Is it really OK to eat back your workout calories?

Xkmaf2018X

I always feel ever so bad when I do eat them. MFP sets me a 1280 daily calorie goal and I put that I was sedentary, today (according to my fitbit charge 2) I’ve walked 11,000 steps, done two gym classes (Step and Pump) and gained 821 workout calories to which I have eaten 414 of them but now I’m sat here feeling really bad!

Do others eat back they’re workout calories and still lose or should I try not to eat them back?

My daily steps are around 10k -11k everyday and I do two gym classes back to back 4x days a week, my classes are fatburn, pump, circuits, tone and step.

AnvilHead

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p1

janejellyroll

When MFP gives you a goal of 1,280, they're *counting* on you eating back your exercise calories. You don't need to feel bad for using the system as designed.

cwolfman13

Xkmaf2018X wrote: »

I always feel ever so bad when I do eat them. MFP sets me a 1280 daily calorie goal and I put that I was sedentary, today (according to my fitbit charge 2) I’ve walked 11,000 steps, done two gym classes (Step and Pump) and gained 821 workout calories to which I have eaten 414 of them but now I’m sat here feeling really bad!

Do others eat back they’re workout calories and still lose or should I try not to eat them back?

My daily steps are around 10k -11k everyday and I do two gym classes back to back 4x days a week, my classes are fatburn, pump, circuits, tone and step.

Well, look at it this way...with all of that other activity that isn't accounted for in your activity level, you're not sedentary and when you move more, you need more fuel.

A car that commutes 60 miles each way daily is going to go through a lot more fuel than a car that just goes around the block to the grocery store.

Calories aren't bad...your body needs them. You burn a *kitten* ton of calories merely existing and you need calories (energy) for basic functions.

If you ate 1280 calories and actually worked off 821, that's the exact same thing as only eating 459 calories...that's what you should feel bad about because you'd basically be starving your body.

sijomial

Why if you steps are so high did you choose sedentary when you clearly aren't?
You are just going to get a huge adjustment (assuming you have linked your Fitbit).

As your daily calorie goal excludes exercise then eating them back just keeps the rate of weight loss you selected.
The method worked perfectly well for me both for weight loss and long term maintenance. My cycling alone last year at a very rough estimate was 303 hours X a conservative 500 cals/hr or 151,500 cals - and I must say they were absolutely delicious!

Think ahead to maintenance at goal weight, how will you account for your activity and exercise then?
Will you still feel guilty about fuelling your body properly?
Do you also feel guilty about the calories you burn by just existing? (BMR)

diannethegeek

I came to MFP ~because~ they add workout calories and the other tracker I was using didn't. I never felt bad for using them because this was the method I chose. There are other ways to setup your goals that will include your exercise calories up front instead of adding them in after. It's just a matter of knowing which you prefer and why so that you can adjust as you go.

urloved33

I find this mind boggeling too and always feel id do better in my weight loss journey if I did not eat my exercise cals back...but I always do. im hungry.

cwolfman13

urloved33 wrote: »

I find this mind boggeling too and always feel id do better in my weight loss journey if I did not eat my exercise cals back...but I always do. im hungry.

I don't understand how people find this mind boggling. It's just math.

If I don't exercise and my maintenance calories are 2400, I will lose 1 Lb per week eating 1900 calories. If I start exercising, my maintenance calories are going to go up and I can lose the same 1 Lb per week eating more.

mutantspicy

It doesn't work for me, keep in mind fitbit and other tracker overestimate a lot and I'm trying lose 10lbs. Just an idea you may change your setting to active just to see the difference. Setting your number to active probably will give another 500 to 800 calories per day and you can compare to your current daily activities. So its easier make a judgement call. Are you trying to lose or maintain?

janejellyroll

mutantspicy wrote: »

It doesn't work for me, keep in mind fitbit and other tracker overestimate a lot and I'm trying lose 10lbs. Just an idea you may change your setting to active just to see the difference. Setting your number to active probably will give another 500 to 800 calories per day and you can compare to your current daily activities. So its easier make a judgement call. Are you trying to lose or maintain?

Eating calories doesn't "work" for anyone if they're using overestimates for their calorie burn and fail to reach a deficit as a result. This doesn't mean that this method doesn't work, it means that one should use reasonable estimates for calories out, pay attention to the results, and make adjustments as needed.

cwolfman13

mutantspicy wrote: »

It doesn't work for me, keep in mind fitbit and other tracker overestimate a lot and I'm trying lose 10lbs. Just an idea you may change your setting to active just to see the difference. Setting your number to active probably will give another 500 to 800 calories per day and you can compare to your current daily activities. So its easier make a judgement call. Are you trying to lose or maintain?

