Do you eat back your calories?
GaijinAdrian
Posts: 47 Member
According to the mfp calculator, I should consume close to 1900 calories a day to lose weight but when I exercise, it adds the calories burned to my daily limit. Should I follow this or just ignore my exercise calories?
0
Replies
-
GaijinAdrian wrote: »According to the mfp calculator, I should consume close to 1900 calories a day to lose weight but when I exercise, it adds the calories burned to my daily limit. Should I follow this or just ignore my exercise calories?
I don't eat back my exercise calories. I'm aware of them, but I don't eat more just to burn them off. I like having the extra calories if I get hungry, but as a rule I just let them contribute to my daily calorie deficit. 2#/wk so far.0 -
It depends how many you're burning and where you're getting your burn numbers from. Ideally you shouldn't dip below 1200 net calories.
There are some days I burn 1000 calories through exercise. If I didn't eat most of them back I'd be netting around 400 calories.0 -
I usually eat about 50-75% or so of my exercise calories because if I didnt it would have caused me to frequently dip below my BMR. This has worked for me just perfect - steadily lost 45 lb since Feb. I continue to eat my exercise calories in maintenance. You burn calories during exercise and need to provide your body with enough energy to recover and replenish it.
Accuracy of calories burned is another matter.0 -
I am on 500 cal deficit and from exercise I burn 500 calcal(approxx) which adds up to 1000 cal deficit so now it depends on how much faster you wanna lose weight. I want to go slow and steady so i eat back my workout cal.... I hope you get it....0
-
malharingale1991 wrote: »I am on 500 cal deficit and from exercise I burn 500 calcal(approxx) which adds up to 1000 cal deficit so now it depends on how much faster you wanna lose weight. I want to go slow and steady so i eat back my workout cal.... I hope you get it....
Not necessarily that easy. You have to provide your body with enough energy and nutrients to function properly - cut too much below BMR and your workouts will suffer, low energy, slow recovery, always being hungry - eventually might lead you to binging. That's why the less you have to lose the lesser deficit is generally recommend.0 -
In most cases, yes, you should eat a portion back.0
-
I'm actually bumping up how many exercise calories I'm eating at the moment. I had been losing more weight eating 50% of my Fitbit adjustments, so I'm going to try 65%.0
-
take a look at the stickies...they will explain all of this...0
-
Well I do. I am given 1280 calories a day which is hard for me. I get anywhere from 500-900 calories from walking and working out. I eat most of them back. I leave at least 20% to account for any inaccuracy. So after 3 weeks of this I have lost 6 pounds so it is working so far. I just started weight lifting yesterday so I am not sure how to log that but I have been happy with the results and motivated.0
-
ladybug4233 wrote: »Well I do. I am given 1280 calories a day which is hard for me. I get anywhere from 500-900 calories from walking and working out. I eat most of them back. I leave at least 20% to account for any inaccuracy. So after 3 weeks of this I have lost 6 pounds so it is working so far. I just started weight lifting yesterday so I am not sure how to log that but I have been happy with the results and motivated.
It is very unlikely that you're burning that much.0 -
ladybug4233 wrote: »Well I do. I am given 1280 calories a day which is hard for me. I get anywhere from 500-900 calories from walking and working out. I eat most of them back. I leave at least 20% to account for any inaccuracy. So after 3 weeks of this I have lost 6 pounds so it is working so far. I just started weight lifting yesterday so I am not sure how to log that but I have been happy with the results and motivated.
It is very unlikely that you're burning that much.
That's really not that great of a calorie burn depending on exercise type. I can burn over half my daily calorie goal in an hour. Unless that person has improper exercise tracking, there is no reason to think they don't burn that much off with exercise.
OP,
If I didn't eat back at least a good portion of my exercise calories I'd end up eating everything after a few days of starving myself through lack of nutrition. It all varies with how much or little exercise you are doing, what types, total (honest) calorie burn etc.
This all rolls into what your average activity is day to day, how and when you eat... the whole picture. I can often add 500-1000 calories of extra exercise and eat only half or so back, maybe even less. But when I exercise harder I often have to eat back a decent bit of it to recover and have energy the following day.
If you have a weight loss goal set in your MFP, also keep in mind that is an already existing calorie deficit when you hit your daily goal. In my case I'm working at a 500 calorie deficit per day as is. If I throw in 1500-2000 calories of exercise without taking something extra back in, I'm headed for a crash.
I've had a hard time finding a straight answer on a solid percentage of calorie deficit for a single day event, but most weight loss programs seems to think anything more than 20-25% on a daily basis is pushing things a bit too hard.0 -
Not exactly. I have a range of 1200-1400 that I stay within. I am only 5'2" and lose weight slowly, but gain easily. On days I exercise I allow myself to eat more in the high end of the range, but stay more close to 1200 on days I do not hit the gym.
Doing this I lose about 2 or 3 pounds a month.
0 -
Per my fitbit I can burn over 1000 calories doing around 26,000 steps. I can't remember the exact number. .0
-
christinev297 wrote: »It depends how many you're burning and where you're getting your burn numbers from. Ideally you shouldn't dip below 1200 net calories.
There are some days I burn 1000 calories through exercise. If I didn't eat most of them back I'd be netting around 400 calories.
This
I rode 70 miles on my bike over the weekend. I ate back maybe a 1/3 of that.
That was plenty.
I don't exercise just to eat it all back. I want to burn off more body fat up to 2 pounds a week.
