Eat back calories

Tjs8819
Tjs8819 Posts: 33 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm trying to lose weight but I'm confused on whether I'm suppose to eat back calories I burn? I usually eat about 1400/Day ( in order to lose 1.5 lb a week) According to my HRM I burn about 600 cals during my hour workout 3X a week. When I enter this on my fitness pal it adds to my available calories. Wouldn't that be defeating the purpose of exercising if I'm just going to eat them back?

Replies

  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
    edited April 2016
    You eat at a deficit to lose weight, you exercise for fitness. They're two different goals.

    MFP is set up so your deficit is built in. When you exercise, that's an additional calorie burn on top of your original deficit. In other words, eating back your exercise calories keeps you at your original goal of 1.5 pounds a week. The calories given are basically guesstimates, so you'll need to see the rate you're losing at for a few weeks first and then adjust the percentage of exercise calories you're consuming.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    edited April 2016
    Tjs8819 wrote: »
    Wouldn't that be defeating the purpose of exercising if I'm just going to eat them back?

    No, of course not. One of the reasons you exercise is so you can eat those calories back. If you didn't do the workouts, that'd be 600 less yummy calories you could eat and still lose your pound and a half a week. Also you exercise to be more fit.

    You're losing your 1.5 lbs per week by maintaining a 750 calorie deficit every day. If you go out and burn 100 calories exercising, you now have a deficit of 850 cals, which is above and beyond your goal. It's kind of like a checking account, and kind of like having to put gas in your car to drive.

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