. Why is this? Does it really count as exercise?

I feel like I'm over complicating things but I want to get it right. I don't want to deprive my body of calories it needs to function properly but also do not want to eat too many because I'm overestimating how many I'm burning. I do have a meeting with a nutritionist in a few weeks and I'm going to go over my plan, but until then, I could use some advice.

erickirb

say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.

Essentially MFP goal assumes no exercise to lose your goal amount of weight, if you burn more cals you need to eat more to fuel those workouts. That said if you don't eat them back you may lose faster, but faster isn't always better. the faster you lose the better the chance that a larger % of your loss will come from lean muscle, not just the fat you want to lose.

As for cleaning and cooking. I would not count them, but I am set as light active, is you are set as sedentary it would be questionable, but even then I would not count it as exercise.

brattyally82

I think it's up to you! I have a friend who can stay on her 1250 calorie per day meal plan and do light exercise and she does great! I, on the other hand, enjoy higher intensity work outs but I never am going to have a perfect 1200 calorie day. I shoot for eating between 1500-1700 but I burn enough with working out that my "net calories" are still below the 1250 MFP thinks I should eat. I know that I "need" to work out to be able to eat the amount of calories that feels right to me. 1250 calories a day doesn't feel right to my body so I do what works for me.

Back when I did WW, a lot of those members counted housework as exercise as well. I wear a FitBit so I just let it count my steps and it syncs with MFP. On busier days, I'm alright with it giving me a few more exercise calories- but for me personally, I'm not logging housecleaning as exercise unless.

ayreka7

I am not looking to just lose fast, as much as that would be nice. I want it to be a healthy weight lose while building muscle and toning. So I should change my activity level off of sedentary as I do something everyday? My diary is open, perhaps you can take a look at what I eat and what I do for exercise. I do some strength training too. So I should increase my calories?

kymbalieyy

I think eating the calories back is down to you and what you are comfortable with. The other day, I did my normal workout plus running, plus a very active job. As a result throughout the day I was eating more snacks (like bananas and smoothies) just to help maintain energy throughout the activity. I never intend on eating them back, but sometimes your body does need to eat more because of the exercise, and if thats the case I wont beat myself up over it.

Also, if i've had a good week, lost weight and have exercise calories left over, that normal equates to a treat like a cup of tea with sugar

I have an active job (i'm a waitress) and on average at my job I walk the equivalent of 6k. However, I keep my activity level and sedentary and record the exercise and steps (linked with pacer app) each day so I have a much more accurate reading of my activity for each day.

Susieq_1994

Given the information that you've given so far, I would say to change your activity level to lightly active, then eat a portion of actual exercise calories (not housework ) back. But as always, it's a personal choice. You'll lose slower this way, but netting under 1200 is never healthy, and even a net of 1200 is too low for most people unless you're very short.

All the best!

jkal1979

If you have a pretty good idea of how much you are burning during exercise, I don't see why you can't eat those calories back earlier in the day. Add a little bit more to your meals and snacks.

As far as how much to eat back, many people who do will only eat back 50-75% to make sure that they have a buffer for overestimations. You need to make sure that your body is getting the proper nutrients along with all of the reasons erickirb mentioned. You aren't going to gain muscle on a deficit but by making sure that you are eating enough it will help minimize muscle loss.

Personally I wouldn't count things like housework or food prep as exercise.

malibu927

ayreka7 wrote: »

I am not looking to just lose fast, as much as that would be nice. I want it to be a healthy weight lose while building muscle and toning. So I should change my activity level off of sedentary as I do something everyday? My diary is open, perhaps you can take a look at what I eat and what I do for exercise. I do some strength training too. So I should increase my calories?

Your activity level includes everything you do throughout the day (work, school, cooking, cleaning, taking care of kids, etc.) OUTSIDE of exercise. Choose an appropriate level for your life, then log your exercise.

