Eating back your calories?

Quinn_Baker

Is there a rule of thumb to this? I'm set to 1450 cals a day (which is higher than what MFP recommends) but sometimes I eat back some of my exercise cals. Is this hurting my progress?

IsaackGMOON

No. You should be eating back 50-75% of your exercise calories to allow for any inaccuracies.

You're doing fine.

KittensMaster

MFP gives crazy high calorie burn numbers

Look at this bike ride for calorie burn. Now it was a very long ride, 50 miles and pretty fast. But MFP overestimates the calories by 50%

I punch in my own numbers I get from a different site. That ride was about 2550 calories. And I will probably eat back 1000 of those

With exercise over long duration your body burns fat. So eating back all of those calories defeats the purpose of the exercise. I'm not going to bust hump for 3 hours to eat those calories all back.

Quinn_Baker

I usually try not to eat back exercise calories, I guess sometimes I just have days where I am hungrier, so I do.
This all makes sense though, thanks.

kami3006

As long as your calorie burns are accurate, eating them back won't hinder progress as your deficit is built into your goal number. I eat back all of mine daily and it never hindered my progress. Finding accurate burns is the challenge. Takes trial and error.

HannahLucy95

Thanks for asking this as I really wanted to know too! I have the same concerns that some of the exercises on MFP give ridiculously inaccurate burn numbers.

Faithful_Chosen

Okay, yes you should be eating back your true exercise calories. If you have an HRM, trust that. If you use machine or MFP burns, eat back half to 75% at least. If you want to know why, please read my blog post on why you should eat to your net goal: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Faithful_Chosen/view/why-you-should-eat-to-your-mfp-goal-including-true-exercise-calories-763982

jemhh

kami3006 wrote: »

As long as your calorie burns are accurate, eating them back won't hinder progress as your deficit is built into your goal number. I eat back all of mine daily and it never hindered my progress. Finding accurate burns is the challenge. Takes trial and error.

I agree with this. I don't believe that HRM calorie numbers are always more or less accurate than MFP. Trial and error is the key.

KittensMaster

So you get up and burn 500 calories

300 from fat

That is just fat burn. It is not denying your body needed calories

Your body "found" those calories from fat stores.

There is no need to replace those 300 calories.

No need to eat those back.

Under eating what you need to function on an extreme diet is not the same thing

I don't eat all mine back. I am not losing muscle mass since I get enough protein.

Giving yourself a little extra fat burn off is not a problem.

kami3006

I replace them because if I don't my workouts suffer greatly. The OP simply asked if it would hinder progress and the answer is no it won't. Doesn't mean she has to eat them all but she can if she feels she needs it.

carolyn000000

I eat mine back. I would be crazy hungry if I did not. I can still lose 2 pounds a week by eating back calories. Also, losing weight is how I know I am calculating my exercise calories correctly.

MeanderingMammal

KittensMaster wrote: »

So you get up and burn 500 calories

300 from fat

That is just fat burn. It is not denying your body needed calories

Your body "found" those calories from fat stores.

There is no need to replace those 300 calories.

Huh????

It doesn't actually work like that.

MeanderingMammal

quinndeborde wrote: »

Is there a rule of thumb to this? I'm set to 1450 cals a day (which is higher than what MFP recommends) but sometimes I eat back some of my exercise cals. Is this hurting my progress?

Personally I eat back the majority of mine, but it depends on how much confidence you have in the calorie burns.

I take mine from my GPS for running and cycling but in practice I find MFP pretty accurate for both of those.

For lots of activities there's no reliable way to measure the calorie expenditure, so you're into finding a consistent method and adjusting your treatment depending on your progress; resistance training, classes, anaerobic work etc