Eat calories lost???

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BeaUtiful_1413
BeaUtiful_1413 Posts: 200 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Do you eat back the calories you lost from exercising or do you stay within your calorie goal still?

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Is your calorie goal from MFP? If so, then eating back the calories burned in exercise IS staying within your calorie goal. MFP gives you a goal with a deficit to lose weight and assuming you won't exercise. If you add to this deficit by adding exercise, then eating back the calories keeps you at your goal.

    Since many people find calorie burn estimates provided by MFP to be over-estimates, they may only eat back 25-75% of the calories to account for it. But eating back the calories burned by exercise ensures that you are getting adequate nutrition to fuel your daily activities.
  • BeaUtiful_1413
    BeaUtiful_1413 Posts: 200 Member
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    Yes I do exercise and MFP calories is 1240. But if I exercise and like lost 120 calories do you eat back those calories or no? Cause it says the more you exercise the more you can eat?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited December 2015
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    BeaUtiful_1413 wrote: »
    Yes I do exercise and MFP calories is 1240. But if I exercise and like lost 120 calories do you eat back those calories or no? Cause it says the more you exercise the more you can eat?

    1,240 or 120? 1,240 sounds way high. Edit: My mistake -- your goal is 1,240, not your burns.

    If you feel confident in your calorie burns, then MFP is designed for you to eat those calories back.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2015
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    If I'm using the MFP approach (as currently) I do. When I'm using the TDEE approach I include regular exercise in my estimate of my TDEE, so there's no need to also eat exercise back. If at a low number like 1240 (my pre-exercise MFP number is similarly low when I'm trying to lose, as I'm close to goal), I would certainly eat back exercise.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    Yes, if you are using the MFP numbers, you eat back your exercise calories. How are you determining your exercise calories to eat back? If using the MFP database or the numbers on machines like a treadmill, they tend to overestimate so you should start out by eating back about 1/2. If you have an activity tracker that syncs with MFP, you can eat almost all of them because they are more accurate.
  • steuartcj
    steuartcj Posts: 132 Member
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    No I don't eat back calories. If I set up my "life style" correctly on MFP, I have enough calories and get enough nutes from a good diet and supplements. In fact I treat these exercise calories lost as sort of a bonus deficit and don't track them. That's just me and good luck with whatever works for you.
  • brb2008
    brb2008 Posts: 406 Member
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    I have my lifestyle set to "lightly active" and that seems to be close enough but on days I do earn extra "exercise calories" I do not eat them back and it's working for me. If you find yourself too hungry without eating any back, try eating back 50% and see how you feel.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    I happily eat all of my exercise calories. I don't just eat to control my weight - I eat to fuel my exercise, and for enjoyment. I would be ravenous if I didn't.

    Caveats: I do make sure I estimate my exercise calories carefully. Many days I get 600+ calories.

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