Also, you won't be building muscle in a calorie deficit, outside of beginning gains.

shaynepoole

MFP just did a blog post about that

http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-should-i-eat-back-my-exercise-calories/

"The vast majority of us who are trying to shed a few pounds or maintain our weight need not be concerned about eating back all of our exercise calories, but those trying to gain weight, and/or who are training heavily several times per week should be mindful about getting in enough calories–both to fuel physical activity and promote muscle growth, repair and recovery."

I would change your settings from sedentary to lightly active though and IMO, cooking and daily housecleaning don't really count as exercise

cwolfman13

It's math...if your maintenance calories WITHOUT exercise is 2000 calories and you want to lose 1 Lb per week you will get a goal of 1500 calories (500 calorie deficit). With MFP you don't include exercise in your activity level....when you set exercise goals, those are just for you, they have no impact on your calories.

When you exercise, this increases your body's energy (calorie) requirements. So lets say you burn 300 calories in a workout...well, now your maintenance number moves to 2300 calories...and your weight loss goal would also increase by 300 calories = 1500 + 300 = 1800 calories...but you still have a 500 calorie deficit because 2300 - 1800 = 500 calorie deficit still.

5th grade math....yes, it's that simple.

TimothyFish

MFP give you a calorie goal based on you not exercising. On days you exercise, you burn more than it expected, so it adds to that goal. To some degree, you can lose more weight by not eating more, but there is also a point at which you can exercise so much that you no longer have sufficient glycogen to continue. The body will try to pull energy from fat, but it is a longer process. Eating before and during exercise can give you more blood sugar to use during exercise, so you don't use so much glycogen. Exercising more can help you reach your fitness goals more quickly.

Liftng4Lis

Cooking and cleaning are part of your normal daily activities, therefore shouldn't count. Regular exercise, most eat back a portion of (allows room for miscalculations).

ayreka7

Thank you all for your input. I have changed my activity level to lightly active and I will eat back half my calories as I have been in order to account for overestimating calories burned/ underestimating calories eaten.

For the record, I never counted cooking and cleaning as exercise. I just see a lot of people doing it.

ayreka7

Just used http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and it says my BMR is 1767 and my TDEE is 2893. So I shouldn't eat under 1700 cals?

lemurcat12

One reason people count cooking and cleaning (which I never have either) is because they have a very low calorie goal due to selecting (often incorrectly) sedentary, when they really aren't. In those cases I see no harm at all to adding some calories from routine activities, although ideally they'd just change the settings to lightly active. It might be a way to make sure they don't eat extra calories on days where they are more sedentary, though. On the whole I think people figure out what works for them, and if they are losing, it is probably working.

Also, others don't eat back exercise calories anyway, but use logging to tell their friends about what they've been doing that day, how active they've been, so on. So you can't make assumptions.

I kind of like the idea of choosing a less aggressive calorie goal (maybe say 1 lb/week if you want to lose 1.5 or 2 or .5 if you want to lose 1 or 1.5) and then not logging the exercise calories and using them as a bonus. I've always thought of my weight loss as made up about half of controlling calories and about half of increasing activity (with the intention of keeping the increase in activity permanently, though). What I think is risky--and the MFP blog does not address adequately--is that many people pick the most aggressive goal possible (2 lbs, 1200 calories) and then exercise as hard as they can on top of that without accounting for it. While it might cancel out due to bad logging, there's no guarantee--my results were always pretty accurate, so I think my logging was pretty precise, and I don't think it would have been helpful to continue to eat 1250 without exercise calories based on some silly assumption that I was incapable of logging right. But it does probably matter how intense or lengthy the exercise is.

lemurcat12

ayreka7 wrote: »

Just used http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and it says my BMR is 1767 and my TDEE is 2893. So I shouldn't eat under 1700 cals?

If you are confident in that TDEE as a starting estimate, -20% would be about 2300 calories (rounded for convenience) and should get you more than 1 lb/week. Even a 2 lb goal would be around 1900 calories. So no, I certainly wouldn't eat below 1700. You normally want to aim for either 1-2 lbs/week (or less if you are close to goal) or 1% of your total weight per week, no more.