Eating your Calories Burned?

veganbaum

KHS86 wrote: »

Doing 30 min on the elliptical and then going
"Oh, now I can eat this delicious white bread with nutella!" is not gonna get you to where you want to go.

It's all in your head, you aren't dying just because you did a little exercise, your body is not gonna collapse if you don't eat 'em back.

You have a goal to lose weight, then set a realistic daily calorie plan, and stick with it, everything burned is just something to get you to where you want to be, faster.

Don't look for excuses to eat more.. Stick to the plan.

Individuals can, of course, do whatever they like. However, MFP's "plan" is designed for you to eat your exercise cals.

And, faster isn't always better.

MFD7576

I think NDJ told me once that if you eat them back, youre doing a better job rebuilding after exercise. The bonus calories back will translate into food for your sore muscles. I may be paraphrasing and/or giving false information though

veganbaum

pepper456 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, I know it's best not to eat them back, just wanting a general idea of what others are doing.

It's not "best" not to eat them back. It's best to fuel your body appropriately for your level of activity, whatever that may be.

MFP already gives you a deficit. If you are logging accurately, you should be losing weight based on your goal as provided. Larger deficits can lead to "diet" fatigue, frustration, lack of appropriate nutrition, less energy for workouts (which may mean less effective workouts), and more loss of muscle mass than one may have lost otherwise. If you do a leisurely stroll for half an hour, meh, you can probably take the extra burn and be okay. If you do a half hour run, it's probably a good idea to eat at least half of those.

disasterman

I got predictable results by eating back approximately half my exercise calories. I chalk this up to underestimating calories in and overestimating calories out.

steph2strong

I do very high intensity exercise for at least an hour a day and eat back every calorie I burn. Never had an issue with it, and I would not be able to sustain my exercise if I didn't.

5512bf

My exercise calories are high, last week was 8209 and so far this week 6563, all calculated by a HR monitor. Not eating those calories back would limit my ability to properly fuel for the next workout and marathon training. There are days when i'll run 1500-1800 calories, and with a 1400 calorie daily total I'd be net negative for the day.

Mr_Knight

pepper456 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, I know it's best not to eat them back...

That doesn't work as a blanket statement. It really really depends on the person, and their context.

hugheseva

I also find that the basic MFP setting for sedentary, light activity, etc is based on work types, not true activity. For example, I have a sedentary job but do very heavy exercising (weights and cardio) 5-6 times a week. The 1200 calories are just not enough to fuel my exercise regimen. I realized - actually my body did - that I must eat more to lose the weight otherwise the muscles are consumed and fat stays. I don't drop any weight when I under eat.
I have also noticed that the cardio exercises on MFP are way over-estimated. For 30 mins of elliptical it calculates 375 calories lost. In fact, it is only 205-220.