What do you do with earned calories from exercise?

JcMey3r

I tend not to use them but when I do I use only a small amount for a protein shake that I know would be beneficial to keeping muscle mass.


How many of you work with decent numbers meaning which of you actually use a heart rate monitor to measure calories burnt and not just what MFP says?

pinkraynedropjacki

Well I end up with about 1500 or more from exercise each day so I tend to have to eat most back.

lauren3101

TavistockToad

i made mine into a beautiful exercise calorie quilt...

or ate them, because thats how MFP is designed!

tigersword

This. You're supposed to eat them, that's why they are there.

Joannesmith2818

I use them as an excuse to eat peanut butter.....mmmmmm PB

Frankii_x

I eat a decent amount back say about two thirds/three quarters

JcMey3r

How many of you work with decent numbers meaning which of you actually use a heart rate monitor to measure calories burnt and not just what MFP says?

annenhie

I don't eat mine back most of the time coz I have a lot to lose but when I see that the lost is slowing down, I start eating a bit more for a few days then go back to not eating them back once I start losing again.

JuliMagenta

I usually eat them back. At least some of them I don't force myself to eat, but most of the time I am happy to snack something or that I can have a beer in the evening or something like that

awenasangster

I try to eat back around half of them !

BlueAngelChar

Nothing, it contributes to my weight loss... I try to have approx. 3500K surplus at the end of each week and to me that equates to roughly me losing a pound a week ;0)

don't get me wrong, the exercise calories do sometimes contribute to that burger or Chinese I'll have but I don't feel guilty about it

And I use my Polar Rx300 religiously to work out my calorie burn as its all to do with your VO2 rate and MFP can't tell you that.

Mguilmot

I throw them out. I don't look at them :-) Didn't go into "starvation mode" or hit a "plateau" :-)

MyJourney1960

i've been selling them on ebay

:laugh:

seriously - i used to eat about 3/4 back. now i do the TDEE method so it's automatically built into my daily goals - i eat most of them back.

thegilly6

I use them as an excuse to eat peanut butter.....mmmmmm PB

THIS!

Samstan101

Cardio I always train with a HRM so can log accurately and I've found that general busy day at work running about my Fitbit is pretty accurate at getting. I eat back pretty much all of the cals most of the time - they're my 'luxury' items such as chocolate & alcohol. There are the odd day (like yesterday) where I'm pretty active but the physically struggle to eat them back as I don't want to eat when I'm not hungry (that's how I got to 300+lbs!).

over_oxers

I've started using a heart rate monitor to accurately log my calories burned. I have PCOS and have a hard time losing weight. My goal is not to eat back my calories but I like the cushion. For examples my bunless turkey burger was 800cal at finder last night!

jackielou867

I used to eat some of them back, now I eat all of them back and mostly as protein. I am trying to rebuild muscle that I now realise 2 decades of bad diet choices have wasted away.
I don't have a HRM so I research a lot on internet and I work out some reasonable averages to work from. This seems to be working so far.

3laine75

i use a mix of MFP estimates and my HRM and tend to try to hit the projected protein without eating them all - doesn't always work out that way though

avskk

I use a FitBit and have everything set up to only give me exercise calories if my activity for the day exceeds the activity level I set MFP to when I chose my calorie/macro goals. I usually end up with about 250 exercise calories at the end of a normal day (work, home). I don't tend to eat those back, although two or three times a month I will (meaning those days I net around 1800kcals instead of my goal of 1550). When I do a weight workout I log it on FitBit.com -- NOT here on MFP -- and eat back 100-150kcals of my ~200 "earned" calories in protein. When I do a step-based workout I end the day with about 500 exercise calories (so 2050kcals as my goal rather than my standard 1550) and what I do with them depends entirely on how I feel; if I'm hungry I'll eat back 200-300 of them, and if not I ignore them.

Basically, the only exercise calories I reliably eat back are the ones I earn from strength training, and I try to keep those as bonus protein. Otherwise, while I keep an eye on how my activity is affecting my daily goal, I usually tend to eat roughly the same amount of cals every day. And once in a while, I have a higher-calorie day (whether I go out drinking or have a restaurant meal or just cook something special) and don't feel too badly about it because a) my exercise cals for the day usually mean I'm still under that day's goals, and b) my deficits are kind of huge 90% of the time due to not eating back on the reg.

kowajenn

I eat most of them. If I don't, the weight loss stalls.

AllonsYtotheTardis

I use a HRM for my cardio, and eat back all the calories. They are MINE ALL MINE!


Strength training, I log as 1 calorie, as I've allowed for it in my daily totals already.

ChrisM8971

How many of you work with decent numbers meaning which of you actually use a heart rate monitor to measure calories burnt and not just what MFP says?

I am just about to eat some of mine back now. I don't eat all of them but get through about 80% I would guess. I do use a HRM now rather than MFP so feel happier about the amount I eat back

WaterBunnie

How many of you work with decent numbers meaning which of you actually use a heart rate monitor to measure calories burnt and not just what MFP says?

I wear a FitBit all the time and use a HRM in the gym and Fitbit's site's lower calculations for swimming so I'm fairly confident that what I log as exercise is as accurate as it can be. I then feel no guilt eating the whole lot back across the week, not necessarily all on the day I've earned them. I try to build in larger meals rather than too many naughty snacks.

Even HRMs are only an estimation. Take 2 different brands of HRMs and you won't necessarily get the same calories burned on both! One that I had would almost double the calories shown on the gym equipment whereas another was within 10%. Everything's an estimate at the end of the day.

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Joshacham

When I was at my losing weight portion of calorie counting, I didn't eat the calories I earned through exercise. Helped increase the speed of which I lost my weight.

Now that I have achieved my goal, I eat all of my calories and the ones I earned through exercise. I'm maintaining, no need to let them go by the wayside.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

i've been selling them on ebay

:laugh:

seriously - i used to eat about 3/4 back. now i do the TDEE method so it's automatically built into my daily goals - i eat most of them back.

If you can figure out a way to sell your exercise calories you'll be a multi-millionaire. :laugh:

I also use TDEE method but if I burn extra on top of my normal weekly burns then I'll eat 3/4 of them back.

lindasew47

What is the TDEE method.............I'm new here and have no clue.

WaterBunnie

What is the TDEE method.............I'm new here and have no clue.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure

I think they just add their expected exercise for the week to their maintenance calories for the week and subtract a deficit percentage and eat the same amount each day (if I understand it correctly). Seems a long way round to me since you may not do the intended exercise and MFPs method already works well enough and does all the hard work for you.

WaterBunnie

I don't eat mine back most of the time coz I have a lot to lose but when I see that the lost is slowing down, I start eating a bit more for a few days then go back to not eating them back once I start losing again.

Doesn't this suggest that not eating them back is detrimental to your loss?

Otterluv

I eat them, enjoying all of their tasty caloric goodness.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

What is the TDEE method.............I'm new here and have no clue.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure

I think they just add their expected exercise for the week to their maintenance calories for the week and subtract a deficit percentage and eat the same amount each day (if I understand it correctly). Seems a long way round to me since you may not do the intended exercise and MFPs method already works well enough and does all the hard work for you.

I use TDEE method because I like the simplicity of having the same calorie goal every day, and because it's tough with lifting to actually figure your burn. Plus it keeps me exercising because I have to exercise as many times as I said I would if I'm going to stay in a deficit (or at maintenance, which is where I am now).

I used to enjoy the exercise calorie model for exactly the reasons you outline. It should come out to around the same either way, it's just personal preference.