Eating back exercise calories
A_Rene86
Posts: 141 Member
I've never eaten back exercise calories, but as I've recently returned to a much more intense/frequent workout regimen, I'm thinking I should start. My CI is pretty low currently, so I don't think it would be wise to continue on without making adjustments to reflect my increased CO. Not if I'd like to perform to my full athletic potential, anyway!
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
Thanks in advance
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
Thanks in advance
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Replies
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I've never eaten back exercise calories, but as I've recently returned to a much more intense/frequent workout regimen, I'm thinking I should start. My CI is pretty low currently, so I don't think it would be wise to continue on without making adjustments to reflect my increased CO. Not if I'd like to perform to my full athletic potential, anyway!
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
Thanks in advance
FWIW... how much of them you should or shouldn't eat back is almost entirely determined by how you estimate your calories needed and burned, and how accurate you are with your logging.0 -
For my bike I use a polar 500 bike computer with a chest strap HRM and while I'm sure it's not 100% accurate, I find it to be accurate enough and I just use those calories.1
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I've never eaten back exercise calories, but as I've recently returned to a much more intense/frequent workout regimen, I'm thinking I should start. My CI is pretty low currently, so I don't think it would be wise to continue on without making adjustments to reflect my increased CO. Not if I'd like to perform to my full athletic potential, anyway!
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
Thanks in advance
FWIW... how much of them you should or shouldn't eat back is almost entirely determined by how you estimate your calories needed and burned, and how accurate you are with your logging.
I've calculated my TDEE (as sedentary, since I work a desk job 50+ hours a week) and through months of tracking data, know that it is accurate as I'm losing at the expected rate. My logging is accurate. I weigh and track everything and use or create accurate database entries. I'm not struggling with weight loss, so I'm not sure what relevance that has. I'm crossing into new territory with eating back exercise calories and am looking for some anecdotal information from others who have been doing so for a while.0 -
MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back.
My FitBit One is far less generous with calories than the MFP database and I comfortably eat 100% of the calories I earn from it back.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p11 -
It's absolutely trial and error. A poll won't help here, too many variables.
It's trial and error because calorie burns are estimates. Some forms of exercise are harder to estimate than others. It's trial and error because your stated activity level isn't just one number (although MFP uses 1 number). Your activity level is up some days and down on others. An activity tracker would help here. Tracking food is also an estimate, and let's face it some people aren't very good at it.
I use a FitBit & much of my cardio is step based, so I eat all the calories back.
I eat my calories back because I want fat loss.....not lean muscle loss. When we lose weight.....we lose both. But a moderate deficit (yes weight loss is slower) helps my body fuel existing lean muscle (along with adequate protein and strength training).0 -
That is nice to know that I'm not the only one....my Fitbit One isn't very generous either, lol.1
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I've never eaten back exercise calories, but as I've recently returned to a much more intense/frequent workout regimen, I'm thinking I should start. My CI is pretty low currently, so I don't think it would be wise to continue on without making adjustments to reflect my increased CO. Not if I'd like to perform to my full athletic potential, anyway!
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
Thanks in advance
FWIW... how much of them you should or shouldn't eat back is almost entirely determined by how you estimate your calories needed and burned, and how accurate you are with your logging.
I've calculated my TDEE (as sedentary, since I work a desk job 50+ hours a week) and through months of tracking data, know that it is accurate as I'm losing at the expected rate. My logging is accurate. I weigh and track everything and use or create accurate database entries. I'm not struggling with weight loss, so I'm not sure what relevance that has. I'm crossing into new territory with eating back exercise calories and am looking for some anecdotal information from others who have been doing so for a while.
So your TDEE is right.
Your logging is tight.
Then you shouldn't be eating back any exercise cals.
oh, wait, your TDEE isn't actually your TDEE. Which means your TDEE isn't correct (at least not when looked at as TDEE).
