Eating Excercise calories

Ready2BFitMom
Ready2BFitMom Posts: 28 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
What is the consensus on this? Do you eat them back, do you not? Does it depend on the type of excercise?

Replies

  • sherbear702
    sherbear702 Posts: 650 Member
    The general rule of thumb is to eat half back.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    There isn't a consensus. But MFP is designed for you to eat them back and if you can figure out how to calculate them accurately, you should eat all of them back. Since most of the tools seem to be reporting about twice as many calories burned as people are actually burning, it is probably better to only eat half of them.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    MFP is setup for you to eat back your exercise calories....

    Typically MFP is over estimated so the general advice is 50-75%...however if you are lucky like me...you can eat them all back and still lose weight.
  • tdatsenko
    tdatsenko Posts: 155 Member
    I usually try not to eat them back and save them for the weekend.
  • agreenid
    agreenid Posts: 218 Member
    The machine this morning said that I lost 635 calories. I logged it in at 525 and plan on trying to eat back only about 300 of those. That way if I go a little over on the weekend I'm still good but the machines very much lie. If you have a machine that asks for weight/age input and has a HR monitor it's more accurate but still overestimates in my opinion... When I do it this way, though, and don't log in pedometer "calories" I find I still lose consistently and don't beat myself up over treats when they happen.
  • sars388
    sars388 Posts: 29 Member
    I don't generally eat them back. I stick to what I'm allocated.
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
    My personal opinion is eat back 50% and adjust according to your rate of loss. So if you are losing faster than expected, eat back more.
  • cld111
    cld111 Posts: 300 Member
    I eat most of mine back, but I have a Fitbit and I find it to be pretty accurate.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    tdatsenko wrote: »
    I usually try not to eat them back and save them for the weekend.

    I'm glad it is not just me lol. I like to drink some of mine on a Saturday :)
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
    I bank mine too. That way I will never go over for the week.
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    It does depend on the type of exercise if you're looking at strength training vs. cardio. If you're doing cardio and using MFP's estimates, eat back 50% for 4-6 weeks and see what happens with your weight loss.

    Some people recommend to not eat back much, if anything, from calorie burns from strength training because they're grossly overestimated, even compared to cardio.

    I have a Fitbit and have been eating back all the exercise calories it gives me and my weight loss has been spot on so far. I did just start strength training (I log all exercise in the Fitbit app) and I'm continuing to eat back all the calories so we'll see if it's estimating those well also.

    ~Lyssa
  • nyponbell
    nyponbell Posts: 379 Member
    The problem I have is that on the days that I log my activity (I do most of my cardio at the gym; even if I'm active outside of it, I don't bother trying to measure out how long I've been walking when I'm just out and about) are not the days I want to eat more - it's usually the day after, if I've not gone to the gym that day too. So even if I can 'save' the calories and look at my CICO on a weekly basis instead, on my day-to-day the calories are going to be all over the place - which can be discouraging if I'm in the 'red' two-three days a week.

    Those of you who 'save' your calories for the weekend, how do you deal with that? Have you reached a place where it's no longer discouraging?
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    nyponbell wrote: »
    The problem I have is that on the days that I log my activity (I do most of my cardio at the gym; even if I'm active outside of it, I don't bother trying to measure out how long I've been walking when I'm just out and about) are not the days I want to eat more - it's usually the day after, if I've not gone to the gym that day too. So even if I can 'save' the calories and look at my CICO on a weekly basis instead, on my day-to-day the calories are going to be all over the place - which can be discouraging if I'm in the 'red' two-three days a week.

    Those of you who 'save' your calories for the weekend, how do you deal with that? Have you reached a place where it's no longer discouraging?

    On the MFP app, go to More, then Nutrition. You can view your calories for the week, along with a weekly average. For me, as long as my average is right around my goal, I'm OK with having a day or two in the red.

    You can pay for premium and have different goals for each day, too, but I'm good with checking the graph in the app :)

    You could try logging your exercise on a different day so the calories are there, too.

