Eating back calories?
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Thanks for all the help and advice. I think I'm just going to go with what works for me, if I'm really hungry I won't deny it because I won't stick to it, I've just looked at my diary today and if I was to eat back 50% of exercise calories I would still only be 1550 calories which would be fine for losing so I'm just going to trial different things and if they're not working I'll shake it up again. Thanks for the support people.3
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You just made my point for me.cwolfman13 wrote: »There are so many people on these boards complaining that it doesn't work because they likely aren't logging correctly and they're likely overestimating energy expenditure. A lot of people are really just *kitten* at all of this...it doesn't mean it doesn't work...you just have to be accurate with what you're doing.
"My way" helps to account for that. The "official" way does not.
I'm going to lunch...
So you would suggest that people get their MFP targets and use those (which the OP is) which are usually very low and then do a bunch of exercise on top of what is basically a crashed diet. Alrighty then...sounds super healthy.2 -
You misquoted me there and so you changed the point entirely.janejellyroll wrote: »Generally, endurance athletes seem to eat back exercise calories more than other people because they really are exercising intensely enough to get away with it.
People who lift heavy may "eat back" because they want to gain weight.
If you are not an endurance athlete or into weight lifting and trying to bulk then you do not need to eat back calories and so you probably should not eat back ANY.
You have no real indicator of how many exercise calories you are truly burning so how much do you eat back? Hmmm....
What is the point of exercising to burn MORE calories if you insist on eating them back?
It is often a way for people to rationalize eating more than they should.
If you insist on eating back your "exercise" then you should not go over 25% to 50%.
Many people think they are exercising much harder than they really are and sabotage their "weight loss" results.
People exercise for lots of different reasons -- improved fitness, a more mobile old age, it can be a great way to socialize, you can model activity for children in your life, improved health, better mood, better sleep, sometimes even appetite control.
Asking what's the point of exercising if one decides to fuel one's activity seems to miss the point.
All our calorie intake/outtake numbers are just estimates. Would you say that since we can never know precisely how much we're eating, we shouldn't bother logging?
If people have bad results because they over-estimate their burn, then they can adjust based on their real world results. That isn't a reason to completely give up on fueling one's activity.
To the OP, see? Here is why you are confused.
Educate yourself, try it both ways and see what works for you.
Certainly the tone of your post, particularly where you said:
What is the point of exercising to burn MORE calories if you insist on eating them back?
It is often a way for people to rationalize eating more than they should.
Seems to indicate that people who are not endurance athletes and not lifting all the heavy things are only exercising so that they get to eat more food. 'more than they should' is what you said.
The other poster is simply pointing out that there are a variety of reasons that people choose to work out, not everyone is going balls to the walls at the gym or running marathons - but regardless of your motivation for exercising and increasing your activity level - the way that the MFP system was designed to be used was to eat back those exercise calories as the goals are set on NEAT only.
And no, I'm not a special snowflake rare case who ate back calories from my piddly little exercise and was able to still meet my goals. There are lots of people who have done just that. The people who say that the system isn't working for them are usually underestimating their food consumption, and sometimes overestimating exercise - which is why the advice to start with 50-75% of calories eaten back and then adjust from there is a good one. When I got my FitBit, it turned out I was burning a lot more than MFP had predicted - a high NEAT based on activity not even purposeful exercise is important too. I'm a 5'2 woman over 40 with a desk job, but still burn ~2200 cals/day because of my daily activity.0 -
kaylalouisemills wrote: »Thanks for all the help and advice. I think I'm just going to go with what works for me, if I'm really hungry I won't deny it because I won't stick to it, I've just looked at my diary today and if I was to eat back 50% of exercise calories I would still only be 1550 calories which would be fine for losing so I'm just going to trial different things and if they're not working I'll shake it up again. Thanks for the support people.
Getting back to your original question - I'm not sure which fitness tracker you are using, but I have a FitBit and have found it to be very accurate for me. When I started MFP I didn't have one, and I just went with the MFP exercise burn estimates, which for me, were fine. However, at that point I was a lot more sedentary and didn't move that much. Over time I focused on being more active, not only through exercise but just getting up and moving more. About 6 months in, I got a FitBit, and realized I was averaging about 10K steps/day, and my exercise adjustments were pretty high on MFP. That's because I was still set at sedentary - even though someone who averages 10K steps/day really isn't. I increased my activity level setting on MFP and have continued to increase my daily activity. I ate back those adjustments from the FitBit and lost weight at the rate I intended (first 1 lb/week and then 0.5 lb/week as I got closer to goal and raised my calories). Once I reached goal, I continued to log and eat back the exercise calories for my maintenance level. It has been accurate for me, and I'm about 2.5 years into maintaining that 35 lb loss.
I would just eat back some of the calories, monitor your weight loss, and adjust if needed.
I never understood why people wouldn't want to eat them back if they could and still lose weight - faster weight loss is not always the desired outcome!
Good luck.0 -
You misquoted me there and so you changed the point entirely.janejellyroll wrote: »Generally, endurance athletes seem to eat back exercise calories more than other people because they really are exercising intensely enough to get away with it.
People who lift heavy may "eat back" because they want to gain weight.
If you are not an endurance athlete or into weight lifting and trying to bulk then you do not need to eat back calories and so you probably should not eat back ANY.
You have no real indicator of how many exercise calories you are truly burning so how much do you eat back? Hmmm....
What is the point of exercising to burn MORE calories if you insist on eating them back?
It is often a way for people to rationalize eating more than they should.
If you insist on eating back your "exercise" then you should not go over 25% to 50%.
