What do people mean by eating back calories

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Oliveciabatta
Oliveciabatta Posts: 294 Member
in Getting Started
Please enlighten me

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  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    When you exercise, that burns calories. With this website, those calories aren’t figured into your daily calorie target. So, you’re supposed to eat more on the days you exercise.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Most calorie calculators take your purposeful exercise into account and you get credited with an average amount every day and get a same every day calorie goal. You are eating back exercise calories every day.

    MyFitnessPal doesn't take your exercise burns into account when you set up your goals. Until you actually do your exercise and log it then it gets added to your base calories so your daily calorie goal varies in line with your exercise to try to keep you on track with the deficit/maintenance/surplus goal you selected. You are eating back exercise calories on the days you do the exercise.

    IMHO it's trying to teach two valuable life lessons:
    • The more you do the more you get to eat - and also the reverse of course.
    • Exercise is for health, fitness, enjoyment for life and not for weight loss for a limited period of time.
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
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    Just for example:

    1600 (calorie goal) - 500 (calories burned) = 1100 Calories

    **1200 should be the bare minimum for women and 1500 for men**

  • SModa61
    SModa61 Posts: 2,869 Member
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    This is a great thread for me to follow the responses. I have been back to MFP 6 weeks, but most focused the month of October. Assuming my calorie tracking ( good IMO) and exercise tracking (uncertain about those numbers) are accurate, I have rarely been over 1200 cal, the whole month. Recently, I have been trying to figure out how I want to start adding in exercise calories to my calories. Not sure that I want to add them all, in case they are overestimates. But I think something would be good. Suggestions?
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    SModa61 wrote: »
    This is a great thread for me to follow the responses. I have been back to MFP 6 weeks, but most focused the month of October. Assuming my calorie tracking ( good IMO) and exercise tracking (uncertain about those numbers) are accurate, I have rarely been over 1200 cal, the whole month. Recently, I have been trying to figure out how I want to start adding in exercise calories to my calories. Not sure that I want to add them all, in case they are overestimates. But I think something would be good. Suggestions?

    @SModa61 For exercise:

    I usually deduct 20% off of what the cardio machines say to allow for a buffer of error (I know I’m not burning as much as it’s says).
    I use Gaia to gps my walks and that gives me my average speed along with distance traveled, but I stop a lot with the dogs, so I’ll shave some time off (2 hr walk I log as 90 min).

    That works for me, but might not work for you. I consistently lose 1 lb a week with this method unless I go over on my calories, which happens some weeks.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
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    Go_Deskercise wrote: »
    Just for example:

    1600 (calorie goal) - 500 (calories burned) = 1100 Calories

    **1200 should be the bare minimum for women and 1500 for men**

    It took me a while to see what you were getting at here, and I have been using mfp for a while. So here is a longer version. If someone's mfp calorie goal is 1600 and they eat those calories, and also burn 500 calories doing exercise but don't eat them back, then they have effectively used 500 of the calories they ate to fuel their exercise, leaving them with a net calorie intake of 1100. This is too low.

    (On another subject, I am always surprised by the 1200 minimum for all women, 1500 for all men. I'm 5'11" so taller and also heavier than many men.)
  • SModa61
    SModa61 Posts: 2,869 Member
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    Dogmom1978 wrote: »
    SModa61 wrote: »
    This is a great thread for me to follow the responses. I have been back to MFP 6 weeks, but most focused the month of October. Assuming my calorie tracking ( good IMO) and exercise tracking (uncertain about those numbers) are accurate, I have rarely been over 1200 cal, the whole month. Recently, I have been trying to figure out how I want to start adding in exercise calories to my calories. Not sure that I want to add them all, in case they are overestimates. But I think something would be good. Suggestions?

    @SModa61 For exercise:

    I usually deduct 20% off of what the cardio machines say to allow for a buffer of error (I know I’m not burning as much as it’s says).
    I use Gaia to gps my walks and that gives me my average speed along with distance traveled, but I stop a lot with the dogs, so I’ll shave some time off (2 hr walk I log as 90 min).