And you didn't address how you're estimating calories burned through your workouts.1 -
I've never eaten back exercise calories, but as I've recently returned to a much more intense/frequent workout regimen, I'm thinking I should start. My CI is pretty low currently, so I don't think it would be wise to continue on without making adjustments to reflect my increased CO. Not if I'd like to perform to my full athletic potential, anyway!
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
Thanks in advance
FWIW... how much of them you should or shouldn't eat back is almost entirely determined by how you estimate your calories needed and burned, and how accurate you are with your logging.
I've calculated my TDEE (as sedentary, since I work a desk job 50+ hours a week) and through months of tracking data, know that it is accurate as I'm losing at the expected rate. My logging is accurate. I weigh and track everything and use or create accurate database entries. I'm not struggling with weight loss, so I'm not sure what relevance that has. I'm crossing into new territory with eating back exercise calories and am looking for some anecdotal information from others who have been doing so for a while.
Do you have a tracker? I use Fitbit and regularly eat between 50-70 % back on average. I find that if I don't do that, I lose the ability to do my workouts properly. That percentage has kept me in the range of weight loss I want, perhaps even slightly too aggressive. In a couple of weeks when I get into my next exercise program, I may up the percentage even more.1 -
I've never eaten back exercise calories, but as I've recently returned to a much more intense/frequent workout regimen, I'm thinking I should start. My CI is pretty low currently, so I don't think it would be wise to continue on without making adjustments to reflect my increased CO. Not if I'd like to perform to my full athletic potential, anyway!
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
Thanks in advance
FWIW... how much of them you should or shouldn't eat back is almost entirely determined by how you estimate your calories needed and burned, and how accurate you are with your logging.
I've calculated my TDEE (as sedentary, since I work a desk job 50+ hours a week) and through months of tracking data, know that it is accurate as I'm losing at the expected rate. My logging is accurate. I weigh and track everything and use or create accurate database entries. I'm not struggling with weight loss, so I'm not sure what relevance that has. I'm crossing into new territory with eating back exercise calories and am looking for some anecdotal information from others who have been doing so for a while.
So your TDEE is right.
Your logging is tight.
Then you shouldn't be eating back any exercise cals.
oh, wait, your TDEE isn't actually your TDEE. Which means your TDEE isn't correct (at least not when looked at as TDEE).
And you didn't address how you're estimating calories burned through your workouts.
I'm not sure why you're being so sarcastic. I don't believe I've asked anything ridiculous here. Up until last week, I was sedentary and without the added exercise, I would still be considered sedentary. As I mentioned, this is a new exercise program. To me, it makes more sense to eat back a portion of my exercise calories on days when I exercise than to raise my overall intake, which would cause me to ruin my deficit on non-exercise days. So, I'm looking to switch to calculating using NEAT rather than TDEE.
I'm using an activity tracker, a fitbit charge 2 to be exact, but I know that even with that the burns are not exact and can be inflated. Particularly for the type of exercise I'm doing (crossfit) so I'm not fully confident in the number given.0 -
Silentpadna wrote: »I've never eaten back exercise calories, but as I've recently returned to a much more intense/frequent workout regimen, I'm thinking I should start. My CI is pretty low currently, so I don't think it would be wise to continue on without making adjustments to reflect my increased CO. Not if I'd like to perform to my full athletic potential, anyway!
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
Thanks in advance
FWIW... how much of them you should or shouldn't eat back is almost entirely determined by how you estimate your calories needed and burned, and how accurate you are with your logging.
I've calculated my TDEE (as sedentary, since I work a desk job 50+ hours a week) and through months of tracking data, know that it is accurate as I'm losing at the expected rate. My logging is accurate. I weigh and track everything and use or create accurate database entries. I'm not struggling with weight loss, so I'm not sure what relevance that has. I'm crossing into new territory with eating back exercise calories and am looking for some anecdotal information from others who have been doing so for a while.