My FitBit is pretty close to what my own data indicates...I find it to be fairly accurate.

roadglider48

I have always found that if I eat all of my exercise calories, I won't lose weight despite my best efforts to accurately determine calories consumed. Past discussions of this issue here indicated that a lot of others found the same results as I have. If I keep it to eating half or less of the exercise calories I will lose weight. The mathematics just don't seem to fit with the biology. I think some of the reasons for this is that in eating more of the exercise calories a person is likely to have consumed more fat calories and/or more sodium resulting in water weight gain. I'm not a dietitian and maybe we could hear from someone who is that might have a better explanation.

janejellyroll

roadglider48 wrote: »

I have always found that if I eat all of my exercise calories, I won't lose weight despite my best efforts to accurately determine calories consumed. Past discussions of this issue here indicated that a lot of others found the same results as I have. If I keep it to eating half or less of the exercise calories I will lose weight. The mathematics just don't seem to fit with the biology. I think some of the reasons for this is that in eating more of the exercise calories a person is likely to have consumed more fat calories and/or more sodium resulting in water weight gain. I'm not a dietitian and maybe we could hear from someone who is that might have a better explanation.

If you don't lose weight when eating all the calories you estimated you burned and you do lose weight eating about half of what you estimated you burned, I think that's a good indication that your initial estimate was too high and your burn is closer to half of what you think you're burning. The other possibility is that your estimation of calories in is off and you're eating more than you think you are and the exercise calories are serving as a kind of "buffer" for this inaccuracy.

Either way, your method (pay attention to results and adjust estimate of what to eat back if you don't see desired results) is the exact strategy that is being advocated for by the people in this thread who are arguing that OP should eat back exercise calories. People may need to do a bit of observation and adjustment to find the number that works because we're all starting with estimates.

Eating more fat won't result in failure to lose weight (assuming one is still in a deficit). In fact, people can lose weight on really high fat diets (like keto) assuming a calorie deficit is in place.

JorrunFulhelm

I have a hard time eating all those back as well. So, instead, I find a happy medium and eat back about half of those calories to give not only my anxiety about over eating to rest, but also to help curb any extra hunger I might feel. It might not work for you, but it has for me! Good Luck!

mutantspicy

janejellyroll wrote: »

mutantspicy wrote: »

It doesn't work for me, keep in mind fitbit and other tracker overestimate a lot and I'm trying lose 10lbs. Just an idea you may change your setting to active just to see the difference. Setting your number to active probably will give another 500 to 800 calories per day and you can compare to your current daily activities. So its easier make a judgement call. Are you trying to lose or maintain?

Eating calories doesn't "work" for anyone if they're using overestimates for their calorie burn and fail to reach a deficit as a result. This doesn't mean that this method doesn't work, it means that one should use reasonable estimates for calories out, pay attention to the results, and make adjustments as needed.

Well unfortunately most fitness trackers notoriously do just that. I think the info from myfitnesspal is pretty spot on. I'm set at lightly active and eating my food cals which is 1910cals and I'm losing a pound or two a week. If I were to eat all of my workout cals, it would be over 3000 cals most days. And I know for a fact over 2500cals I start gaining. As you say, this is information is very helpful, but you have pay attention to the results and make adjustments.

sijomial

roadglider48 wrote: »

I have always found that if I eat all of my exercise calories, I won't lose weight despite my best efforts to accurately determine calories consumed. Past discussions of this issue here indicated that a lot of others found the same results as I have. If I keep it to eating half or less of the exercise calories I will lose weight. The mathematics just don't seem to fit with the biology. I think some of the reasons for this is that in eating more of the exercise calories a person is likely to have consumed more fat calories and/or more sodium resulting in water weight gain. I'm not a dietitian and maybe we could hear from someone who is that might have a better explanation.

It's nothing to do with the proportion of fat in your diet - it's calorie balance that matters.
Biggest suspects are inaccurate food and exercise logging.

There's an amazing correlation between people with non-public diaries and reporting the numbers and methods don't work.
I'm not saying that you are hiding something of course but it does mean you don't get feedback from others when you make errors.
That can be using poor tools (cups, spoons...) or simply picking bad entries from the database or exaggerated exercise estimates.
It's once in a blue moon that someone who opens their diary doesn't get useful pointers on how to tighten up or improve accuracy. Genuine outliers are a rare breed.

janejellyroll

mutantspicy wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

mutantspicy wrote: »

It doesn't work for me, keep in mind fitbit and other tracker overestimate a lot and I'm trying lose 10lbs. Just an idea you may change your setting to active just to see the difference. Setting your number to active probably will give another 500 to 800 calories per day and you can compare to your current daily activities. So its easier make a judgement call. Are you trying to lose or maintain?

