Eating back exercise calories
JessMum2016
Posts: 4 Member
I'm still a bit confused as to whether to d this or not. I'm thinking not as the exercise is taken into account when the calorie amount is worked out but then I know someone who does and still loses weight. Any ideas please? TIA.
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Replies
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Exercise calories are not included in your MFP daily calorie allowance. Some websites do include a component for exercise calories based on the info provided by the user.
The exercise calories provided when you enter exercise are generally not accurate...some people start with eating back half their exercise calories and adjust as required. Losing too much weight eat back more exercise calories, losing too little reduce exercise calories. This is assuming that all other reasons for too much or too little weight loss have been reviewed and accounted for.
Depending how much weight there is to be lost, 1% of weight per week is a general guide...or for some an average of 1lb a week. Average 2 to 3lb per week if there is significant weight to lose. Not everyone achieves the average but I generally go with the rule if ya losing its all good.1 -
Your goal is your calorie target on a non-exercise day.
The activity setting is your lifestyle & job only - unlike other weight loss calculators you might find that combine exercise and activity.
Exercise is not taken into account at all when you set up your profile.
Despite it asking how much you intend to exercise when you do your initial set up that's just a vague ambition and doesn't affect your calorie goal.
I've always eaten all my exercise calories and managed weight loss and weight management just fine. I would say that depending on your particular exercise that there may well be better ways to estimate than the MyFitnessPal exercise database though.3 -
When I used the exercise database I would eat around 60-70% back, now that I have my Garmin tracker I eat all of them back (started with 50% and adjusted after 4 weeks of weight loss data).3 -
Eat exercise calories back. That's the way MFP is designed.2
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I don't eat them back. I work hard to burn the calories, why would I eat them back?8
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Agreed, I hate cardio...I do not want to eat them back lol6
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JessMum2016 wrote: »I'm still a bit confused as to whether to d this or not. I'm thinking not as the exercise is taken into account when the calorie amount is worked out but then I know someone who does and still loses weight. Any ideas please? TIA.
Exercise isn't taken into account in your activity level if you're doing MFP as designed...to account for that activity you log it and get additional calories.
Fueling your fitness is kind of important...I just did a 30 mile ride on Saturday...MFP would give me 1800 calories to lose 1 Lb per week without exercise...I burn right around 1,000 calories for a 30 mile ride...that would leave me a net of 800 calories after my ride if I didn't account for that activity...basically the same thing as just eating 800 calories...does that sound remotely healthy?6 -
I definitely do. If I didn't my body wouldn't have the fuel it needs to do my workouts.
I tried not eating them once and it didn't go well. I was moody, had headaches, extremely fatigued and I couldn't put as much intensity into my workouts. It only took about 2 weeks for me to feel horrible.
Exercise isn't just to burn calories. It creates a healthy body. Cardio is excellent for cardiovascular health. Strength helps maintain lean body mass so you lose mostly fat and helps you become stronger. It can also improve your mood and reduce stress. However if your deficit is too large you end up not getting the full benefits of your workouts.
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No way do I eat them back4
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I seriously will never understand how people do not understand how this tool works...nobody reads the directions I guess..8
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It seems like if you are estimating an activity level you have already included the exercise calories in the MFP guideline for calorie intake. So if you "eat them back" you are accounting for them twice.
However, if you say you are sedentary and then exercise I guess you CAN eat them back and still lose weight. Right?0 -
It seems like if you are estimating an activity level you have already included the exercise calories in the MFP guideline for calorie intake. So if you "eat them back" you are accounting for them twice.
However, if you say you are sedentary and then exercise I guess you CAN eat them back and still lose weight. Right?
If you disregard how MFP works and include your intentional exercise in your overall activity level, then you would be double-counting them.
The activity goal is designed to include your regular daily activity, *not including intentional exercise*.1 -
It seems like if you are estimating an activity level you have already included the exercise calories in the MFP guideline for calorie intake. So if you "eat them back" you are accounting for them twice.
However, if you say you are sedentary and then exercise I guess you CAN eat them back and still lose weight. Right?
While you can include exercise in your activity level, it is not the way this tool is designed...that's why there's no mention of exercise in the activity level descriptions. If you are including exercise in your activity level then yes..you would be double dipping if you logged and ate back more. The important thing is to account for that activity somewhere, particularly if you ever get into more intense and/or endurance exercise...you need to fuel for recovery.
Your activity level without exercise could be anywhere from sedentary to very active. When I was losing I was set to light active for my day to day activity without exercise...exercise was still additional activity.1 -
flippy1234 wrote: »I don't eat them back. I work hard to burn the calories, why would I eat them back?
Because MFP already operates at a deficit. Say your number was 1400 cals a day. If you went to the gym and burnt 400 and didn't eat any back, you'd be living off that 1000 cals every day that you exercise which will leave you feeling tired and hungry, potentially causing you to binge and go over your limit among other things.5 -
flippy1234 wrote: »I don't eat them back. I work hard to burn the calories, why would I eat them back?
