Do I eat my exercise calories back?

cm1458

Hi all!
I'm 5'8.5, 177lb
Female, 18yrs old
I am currently on 1500 calories per day...burning 300+ calories per day...
walking/jogging and doing Ripped in 30.
I just finished 30 day shred and gained 7lbs and 2.5in (Which I believe is muscle) while eating 1600-1700cal per day.
I use an HRM to track my exercise and calories burned.
I almost always stay under my macros.

I'm a little froggy on this subject... Should I be eating any of my exercise calories back at all? If so, how much?

Any answers greatly appreciated. Have a wicked day!

shadow2soul

MFP is designed to give you a NET goal to eat at. This means you are supposed to eat your exercise calorie burn. Depending on your accuracy of calculating your calorie burn, you might only want to eat 50-75% back. Another way to look at is:

MFP estimated daily burn (no exercise) - 2500
lose 1lb per week - -500
MFP goal of - 2000 (no exercise)
exercise burn of - 500
MFP estimated daily burn (with exercise) - 3000
lose 1lb per week - -500
MFP goal of - 2500 (or net 2000)

jakesgirl05

Hi! Just saw this question. I don't eat my calories back. It makes no sense to me. If my calories are set at 1500 then I eat 1500, period. If I work off 500 calories I don't eat them back. Why would I do that? I just burned them so why defeat the purpose? Anyhow, that's how I do it I hope this helps!! Feel free to add me or ask whatever. If I can help out I will!!

SideSteel

MFP is designed to give you a NET goal to eat at. This means you are supposed to eat your exercise calorie burn. Depending on your accuracy of calculating your calorie burn, you might only want to eat 50-75% back. Another way to look at is:

^ This is correct.

For a more detailed explanation, see here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

FrankiesSaysRelax

Gaining 7 lbs and 2.5 inches in a month is unfortunately not muscle. I think it might be time to re-assess your calorie intake and/or buy a HRM so you know exactly what you're burning. Are you measuring/weighing your food? It can be easy to think you're eating one number but consuming hundreds of calories more.

carolemorden9

For me, I eat back some of the calories I burn with exercise, but not all. It works for me. You should find out what works for you.

rupert410

You actually should eat some back. Say my fitness pal gives you 1500 to eat, thats based on you doing no exercise as you execise you will need more calories to fuel your body cause you will be putting your body to work and will need the calories to fuel it. Its not mandatory but if you dont you could be losing muscle as well as fat. Thats the whole reason my fitness pal gives them back after you log your exercise because you need to fuel your body. Ask any personal trainer and they will tell you the same.

SideSteel

Gaining 7 lbs and 2.5 inches in a month is unfortunately not muscle. I think it might be time to re-assess your calorie intake and/or buy a HRM so you know exactly what you're burning. Are you measuring/weighing your food? It can be easy to think you're eating one number but consuming hundreds of calories more.

^ I agree with you.

sharitapita

When I initially started with MFP, I did not eat back my calories but I also wasn't doing as much cardio as I am now. When I upped my cardio, I found I was starving when I went to bed and didn't have enough energy for my workouts. In the past couple of weeks, I have been eating back a lot of my exercise calories (only if I am certain I actually burned them - using HRM, not MFP estimates). I have only been at it for 6 weeks, but had the same weight loss results both ways. I think you need to listen to your body and feed it if it needs fuel, but don't just eat because you have leftover calories. Hope that helps!

rupert410

perfect answer!!!

megsmom2

Hi! Just saw this question. I don't eat my calories back. It makes no sense to me. If my calories are set at 1500 then I eat 1500, period. If I work off 500 calories I don't eat them back. Why would I do that? I just burned them so why defeat the purpose? Anyhow, that's how I do it I hope this helps!! Feel free to add me or ask whatever. If I can help out I will!!

NOT this. Please read the MFP Faq's and pinned threads about this issue. This person is frequently undereating. Not good. You are supposed to eat back at least a good portion of your burned calories unless you are following the bmr/tdee method.

sweetchildomine

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've seen a thread with this exact same title lol.

grimendale

You need to make sure you eat enough. It seems counterintuitive, but eating too few calories will hinder fat loss. When you enter all of your vital statistics into MFP, it comes up with a total number of calories you should be eating. This number includes a healthy deficit below what you would need to eat to maintain, so you should try to get as close to that number as possible. When you burn calories, your body pulls both from fat reserves and muscle tissue, but the ratio of the two can change. When you eat at a small deficit and exercise, your body will tend to pull from fat reserves since they are easier to access and your muscles are being used. When the deficit grows too large for too long, your body will start to shift towards burning muscle tissue rather than fat. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat cells, so when your body expects to not get enough food for an extended period, it will hoard fat cells to try to maintain an energy reserve for future use. You will still lose weight, but most of that weight will be muscle, not fat. As long as your deficit is small, your body isn't worried about getting enough food and will be comfortable burning through the fat reserves.

When you exercise, MFP expects you to eat back any calories you burn to ensure that you total deficit does not grow too large (see above). This also seems counterintuitive, since it seems like you are undoing the benefits of the exercise, but this is not the case. The more muscle you build and the better shape you get into, the more calories your body will require to maintain itself, so you will eventually be able to eat more without gaining weight. Exercising without eating enough calories can easily result in burning muscle rather than fat.

A lot of people default to the 1200 value since it is the minimum that MFP will allow, but it is honestly too low for many people. Look at the information entered into MFP and make sure that you have been realistic so that you don't shortchange yourself. Eating less does not necessarily mean better results. Hope this helps.

mahanaibu

I sometimes eat some of my calories back. once or twice, all of them. People are right in that MFP calls on you to do this, but there are things on MFP I don't agree with...that's why the site gives us the option of setting our own macros etc.

My basic calories are set at 500 under maintenance--for me, that's 1,300 right now. And beyond that, I pay attention to how my body's feeling. If I'm tired, or a little out of it, not at full energy, or just hungry, I eat some more.

I have never really seen any evidence, any studies cited showing that not eating back your calories hinders weight loss, though it makes sense that eating so little that you're sensing signs of stress would reduce your metabolism. so far, so good.

lj8576

It is tough to know how much you burned. I use a HRM but I also do intervals on a tread mill or elliptical and its not very accurate because your HR is constantly changing and on my MIO HRM is not a constan monitor you have to keep checking it. I guess I should buy one that monitors HR constantly

cm1458

Gaining 7 lbs and 2.5 inches in a month is unfortunately not muscle. I think it might be time to re-assess your calorie intake and/or buy a HRM so you know exactly what you're burning. Are you measuring/weighing your food? It can be easy to think you're eating one number but consuming hundreds of calories more.

I do use an HRM and I am measuring ALL my food. I wasn't over my calorie goal EVER in the month that I gained 7lb and 2.5inches. So I assumed it was muscle.

Its hard to think you're doing everything the correct way...trying so hard every day...and then you gain so much weight AND inches.

Overall, I'm not worried about it. I think the majority/if not all of it is muscle. It may not be. But thats what I think and what I am going to tell myself.

Thank you for your comment. have a nice day :flowerforyou:

cm1458

Thank you all for reading my post and giving me advice. You've all helped a lot. Have a great day :flowerforyou: