Should I eat back calories burned from exercise?
CherylG1983
Posts: 294 Member
Hi there. I just finished Insanity Max 30 and only lost 5 lbs., 6 inches. Now, it's only an 8-week program, but I lost 12 pounds, 11.5 inches from T25. Many people say you need to eat more to lose weight, others say you need to stay at a deficit. I have MFP set up to lose 2 lbs a week, so it calculated my lifestyle and whatnot to lose 1.7lbs./week with 1200 calories a day. This is good for me, as I find it difficult to eat much more than that while eating healthy and exercising anyway. My question is, if I burn an average of 300 calories a workout, should I be eating those calories back? I have been, with T25 AND IM30. I just don't understand why my results from IM30 would be so dismal. I don't even look different in my before and after pics! Any advice you could offer would be great.
I should note that if you look at my food diary for this past weekend, you will see potato chips and peanut M&Ms!! I allow myself these treats in between programs. The last time I had any such thing was more than 8 weeks ago when I finished T25.
I should note that if you look at my food diary for this past weekend, you will see potato chips and peanut M&Ms!! I allow myself these treats in between programs. The last time I had any such thing was more than 8 weeks ago when I finished T25.
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The way MFP is set up, you're supposed to eat back your calories. That being said, burns are often overestimated, so it's recommended to only eat back 50-75%.
As you are losing weight, you're doing things right. But if you're looking for a better loss (and truly, with the amount your ticker says, you shouldn't be losing at more than a pound a week), invest in a food scale to weigh everything you eat and make sure you're logging everything. There are a lot of cup entries and missing meals.0 -
Most health care professionals do not recommend women net under 1200 calories a day. Therefore if you are burning 300 in exercise, YES you need to eat those back.
How far are you from your goal weight? Most people are set to around 1lb loss per week. Creating too large of a deficit can cause you to be tired, dizzy, hungry, irritable, headaches, etc. If you go too big for an extended period of time you can actually cause harm to your body. Your body needs fuel. Food is not the enemy.
The eat more to lose weight, in my opinion, is for those who tend to binge or have too many "treats". If you would just eat more on a regular basis and binge/treat less or not at all - your overall calorie intake could be less. The calorie deficit is what makes you lose weight. However it is all about your overall deficit. Not 5 days of 800 calories and then 2 days of 4000 calories. (Random numbers to just make a point). If you aren't losing you are eating too much.0 -
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Thank you. I have a kitchen scale that I use to weigh chicken/meats. The cups and whatnot should just be for vegetables and grains. Should I be weighing those items too? I think I probably missed adding meals over the weekend, but I usually don't do that... (House of Cards - what more can I say??)
My goal is lose another 35 to 40 pounds, so I still have a way to go!
Thanks ladies... I will continue to eat back my calories and just keep working and eating well!0 -
Yes. Scales are for solids and measuring cups are for liquids.cherylmurray83 wrote: »Thank you. I have a kitchen scale that I use to weigh chicken/meats. The cups and whatnot should just be for vegetables and grains. Should I be weighing those items too?
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Liftng4Lis wrote: »
Excellent read. Thanks!0 -
I am currently in the same boat. I wonder if I'm not eating enough calories since my weight loss is slower than I would expect and I've been trying NOT to eat the calories back. However, I ran a marathon in November and managed to not lose anything through all that training and that was a lot of calories burned! Now I'm not nearly training as hard, but at least the number is moving, albeit slowly.
Thanks for the information!0 -
CWoods7695 wrote: »I wonder if I'm not eating enough calories since my weight loss is slower than I would expect and I've been trying NOT to eat the calories back.
If you can run a marathon, you're definitely not eating too little. If you aren't losing as fast as you "should", then you're eating more than you think.
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I eat back about 1/2-3/4 depending on cut or maintenance requirements.0
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Strangely, my trainer had put me on a 1400 calorie diet with extremely low carbs and high protein and I was working out 3-5 days a week for an hour each day. She told me not to eat back my calories and not to log my exercise in mfp just my food intake. Now that I got rid of my trainer (I couldn't live on that low of carbs and calories) I exercise 6 days a week, eat 1500 calories a day with more manageable, but still very difficult, carb intake. I still don't eat my calories back, should I?0
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you're supposed to eat back some of your calories burned through exercise. why only some? Because of the calorie-burned amounts are bit generous, for example the treadmill will say you burned 300 calories running 3 miles, but really your burn was somewhere around 270 or 280.
