Is it best to eat your calories back?

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  • TechOutside
    TechOutside Posts: 101 Member
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    KhloeJadie wrote: »
    Thank you so much for your reply, yeah everything feels foreign at this point. My body tries to trick me all day! I'm going to try not eating them back and seeing what kind of effect it'll have, I've got a long journey ahead of me.

    You have time, take this journey in as small of goals as you can. Each little win strengthens your resolve for the next. You have made the decision to change (win!). You are asking questions of others with experience (win!) take these in baby steps and it will go faster than you think. You got this!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    As an example 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.
  • bluetuesday5
    bluetuesday5 Posts: 99 Member
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    Yes I do, however my goal is to lose very slowly while gaining strength, and I also burn quite a lot through cardio so not eating any back would leave me in a huge deficit.
  • CindyRoseMarie
    CindyRoseMarie Posts: 28 Member
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    I have come to find that doing what works for me is what works best, for me :) I also have 100 lbs to lose and have been in this head game challenge for a long while. The mind wants me to get in shape, the body tells me it's too much work. I am fighting my bodies impulses to just give up. I don't try to eat my exercise calories but if I go a little over in my defit calorie intake I don't worry about it if I have been good at keeping my exercise calories set aside. Does that make sense to you? It's like a rainy day fund. Not that you can have yourself an over eaters party on those calories, but they do make up for a day when you go a little over without hindering your weightloss. Best to you on your journey. We can do this!
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    Assuming you are going by MFP's numbers, eat back at least a portion of them. Too large of a deficit will increase hunger (opening up a door for binges), cause you to lose lean body mass, and can make you feel weak and tired a lot of the time.

    How much depends on how well you trust the calculator giving you the extra. I trust my Fitbit and do not log walking as exercise so I eat back almost all of the extras my fitbit gives me. I don't trust MFP's calculations as much so I eat back closer to 25% of the calories given me for my lap swimming.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    THink about it this way...if you drive your car and never put gas in it....it eventually sputters...and stops and won't go again until you put at least some gas in it.

    Yes you are eating but you are burning "fuel" by working out...that fuel needs replaced...not just to live but to exercise too.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    THink about it this way...if you drive your car and never put gas in it....it eventually sputters...and stops and won't go again until you put at least some gas in it.

    Yes you are eating but you are burning "fuel" by working out...that fuel needs replaced...not just to live but to exercise too.

    A more correct analogy would be if you only put 3 gallons of gas in your car each time, but you drive long enough to use up 4. Depending on how much gas was there before you started rationing, you can use the excess for a little while, but eventually there are no more reserves to use up.

  • philreeduk
    philreeduk Posts: 51 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    KhloeJadie wrote: »
    Thank you so much for your reply, yeah everything feels foreign at this point. My body tries to trick me all day! I'm going to try not eating them back and seeing what kind of effect it'll have, I've got a long journey ahead of me.

    So why make that long journey harder by having an excessive deficit?

    Hi, can you clarify this? at the moment I have a rather huge deficit (1,000 a day) then add to that about 3-400 calories for the walking I do. Why would not eating these calories contribute to a longer weight loss time?
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    Probably about half of them, because MFP gives you a ridiculous calorie burn estimate, and if you eat all that you might actually end up gaining!
  • carliekitty
    carliekitty Posts: 303 Member
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    I've eaten back most of my exercise calories through loosing 100lbs. It's allowed me to enjoy a treat on a regular basis. I'm also a dedicated exerciser and eating to little makes me hungry, lazier, and just nasty. I tried to cut my calories to low for the last two weeks (going to paris) and ended up eating 1300 calories of to die for chocolate....
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Fueling your fitness is pretty important. Fit and healthy people eat and know how to properly fuel their bodies for performance and recovery.
  • spyro88
    spyro88 Posts: 472 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I started here 4 days ago and have been wondering about this too. I have exercised every day burning between 4-600 calories (roughly) each time. I haven't eaten back much over the past three days, but today I'm really hungry all of a sudden, so I'm thinking today I can eat a little more and use some of those calories. As long as I don't do the same EVERY day I will still have a deficit and lose weight.

    My thinking is we should try listen to our bodies, and try to spot the difference between when we are *really* hungry, or when we just feel like food for comfort or whatever other reason. I'm not planning to eat back my calories for the sake of it but also won't starve my body on days when I'm truly hungry :smile: Let's see if it works for me and well done to those who have found what works for them.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    Its depends on your mfp settings, if you're set at sedentary then are can eat up to 50-75% of your exercise calories back.
  • GeemaLeema
    GeemaLeema Posts: 7 Member
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    When I first started MFP it wasn't the hunger I struggled with, it was the tiredness!! Eating less made me incredibly tired, plus I was dealing with a lot of stress at the time. On the nights I went to the gym to do a class it was worse. I would walk 15 mins to the gym, do an hour of intense exercise and then a slow 15 mins back. Afterwards I would eat a normal sized dinner to reach my deficit and sometimes more! By this time it's 8pm and all I want to do is sleep and I would feel like that for the rest of the evening until I gave in.

    I've recently discovered that I have to eat straight away after exercise. It could be something small but as soon as I stop, I need to be giving myself more energy otherwise I completely burn out. So definitely agree that you should eat back some of the calories that you've burnt. :)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    spyro88 wrote: »
    I started here 4 days ago and have been wondering about this too. I have exercised every day burning between 4-600 calories (roughly) each time. I haven't eaten back much over the past three days, but today I'm really hungry all of a sudden, so I'm thinking today I can eat a little more and use some of those calories. As long as I don't do the same EVERY day I will still have a deficit and lose weight.

    My thinking is we should try listen to our bodies, and try to spot the difference between when we are *really* hungry, or when we just feel like food for comfort or whatever other reason. I'm not planning to eat back my calories for the sake of it but also won't starve my body on days when I'm truly hungry :smile: Let's see if it works for me and well done to those who have found what works for them.

    Even if you eat 100% of your exercise calories you will be in a deficit if you picked a goal to lose weight on this site.

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