Should you eat the calories gained by exercise?

chris221122

I'm currently following MFP recommendations of 1700cal a day but gain 2500cal hiking 3 times a week and a few more circuit training and am wondering if I'm eating enough?

AnnPT77

2500 calories weekly is a lot . . . how much are you hiking, in what kind of terrain? How did you estimate the exercise calories?

Regardless, the true test of whether we're under/overeating is weight loss rate on average over 4-6 weeks . . . whole menstrual cycle(s) for those who have them. If you're losing more than 0.5-1% of current weight per week (with bias toward the lower end of that unless severely overweight), then eat more. You can estimate how much more (or less) to eat by assuming that 500 calories daily is a pound a week bodyfat change.

The MFP estimates will be close for most people, but some people will differ from the group averages that MFP (or other calculators/trackers) spit out. On top of that, all of logging involves estimates. We can be close enough to be useful, but the "useful" can depend on adjusting goals based on personal experience.

I ate all my exercise calories all through loss (50-some pounds) and 7+ years of maintenance since, after estimating them carefully. According to Garmin, I averaged only about 1660 calories per week, for an average of 6 weekly hours of exercise, mostly rowing (boats & machines) and biking (ditto). I'm glad I took that approach, because my exercise varies seasonally and with weather . . . it's helpful for maintenance to have a reasonable estimate of calorie needs for varying levels of exercise.

yirara

Likely not enough You're male? 1700 calories is already not a lot. And if you really burned 800 calories hiking (that seems quite a lot, but not knowing more about you who knows) then that would be similar to only eating 900 calories. Which is not just 'not a lot' category, but ridiculously low. Have a look at this calculator for walking, set the Energy from Gross to Net and compare to what your tracker gave you.

chris221122

I currently track all hikes on Samsung watch, we live in the lake District so hike anywhere between 5 and 8hrs over 800m in elevation 3 times a week carrying a pack that weighs around 8kg so I'm pretty confident that I'm burning 2000cal per hike.

Judging by the replies, I'm probably not eating enough

Retroguy2000

Yes, MFP is designed for you to eat back intentional exercise calories, but since those can be inflated for various reasons, or may lead to reductions in NEAT that same day, it's best to be conservative. You also don't want to double count the RMR baked into the MFP estimate with the total calories estimate from a tracker.