Doesn't eating back exercise calories contradict CICO?

simonnatyu

So everyone on MFP says to eat back exercise calories, and they also say calories in calories out (CICO) is the only thing that works. If you eat back your exercise calories, doesn't that mean you're decreasing the amount of calories out? I'm just confused how that works, because I don't eat back my exercise calories but then again I never really burn more than 250/300 calories.

malibu927

Since MFP sets your goal without exercise included, eating back your calories is meant to A. sustain your deficit, and B. fuel your body. So yes, you can lose more by not eating them back, but it isn't necessarily a good idea (more muscle loss, other issues if you're undereating by a lot).

CooCooPuff

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

It doesn't look like you have a lot to lose, while you do need a deficit to lose weight, having one too steep can have negative health effects.

earlnabby

Not at all. You want to maintain a steady deficit and eating back your exercise calories helps you do that.

Example (using my numbers):

• I am sedentary so I typically burn about 1900 calories
• I want to lose 1 lb a week so I need to create a deficit of 500 calories per day, resulting in a daily calorie target of 1400.
• Sedentary means no meaningful exercise so when I do exercise, I am burning more calories than I normally would. If I walk 5 miles, I burn about 300 additional calories above my normal sedentary day.
• In order to maintain the 500 calorie deficit for the day, I actually need to eat 1700 calories instead of 1400 because of the additional burn
• If I didn't eat back those calories, I would actually have a deficit of 800 calories, which is more than my plan.

This does not contradict CICO, in fact it is the essence of CICO.

hsmith0930

I think between logging errors and general life not always being perfectly average, not eating back the 250-300 calories probably isn't a huge deal overall, as long as you ARE eating to the goal MFP set for you. It's nice, though, to be able to have an extra snack if you feel like you need it! Today I'm going to have 467 "extra" calories, because I exercised, and with the types of food I am eating lately (high fat, low carb, moderate protein. Eating like this because I have PCOS and I'm trying to ovulate), I simply cannot eat any more tonight. Tomorrow, though, I might eat over my goal, and knowing that it will all even out in the end makes me not feel guilty!

sijomial

You don't have much to lose so ask yourself how you will manage to maintain your goal weight when you get there without taking exercise into account.

angerelle

No it's still CICO, the more calories out, the more you can have in, as long as calories out - calories in is your desired deficit, you're good. If you didn't eat the extra calories you burnt, your deficit would just get bigger and you'd get hungrier (and perhaps start using muscle for energy)

Liftng4Lis

MFP has your deficit built in already, but due to miscalculations in both logging and overestimations of burns, most will only eat back a portion of the exercise calories. Still, it all comes down to CICO.