Eating exercise calories?

ccarew77

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if I should be eating exercise calories? Everything I've read says it's best to bank them to increase weight loss but I noticed in my diary at the end of the day my "goal" calorie count is higher once exercise is added.
Based on my weight goal of 1-2 lbs per week my calorie target is 1460.
Thanks!

Nina1007

Yes, you're suppose to eat exercise calories back using MFP. I aim to eat at least half of mine back. If I'm still hungry I eat all of them. I won't lie, this happens often!

tpcodonna

what is MFP?

rassha01

MFP wants you to eat them back but there are things to consider. How sure are you on the number entered for exercise, how accurate are you at logging the amount of food you eat? Some people are extremely accurate at how they log and others not so much. I eat back how ever many I need to feel satisfied anywhere from 0 to 75% ( and a few over days ). My advice would be to try eating 50% back for a month, than try 100% for a montha, and finally try eating 0% back for a month and see what happens. Find which works best for you but don't forget that as your body changes your caloric needs also change.

Good luck!!

Pangea250

Sigh.

BrianSharpe

MFP uses a slightly unusual model - you have a target net calorie intake rather than the more common flat calorie allowance (based on total daily expended energy - some %)

If you've set your activity level at sedentary it's advisable to eat back at least a portion of your exercise calories in order to adequately fuel your workouts. The reason I say "a portion" is that many of the tools used to estimate calories expended on exercise tend to do so on the generous side of things and tend to report gross rather than net calories expended (which means you're adding calories already included in your BMR).

CyberEd312

If you are using the MFP approach to weight loss then yes eat them back... If you are using TDEE then no you would not... Best of Luck

lizjoan3

last month I wasn't really eating them back hoping I could lose faster but that didn't work.. I went 22 days..working out, and eating right and didn't lose anything...I talked this over with a trainer and he said I should eat them back. I think my body was hanging on to the weight or something because I wasn't eating enough. I just came back from a trip and this month I am going to eat back most of what I burn plus have a cheat day once a week to try and fool my body to not hang on. Also I learned to eat after I work out, protein and carb meal (to nurish your muscles)

pippin44

MFP=my fitness pal

annenhie

I've asked the same question here a couple of days ago. A lot of people do stuff differently. As for me, I only have 1200 calories allocated daily and with exercise I add at least 500 calories to that. I tend to not eat the calories I've lost on exercise coz I am already too full with my 1200 calories anyway (mostly because I drink 500 ml to 1 liter of water per meal). It's up to you really. If you're hungry then eat some more, just make sure you're eating healthy food.

araviel

MFP uses a slightly unusual model - you have a target net calorie intake rather than the more common flat calorie allowance (based on total daily expended energy - some %)

If you've set your activity level at sedentary it's advisable to eat back at least a portion of your exercise calories in order to adequately fuel your workouts. The reason I say "a portion" is that many of the tools used to estimate calories expended on exercise tend to do so on the generous side of things and tend to report gross rather than net calories expended (which means you're adding calories already included in your BMR).

^^ This.

If your start is 1200kcal/day then yes, eat back, by all means, at least until you hit 15-1600kcal. I don't like the 1200kcal set up, no one should eat 1200kcal/day for any extended period of time, even if lying in bed all day. That said, unless you've got a measurement band/watch for your pulse, and know how to use it, chances are the kcal burned you'll get on MFP and most other pages will be on the generous side, aka. you haven't burned as much as you think. Most common mistake in weightloss/fitness is overestimating kcals burned and underestimated kcals consumed.

ccarew77

Thanks to all of you for your feedback. At the risk of sounding "stupid" I am new to MFP and want to ensure I educate myself.

TeaBea

I've asked the same question here a couple of days ago. A lot of people do stuff differently. As for me, I only have 1200 calories allocated daily and with exercise I add at least 500 calories to that. I tend to not eat the calories I've lost on exercise coz I am already too full with my 1200 calories anyway (mostly because I drink 500 ml to 1 liter of water per meal). It's up to you really. If you're hungry then eat some more, just make sure you're eating healthy food.

Hunger is NOT a good indicator ...... you said so yourself .....you are full because you drink a lot of water. ..... not much nutrition in water. Sometime people are too full because they choose lots of high volume/low calorie foods .... again not a whole lot of nutrition.

Fatigue would be a better indicator than hunger.

The reason for eating exercise calories back is to PRESERVE existing muscle. When you lose weight too fast, you are likely losing fat AND muscle. Eating back your calories (at least some because they can be over stated) ..... helps you keep lean muscle.