Do you eat your exercise calories when MFP ups your daily intake after you log a workout?

JnineGains

Its nice to know that I have more space but I would still like to stick with my max of 1400 cals

estherdragonbat

I eat back half. My max is 1380 right now, but I typically exercise more than two hours a day. (I don't necessarily mean high-intensity. I walk a lot. I also do strength training with light dumbbells and body weight three times a week. If I can't get in a two-hour walk, I either do an hour on a fitness glider or a cardio-and-dumbbell interval workout).

When I started MFP over 8 months ago, I weighed 254 lbs, my calorie max was 1710, and just getting out and taking a 25-minute walk every day was a big deal for me. At that point, we were talking about something on the order of 100-200 exercise calories, and I didn't eat them back deliberately. I didn't have a digital food scale; I had one of those old models like this:

(Too much taring makes them less accurate over time. And I'd had it for some time.) And I was still relying mainly on measuring cups. I figured to use the exercise calories as a cushion against logging inaccuracies. And at my weight, on my calories, that was fine.

But now? Like I said, I'm on fewer calories and more exercise. If I don't eat back calories, I get hungry and snappish. Plus I like the idea that if I choose to have a sandwich for lunch, it doesn't mean giving up rice or stir-fry sauce for supper, when I've got room for both. I still eat half because MFP can be inaccurate about calories burned. I can be inaccurate. I clocked a recent walk at 3.25 mph by mapping my route ahead of time and then timing my walk. But does that mean that every walk I take is at that pace? Or do I slow down in spots if I'm not focusing on speed, if it's a hot day, if my route involves more uphill, etc? So I keep a buffer, but I eat about 1750 most days, instead of 1380.

I've set my MFP deficit for 1lb/week, but with 53 lbs to go to goal, 1.5 is still safe. I'm finding that eating back half my exercise usually has me averaging that 1.5 without having to reduce my calorie budget. Some weeks, it's 1.2. Some weeks, 1.8. I've had occasional 3-lb 'whooshes', almost immediately followed by a very modest gain or loss. But on average, I'm right about where I should be.

JnineGains

Thanks for the awesome input!!

bdawgunderwood

Normally I don't eat back the calories I've lost unless I'm under 1200 for the day lol

cmriverside

I ate every one all through my 70 pounds weight loss. Still do. When I under-eat, bad things happen to me like irritability, fatigue, depression, anxiety, hair loss, over-sleeping, inability to concentrate. I lost weight at exactly the predicted rate by using the numbers this site generated.

Today (and for ten years) I'm at a maintenance weight and I have tracked all my numbers long enough to know with pretty good precision how much to eat and how much to compensate when I exercise.

Keep good records, adjust in 4-6 weeks based on your results and how you are feeling.

malibu927

I'm not anymore since I follow a TDEE calculation, but that is how MFP is set up. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation

malibu927

bdawgunderwood wrote: »

Normally I don't eat back the calories I've lost unless I'm under 1200 for the day lol

As a male you shouldn't be under 1500 calories

Kathryn247

I've had some issues with MFP reducing my exercise calories for the day AFTER I've eaten them. In the evening it would tell me I earned, say, 500, so I would eat back half of them, but the next morning when I looked at the previous day it would say I only earned 200 for that day, meaning I went over. This is all with a Fitbit Alta HR.
So I've been sticking to 1400 a day, sometimes that's a small fraction of my exercise calories, and sometimes it's almost all of them. My deficit for the week works out, though.

sijomial

Yes - all of them, because that's how your goal is designed on here.
Your goal to lose weight at the desired rate of loss is 1400 + exercise calories.

TDEE calculators give you an average estimated amount of exercise calories instead of a variable amount you get on here. Horses for courses, both methods work.

Depending on what your exercise actually is the best methods used to estimate your burn can be quite different.

bizgirl26

I use the TDEE method but I exercise pretty much daily so my calorie allowance went up from using MFP and exercise calories - I follow it and don't consume additional calorie exercises . It just made more sense to me but if you are not consistent I would follow the MFP method

cwolfman13

When I followed MFP's methodology I did...because that is MFP's methodology. Your calorie target includes your calorie deficit and your activity level is just your day to day without deliberate exercise activity...so your calorie target to lose weight assume ZERO exercise activity. When you exercise you are doing activity beyond what is accounted for in the calculations...the more active you are, the higher your calorie requirements are...kinda like the further you drive, the more gas you're going to need.

OP, I believe you were the one that started the hitting the gym twice per day thread...if you're hitting the gym twice daily, you need to account for that activity.

ETA: this would also depend on intensity and duration of your workout...I wouldn't really worry too much about 30 minutes walking the dog, but more intense and longer duration activity needs fuel. If I go for a 30 mile ride, I'll burn a bit over 1,000 calories...if I was using MFP as designed, it would give me about 1900 calories to lose 1 Lb per week...if I only ate that, and did my 30 mile ride I'd be left with a mere 900 calories to function on...it would be the same as just eating 900 calories as an 182 Lb adult male...seems no bueno to me....

jslick0677

If I want to I do!! Maybe I have a cheat treat to tackle a craving or just a reward. I don't do it just because it's there.

TavistockToad

I eat every last one, everyone knows that exercise cals taste the best!

wimdroid

There is another factor that is not touched by the video or the replies here and that is the intensity of the activity.

People generally refer to exercise and workouts, but all activity burns/earns calories.

So my 2p for weight loss (not so much for people burning 1k+everyday in a gym)
If you had an initial goal of 1200 and ate all that, and you "earned" 100 bonus calories from a walk in the park, you don't need to go nuts and force eat it back. You can choose to eat or not.

If you had 1200 and start hitting a gym for lets say 500 bonus a day, then yes obviously you need to eat at least a decent portion back.

Something you could do is like if your earned cals go over 15% of your initial goal, you should be eating back, if not its just an extra that you can choose to save or use.
Ofcourse depends a bit on your personal goals and not applicable for all. Keep measuring and weighing and see how it affects you longer term.

whosshe

Not usually. Really depends on how I feel that day. If I'm not hungry I'm not going to eat.

firef1y72

I eat as many back as I can but I have a Garmin fr35 and fitbit flex 2 (Only wear for sites that reward steps) connected and I have to say I'm losing just over 1lb/ week (some wks more some less) and have done since 135lb ago

Sabrina3435

...

briggsman35

I don't go by net calories. My window is 1200 minimum, 1400 max, regardless of calories burned. Just remember plenty of protein, a good daily vitamin supplement and strength training to ward of muscle deterioration while trying to lose weight.