Do you eat more if you exercise more?

fgh2014
fgh2014 Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,

My calorie limit is 1340.

I do between 400 - 800 worth of exercise on some days. On these days the calories I burn get added to the calories target that I should aim to consume.

So many people say different things, including a friend's personal trainer who says even if you do do a lot of exercise you should disregard it and still only eat 1340.. Others say if you're exercising more you should also be eating more to make up for them..

What are you actually meant to do?

Replies

  • glin23
    glin23 Posts: 460 Member
    There isn't a consensus on this. Usiing the MFP prescribed way, yes you eat more if you burn more calories. Using TDEE, you don't as it's all ready built in. But honestly, do whatever you feel is best and works or you. For the most part, I don't.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Hello,

    My calorie limit is 1340.

    I do between 400 - 800 worth of exercise on some days. On these days the calories I burn get added to the calories target that I should aim to consume.

    So many people say different things, including a friend's personal trainer who says even if you do do a lot of exercise you should disregard it and still only eat 1340.. Others say if you're exercising more you should also be eating more to make up for them..

    What are you actually meant to do?

    MFP used the NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) methodology to determine your daily caloric requirement. As the name indicates, it does not take into consideration any exercise. The calories necessary to fuel your body during the day are based on your daily non-exercise activites. So if you exercise, your body needs more food (calories) to fuel the increased activity. So eat your exercise calories.

    You may also see people refer to the TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) methodology, which DOES consider exercise when determining your caloric needs. Therefore, eating back exercise calories is not necessary and is not encouraged.

    Also, be aware that the calorie goal MFP provides with the NEAT method include a deficit, so eat your goal calories - all of them.
  • BrentJulius
    BrentJulius Posts: 89 Member
    Calorie calculators for exercise are very wrong, sometimes saying people burned 400+ for an activity when they probably really burned 150. Intensity varies too much to be accurate. Stick to your prescribed calories and don't figure in exercise to allow you to eat more. I'm a trainer and I always have people set up a MFP account on the first day. Whenever people aren't losing as planned a few weeks later, we have to go back and see what they have been doing and I find it again and again that they have been giving themselves more calories to eat because they are factoring in exercise on their MFP and adding more calories to what we decided...
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
    As you can see there is a lot of debate on this. I eat back some... but then again I determine my burn using a Bodymedia arm band, not the activity log on MFP. I have noticed that for some exercises, MFP will greatly exaggerate the calories burned when I compare it to what the bodymedia arm band tells me, for other activities, MFP underestimates the burn. If I was consistently using MFP's reported burn for using my elliptical machine, for example, it would probably be saying I burned 1800 calories on the elliptical when, according to the armband, I only burned 900.

    Now, I know some will say that the bodymedia arm band is not 100% accurate, but for most people it is about 95% accurate, for a few people it seems to be only about 80% accurate, I am sure that is closer than an estimate based on data that measures nothing from your body.

    I've seen some people on here saying that their bodymedia is not showing enough burn... I think they are comparing it to the over-inflated burn estimates on MFP.

    So, either way, you have to watch what is happening to your body and adjust as needed.
  • Regan45
    Regan45 Posts: 191 Member
    I sometimes exercise more because I've eaten more. I've had days that I eat something (steak for example) and when I log it, I am totally shocked by the calories! Then I exercise until the excess is burned. Most days though, I do not eat back my exercise calories.
  • tonynguyen75
    tonynguyen75 Posts: 418 Member
    I follow three rules for this:

    Am I getting enough fats? 50+grams.
    Am I getting enough protein? 130-150g+
    Am I getting enough carbs to fuel my workouts? Dependent on how much I'm working out. If I can do a 1.5 hour workout every day on 150g of carbs, I don't care what my caloric goal is, I'm definitely under for the day. As long as my fats and proteins are in order, things should be fine, right?
  • mazmataz
    mazmataz Posts: 331 Member
    I sometimes exercise more because I've eaten more. I've had days that I eat something (steak for example) and when I log it, I am totally shocked by the calories! Then I exercise until the excess is burned. Most days though, I do not eat back my exercise calories.

    Haha this ^
    "Woops I had that free muffin at work today...I'd better go for a run tonight"
  • Nenny1985
    Nenny1985 Posts: 122
    Hi. My calorie goal before exercise is 1410 which I find quite low so I generally eat back some of my exercise calories and sometimes all of them. Just depends. I sometimes find I am much hungrier on days I do lots of exercise. I have been losing weight so figure what im doing is working.I will also add however that I am currently breast feeding which affects how many calories I need to eat
  • MyaPapaya75
    MyaPapaya75 Posts: 3,143 Member
    I don't I have a range 1200-1400..Im also 4ft 11in...and on thyroid meds
  • samntha14
    samntha14 Posts: 2,084 Member
    yes
  • Xalanii
    Xalanii Posts: 20 Member
    My range is 1340
    eating 3 square meals is about enough to go over, when I exercise I become ravenous, I work out for about 2-3 hours.

    Come home and usually eat an extra 300 calories of stuff and go to bed, mfp adds it up to give me more calories to consume.

    I still usually am under, so I don't see the big deal. Yes I eat more when I exercise, should I go the rest of the day starving?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Yes. You are supposed to the way MFP is designed. The bigger question is how are you measuring your calories burnt? If MFP is estimating, cut it in half or if you workout consistently, change your lifestyle to include exercise. For example, if you workout 5 days a week, set your account to moderately active and not worry about exercise calories.

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