Many people think they are exercising much harder than they really are and sabotage their "weight loss" results.
People exercise for lots of different reasons -- improved fitness, a more mobile old age, it can be a great way to socialize, you can model activity for children in your life, improved health, better mood, better sleep, sometimes even appetite control.
Asking what's the point of exercising if one decides to fuel one's activity seems to miss the point.
All our calorie intake/outtake numbers are just estimates. Would you say that since we can never know precisely how much we're eating, we shouldn't bother logging?
If people have bad results because they over-estimate their burn, then they can adjust based on their real world results. That isn't a reason to completely give up on fueling one's activity.
To the OP, see? Here is why you are confused.
Educate yourself, try it both ways and see what works for you.
I'm sorry for misquoting you, it wasn't my intention. I still don't understand why you are so adamant that people shouldn't eat to fuel their activities.1 -
Congratulations. You are a rare case.WinoGelato wrote: »The exercise estimates were always accurate for me, but I do often recommend some people start with only eating back about 50% of their calories until they know for sure if the calorie estimates are inflated.
I use the system as *I* intend and meet my goals as well.
If you are using mfp to get your calorie goal then you should be using it as "it" is intended, which is to eat back exercise calories. If you used a TDEE calculator to get your exercise calories then you don't eat them back. Someone who sets their deficit at 1000 calories per day and then burns and extra 300 calories should eat those calories back whether they are an endurance athlete or not.2 -
kaylalouisemills wrote: »Thanks for all the help and advice. I think I'm just going to go with what works for me, if I'm really hungry I won't deny it because I won't stick to it, I've just looked at my diary today and if I was to eat back 50% of exercise calories I would still only be 1550 calories which would be fine for losing so I'm just going to trial different things and if they're not working I'll shake it up again. Thanks for the support people.
great decision OP. More important than any of this is just sticking with it and taking it slowly. Drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep. It will come together for you!1 -
There is no "right" way. There are multiple ways to approach all this, and the fact that it's all based on estimates just makes it that much more inexact. Argueing over the right way or what's more accurate is stupid.
It's true that the site works a certain way... and understanding what it's doing and why does matter. But once you understand that, if you choose to use it another way, that's fine. If you chose to use it as designed, that's fine too.
There are lots of ways to skin this cat... lots of ways to succeed, lots of ways to fail. The ones that succeed are the "right" ones, the ones that fail aren't. But what leads to success could vary person to person.
OP - everything you posted sounds reasonable, and is as good a place to start as any. Run with it for a month or so and see how you do, then go from there.2 -
There is no "right" way. There are multiple ways to approach all this, and the fact that it's all based on estimates just makes it that much more inexact. Argueing over the right way or what's more accurate is stupid.
It's true that the site works a certain way... and understanding what it's doing and why does matter. But once you understand that, if you choose to use it another way, that's fine. If you chose to use it as designed, that's fine too.
There are lots of ways to skin this cat... lots of ways to succeed, lots of ways to fail. The ones that succeed are the "right" ones, the ones that fail aren't. But what leads to success could vary person to person.
OP - everything you posted sounds reasonable, and is as good a place to start as any. Run with it for a month or so and see how you do, then go from there.
The problem is that most people who post these questions have no clue how the site is designed to work or where their calorie targets are coming from and how the calculator comes up with them...I mean there are a crap load of people on this site who think their calorie target is maintenance and they have to eat well under it or go burn off every single calorie with exercise. There are crap loads of people who don't even understand that they're "burning" calories 24/7.
I think it's important to at least educate people on how the site is actually designed to work and then they can go from there.4 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »There is no "right" way. There are multiple ways to approach all this, and the fact that it's all based on estimates just makes it that much more inexact. Argueing over the right way or what's more accurate is stupid.
It's true that the site works a certain way... and understanding what it's doing and why does matter. But once you understand that, if you choose to use it another way, that's fine. If you chose to use it as designed, that's fine too.
There are lots of ways to skin this cat... lots of ways to succeed, lots of ways to fail. The ones that succeed are the "right" ones, the ones that fail aren't. But what leads to success could vary person to person.
OP - everything you posted sounds reasonable, and is as good a place to start as any. Run with it for a month or so and see how you do, then go from there.
The problem is that most people who post these questions have no clue how the site is designed to work or where their calorie targets are coming from and how the calculator comes up with them...I mean there are a crap load of people on this site who think their calorie target is maintenance and they have to eat well under it or go burn off every single calorie with exercise. There are crap loads of people who don't even understand that they're "burning" calories 24/7.
I think it's important to at least educate people on how the site is actually designed to work and then they can go from there.
Agreed.0 -
If I am hungry (or it is a day where I want a treat) I eat back half of my exercise calories. If I'm not, I don't.0
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Think about it this way.
I've got my deficit at 1000 cals to lose 2 lb per week. I'm big so that's an okay rate for me, but if I asked if I should lose 2.5 lbs per week, most would argue I'm being too aggressive on my weight loss and would caution me against it. And rightly so.
But if I burn 500 calories a day, that amounts to the same thing if I don't eat them back. So what's the difference? By eating them back, I'm fueling my activities and exercises, as well as my normal body functions. If I don't eat them back, it's the body functions that will not get properly fueled.
Eat them back. Maybe not all, but eat them back.1 -
I have it set to sedentary, track my exercise with Google Fit, and eat back nearly all my calories. I've lost my target, on average, every week since I started at New Year's.
I could tighten up both my food and exercise tracking, but my results are what I want, so I will continue as is.0
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