Eating calories doesn't "work" for anyone if they're using overestimates for their calorie burn and fail to reach a deficit as a result. This doesn't mean that this method doesn't work, it means that one should use reasonable estimates for calories out, pay attention to the results, and make adjustments as needed.

Well unfortunately most fitness trackers notoriously do just that. I think the info from myfitnesspal is pretty spot on. I'm set at lightly active and eating my food cals which is 1910cals. If I were to eat all of my workout cals, it would be over 3000 cals most days. And I know for a fact over 2500cals I start gaining. As you say, this is information is very helpful, but you have pay attention to the results and make adjustments.

Some people do have this problem (although I've found my Fitbit to be very accurate). No matter what method we're choosing to estimate calorie burn, it's important to understand that they're all estimates.

neugebauer52

Every person loses weight differently. I decided to be "clever" and not increase my daily calories level with 3 to 4 hours gym work outs 5 to 6 days a week. Result: the mother of all plateaus for a long time - and 3 years later I am back where I have started. I have learned my lesson...

mutantspicy

roadglider48 wrote: »

I have always found that if I eat all of my exercise calories, I won't lose weight despite my best efforts to accurately determine calories consumed. Past discussions of this issue here indicated that a lot of others found the same results as I have. If I keep it to eating half or less of the exercise calories I will lose weight. The mathematics just don't seem to fit with the biology. I think some of the reasons for this is that in eating more of the exercise calories a person is likely to have consumed more fat calories and/or more sodium resulting in water weight gain. I'm not a dietitian and maybe we could hear from someone who is that might have a better explanation.

Same for me. I wonder if it has to do with fitness level. Like if you're heart, lungs, muscle are used to working out for years and years. Maybe the calorie burn is a lot less, than for someone who is out of shape. I know they're supposed to take that into account, but I just feel like the numbers for me are highly inflated. On average I burn over 1200 cals a day from steps and workouts, If ate that back I'd get fat quick.

raindawg

Think of it like this. Let's just say at 1280 net calories your deficit is 500 per day resulting in 1lb per week loss (your's may be different but go with me here). You told MFP your goal is 1lb per week (500 deficit per day). MFP took you at your word and is holding you to that goal. No more of a deficit than that, no less of a deficit than that.

If you eat 1280 calories and exercise during the day you are eating at a deficit greater than 500 calories or greater than your goal. That's not what you told MFP your goal was. You eat your exercise back to keep your deficit right at 500 calories and right at your goal of 1lb per week. MFP is defaulted to losing weight slow and steady (healthy weight loss) vs. a lot in a short time frame (unhealthy).

Now having said that. The scale will tell you how you are doing. If you are only eating 50% back and still hitting your goal every week, then stick with that, no guilt necessary.

cwolfman13

mutantspicy wrote: »

roadglider48 wrote: »

I have always found that if I eat all of my exercise calories, I won't lose weight despite my best efforts to accurately determine calories consumed. Past discussions of this issue here indicated that a lot of others found the same results as I have. If I keep it to eating half or less of the exercise calories I will lose weight. The mathematics just don't seem to fit with the biology. I think some of the reasons for this is that in eating more of the exercise calories a person is likely to have consumed more fat calories and/or more sodium resulting in water weight gain. I'm not a dietitian and maybe we could hear from someone who is that might have a better explanation.

Same for me. I wonder if it has to do with fitness level. Like if you're heart, lungs, muscle are used to working out for years and years. Maybe the calorie burn is a lot less, than for someone who is out of shape. I know they're supposed to take that into account, but I just feel like the numbers for me are highly inflated. On average I burn over 1200 cals a day from steps and workouts, If ate that back I'd get fat quick.

Actually, the more fit you are, the more calories you're going to burn because you'll actually go further and go harder.

It also depends on what your exercise is...determining exercise expenditure from things like boot camps or classes or lifting, etc is difficult...figuring out calories for running and walking is very straight forward. I always used my Garmin bike computer calorie burns minus my basal calories when i was doing the MFP method and I ate around 2300 - 2500 calories per day to lose about 1 Lb per week on average. A power meter on a bike is very accurate.

There are ways of more accurately determining energy expenditure. But really, the problem in most cases is that people are really bad at estimating both calories coming in and out which is why they have issues.