Is it safe to eat back calories burned from walking?

Adam__20000
Adam__20000 Posts: 65 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I’ve gotten into the habit of going on walks (10km+) fairly regularly and I burn off enough calories to fit in a large snack/small meal. Would using these burned off calories on food jeopardize my weight loss in any way?
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Replies

  • lin_be
    lin_be Posts: 393 Member
    I do! Just make sure you're not over estimating those calories burned.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    adamlai2000 wrote: »
    I’ve gotten into the habit of going on walks (10km+) fairly regularly and I burn off enough calories to fit in a large snack/small meal. Would using these burned off calories on food jeopardize my weight loss in any way?

    Safe?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    If course it's "safe". In fact it's more than safe if you are already eating a low calorie amount. Your net calories are the key, in other words, calories eaten - exercise calories burned should approximately = your MFP calorie goal.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    edited November 2018
    Yup. All a matter of calories. Walking just sacrifices time for increased calorie burn.

    If your calorie counts are accurate there is no risk at all.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    yes. you are supposed to eat your exercise calories back. so if you go for a 30 min walk. log it. eat those calories. but as was said be careful you have an accurate estimate. there are apps for your phone to help track time and distance
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    I walk at least 10 km a day and I definitely eat them back. It didn't stop me losing weight and it hasn't stopped me from maintaining. Just be cautious of not overestimating your calorie burn or making sure you are adding the walling through your activity level settings and as an added exercise.
    You can either have your settings at active or even very active if you are very consistent with 10 km a day or set your activity lower and add your walking separately when you do it.

    or

    If you have a fitbit or the like or an app like Pacer on your phone just sync it to MFP and go from there.
  • Adam__20000
    Adam__20000 Posts: 65 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Does your calorie goal come from MFP? If so, it's designed for you to eat back the calories you burn through exercise. As long as you've set up your account correction and you aren't over-estimating your calorie burn, this should be fine.
    Ah ok thanks. I am using only MFP to record my walking and regularly update my weight on the app

  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    adamlai2000 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Does your calorie goal come from MFP? If so, it's designed for you to eat back the calories you burn through exercise. As long as you've set up your account correction and you aren't over-estimating your calorie burn, this should be fine.
    Ah ok thanks. I am using only MFP to record my walking and regularly update my weight on the app

    Does this mean that you aren't using MFP to track your food? Are you using some other method, or not tracking it at all?
  • Adam__20000
    Adam__20000 Posts: 65 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    adamlai2000 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Does your calorie goal come from MFP? If so, it's designed for you to eat back the calories you burn through exercise. As long as you've set up your account correction and you aren't over-estimating your calorie burn, this should be fine.
    Ah ok thanks. I am using only MFP to record my walking and regularly update my weight on the app

    Does this mean that you aren't using MFP to track your food? Are you using some other method, or not tracking it at all?
    I’m only using mfp to track my food I said only before in reference to mfp being the only app I use to record
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    It won't affect your weight loss as long as you accurately account for how many calories you burned.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    edited November 2018
    I use walking as a regular exercise. I log it and eat back those calories. I have to say though - it doesn't amount to many calories. An hour of pretty fast walking on hilly terrain only gets me about 220 calories.

    Just be cautious.

    If you are keeping good records of your food and time spent walking and you're walking at a fairly consistent pace each time, then you'll be able to adjust if your results aren't as expected.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    Most definitely! I lost eating back all the calories I got from my Fitbit/MyFitnessPal and so far am maintaining the same way.
  • Dilvish
    Dilvish Posts: 398 Member
    If your goal is weight loss then tracking what you eat is as important as tracking your exercise and weight. A lot of people would be surprised to know that they can overestimate calories burned (especially walking) and under estimate calories consumed.
    I have struggled with weight loss and I am tracking as accurately as possible by using weighted averages for exercise and adjusting food intake based on raw data and Nutrition labels. MFP states I am well on my way to achieving my goals but the scale says otherwise and I am adjusting my exercise and calories every week to find the right balance. So far I am 6 weeks in and I am still adjusting...
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    cheryldumais wrote: »
    I do and have lost weight. I think where folks get into trouble is when they assume if they walk that it changes their activity level then they eat back the calories as well. For example if I decided that I am lightly active because I walk every day then I eat back the extra calories earned for that walk. I am set at sedentary then I eat back my calories for walking. I am at sedentary because the only real activity in my day is walking. My job is a desk job. Everyone is different but just be sure you aren't counting it twice. Your activity level is based on your daily activity outside of measured exercise.

    I also don't find this to be true at all for me. ^^

    Activity level and exercise are separate and different issues. No, you don't [necessarily] need to set your Activity to Sedentary if you have a desk job.

    I've been retired for 12 years. I have a tiny condo, so not much daily maintenance work required at home. I'm single, not running around after kids or grandkids or a husband. The only activity I get is cooking, shopping, general daily chores like showering and making the bed and I don't even vacuum that often.

    I am set at Lightly Active, and even that is too low for me and I end up eating +300 over that on most days. So, moderately active is more like it for me. I still log my walks and eat all those calories too.