Because MFP already operates at a deficit. Say your number was 1400 cals a day. If you went to the gym and burnt 400 and didn't eat any back, you'd be living off that 1000 cals every day that you exercise which will leave you feeling tired and hungry, potentially causing you to binge and go over your limit among other things.
How do you know you burned 400 calories? Because MFP said so? Sorry to break it to you, but the calorie amount they say you burned can be highly inaccurate. So if you actually burned 200 calories, but MFP said you burned 400 and then you eat 400 back, you just went over your daily intake by 200 calories.
You need to figure out your own TDEE and set your own calorie allowance in MFP. Everyone is different.
I ONLY use MFP to track what I eat. Nothing more... and it works flawlessly. I could also log it in a journal, but MFP is easier.4 -
flippy1234 wrote: »I don't eat them back. I work hard to burn the calories, why would I eat them back?
Because MFP already operates at a deficit. Say your number was 1400 cals a day. If you went to the gym and burnt 400 and didn't eat any back, you'd be living off that 1000 cals every day that you exercise which will leave you feeling tired and hungry, potentially causing you to binge and go over your limit among other things.
How do you know you burned 400 calories? Because MFP said so? Sorry to break it to you, but the calorie amount they say you burned can be highly inaccurate. So if you actually burned 200 calories, but MFP said you burned 400 and then you eat 400 back, you just went over your daily intake by 200 calories.
You need to figure out your own TDEE and set your own calorie allowance in MFP. Everyone is different.
I ONLY use MFP to track what I eat. Nothing more... and it works flawlessly. I could also log it in a journal, but MFP is easier.
Technically you are still eating exercise calories using this method. Difference between this and MFP is how you calories are accounted for.
TDEE takes them into account right away and spreads them out evenly across the week.
MFP doesn't include them until they are logged. So workout days you get to eat a bit more and rest days less.
If done correctly, when you avg out your MFP numbers with exercise, you should get roughly the same as whatever your TDEE minus deficit is.
Granted both methods are estimates and have to be adjusted to the individual. It is recommended to start with cutting MFP calories burned from exercise by 50% and adjust up or down based on actual results.6 -
It seems like if you are estimating an activity level you have already included the exercise calories in the MFP guideline for calorie intake. So if you "eat them back" you are accounting for them twice.
However, if you say you are sedentary and then exercise I guess you CAN eat them back and still lose weight. Right?
@OhCaroleM
Wrong.
That's not how this site works.
The activity multiplier is ONLY counting daily activity. The activity multipliers used on a TDEE site are far higher because they are estimating both activity AND exercise.
Eating back exercise calories is not limited to sedentary people.
I would be active setting as I'm always on the go - but I do a whole load of exercise on top of that activity.
My son is a very active builder - he still would have to add exercise calories.
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It seems like if you are estimating an activity level you have already included the exercise calories in the MFP guideline for calorie intake. So if you "eat them back" you are accounting for them twice.
However, if you say you are sedentary and then exercise I guess you CAN eat them back and still lose weight. Right?
@OhCaroleM
Wrong.
That's not how this site works.
The activity multiplier is ONLY counting daily activity. The activity multipliers used on a TDEE site are far higher because they are estimating both activity AND exercise.
Eating back exercise calories is not limited to sedentary people.
I would be active setting as I'm always on the go - but I do a whole load of exercise on top of that activity.
My son is a very active builder - he still would have to add exercise calories.
Well thanks for straightening me out! I think this all means I can eat more, I like it!3 -
All I can say is this: I estimated my exercise calories carefully and conservatively, then ate pretty much all of them back, while losing 50+ pounds in just less than a year, at age 59/60, while hypothyroid.
Two years later, I'm still at a healthy weight, after having been class 1 obese for a few decades before that weight loss. I'm thinking that eating back exercise calories worked fine for me.6 -
All I can say is this: I estimated my exercise calories carefully and conservatively, then ate pretty much all of them back, while losing 50+ pounds in just less than a year, at age 59/60, while hypothyroid.
Two years later, I'm still at a healthy weight, after having been class 1 obese for a few decades before that weight loss. I'm thinking that eating back exercise calories worked fine for me.
Similar experience for me - took some care over making my estimates reasonable.
Last year I did 300+ hours of cycling (MFP database estimates are poor for me, too high) and c. 150 hours of strength training (MFP estimates are fine and conservative) plus other bits and pieces. I would have wasted away to nothing if I hadn't eaten my exercise calories.
As noted above the TDEE method also includes exercise calories but the estimate is even more vague as you are estimating the duration and precise type of exercise too.
That the TDEE method also works shows precision isn't really required, just "reasonable" and with the common sense to make adjustments based on results over time.
Food logging inaccuracy has a far greater impact on results than exercise logging inaccuracy for most people due to the relative sizes of the numbers.2
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