Eat exercise calories?

carriebrandon03

Are you supposed to definitely eat all the calories you burn exercising? Or as long as you eat the base calories (for losing weight) it will be okay? Sometimes I'm hungry enough to eat some or all of the extra calories I burned exercising, but tonight I'm not hungry and wonder if it's okay to skip eating the extra calories I burned exercising...

AmyRhubarb

Technically, yes you are supposed to eat them back. the daily goal MFP gives you has you at a deficit before exercise - meaning you could to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. Burning off more cals through exercise increases that deficit, making it much larger, and this can lead to problems for ya in the long run. So the cals are added back into your goal, and eating them back brings your NET cals up to your original goal, you're still at your original deficit, and you still lose weight.

Variables are in how you are tracking your cals in and out. Using a food scale, measuring cups and spoons for all your foods as much as possible rather than eyeballing portions, and using a good HRM or all tracker to estimate calories burnt are going to be more accurate. MFP's and fitness machines are notorious for overestimating calorie burns by quite a bit, so a lot of people recommend only eating back 50-75% of exercise cals if you rely on these methods for your burn.

That help? The goal should be to eat as many cals as possible while still losing weight - this is sustainable and keeps you well fueled and healthy while dropping the fat.

slimpack60

What I do is keep my weekly average close to my goal calories, days that I don't work out i don't worry if I go over a bit, on my work out days my calories will be under my goal. I think the key is to keep a consistant 7 day period for checking your weekly average, eg always check Sun to Sat. It works for me.
Just my two-bits worth.

carriebrandon03

Great tips from both of you, thanks!

kellscz

Hi,
Just reading all your comments.
I've plateau for three weeks. I've never ate all calories and I upped my exercise so I ran into problems.
So please tell me if I'm on track now.
My goal is 1600 that's in deficit. I was only eating 1400/1500 and exercising 3 times a week on this. Non exercise days I was again only eating 1400/1500.

So I should be eating 1600 on non exercise days and then on exercise days eat 50% to 75% of what I burn.

So if I'm buring 400/500 cals, do u think eating an extra 300 should cover it. Reason I'm saying 300 is because I have nothing to count what I actually burn..
I do 30mins speed boxing for fat burning and 30mins squats, push-ups etc

Hope I'm not being rude busting in here

mperrott2205

kellscz wrote: »

Hi,
Just reading all your comments.
I've plateau for three weeks. I've never ate all calories and I upped my exercise so I ran into problems.
So please tell me if I'm on track now.
My goal is 1600 that's in deficit. I was only eating 1400/1500 and exercising 3 times a week on this. Non exercise days I was again only eating 1400/1500.

So I should be eating 1600 on non exercise days and then on exercise days eat 50% to 75% of what I burn.

So if I'm buring 400/500 cals, do u think eating an extra 300 should cover it. Reason I'm saying 300 is because I have nothing to count what I actually burn..
I do 30mins speed boxing for fat burning and 30mins squats, push-ups etc

Hope I'm not being rude busting in here

How do you know you've plateaued? Have you tried other ways of measuring your progress? Photos? Measurements?

If you're in a caloric deficit, you'll be losing body fat, I guarantee it. Be patient, be consistent and eventually the scale will move. However I suggest that you start to have some other method of measuring your progress; scales aren't the most reliable source.

lisafrancis888

I'm only on 1200 a day so eat most of mine back. When I exercise I feel I need more than 1200 and i also use it as a buffer for the few days I go over by a little. My main aim is not to go over on the week.

AllanMisner

It is one of my pet peeves when people get so wrapped up in estimates. Calories in (even if you measure every single ingredient, is an estimate), calories out (even if you’re wearing a HRM, is an estimate). So, what should we do with estimates? Plug them in, use them as a guide, and if actual results don’t meet your expectations, tweak the estimates going forward.

As to results, the scale is a single data point, and not a good one. You want fat loss, so measure that. At the very least, do body measurements. And one week does not a plateau make.

To answer your question directly, you should eat what you need to eat to meet your goals. If you want fat loss, you should eat at a slight deficit. If I walk 2 miles, I might not need to worry about upping my calories that day. But if I’m lifting weights (and want to retain muscle while losing fat) or running 10 miles, I probably should.

What are your health and fitness goals?

jacksonpt

By the letter of the law, it depends. Using the MFP approach, yes you should be eating them back. Going by TDEE, no you don't eat them back. More reading is here, if you're interested:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/383956/exercise-calories-explained/p1

But ultimately, this is all based on a whole lotta estimating, so getting started usually requires some trial and error. Do something consistently for 4-6 weeks, evaluate your progress, tweak as necessary.

sgthaggard

I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with your burn estimates. What works for me is eating back some. How do I know it works for me? Because I'm rarely hungry and still consistently losing weight.