Eating exercise calories back

emmajulie98765
emmajulie98765 Posts: 29 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,

I'm new and a bit confused by different things that I have read. I am 5'3 and weigh 132lbs, trying to lose around 8lb. MFP has set my cals at 1280 a day which to be honest leaves me hungry some days. I have a treadmill which I have started using and burning around 200 cals a day at the moment. The calorie count on MFP seems to say that I need to eat them back, is this correct?? Thank you

Replies

  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    edited February 2015
    Yes, the way MFP works is that you eat back your exercise calories since the calorie amount it gives you (1280) has a deficit built in. Though some people choose not to eat all of their exercise calories since machines can often overestimate your burn.
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    Yes. MFP's calculations do not take into account workouts, just everyday activity (like if you're on your feet all day working).

    However, most people choose to eat back only a portion of their exercise calories (50-75%, usually), because the numbers are often inflated.

    For running and walking, I like the calculations here. I eat back 75-100% of these when I run or walk and am losing weight just fine.
  • Jolinia
    Jolinia Posts: 846 Member
    I found that if I want to keep exercising and actually enjoy it I need to eat at least some of my calories back. Otherwise I have to drag myself out of the house and zombie through the motions.
  • emmajulie98765
    emmajulie98765 Posts: 29 Member
    Thanks everyone,:) I will definitely eat some back then, love my food too much not too!!! Do you think if I didn't eat that many back ( sometimes after exercising I struggle to eat then), then they could just be used to cancel out my excess on nights like this Friday when we are going out for an Italian? Or am I just being naive?!?!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    The winner gets to eat the most and still lose.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    estirling86 wrote: »
    Do you think if I didn't eat that many back ( sometimes after exercising I struggle to eat then), then they could just be used to cancel out my excess on nights like this Friday when we are going out for an Italian? Or am I just being naive?!?!

    That's perfectly fine. Many of us think of our calorie goals as a weekly goal. I'm often a bit under on weekdays and a bit over on weekends, and that hasn't stopped me from losing 65 pounds.

    Heck, there was one day when my net calories for the day were -1024. (Yes, that is a minus sign). I ate about 3,200 calories that day, but I also burned about 4,200 bicycling 111.5 miles in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. I had eaten more the previous two days in preparation, and I made up the rest in the next few days after the ride!
  • saragengler
    saragengler Posts: 1 Member

    bwogilvie wrote: »
    That's perfectly fine. Many of us think of our calorie goals as a weekly goal. I'm often a bit under on weekdays and a bit over on weekends, and that hasn't stopped me from losing 65 pounds.

    Heck, there was one day when my net calories for the day were -1024. (Yes, that is a minus sign). I ate about 3,200 calories that day, but I also burned about 4,200 bicycling 111.5 miles in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. I had eaten more the previous two days in preparation, and I made up the rest in the next few days after the ride!

    Wow! Great accomplishments, bwogilvie! Congrats!
  • Just_Ceci
    Just_Ceci Posts: 5,926 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    The winner gets to eat the most and still lose.

    3i6a1nfdx4yu.gif

    Truth!
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    estirling86 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone,:) I will definitely eat some back then, love my food too much not too!!! Do you think if I didn't eat that many back ( sometimes after exercising I struggle to eat then), then they could just be used to cancel out my excess on nights like this Friday when we are going out for an Italian? Or am I just being naive?!?!

    You can. However you should really track and log it all. Its very easy to burn 200 calories a few days a week and then think you can eat at Olive Garden and have a few drinks on the weekend. But you are looking at 800 burned (if 4x a week) and easily 2000+ taken in.

    Depending on your level of exercise and how far you are from goal weight will influence the importance of eating back your calories. A good rule of thumb is: if you aren't losing or if you are losing but are starving, tired and miserable all the time....you are doing it wrong. There is a happy medium in there, just got to find it!

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