Do you have a tracker? I use Fitbit and regularly eat between 50-70 % back on average. I find that if I don't do that, I lose the ability to do my workouts properly. That percentage has kept me in the range of weight loss I want, perhaps even slightly too aggressive. In a couple of weeks when I get into my next exercise program, I may up the percentage even more.
Thank you, @Silentpadna
That was one of my concerns as well, that continuing on with my current intake with no regard for added calorie burn would affect my ability to progress in my workouts. I'm seeing a lot of people (though not on this thread) saying they eat approximately 50-75%, so it seems a reasonable starting place. I suppose I'll have to try the "wait and see" approach, but hoped to get a little input from others before beginning down that path.0 -
I was trying to eat 50% of my often 1000-calorie burns, yet still had frequent failures leading me to consume thousands of additional calories as often as twice weekly. I haven't yet figured out how to avoid that, although I'm trying to meet my macros for fat and protein.1
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It's absolutely trial and error. A poll won't help here, too many variables.
It's trial and error because calorie burns are estimates. Some forms of exercise are harder to estimate than others. It's trial and error because your stated activity level isn't just one number (although MFP uses 1 number). Your activity level is up some days and down on others. An activity tracker would help here. Tracking food is also an estimate, and let's face it some people aren't very good at it.
I use a FitBit & much of my cardio is step based, so I eat all the calories back.
I eat my calories back because I want fat loss.....not lean muscle loss. When we lose weight.....we lose both. But a moderate deficit (yes weight loss is slower) helps my body fuel existing lean muscle (along with adequate protein and strength training).
Thank you @TeaBea I guess I was looking for a place to start and because I've been able to track/predict my losses so well up to this point, I'm feeling anxious about making changes. I do use an activity tracker, but I see a lot of people on MFP saying they're inaccurate, so I'm hesitant to eat 100%. 0 -
My apologies - I shouldn't have been so snarky in my response.
But never-the-less, that's why those things are relevant. The TDEE that you're working off of isn't your TDEE, as TDEE includes your exercise, which, based on your original post, you've recently increased.
So you need to either increase your TDEE accordingly, or figure out how you want to estimate calories burned, then use MFP's NEAT approach.
Based on your posts, you are wanting to do the latter.
So, if you feel confident in your CO logging, and you're confident in your NEAT, then the only remaining question is your exercise cals. If you want to use your fitbit, that's fine. You already know they aren't super accurate, so now we finally get back to your original question about what portion of your exercise cals you should be eating back.
Unfortunately, there's no way to know/say for sure. Most people suggest 1/2, and that's a good starting point for most people. You'll have to start somewhere, track and log, then evaluate over time how your actual results line up with your expected results. You mentioned this in one of your previous posts, so I'm guessing this doesn't come as a huge surprise.0 -
It's absolutely trial and error. A poll won't help here, too many variables.
It's trial and error because calorie burns are estimates. Some forms of exercise are harder to estimate than others. It's trial and error because your stated activity level isn't just one number (although MFP uses 1 number). Your activity level is up some days and down on others. An activity tracker would help here. Tracking food is also an estimate, and let's face it some people aren't very good at it.
I use a FitBit & much of my cardio is step based, so I eat all the calories back.
I eat my calories back because I want fat loss.....not lean muscle loss. When we lose weight.....we lose both. But a moderate deficit (yes weight loss is slower) helps my body fuel existing lean muscle (along with adequate protein and strength training).
Thank you @TeaBea I guess I was looking for a place to start and because I've been able to track/predict my losses so well up to this point, I'm feeling anxious about making changes. I do use an activity tracker, but I see a lot of people on MFP saying they're inaccurate, so I'm hesitant to eat 100%.
They are not inaccurate. They are unreliable. Trial and error is the only way to know if they are accurate or not FOR YOU. They estimate calories burned based on movement using a number of assumptions. The closer you are and your exercise is to those assumptions, the more accurate the tracker will be.0 -
My apologies - I shouldn't have been so snarky in my response.