So you eat back around 50 to 75% of those calories you burn--so from the example, like 150 to 200.0 -
The reason you eat them back is to fuel your workout/body. MFP already puts you at a calorie deficit (unless you're maintaining). To consistently put yourself into a lower deficit will over time zap your energy, possible put you in a nutrient deficiency, and will most likely make you miserable!0
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The reason you eat them back is to fuel your workout/body. MFP already puts you at a calorie deficit (unless you're maintaining). To consistently put yourself into a lower deficit will over time zap your energy, possible put you in a nutrient deficiency, and will most likely make you miserable!
Thanks for explaining! I'm relatively new to this and with the poor guidance of my previous trainer I couldn't seem to stick with it. I appreciate you're time explaining it for me.0 -
Not a problem! Best of luck to you with your goals and your health!0
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dumb question here... so if I eat back the calories I burn how will I ever have a deficit and loose weight? Wouldn't I always be back to square one, I ate what I burned?0
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tropic80girl wrote: »dumb question here... so if I eat back the calories I burn how will I ever have a deficit and loose weight? Wouldn't I always be back to square one, I ate what I burned?tropic80girl wrote: »dumb question here... so if I eat back the calories I burn how will I ever have a deficit and loose weight? Wouldn't I always be back to square one, I ate what I burned?
MFP is set for you to lose weight without exercise. Say you're set to 1500 calories to lose a pound a week. They've determined your maintenance level to be 2000 calories (What you burn during the day through work, school, errands, socializing, and basic bodily functions). You then exercise and burn 400 calories. Your burn for the day is now 2400. To keep your body running and not at too large a deficit, they expect you to eat them back, meaning you would consume 1900 calories. But as stated before, most people only do 50-75% of that, so you'd eat 1700-1800 calories for the day.0 -
I disagree with eating back cals. The activity level that you set, dictates no activity or lots of activity. As long as your true to yourself when you state activity level, there shouldn't be a problem. MFP is a great tool for tracking intake but I wouldn't use it as my personal trainer. Tracking my food takes enough energy. I have seen tons of threads on other websites where people weren't seeing results due to this very reason. Too much splitting hairs. Keep it simple.0
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I disagree with eating back cals. The activity level that you set, dictates no activity or lots of activity. As long as your true to yourself when you state activity level, there shouldn't be a problem. MFP is a great tool for tracking intake but I wouldn't use it as my personal trainer. Tracking my food takes enough energy. I have seen tons of threads on other websites where people weren't seeing results due to this very reason. Too much splitting hairs. Keep it simple.
The activity level is intended to be one's regular, everyday activities without exercise. That way you don't have to worry about over-eating if you can't work out daily -- your basic needs are met by your calorie goal (which factors in a deficit).
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After losing over 50 pounds I guess I have been doing something wrong. Enjoy tapping glass twice as much as necessary....... I just merely offer a simpler way of getting the same results.janejellyroll wrote: »I disagree with eating back cals. The activity level that you set, dictates no activity or lots of activity. As long as your true to yourself when you state activity level, there shouldn't be a problem. MFP is a great tool for tracking intake but I wouldn't use it as my personal trainer. Tracking my food takes enough energy. I have seen tons of threads on other websites where people weren't seeing results due to this very reason. Too much splitting hairs. Keep it simple.
The activity level is intended to be one's regular, everyday activities without exercise. That way you don't have to worry about over-eating if you can't work out daily -- your basic needs are met by your calorie goal (which factors in a deficit).
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After losing over 50 pounds I guess I have been doing something wrong. Enjoy tapping glass twice as much as necessary....... I just merely offer a simpler way of getting the same results.janejellyroll wrote: »I disagree with eating back cals. The activity level that you set, dictates no activity or lots of activity. As long as your true to yourself when you state activity level, there shouldn't be a problem. MFP is a great tool for tracking intake but I wouldn't use it as my personal trainer. Tracking my food takes enough energy. I have seen tons of threads on other websites where people weren't seeing results due to this very reason. Too much splitting hairs. Keep it simple.
The activity level is intended to be one's regular, everyday activities without exercise. That way you don't have to worry about over-eating if you can't work out daily -- your basic needs are met by your calorie goal (which factors in a deficit).
I'm not attacking your method if it worked for you. However, for me, doing it another way would be much more complex. I am sedentary in lifestyle and my exercise varies from .5-4 hours a day. It's much less work for me to base my calories on sedentary activity level and account for my exercise than to subtract calories from an allotment based on a more active lifestyle. I imagine I'm not the only person in this camp, which is why many people using the app have lost weight this way too.
