Eating your exercise calories

ssalinas49

I'm
Sure this question has been answered a thousand times. Should you way back what you burn off? I know your metabolism can slow down if you don't take in enough calories. Thanks

Spitspot81

If you are using mfp to calculate how many calorie you have burned general opinion is that it is not accurate and over estimates it.

For me, I tend to log a small amount of exercise. I generally log that I have done 45 minutes when actually I do nearer 1 hour. That way it allows me a few extra calories on training day that I can consume if I really feel the need. A lot of people say you should only eat back about 50% to be in the safe side

nickthephysio

I often compare MFP calories burned with my garmin and they are relatively close. Depending on the type of training you are doing you may need the additional calories otherwise you won't fully recover and refuel efficiently for your next workout. As a general rule though i agree with the above in that i try to use 50% of what i've burned. I currently consume about 3,000 calories a day and losing weight.

Dayle1984

I do not use the exercise feature at all. I calculated my TDEE including my work-life and work-outs before I started, so my daily calorie allotment according to MFP includes my workouts. I find this keeps it simple.

TavistockToad

I eat all of mine, they taste the best!

LPflaum

I eat back about half. My fitbit seems to overestimate my burn.

BrianSharpe

I a perfect world where you were able to log your intake with 100% accuracy and record your expenditure with 100% accuracy then yes, you could eat back 100% of your exercise calories (assuming you set MFP to sedentary).

We don't live in a perfect world, best suggestion is trial and error. Eat back a portion of them. If you're not losing weight reduce your intake, if you're losing faster than you want to (and are lacking the energy to exercise at the intensity you desire) increase your intake a little.

NorthCascades

I don't use the exercise feature in MFP, I have a Garmin watch. It tracks my exercise for me, decides how many calories I've burned, and sends that info to MFP. I'm confident in my Garmin and this has worked well for me.

sfcrocker

If I burn 800 or more calories exercising, I'll use some of them towards eating more. If it's 500 or less, then I don't. 500-800 depends on how hungry I am

deluxmary2000

I eat them all back** (including fitbit adjustments) and am losing at the exact rate MFP says I will. If I hit a plateau, I will adjust accordingly.

**Actually, I use a lot of my extra exercise calories for wine or beer, so it's probably more accurate to say I drink them back.

Terpnista84

I don't eat back any. I have a 1,500 calorie goal which I try not to exceed regardless of how much I exercise. 1,500 calories leaves me pretty satisfied throughout the day. On average I have about 500 calories left to eat but I like to bank those in case I miss a gym day one week or have a cheat meal.

xlgman

I don't eat any exercise calories back because I am trying to lose weight and I find it much simpler to just be consistent with the amount of purposeful exercise I get each week (lifting and cardio sessions) and consistent with the amount of calories and macros I eat each week. If I successfully lose weight over a period of 2-3 weeks with that particular exercise / calorie combo then I stick with it. If not, I adjust the amount of exercise and/or calories accordingly. Mostly this is because I don't want to have to track everything forever - just change my lifestyle and understand how my body reacts to changes in how much I move and eat.