But never-the-less, that's why those things are relevant. The TDEE that you're working off of isn't your TDEE, as TDEE includes your exercise, which, based on your original post, you've recently increased.
So you need to either increase your TDEE accordingly, or figure out how you want to estimate calories burned, then use MFP's NEAT approach.
Based on your posts, you are wanting to do the latter.
So, if you feel confident in your CO logging, and you're confident in your NEAT, then the only remaining question is your exercise cals. If you want to use your fitbit, that's fine. You already know they aren't super accurate, so now we finally get back to your original question about what portion of your exercise cals you should be eating back.
Unfortunately, there's no way to know/say for sure. Most people suggest 1/2, and that's a good starting point for most people. You'll have to start somewhere, track and log, then evaluate over time how your actual results line up with your expected results. You mentioned this in one of your previous posts, so I'm guessing this doesn't come as a huge surprise.
I appreciate that and admit I am possibly being sensitive.
It seems 50% is a good starting place, from which I'll adjust if necessary. Mostly, this boils down to my anxiety over fixing what isn't broken, so to speak. But, I'll have to bite the bullet, give it a try, and course-correct if necessary. Worst case, I see a stall (unrelated to this new exercise water weight!) and can dial it back. Thank you for your input0 -
I started eating 50% back just to be safe and adjusted it slowly over the next six months. I ended up with my app/HRM being a little above 80% accurate based on my own weight fluctuation (or lack there of) so I stick with that now. It all depends on what you use to calculate your calories, how hard/intense your exercise is, and how you log your food (accurately or not). So yea, start with 50%, give it some time (a period of weeks) and see how that affects your rate of loss/gain/etc. Adjust as you go.1
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FWIW, back when I had a fitbit... I found it to be surprising accurate (based on how I estimated and logged) when looked at over longer periods of time. For example, looking at estimated calories over a 2hr span that included a workout and some desk time... pretty sure it was way off. Looking at cals over a 24hr span... very reasonable.1
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My apologies - I shouldn't have been so snarky in my response.
But never-the-less, that's why those things are relevant. The TDEE that you're working off of isn't your TDEE, as TDEE includes your exercise, which, based on your original post, you've recently increased.
So you need to either increase your TDEE accordingly, or figure out how you want to estimate calories burned, then use MFP's NEAT approach.
Based on your posts, you are wanting to do the latter.
So, if you feel confident in your CO logging, and you're confident in your NEAT, then the only remaining question is your exercise cals. If you want to use your fitbit, that's fine. You already know they aren't super accurate, so now we finally get back to your original question about what portion of your exercise cals you should be eating back.
Unfortunately, there's no way to know/say for sure. Most people suggest 1/2, and that's a good starting point for most people. You'll have to start somewhere, track and log, then evaluate over time how your actual results line up with your expected results. You mentioned this in one of your previous posts, so I'm guessing this doesn't come as a huge surprise.
I appreciate that and admit I am possibly being sensitive.
It seems 50% is a good starting place, from which I'll adjust if necessary. Mostly, this boils down to my anxiety over fixing what isn't broken, so to speak. But, I'll have to bite the bullet, give it a try, and course-correct if necessary. Worst case, I see a stall (unrelated to this new exercise water weight!) and can dial it back. Thank you for your input
yeah think longterm, Few weeks to figure it out vs the rest of your life. The rest of your life eating comfortably always wins out. Right now im on a force feed self 2000-2400 calories because i believe thats my TDEE (fitbit says 2600-2700) And i figured i just need to bite the bullet aswell, And practice my life long skills.2 -
What I'd like to know is, for those of you who do eat them back, what percentage are you eating? And did you come to that number through trial and error? Or did you choose a percentage and stick with it?
100 %, from the outset, because I'm confident in their accuracy. On a bike, which is my main form of exercise most of the year, I use a power meter which will never be off by more than 5 % for calories burnt. For walking, I ignore what the device says (it gets confused because it has an HRM) and decide my own calories from distance.1
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