Why eat exercise calories?

SunnyStef

I rode my stationary bike for 25 minutes today at a pace of 14-16 mph. My bike says I burned 145 calories, but MFP says it was 466. First, why is there such a big difference? And if I burned those calories, why do I want to eat them back if my goal is to lose weight? Maybe I need to change something in my settings?

janejellyroll

MFP calorie burns are often over-estimated. Stationary bikes don't burn a ton of calories, so I would go with the lower estimate for sure.

The reason you want to eat them back is because your MFP calorie goal already has a deficit built in. If you make that deficit bigger (through activity), you want to eat back calories to ensure your health and energy are supported. To account for over-estimates, many people only eat back a portion of the calories. Until I got my Fitbit, I ate about 50-75% of my calories back (my Fitbit is more reliable for burn, so I eat them all now).

malibu927

MFP sets you to lose weight without exercise. When you do exercise, you increase the amount of calories you burned for the day. In order to keep that deficit consistent and fuel your body, it's expected that you would eat them back. But many times calories burned are overestimated (as you can see from the difference between your bike's reading and what MFP says when you log it), so a lot of people will only eat 50-75% of those calories back.

snowflake930

The calories burn is a general number whether you are M or F, age, weight, intensity, pace,etc. All are factors in calories burned. Whether or not you eat all, part, or none of the calories back is up to each person.

StacyChrz

Hello, welcome! You'll have to play around with what works for you and you will find that MFP seriously over estimates calorie burn, but it is helpful to eat at least some of your exercise calories back. The idea is that your calorie goal assumes no exercise over and above your day to day life. You need to fuel your body to maintain muscle while still losing fat.

I have a Fitbit Charge and have it synced to MFP with the option to reduce calories if I am too sedentary (never below 1200/day net). I find that gives me a pretty accurate calorie count and I don't bother inputting my activity into MFP directly. I still have about 50 lbs. that I want to lose and work a desk job so I have my activity set at lightly active and a 2 lb/wk. loss. I get 1210 calories to start with and it goes up from there depending on my Fitbit adjustments. I currently eat back 75-100% of my exercise calories and sometimes more and am losing weight consistently as long as I log accurately. Not knowing what your day looks like and what your goals are I can't say that's the best option for you but you will find that a whole lot of people eat back their exercise calories and still lose weight. Remember that the goal MFP gives you is a net, not a gross, after activity. I hope this helps.

French_Peasant

SunnyStef wrote: »

I rode my stationary bike for 25 minutes today at a pace of 14-16 mph. My bike says I burned 145 calories, but MFP says it was 466. First, why is there such a big difference? And if I burned those calories, why do I want to eat them back if my goal is to lose weight? Maybe I need to change something in my settings?

Harvard Medical School puts bicycling (14-15.9 mph) for half an hour at the following burns per weight: 330 cals @ 125 lbs, 372 cals @ 155 lbs, and 444 cals @ 185 lbs. Their burn for vigorous stationery biking is similar. http://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories-burned-in-30-minutes-of-leisure-and-routine-activities

Exercise burns are difficult to pinpoint, so a lot of people won't eat back all their exercise calories.

I already have a 500 calorie deficit entered into MFP, so if I burn 1000 calories through additional exercise, I can eat them back and still be at a 500 calorie deficit (I am set to eat 1350, but my TDEE is 1850 or so; with the exercise, I can eat 2350 cals and still be at a good deficit; for maintenance I would eat 2850 cals). My goal is for sustainable long-term fitness and a healthy weight, and if I am not eating back the 1000+ calories I am burning on many days, I become extremely hangry. If you are working hard, your body needs the proper fuel to keep it going.

That being said, a lot of people don't eat back their exercise calories; it just depends on what works best for you and helps you stay on track.

peaceout_aly

SunnyStef wrote: »

I rode my stationary bike for 25 minutes today at a pace of 14-16 mph. My bike says I burned 145 calories, but MFP says it was 466. First, why is there such a big difference? And if I burned those calories, why do I want to eat them back if my goal is to lose weight? Maybe I need to change something in my settings?

For the most part, MFP burns are quite generous. It's suggested to eat back only half, and a lot of MFP-er's don't eat them back at all

Rom3oJuli3tt

^^^^^ MFP is definitely generous to say the least

johnnylakis

SunnyStef wrote: »

My bike says I burned 145 calories.

Even MFP acknowledges that you should the devices calorie burned info when possible

Kimberly_Harper

janejellyroll wrote: »

MFP calorie burns are often over-estimated. Stationary bikes don't burn a ton of calories, so I would go with the lower estimate for sure.

The reason you want to eat them back is because your MFP calorie goal already has a deficit built in. If you make that deficit bigger (through activity), you want to eat back calories to ensure your health and energy are supported. To account for over-estimates, many people only eat back a portion of the calories. Until I got my Fitbit, I ate about 50-75% of my calories back (my Fitbit is more reliable for burn, so I eat them all now).

I use my fitbit to figure my calories burned, too. I can look back at the day before and see if my mfp calories matched or fell below my fitbit calories.

cwolfman13

I will never understand why people start using a tool without understanding how the tool works...does nobody ever read the instructions anymore?

RGv2

Yes, you're supposed to eat your exercise calories. That's how the tool works, it wouldn't give you calories back if you weren't supposed to eat them. Let's take a hypothetical person here:

Person maintains on 2000 cals per day and would like to lose 1lb per week.

2000 maint - 500 cal deficit = 1500 cals per day to lose 1lb per week.

Now remember, you enter your stats for a normal day. MFP assumes this activity doesn't include the gym. Now our hypothetical person has added in a run that burns 350 cals per day. Now that person has a new maintence.

New maintenance =

2000 old main + 350 exercise cals = 2350 new maintenance.

Now to lose that 1lb per week that YOU entered:

2350 new maint - 500 cal deficit = 1850 cals per day to lose the same 1lb per week.

Now, as everyone said it's all an estimate so you may need to mess around with the numbers a little bit. This is why most people start out at eating back about 50% and adjusting from there.

debradugas9

I never eat back my exercise calories...I would only do that if I was maintaining my weight

Nikion901

I think it depends a lot on how much weight you need to lose. If it is more than 50 pounds, then i wouldn't bother to eat back calories unless (1) the exertion of the activity made me feel weak or (2) I was already eating at a large deficit ...

I don't eat my activity calories back unless they are much more than what I already have planned ... a moderate cut in calories as my food goal and a plan to exercise enough to burn as much in activity as I dropped from food ... like 250 less calories a day in food and an extra 250 calories a day in activity. Also, I don't have MFP adding my exercise calories back into the my allowance because that throws me off. I do record my exercise in MFP so I will have a handy record of it.

itsbasschick

i eat some exercise calories back if i get hungry early or feel weak. if hungry, i eat protein - if weak, some protein and some carbs.

heatherheyns

I eat at least some of my exercise calories back. I don't eat them all, in case they are over estimated, but I eat some. I work out very hard, and I need to fuel my exercise so I can continue to work out hard. I also want to ensure I lose as little muscle as possible, so I don't want my deficit to be too large. I'm in this for the long haul, so I want to do it right.

WendyLaubach

I don't eat back any of my exercise calories. It's optional.

TheresaLisaJulieJean

I exercise harder just so I can eat more...on 1200 Cal goal it's hard to do it without a good deficit.

jandsstevenson887

I eat back only some of exercise calories and I always go off of Runkeeper or my calibrated machine and not what MFP says.

ericatoday

Id go off the bike. But honestly i dont log my workouts often unless i eat a but past my 1200 cal goal ill add some of my exercise to be in my calorie goals. But honestly you shouldnt eat them back unless you worked out hard and are extra hungry which is normal so for energy you should only eat back 25-50% of the burned calories. You cant change that setting unless you pay for the membership. So just dont log it.

besaro

funny. i hear this that MFP is notoriously generous when it comes to doling out calorie burns but its been my experience that its fairly accurate. this is based on 3 years on MFP, two different HRMs, and 100 pound loss eating back EVERY SINGLE CALORIE BURNED.

Budjola

so far mfp has been accurate with my cardio kcals, tho mine is connected to runtastic so it picks it up from there, so its much more accurate. usually rule of thumb is that u should try to burn 10 kcal per minute of your cardio session

senennieves

i set my M.F.P to lose 2 lbs per week, i also have my Fit bit surge synced to my account, but i have not started doing any exercise programs yet as i am considered obese and trying to lose a few pounds before i start actively exercising but i work as an armed security officer so i walk easly 10,000 steps or more at work while on patrol so my fit bit logs them as calories burned, and i guess its considered as walking which is a form of exercise, its definelty building my stamina and cardio vascular system , also my legs are starting to tone up a little.

Serah87

Yes because that's how MFP works, did you not read the instructions when you signed up??