Do you eat back the calories earned from exercise?

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musicmint
musicmint Posts: 469
in Health and Weight Loss
Do you eat the calories earned from exercise???
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  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    yep:flowerforyou:
  • 2aycocks
    2aycocks Posts: 415 Member
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    Yep I do.
  • starlaca
    starlaca Posts: 779 Member
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    I want to but I have a hard time determining how many calories I REALLY burn during exercise.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
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    Always. MFP intends for you to eat back most or all of your exercise calories. And it works. :smile:
  • musicmint
    musicmint Posts: 469
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    I want to but I have a hard time determining how many calories I REALLY burn during exercise.

    You can do the machines in the gym and those are accurate ...otherwise the gym wouldn't be so expensive probably lol
  • Quilled
    Quilled Posts: 69 Member
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    Only a portion, because there really isnt an accurate way to tell how many calories we have actually burned. I typically burn about 400-500 calories in a gym visit according to the machines. So based on that I will eat back 200-300 cals (also depends on how hungry I feel afterwards). For exercise outside the gym where I really have no gauge of how much I have burned (Tuesdays and Thursdays) I just tend to stick to around 150-200. Depending on your basic calorie intake you may not have to eat back the calories, for instance if you already planned in exercise (most diet plans do) then you dont need to eat them back. So if you are eating say 1700 calories a day and burning 300, you dont need to eat those back (you can but dont need to), but if you are dipping below 1200 you really should eat a portion of them back.
  • thingeringer
    thingeringer Posts: 241 Member
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    Yes! I cherish everyone of them.
  • BeautifulByChoice
    BeautifulByChoice Posts: 60
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    I love food. Haha so I take what I can get and eat all of my exercise calories. I tend to feel better, and more "fueled" if I eat them back. Otherwise I wake up the next day feeling sluggish.
  • JessieePoooh
    JessieePoooh Posts: 27 Member
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    Not usually unless my calorie intake is really low. But if you eat ALL your exercise calories back, how will you lose weight? xD
    So I usually never eat them back but on occasion I will eat 100-150 of my workout cals back. :)
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
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    No.
  • jkatiebuie
    jkatiebuie Posts: 10
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    No, but I have plenty of fat to sustain me.
  • littlebuddy84
    littlebuddy84 Posts: 1,000 Member
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    Yes, at least 90% of them.
  • lcfairbairn74
    lcfairbairn74 Posts: 412 Member
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    Absolutely!

    I went through a phase early on, where I didn't realise that the way MFP is set up is for you to eat the exercise calories back. I didn't eat them and my weight loss stalled. Now I eat them and have been losing consistently ever since!
  • nolongerXXL
    nolongerXXL Posts: 222 Member
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    No, but I have plenty of fat to sustain me.

    ^This. As I get closer to my goal weight, I will re-access and eat them as needed.
  • lizmackay162
    lizmackay162 Posts: 2
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    I try not to eat all the calories I have gained from exercise, but if you keep within the new amount I don't see there will be a problem. It's just that you will probably lose weight faster if you don't eat them. I've been here since the beginning of the month and am finding it very useful here. It motivates me to do exercise.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Not usually unless my calorie intake is really low. But if you eat ALL your exercise calories back, how will you lose weight? xD
    So I usually never eat them back but on occasion I will eat 100-150 of my workout cals back. :)

    You will still lose weight even if you eat them all back because your body is burning a lot of calories a day by just existing. MFP has created a deficit for you based on all those calories your body uses while doing things like breathing and keeping your liver going. Exercising makes that deficit bigger, but it will still be there even if you eat back every single exercise calorie burned.
  • ebonyroche
    ebonyroche Posts: 675 Member
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    some of them
  • faely
    faely Posts: 144 Member
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    Depends on what system you're using. If you browse the boards you'll see that some people do it the MFP way, which is to eat back your exercise calories for a net amount of total calories in vs out. Some people, like myself, do it the TDEE way, which is to calculate how many calories you'll need based on your lifestyle activity, and then of course not eat the calories back because your goal includes them already.

    If you do it the MFP way (which again is to eat the calories back for a net total), and you DON'T eat the calories back, there is a chance you are not consuming enough calories for your body to just do its very basic functions, let alone provide energy for a workout, and you may not lose at all but in fact gain weight or completely stall out. Several good articles and threads on these boards regarding not eating your calories back and how staying below your body's minimum caloric requirements (which can vary from person to person) can be unhealthy. Definitely worth doing a search and reading up.

    :drinker:
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
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    Not usually unless my calorie intake is really low. But if you eat ALL your exercise calories back, how will you lose weight? xD

    You lose weight because the calorie goal that MFP gives you already has a deficit built into it. Your calorie goal is not a maintenance number; it is calculated to allow you to lose your weekly weight loss goal. One pound equals 3500 calories, which means that for every pound you want to lose, you need to create a weekly deficit of 3500 calories (which is a daily deficit of 500 calories over 7 days a week). If you tell MFP you want to lose a pound a week, it subtracts 500 calories from your maintenance number and makes that your calorie goal. So if you maintain at 2000 calories a day, and you want to lose 1 pound a week, MFP will tell you to eat 1500 calories a day.

    Let's say your MFP goal is 1500 calories. If you eat 1500 calories and do no exercise, your net calories are 1500.

    If you burn 500 calories through exercise and don't eat them back, you're netting 1000 calories. Since your maintenance calories are 2000, you've just doubled your deficit.
    1500 - 500 = 1000

    If you burn 500 calories through exercise and eat them back, you're balancing your net calories out at 1500 once again, same as if you didn't work out.
    1500 - 500 = 1000
    1000 + 500 = 1500

    So yes, eat them back. It's true that it can be difficult to accurately calculate how many calories are burned during exercise, so many people eat a portion of them back rather than all of them. Leaving them completely uneaten creates a more aggressive deficit that can lead to a greater loss of lean body mass, which isn't generally what most people are going for.
  • ElizaRoche
    ElizaRoche Posts: 2,005 Member
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    no i dont..

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