Eating back calories???

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jojobloss
jojobloss Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello so I've started today with a positive attitude in the fact I can do this !!! Measuring everything is the key I've decided so that I don't guesstimate and hence over eat ... Whilst I can't for health reason excercise for 6 weeks due to an upcoming op I am doing a lot of walking in my job leading up to my op so am earning more calories do I leave them to earn towards a deficit or are they meant to eaten I've heard different things and again I'm determined to do this right so need to make sure I do the right thing .... Thanks guys ... And happy Friday to you all

Replies

  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    They are meant to be eaten back when you use the NEAT method that MFP uses. However, the MFP database often overestimates calorie burns so you may want to just eat back 50% or so of exercise calories.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    They are meant to be eaten, but if you cannot exercise it's a moot point, I guess.

    Weighing your food will be even more helpful than just measuring it. The OXO scale is my favorite of the food scales, but you can find cheaper ones that are as accurate, just less fast and/or easy to use.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    seska422 wrote: »
    They are meant to be eaten back when you use the NEAT method that MFP uses. However, the MFP database often overestimates calorie burns so you may want to just eat back 50% or so of exercise calories.

    Agreed. If after two or three weeks, you're losing less than the projected rate, you can try only eating 25% of the exercise calories back. The reason for this is because since you're only measuring food and not weighing it on a food scale, there is a lot of room for error with food logging. If you're losing much more than MFP projected, then you can try eating back 75% of your exercise calories and go from there.
  • jojobloss
    jojobloss Posts: 27 Member
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    Thanks guys I'm going to get some proper weighing scales that give the calorie content too and I'm doing about 13000 steps a day so make about 200 calories from mfp... But I'll leave them alone lol xxx
  • jellybaby84
    jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
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    If it's only walking, I really really wouldn't eat extra. Walking is just part of life so should be accounted for in your 1200. It's specific workouts that some people choose to allow extra calories for.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    seska422 wrote: »
    They are meant to be eaten back when you use the NEAT method that MFP uses. However, the MFP database often overestimates calorie burns so you may want to just eat back 50% or so of exercise calories.

    ^^ +1
  • Kirky_V2
    Kirky_V2 Posts: 23 Member
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    Agree with most on here, I'd only eat 50% back, and only then after a long run. I'd never eat back on a non-training day.
  • hamelle2
    hamelle2 Posts: 297 Member
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    I experimented with eating back 50 % of my exercise calories for 2 weeks. I stopped losing and maintained. Each person needs to figure it out for themselves but I suggest adding back very slowly. 50 calories not 50% per week.

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