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After losing over 50 pounds I guess I have been doing something wrong. Enjoy tapping glass twice as much as necessary....... I just merely offer a simpler way of getting the same results.janejellyroll wrote: »I disagree with eating back cals. The activity level that you set, dictates no activity or lots of activity. As long as your true to yourself when you state activity level, there shouldn't be a problem. MFP is a great tool for tracking intake but I wouldn't use it as my personal trainer. Tracking my food takes enough energy. I have seen tons of threads on other websites where people weren't seeing results due to this very reason. Too much splitting hairs. Keep it simple.
The activity level is intended to be one's regular, everyday activities without exercise. That way you don't have to worry about over-eating if you can't work out daily -- your basic needs are met by your calorie goal (which factors in a deficit).
The number on the scale is just one measure of success. MFP gives users the option of eating calories back. The design is to get the user back to the calorie deficit they set at the start.
Some people choose to lose weight at a slower pace....on purpose. I choose to lose slower pace. I want the best chance at maintaining lean muscle mass. Sure, I want the number on the scale too, but moderate weight loss should get me a lower body fat percentage in the process.
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After losing over 50 pounds I guess I have been doing something wrong. Enjoy tapping glass twice as much as necessary....... I just merely offer a simpler way of getting the same results.janejellyroll wrote: »I disagree with eating back cals. The activity level that you set, dictates no activity or lots of activity. As long as your true to yourself when you state activity level, there shouldn't be a problem. MFP is a great tool for tracking intake but I wouldn't use it as my personal trainer. Tracking my food takes enough energy. I have seen tons of threads on other websites where people weren't seeing results due to this very reason. Too much splitting hairs. Keep it simple.
The activity level is intended to be one's regular, everyday activities without exercise. That way you don't have to worry about over-eating if you can't work out daily -- your basic needs are met by your calorie goal (which factors in a deficit).
The number on the scale is just one measure of success. MFP gives users the option of eating calories back. The design is to get the user back to the calorie deficit they set at the start.
Some people choose to lose weight at a slower pace....on purpose. I choose to lose slower pace. I want the best chance at maintaining lean muscle mass. Sure, I want the number on the scale too, but moderate weight loss should get me a lower body fat percentage in the process.
Not eating enough protein is how you lose lean muscle mass.0 -
After losing over 50 pounds I guess I have been doing something wrong. Enjoy tapping glass twice as much as necessary....... I just merely offer a simpler way of getting the same results.janejellyroll wrote: »I disagree with eating back cals. The activity level that you set, dictates no activity or lots of activity. As long as your true to yourself when you state activity level, there shouldn't be a problem. MFP is a great tool for tracking intake but I wouldn't use it as my personal trainer. Tracking my food takes enough energy. I have seen tons of threads on other websites where people weren't seeing results due to this very reason. Too much splitting hairs. Keep it simple.
The activity level is intended to be one's regular, everyday activities without exercise. That way you don't have to worry about over-eating if you can't work out daily -- your basic needs are met by your calorie goal (which factors in a deficit).
The number on the scale is just one measure of success. MFP gives users the option of eating calories back. The design is to get the user back to the calorie deficit they set at the start.
Some people choose to lose weight at a slower pace....on purpose. I choose to lose slower pace. I want the best chance at maintaining lean muscle mass. Sure, I want the number on the scale too, but moderate weight loss should get me a lower body fat percentage in the process.
Not eating enough protein is how you lose lean muscle mass.
Not eating enough*period* is how you lose lean muscle. Eating enough calories, eating enough protein, and resistance or weight training will minimize the amount of muscle lost, but any weight loss is going to include both lean and fat.
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I typically dont eat back very many if any of my calories. I tend to be full enough with how I plan my food through out the day. I mean I may go over just slightly. Now on long days that is totally different. I tend to eat back about 1/2.0
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I syou're supposed to eat back some of your calories burned through exercise. why only some? Because of the calorie-burned amounts are bit generous, for example the treadmill will say you burned 300 calories running 3 miles, but really your burn was somewhere around 270 or 280.
So you eat back around 50 to 75% of those calories you burn--so from the example, like 150 to 200.
I agree that a lot of exercise equipment is generous. What about Heart Rate Monitors? I use it for cardio only. How accurate can I assume it is? I just started wearing it a few days ago and am not sure how accurate I can expect it to be.
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I use an HRM and I think it's pretty accurate... I'm basing this off comparisons with other people who are doing the same workout as me.0
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