Eating Back Exercise Calories...What do you burn?

soldiergrl_101
soldiergrl_101 Posts: 2,205 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Im so confused...Everyone says on MFP that you should eat back your exercise calories...Well if thats the case how much do you usually burn at the gym? On a typical day I burn anywhere from 600-800 cals and I feel like if I am eating back my cals then I am always eating. What are your thoughts? I mean granted I could eat back a bunch a crap and use up those cals fast but I only want to stick with healthy foods for the most part. Does anyone else have this problem, or are you as confused as me.

Replies

  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Whatever you do, don't search, because this question has never been asked before.

    Instead, just read this:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/383956-exercise-calories-explained
    and this:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    When you set your activity level in MFP, it is supposed to just be your day to day hum drum...it's not supposed to include exercise. Other calculators will include some estimate of exercise in your activity level, but you're not supposed to with MFP...with MFP, you're supposed to account for exercise activity after the fact...with other calculators, you estimate your exercise before the fact...that is why you eat back calories with MFP.

    The difficulty is getting a reasonable estimate of calories burned. I use a HRM and deduct about 20% for an aerobic event and about 30% for HIIT or circuit training, or anything that's not a steady state cardio event. I don't use it for weight training...I have a diffferent formula for that.

    Right now I have MFP set to maintain "light active"...because I do have a desk job, but I'm also on my feet quite a bit around the office and when I'm home I don't really sit down except to eat dinner...otherwise I'm chasing the kids, cooking, cleaning, fixing, etc. That activity level does not include exercise....so when I exercise, I need to log it and eat back my best estimate to maintain.

    My MFP maintenance goal is 2,360 net calories. I assure you that I need far more than that to actually maintain with the way I train...on average I gross between 2700 on a light workout day to 3200 on a heavy day. If I didn't eat back my exercise calories, 1. I'd continue to drop weight when I don't want to; 2) my training and workouts would suck *kitten* because they would not have proper fuel; 3) I'd burn up a lot of muscle as I wouldn't be eating enough to preserve that very expensive commodity.

    When it comes to eating back calories, you don't have to eat crap...so many people are of the notion that "healthy" means just **** tons of fruit and veg...fruit and veg are good...they provide a lot of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals...but you also need dietary fat. People cut out way too much fat because they live in the '80s where fat makes you fat and is "unhealthy"...in fact, dietary fat is very essential to heart health. Pretty much any study done after about 1995 has concluded that low fat diets actually increase your risk of heart disease because cutting out healthy fats decreases your levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. Also, fat is responsible for hormone regulation and most of your other organs need it to function properly.

    Eat pasta, potatoes, quinoa, rice and other grains...get your healthy fats...saute your veg in some olive oil or roast them with some olive oil in the oven. Eat nuts and avocados...eat meat...don't eat low fat/no fat bull****...lose the "diet" mentality and the notion that foods are "good" or "bad"...they are simply more nutrient dense or less nutrient dense...but in the end, it's fuel.
  • Denisse210
    Denisse210 Posts: 292 Member
    :huh: are you using a heart rate monitor? before i bought mine i was using MFPs and the cals burned where all wrong, i burned less than what mfp said.