    ~Lyssa
  • andreamulhall
    andreamulhall Posts: 81 Member
    I try not to eat them back
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    One of the main reasons I exercise is so I can eat more :open_mouth:;)
  • cld111
    cld111 Posts: 300 Member
    christinev297 wrote: »
    One of the main reasons I exercise is so I can eat more :open_mouth:;)

    Yes! Me too!!

  • FitKat123
    FitKat123 Posts: 71 Member
    I don't bank mine and I generally eat a little more than half. I don't really trust the accuracy of the fitbit but MFP already has me at a deficit so eating back some would most likely keep me at a deficit. That being said, if I just don't feel like I need the extra calories, I won't eat them. Like today, for instance, MFP says I have around 1200 calories after logging breakfast and lunch. I earned around 677 calories. I probably will use very little if any, of the earned calories because I'm not very hungry. If I felt like I was starving, I would. I guess I listen to my body.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
    i ates them allz. lost 100 pounds that way.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    I've always eaten them all. Through 50 pounds of weight loss, through 2 years of maintenance. And now through 2 bulk and cut cycles. It works.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    besaro wrote: »
    i ates them allz. lost 100 pounds that way.
    MB_Positif wrote: »
    I've always eaten them all. Through 50 pounds of weight loss, through 2 years of maintenance. And now through 2 bulk and cut cycles. It works.

    Great! Were you using apps to calculate your exercise, or typing exercises into MFP, or another way?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited May 2015
    besaro wrote: »
    i ates them allz. lost 100 pounds that way.

    :bigsmile: yo yo, you go girl :bigsmile: :+1:

  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Orphia wrote: »
    besaro wrote: »
    i ates them allz. lost 100 pounds that way.
    MB_Positif wrote: »
    I've always eaten them all. Through 50 pounds of weight loss, through 2 years of maintenance. And now through 2 bulk and cut cycles. It works.

    Great! Were you using apps to calculate your exercise, or typing exercises into MFP, or another way?

    I always used MFP's numbers, but often cut 10-20 minutes off of my exercise time to make up for any potential discrepancies.

  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    MB_Positif wrote: »
    Orphia wrote: »
    besaro wrote: »
    i ates them allz. lost 100 pounds that way.
    MB_Positif wrote: »
    I've always eaten them all. Through 50 pounds of weight loss, through 2 years of maintenance. And now through 2 bulk and cut cycles. It works.

    Great! Were you using apps to calculate your exercise, or typing exercises into MFP, or another way?

    I always used MFP's numbers, but often cut 10-20 minutes off of my exercise time to make up for any potential discrepancies.

    Thanks!
  • tschlach
    tschlach Posts: 33 Member
    I've often had the same question. I put my weight in on the elliptical and it monitors my pulse and at the end of 60 minutes the machine shows I've burned like 630 calories. When I put it into MFP it shows like 1100+ calories burned. That's a big difference. So what do you think is more accurate? I don't eat my calories back.
  • cmoll520
    cmoll520 Posts: 60 Member
    edited May 2015
    I use the Fitbit charge HR and it's pretty accurate. I don't eat all my calories back unless I'm hungry- but even doing that my calorie debt equaled basically exactly what I lost since having the fitbit.
  • Sophiasmomma
    Sophiasmomma Posts: 155 Member
    christinev297 wrote: »
    One of the main reasons I exercise is so I can eat more :open_mouth:;)

    me toooooo.... I love having so much wiggle room when I want to snack more!!!
    I try to eat half back but about 4 days a month I eat every last one LOL

  • nyponbell
    nyponbell Posts: 379 Member
    @macgurlnet Thanks! I knew I had seen it before, but since the revamp I couldn't find it (it's been a while since I used the app).
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Ready2BFitMom wrote: »
    What is the consensus on this? Do you eat them back, do you not? Does it depend on the type of excercise?

    All the calorie counts & burns are nothing but estimates. And it's human nature to underestimate your food & overestimate your exertion level. So some people (not all) reduce the margin of error by eating back a percentage of their exercise calories.

    The more accurate your logging, the more of your exercise calories you can eat back. I eat 100% of my Fitbit adjustments, lost the weight, and have maintained for almost a year. YMMV.

    I did it by following the advice in the Sexypants post: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
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