    The bottom line is Keep Good Records. Make food logging an expert skill. Study the numbers and decide for yourself.

  • Adam__20000
    Adam__20000 Posts: 65 Member
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    Have you started eating more than 1000 calories per day yet?

    I have been on days where I burn off a lot of calories by walking

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    It would only be a problem for expected rate of loss if you do a lot of it, and plan on eating back the full estimated calorie burn.

    The calorie burn estimate is probably close enough, the problem is MFP already is accounting for you burning so many calories per min & hour & day.

    So if it already accounted for you burning say 2400 daily / 24 hrs = 100 cal/hr, and your walking 3.5 mph for 2 hrs burns say 600, you only burned 400 above and beyond what was already accounted for.

    So if you had a reasonable daily deficit of 500, and lost 200 to that type of effect eating back the 600 - almost 50% is rather major loss of deficit.

    Walk slower and/or longer - even worse effect if done daily.

    This I believe is the origination of the complaint the exercise database is way off (it's really not that bad) and recommendation to only eat 50% of what it says (which could be bad overkill for many).
  • Kalex1975
    Kalex1975 Posts: 427 Member
    adamlai2000 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    Have you started eating more than 1000 calories per day yet?

    I have been on days where I burn off a lot of calories by walking

    The minimum in MFP is 1,500 net calories a day for men. So, you should be eating more than 1,000 on the days you are not walking and even more on the days you exercise. MFP is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    tzimmer10211 wrote: »
    Sure it's safe. If you want to stay in a calorie deficit for weight loss, don't do it.

    If you use MFP to set your calorie goal, exercise, but don't eat back any exercise calories, you are not using MFP the way it was designed.

    Unlike other sites which use TDEE calculators, MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    edited November 2018
    belleflop wrote: »
    Serious question I always have to people who advise to eat back their calories (specifically indicating the reason for exercise is weight loss) from exercise. Why not instead of exercise you just eat less to create the same deficit? I understand there are benefits to exercise, but creating a caloric deficit for weight loss it's not necessary and more times than not works against building a caloric deficit as exercise generally increases hunger and cortisol levels, both to which inhibit weight loss.

    You certainly could do that instead. For some of us due to our size and/or gender, our calorie usage without exercise is fairly low, and eating 1300 cals just doesn't cut it. I'd rather get in a workout and have an extra 200 cals to eat. (Plus, I personally don't find light to moderate exercise makes me any more hungry than the calories it buys me, though I'm sure that's an individual thing) Then there are all the additional health benefits of exercise, including stress relief, which can be important while dealing with weight issues. It also seems that people who exercise (and specifically strength train) are happier with how they look when they reach goal weight than those who don't, in general.

    There are lots of folks here who lost substantial weight with little to no exercise. I personally exercised throughout my weight loss (and still do) for fitness and health, and so I have the calories for dessert or a beer :blush:
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,219 Member
    belleflop wrote: »
    Serious question I always have to people who advise to eat back their calories (specifically indicating the reason for exercise is weight loss) from exercise. Why not instead of exercise you just eat less to create the same deficit? I understand there are benefits to exercise, but creating a caloric deficit for weight loss it's not necessary and more times than not works against building a caloric deficit as exercise generally increases hunger and cortisol levels, both to which inhibit weight loss.

    Well, there are reasons aside from the health benefits. Exercising and being able to eat back those calories means you can have larger more varied meals and treats... it generally increased the volume you are allowed to eat. This is important for some and especially the shorter/smaller people who don't get a lot of calories to begin with. Exercise - primarily strength training - also allows you to keep most of your current muscle. Just losing weight by calorie deficit with no training to retain that lean mass usually just results in a smaller version of what you started with and is contrary to most peoples aesthetic goals.

    Personally, I don't do much cardio - I just lift. I don't typically "eat back" my exercise calories as the calorie burn from lifting is pretty insignificant and just account those calories into my limits for either a cut or a bulk as my program is pretty static and consistent. I'm also not a small guy so even in an aggressive cut I get to eat quite a bit of food. ;)
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    belleflop wrote: »
    Serious question I always have to people who advise to eat back their calories (specifically indicating the reason for exercise is weight loss) from exercise. Why not instead of exercise you just eat less to create the same deficit? I understand there are benefits to exercise, but creating a caloric deficit for weight loss it's not necessary and more times than not works against building a caloric deficit as exercise generally increases hunger and cortisol levels, both to which inhibit weight loss.

    Using MFP's numbers, a deficit is created through calorie intake only. The deficit is already included.

    I exercise for fitness and body composition and those calories burned makes my deficit even larger which is something I don't want. Eating them still has me losing at the rate I want while still fueling me for my workouts.

    In maintenance, same thing. If I want to maintain, then I need to account for exercise calories or I will keep losing.

    Bulking, if I don't account for exercise then I won't add as much mass as I would like.

    Some people do find their appetite increased exponentially and it's hard to find the balance. With adjusting macros and using a weekly calorie goal, I don't have this issue.

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