Do you eat back your calories burned from working out?

avedabean85

After running i usually get pretty hungry during the day. I dont want to waste my hard work. How many of you eat back your calories?

bezza666

Are you seriously asking for advice with them abs, we should be asking you. So what's your secret? @avedabean85

Mentiri

I didn't when I was losing and I do now that I'm maintaining. Well, most of them anyway. I use them as a bank to pay for any indulgences, like a second helping of dinner or a bedtime snack.

jessef593

I always eat back my exercise calories generally with another added 50-100 just Incase I burned more than I thought

tapwaters

No, but I'm losing, not maintaining.

wanderinjack

No way----Jose!

Shells918

I try not to. Maybe 100-200 or so over my regular calories. It just makes me happy knowing I could eat more and I'm not.

chulipa

No i dont because nobody is for sure how accurate calories burned are so to be safe i dont but if i have a meal out or a bad day I can say i have calories banked

glassyo

I eat every last calorie I can get my hands on while still letting me hit my goals.

sourcandies

I usually eat back half right after a workout so I'm not eating the fridge the rest of the day.

avedabean85

Thanks all! I think ill leep from eating them. My calories burned seems inconsistant..so rather be safe than sorry.

CooCooPuff

Good on you, op.

I'm set to lose half a pound a week and eat back a portion of my Fitbit adjustments. I've been eating 2k nearly everyday and losing on point according to Trendweight.

IAmDemonx

avedabean85 wrote: »

After running i usually get pretty hungry during the day. I dont want to waste my hard work. How many of you eat back your calories?

After a long run I'm usually not hungry (even if I was before it) I would probably eat a protien bar (usually around 200 calories though) those are a bit filling, and or you could eat something that doesn't have a lot of calories but is filling, for example lettuce (I might be the only one who can stand that plain though) pickles, Greek yogurt (I find it to be super filling and usually under 100 calories)

briscogun

I do eat back some of them. My body needs fuel after a workout, and since I'm on maintenance and not trying to lose anymore, it gives me some leeway in my diet now. I enjoy working out and running, but not trying to create too much of a deficit.

TeaBea

So many people are clueless as to how this website works.................


MFP as designed gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. Even people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight......or they should if they are logging accurately.

When MFP gives you additional "earned" calories, that ideally gets you back to the deficit you signed up for. It's a general recommendation to eat back 50-75% of those calories because calorie burn estimates tend to be generous.

WHY would you want to eat back exercise calories? Large deficits make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle. If you just want a number on the scale, then lose fast. If you want fat loss, then lose at a moderate pace.

bezza666

Well said

CrabNebula

Only on Fridays, but I am a maintainer. When I was losing, no I didn't eat them back.

T0M_K

bezza666 wrote: »

Are you seriously asking for advice with them abs, we should be asking you. So what's your secret? @avedabean85

my guess...thats her goal picture :P ..if not..OP can do whatever she wants.

DanSTL82

If you're trying to lose weight, there's no point in eating back the calories. Just take the bonus deficit. Or, eat an extra snack if you're really hungry late in the day. If you're trying to gain muscle like a body recomp, then you do want to eat back those calories because your muscles need them.

wisenbsd

nope, I leave them alone and mark my calories at 1

TeaBea

DanSTL82 wrote: »

If you're trying to lose weight, there's no point in eating back the calories. Just take the bonus deficit. Or, eat an extra snack if you're really hungry late in the day. If you're trying to gain muscle like a body recomp, then you do want to eat back those calories because your muscles need them.

Why do you think MFP gives you these "earned" calories? Perhaps it's just a programming fluke?

No - it's the way the program is designed. Unlike other programs, My Fitness Pal gave you a calorie deficit with zero exercise factored in. Because after all, exercise is not a requirement for weight loss.

MFP gives you these calories back to keep your original (intended) deficit. A larger deficit makes it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle mass. If you want "weight loss" as in fat+lean muscle then carry on. If you want to limit lean muscle loss as in mostly fat loss then eat back a portion (50-75% ....margin of error) of your exercise calories back.

A body recomp = a very slight calorie deficit or eating at maintenance.

AdrianChr92

Yea. I set mfp to just give me deficit cals without any activity and I eat back the exercise cals (some days all some days not all but mostly). I have a sedentary job so there's that. If you would work in let's say constructions or anything heavy I would set it accordingly.

For example mfp gives me 1600 cals per day (which makes sense since my maintenance is 2300 if I sit on a chair all day)

Today I did 40 minutes of running (500 cals), 1 hour of lifting followed by 1 hour of stationary bike (897 cals).