0 -
If I'm hungry and have calories from exercise, I eat. My weekend runs can burn nearly 2000 calories and there's no way I'm not going to eat (or drink) at least half of those back.0
-
robertw486 wrote: »ladybug4233 wrote: »Well I do. I am given 1280 calories a day which is hard for me. I get anywhere from 500-900 calories from walking and working out. I eat most of them back. I leave at least 20% to account for any inaccuracy. So after 3 weeks of this I have lost 6 pounds so it is working so far. I just started weight lifting yesterday so I am not sure how to log that but I have been happy with the results and motivated.
It is very unlikely that you're burning that much.
That's really not that great of a calorie burn depending on exercise type. I can burn over half my daily calorie goal in an hour.
Yeah that is extremely unlikely unless you run 15 miles in an hour.0 -
robertw486 wrote: »ladybug4233 wrote: »Well I do. I am given 1280 calories a day which is hard for me. I get anywhere from 500-900 calories from walking and working out. I eat most of them back. I leave at least 20% to account for any inaccuracy. So after 3 weeks of this I have lost 6 pounds so it is working so far. I just started weight lifting yesterday so I am not sure how to log that but I have been happy with the results and motivated.
It is very unlikely that you're burning that much.
That's really not that great of a calorie burn depending on exercise type. I can burn over half my daily calorie goal in an hour.
Yeah that is extremely unlikely unless you run 15 miles in an hour.
I think one can do it in 8 miles - should be around 900-1,000 calories, which could be someone's half day of calories.0 -
Eat them back. Eat heart rate monitored calories back fully (and adjust down if needed) and 50 to 75% of MFP or device calorie burns. The methods MPF uses assumes you eat them back: the net goal you get is asready the deficit you put in you want to lose. Your body needs those calories in order to stay healthy. Drop below and you eat into your muscle and eventually your organs. Eat back your calories.0
-
I have my calories set based on 4-6 hours of weigh lifting a week so I don't add back anything MFP puts in there.0
-
robertw486 wrote: »ladybug4233 wrote: »Well I do. I am given 1280 calories a day which is hard for me. I get anywhere from 500-900 calories from walking and working out. I eat most of them back. I leave at least 20% to account for any inaccuracy. So after 3 weeks of this I have lost 6 pounds so it is working so far. I just started weight lifting yesterday so I am not sure how to log that but I have been happy with the results and motivated.
It is very unlikely that you're burning that much.
That's really not that great of a calorie burn depending on exercise type. I can burn over half my daily calorie goal in an hour.
Yeah that is extremely unlikely unless you run 15 miles in an hour.
I think one can do it in 8 miles - should be around 900-1,000 calories, which could be someone's half day of calories.
Depends on how heavy they are and whether they subtract out the calories they would have burned anyway (as they should).
I ran a half marathon yesterday and burned around 1000 in addition to what I would have burned anyway, according to this calculator: http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning.
(Without backing out the extra calories I burned from just living, it would have been more like 1230.)0 -
I didn't think about leaving off 20% of my daily calories for any inaccuracies.. I'll definitely do this.0
-
I don't eat them back but I also increased my base calorie goal to account for exercise - so I actually do eat them back but I don't log it separate.0
-
Losinandmovin wrote: »GaijinAdrian wrote: »According to the mfp calculator, I should consume close to 1900 calories a day to lose weight but when I exercise, it adds the calories burned to my daily limit. Should I follow this or just ignore my exercise calories?
I don't eat back my exercise calories. I'm aware of them, but I don't eat more just to burn them off. I like having the extra calories if I get hungry, but as a rule I just let them contribute to my daily calorie deficit. 2#/wk so far.
Second this.
0 -
Faithful_Chosen wrote: »Eat them back. Eat heart rate monitored calories back fully (and adjust down if needed) and 50 to 75% of MFP or device calorie burns. The methods MPF uses assumes you eat them back: the net goal you get is asready the deficit you put in you want to lose. Your body needs those calories in order to stay healthy. Drop below and you eat into your muscle and eventually your organs. Eat back your calories.
Well said.0 -
robertw486 wrote: »ladybug4233 wrote: »Well I do. I am given 1280 calories a day which is hard for me. I get anywhere from 500-900 calories from walking and working out. I eat most of them back. I leave at least 20% to account for any inaccuracy. So after 3 weeks of this I have lost 6 pounds so it is working so far. I just started weight lifting yesterday so I am not sure how to log that but I have been happy with the results and motivated.
It is very unlikely that you're burning that much.
That's really not that great of a calorie burn depending on exercise type. I can burn over half my daily calorie goal in an hour.
Yeah that is extremely unlikely unless you run 15 miles in an hour.
Actually for my weight, biking 15-16 miles an hour will burn right around 1000-1100 calories, which is over half my daily calories.
In any case the statement by Ladybug about her workout calorie burn indicated walking and working out, and gave me no reason to question her calorie burn. If she is losing weight after eating back most of her calories, I have to assume that both her fitness and exercise logging is accurate enough to work for what she is doing.
0 -
Faithful_Chosen wrote: »Eat them back. Eat heart rate monitored calories back fully (and adjust down if needed) and 50 to 75% of MFP or device calorie burns. The methods MPF uses assumes you eat them back: the net goal you get is asready the deficit you put in you want to lose. Your body needs those calories in order to stay healthy. Drop below and you eat into your muscle and eventually your organs. Eat back your calories.
Wow I had no idea it damaged your organs..now I'm concerned.0 -
of course yes - but after making sure they are pretty accurate
for example, I trust my Garmin HRM, but not my fitbit, this based on my weight journey (not eating them back = weight loss, and huge difference between garmin and fitbit, if I will look at the fitbit cals I'll gain weight)
and I always leave 120 cal left daily just in case (but I don't log 2-3 sweets I might eat per day, or the 3-4grams of parmesan I put on top of my pasta for example)0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 427 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions