Do you add calories to your allowance if you exercise?

lisapldp

For those of you who have been successful at weight loss, do you allow extra calories if you exercise? For example, I burned 455 calories at IrangeTheory Fitness this morning. Should I add 455 calories to my daily allowance or just try to keep the baseline calorie count?

lisapldp

*OrangeTheory Fitness

Good_Morning_Glory

I do believe the rule of thumb is to eat back half and watch progress. If you’re still losing at the correct rate, than add back a bit more. Some eat all and have no problems, it’s a bit of an experiment.

megs_1985

You are supposed to add it to your calorie allowance but since it's very difficult to be accurate about how many calories you actually burn in exercise I'd wouldn't eat back all of those calories. For example if your only on a 1200 calorie diet and subtract the 455 you'd only have a net of 745 which is way too low.

cmriverside

I always did and always have. I lost 75 pounds and have kept it off for 10 years.

That is the way this site is designed to be used. Most other calculators figure in your exercise. Myfitnesspal starts you off lower and expects that you add the extra calories NEEDED to fuel your body on the days you do it.

From "Help"

How Does Myfitnesspal calculate my goals?

tinkerbellang83

Yes I eat all of my calories back, however be mindful that depending on how you calculate them they may be overestimated. Eating 50% can be a good starting point and then reviewing weight loss progress after 4-6 weeks and adjusting accordingly.

jjpptt2

We can't answer that until we know what your daily calorie goal is, how you calculated it, and how accurate, consistent, and complete your logging is.

If you're following MFP, then the answer is yes you should. But if you're following MFP, then just follow MFP. It's a good tool, and it works.

TavistockToad

yep, MFP gives you a calorie goal before exercise, so you should eat at least a portion of them.

Sweet_Intensity

I believe that the calorie counts for the exercises that I perform are truly overstated. I figure I burn about half the calories stated. I still try to stay within my base calorie count (or a little above) which means I am dropping pounds a little faster. I have medical reasons to shed the weight so, for me, this is a good thing.

erickirb

My question would be how did you calculate your calories burned? Most exercises it is difficult to get an accurate burn estimate, which is why so many say eat back half of what you burned. (most cardio machines and MFP tend to over estimate burns, and HRMs are only a good estimate under certain conditions and type of exercise)

sijomial

Yes I eat all my vast amount of exercise calories whether losing or maintaining.
But be wary of the "estimates" from OTF - I suspect some degree of marketing is at play from some of the numbers I've seen.

Having said that I used a very basic heart rate monitor for my cardio when I was losing weight which also exaggerated burns but I adjusted my daily calorie goal based on actual weight loss over weeks and months to keep the rate of loss on target.

JillianRumrill

I try to only eat back exercise calories if I'm still very hungry- if so, I try to only eat back half or less.

lucerorojo

I've eaten back all of my exercise calories and for 16 weeks lost at 2 lbs. per week--what I was supposed to lose. MFP has been very accurate in calculating my exercise calories.

Cat3141

Personally, how I treat it depends on the length and intensity of exercise. A leisurely walk, no, unless it's really long. For more intense exercise, yes, I absolutely eat more to fuel my workouts and recovery. If I don't, I tend to feel crappy and not recover well from workouts, so the whole thing ends up being counterproductive for any sort of athletic goal and makes it harder to stay on any type of weight loss diet. That said, for most people, the calorie burn estimates on machines are going to be overestimates, even if you set your weight. People like machines that tell them they burned more calories more than those that give them lower readings--its a marketing thing. I suspect MFPs estimates may be a little high as well, at least for me. A good rule is eat back 50-80% of what the machine or other estimator says, watch how you feel and how well you recover (and whether you lose weight if that's a concern) then work from there. Heart rate monitors are generally more accurate for steady state cardio, but still have measurement error. (Note heart rate monitors are not calibrated for weight training.) I would be particularly wary of the estimates from Orange Theory heart rate monitors since like the manufacturers of fitness equipment, they have a strong incentive to give you the highest estimates they can remotely justify.

ladyhusker39

My Fitbit does it for me. And I eat them.

rsclause

That's why I exercise! If it is moderate exercise like walking I wouldn't try to eat much of it back. If it is something like running seven miles I need to eat a at least 50% back or I will fall out.

estherdragonbat

Where else would I get the energy to fuel my workouts from?

cwolfman13

It is unaccounted for activity in your activity level...common sense would dictate that unaccounted for activity should be accounted for...the more you move, the more energy you expend which is why calorie requirements are higher for people who move more than people who don't.