    That works for me, but might not work for you. I consistently lose 1 lb a week with this method unless I go over on my calories, which happens some weeks.

    Thank you Dogmom1978. As I move towards including exercise calories, I do think it will be smart if I either reduce the MFP calculations, or as someone in another group suggested, use the calories from another device. I wear and apple watch, so I do have that as a secondary measure. Thanks again!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
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    charmmeth wrote: »
    Go_Deskercise wrote: »
    Just for example:

    1600 (calorie goal) - 500 (calories burned) = 1100 Calories

    **1200 should be the bare minimum for women and 1500 for men**

    It took me a while to see what you were getting at here, and I have been using mfp for a while. So here is a longer version. If someone's mfp calorie goal is 1600 and they eat those calories, and also burn 500 calories doing exercise but don't eat them back, then they have effectively used 500 of the calories they ate to fuel their exercise, leaving them with a net calorie intake of 1100. This is too low.

    (On another subject, I am always surprised by the 1200 minimum for all women, 1500 for all men. I'm 5'11" so taller and also heavier than many men.)


    It's not a 1200 minimum for all women in the sense you're thinking about it -- many, probably most, women should be eating more than 1200 for a safe, muscle-sparing rate of weight loss. 1200 is the minimum even for shorter, thinner, older, sedentary women.
  • SModa61
    SModa61 Posts: 2,869 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    SModa61 wrote: »
    This is a great thread for me to follow the responses. I have been back to MFP 6 weeks, but most focused the month of October. Assuming my calorie tracking ( good IMO) and exercise tracking (uncertain about those numbers) are accurate, I have rarely been over 1200 cal, the whole month. Recently, I have been trying to figure out how I want to start adding in exercise calories to my calories. Not sure that I want to add them all, in case they are overestimates. But I think something would be good. Suggestions?

    With four to six weeks of data, your best option is to go by your rate of weight loss. If you're losing too fast, start eating more. Your body doesn't have to worry whether you used a food scale or "eye-balled" it, whether you used an accurate database entry or not, whether you "forgot" to log that "tiny" slice of cake you had -- or even whether you're an outlier from the formula used to calculate your calorie needs. It just does what it does, providing you with evidence over the weeks and months whether you're eating too little or too much.

    Thanks lynn_glenmont What is interesting is my exercise has been fairly consistent the month of October, and same with calories consumed. I also have been doing a variety of challenge. One repeats every 10 days. The past two rounds, I lost 1.4 lb each which was logical. This round, I am at almost 3 lb down and it is only day 7. Of course, I could bounce up again during the three days, if the current numbers are false.

    I totally agree that over time, your answer is 100% perfect. But while learning, having a rule or two helps while I sort the whole thing out. But I am excited that I feel like I am getting my mojo back. I can zip my jeans again, which makes me happy and glad I did not go shopping instead of working on my health. :)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    charmmeth wrote: »
    Go_Deskercise wrote: »
    Just for example:

    1600 (calorie goal) - 500 (calories burned) = 1100 Calories

    **1200 should be the bare minimum for women and 1500 for men**

    It took me a while to see what you were getting at here, and I have been using mfp for a while. So here is a longer version. If someone's mfp calorie goal is 1600 and they eat those calories, and also burn 500 calories doing exercise but don't eat them back, then they have effectively used 500 of the calories they ate to fuel their exercise, leaving them with a net calorie intake of 1100. This is too low.

    (On another subject, I am always surprised by the 1200 minimum for all women, 1500 for all men. I'm 5'11" so taller and also heavier than many men.)

    Saying that 1,200 is the minimum for women isn't the same thing as saying that 1,200 is an appropriate minimum for ALL women. There are women for whom 1,200 would be an absolutely inappropriate goal.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Saying that 1,200 is the minimum for women isn't the same thing as saying that 1,200 is an appropriate minimum for ALL women. There are women for whom 1,200 would be an absolutely inappropriate goal.

    Yes: I think I am one of them, though mfp still gives it to me if I put in certain rates of weight loss. It's not sustainable for me.

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