So in the end I got 1600+500+897 = 2997 for me to lose about 0,75 kg per week. Garmin sets me at 3500 for maintenance today so that's about right. I ate 2600 today. So a pretty big deficit in the end but it was a pretty hard day. Most days I eat 2200 and my maintenance is at 2800

But I don't use mfp exercise caloric estimates. Those seem plain wrong. I use my hear rate monitor data for that

Ozzzzzzzzzz

I believe MFP will get you close to your Calorie needs but you have to experiment what works for you from there.

At one point I was loosing a pound a week at 1800cal a day, I bumped my calories up to 2100 and I started loosing about 1.5 pounds a week while working out the same amount.

cwolfman13

TeaBea wrote: »

So many people are clueless as to how this website works.................


MFP as designed gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. Even people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight......or they should if they are logging accurately.

When MFP gives you additional "earned" calories, that ideally gets you back to the deficit you signed up for. It's a general recommendation to eat back 50-75% of those calories because calorie burn estimates tend to be generous.

WHY would you want to eat back exercise calories? Large deficits make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle. If you just want a number on the scale, then lose fast. If you want fat loss, then lose at a moderate pace.

It baffles me how people cannot understand something that is basic logic...if you haven't accounted for exercise activity in your activity level then it would seem logical to account for it somewhere...that somewhere is after the fact with the MFP method.

DanSTL82 wrote: »

If you're trying to lose weight, there's no point in eating back the calories. Just take the bonus deficit. Or, eat an extra snack if you're really hungry late in the day. If you're trying to gain muscle like a body recomp, then you do want to eat back those calories because your muscles need them.

Yeah...it's actually pretty important to fuel your fitness regardless of weight management objectives.

WinoGelato

TeaBea wrote: »

So many people are clueless as to how this website works.................


MFP as designed gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. Even people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight......or they should if they are logging accurately.

When MFP gives you additional "earned" calories, that ideally gets you back to the deficit you signed up for. It's a general recommendation to eat back 50-75% of those calories because calorie burn estimates tend to be generous.

WHY would you want to eat back exercise calories? Large deficits make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle. If you just want a number on the scale, then lose fast. If you want fat loss, then lose at a moderate pace.

Quoting for emphasis...

When I was losing I ate back all the calories that I got from entering exercise into MFP. When I got a FitBit I started eating back the calories earned through the adjustments. I achieved my goal weight and am currently maintaining, still eating back those calories.

williams969

WinoGelato wrote: »

TeaBea wrote: »

So many people are clueless as to how this website works.................


MFP as designed gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. Even people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight......or they should if they are logging accurately.

When MFP gives you additional "earned" calories, that ideally gets you back to the deficit you signed up for. It's a general recommendation to eat back 50-75% of those calories because calorie burn estimates tend to be generous.

WHY would you want to eat back exercise calories? Large deficits make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle. If you just want a number on the scale, then lose fast. If you want fat loss, then lose at a moderate pace.

Quoting for emphasis...

When I was losing I ate back all the calories that I got from entering exercise into MFP. When I got a FitBit I started eating back the calories earned through the adjustments. I achieved my goal weight and am currently maintaining, still eating back those calories.

Count me as another who is successful and ate all (most, like 90%) of their exercise calories. In fact, I'm hard pressed to find a single long time successful member who did NOT eat back the majority of their exercise calories (through MFP method or using TDEE minus appropriate deficit eating, where exercise is already accounted).

Proof is in the pudding. Read through the stickies and some the fitness groups headed by knowledgeable veterans (Eat Train Progress and Eat More to Weigh Less are my faves). They all advise fueling the fitness for success and health.

fishshark

depends on the work out. I get about 250 calories from my 10k steps and i dont feel comfortable eating it from just walking. When i do my real work outs i will.

Machka9

Yes, of course I eat my exercise calories back ... most of them anyway. I need the fuel!

mdrichardsons

If I'm not hungry i save them for the weekends. That's usually when I want to eat more but don't usually workout so it has worked out for me. Also it's a nice padding in case I'm not 100% accurate on logging.

Linzon

I get my calories burned from my Fitbit and eat almost all of them. Otherwise my daily calorie goal would be 1300-something to lose .5lbs/week and that is absolutely not sustainable for me. I've been losing at 1600-2000 depending on daily activity. Yay food!

erimethia_fekre

I set my caloric goals higher so I don't have to log my exercise. That way I'm consistently eating just under what I need to maintain but that I won't be thinking too hard when it comes time to sustain my energy levels on such a low calorie goal.