At what point should I eat back my calories?

SaritaWolf

I do not normally eat back any of my calories, but recently I have started exercising more. At what point should I begin to eat those back?

All calories after 500 burned? 750? 1000?

annacole94

The MFP program is meant for you to eat them back starting at any beyond the activity level you set based on your daily activity.

cwolfman13

At any activity level beyond what you set your activity level to...that's how this program works.

ItalianVegan777

I'm not sure for your body, but I will tell you about my experience. When I was eating back my calories from exercise, I gained. So maybe o e I will be able to, but for now I can't. If you are starving, obviously your body needs the nutrients. Eat something that's good and nutritious. You can also try it for a week and see how it goes. Good luck!

TeaBea

Depends.......

If you have an aggressive weekly weight loss goal (1200 goal and not petite or elderly?) - eat calories back now

If you are close to goal - eat calories back now

Ideally you eat back 100% of your exercise calories with every single workout and you lose at the same rate you signed up for.....this is how MFP is designed.

HOWEVER, exercise calorie burns are guesstimates (as is your food logging & your activity level outside deliberate exercise). Everything is an estimate. So many people start by eating back a % - say 50-75%. Then test that number for a few weeks. Decrease the % if you are losing slower, increase the % if you are losing faster.

The idea is that aggressive weight loss makes it harder to support existing lean muscle mass. To decrease your body fat % - moderate paced weight loss is best. Obese people are the exception, they will support lean muscle loss at fast(er) weight loss rates.

laurenebargar

I believe most people eat back about half of their exercise calories because the amount burned can be way off. Even if I only burn 300 cals, I try to eat at least 100 of them back.

extra_medium

You should eat them back, but you'll have to do some experimentation since your burn is an educated guess at best. If you eat them all back and stop losing (or start gaining) then cut back until you see losses again.