    try POLAR FT40 it comes with the watch and the chest band, youll be amazed when you see your actual burn amounts:bigsmile:
  • sunlover89
    sunlover89 Posts: 436 Member
    I burn up to 1400 calories 4/5 days a week (from HRM).
    I look at my weekly calories more than my daily calories, so I try to get a net week consumption of 1300/1500. So one day I might net 200 or -200 or 1000 or 2300. It all balances itself out. I've found this way of calorie counting very effective as one evening a week I can eat out, have a cocktail and some peanut butter cups, without the worry that I'm going overboard.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    I never walk out of the gym burning under 1000-1200 calories, I wear a Polar FT60 hrm to get an estimate on calories burned. I have been in maintenance for the past year eating 4000 calories a day and have no problem hitting that mark, but then again I don't demonize any foods so I can eat a 1/2 cup of Almonds and a glass of chocolate milk when I get home and that alone totals 680 calories (and I have that small snack twice a day so yep already at 1360 calories without even breaking a sweat). Best of Luck...
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    What has been said about MFP not accounting for calories is true, but, when eating back exercise calories, you have to be careful that you are accurately counting your burn. I am always a bit cautious when I see people logging 600-800 calories per gym session. If you are not really overweight, you have to do quite a bit of intense cardio to reach that kind of burn. A common (and effective) strategy is to eat back a portion of your exercise calories, but not all of them. As long as you are getting sufficient fuel to keep going, you should be fine.
  • Cattfish42
    Cattfish42 Posts: 11 Member
    I wish I could get to the 600-800 range at the gym! After half hour on the elliptical i'm rarely at 400
  • boystennismom
    boystennismom Posts: 28 Member
    I'm with you, I find this crazy frustrating! MFP has me on 1200 calorie a day and I burn between 600-800 working out per day. I don't eat back any of those calories. I'm 1 lb. from my goal and a little nervous about adding more calories. It still took me about 10 days to loose 1 lb. There are so many people on both sides of this debate. I think I'm going to schedule a session with a personal trainer to get a professional opinion. Good Luck :)
  • SteveHunt113
    SteveHunt113 Posts: 648 Member
    600-800 calories is quiet a bit. How are you getting this figure? I'm not saying you aren't burning this amount, but my HRM always records a lower number than what the machines record. Also, if you are weight training, you can't use a HRM for those calories unless you are doing circuits.

    My experience is that the more calories I burn in my workout, the more hungry I feel during the day. So eating back those calories is not hard to do ... at all! However, if I don't work out, I don't feel as hungry.

    As a rule, I under estimate my workout calories and over estimate my food calories. Seems to work.
  • SteveHunt113
    SteveHunt113 Posts: 648 Member
    What has been said about MFP not accounting for calories is true, but, when eating back exercise calories, you have to be careful that you are accurately counting your burn. I am always a bit cautious when I see people logging 600-800 calories per gym session. If you are not really overweight, you have to do quite a bit of intense cardio to reach that kind of burn. A common (and effective) strategy is to eat back a portion of your exercise calories, but not all of them. As long as you are getting sufficient fuel to keep going, you should be fine.
    This is a great answer!
  • Love4fitnesslove4food2
    Love4fitnesslove4food2 Posts: 711 Member
    I would ask what you're doing to burn that many calories--you might be working out too much (which overly taxes your adrenal glands) or you might be overestimating. It is more than possible to burn that much but most people don't.

    I burn ~600-700 calories but that's because I'm down as "sedentary" and I even log walking ---which I do lots of to/from class and errands around town plus my workout.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I wish I could get to the 600-800 range at the gym! After half hour on the elliptical i'm rarely at 400

    Do it for an hour. No one can hit that range in just 30 minutes.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I'm with you, I find this crazy frustrating! MFP has me on 1200 calorie a day and I burn between 600-800 working out per day. I don't eat back any of those calories. I'm 1 lb. from my goal and a little nervous about adding more calories. It still took me about 10 days to loose 1 lb. There are so many people on both sides of this debate. I think I'm going to schedule a session with a personal trainer to get a professional opinion. Good Luck :)

    If you have less than 15 pounds to lose then 1/2 pound each week is good progress. The reason weight loss is so slow ....the smaller you requires fewer calories to do everything. You can't create a large deficit from a smaller starting point.

    1200 less 600 = 600! This is what your body is getting everyday (heart, lungs, kidneys) .....Ouch. This is a recipe for muscle loss.

    BMR - basal metabolic rate ..... calories needed if you stayed in bed all day

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/bmr-calculator.html
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    If you have less than 15 pounds to lose then 1/2 pound each week is good progress. The reason weight loss is so slow ....the smaller you requires fewer calories to do everything. You can't create a large deficit from a smaller starting point.

    You can crank up the exercise level. A big increase in exercise will result in a big increase in TDEE, which allows for a larger deficit.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    If you have less than 15 pounds to lose then 1/2 pound each week is good progress. The reason weight loss is so slow ....the smaller you requires fewer calories to do everything. You can't create a large deficit from a smaller starting point.

    You can crank up the exercise level. A big increase in exercise will result in a big increase in TDEE, which allows for a larger deficit.

    The original poster is NETTING between 400-600 calories.......she's using MFP .... not TDEE .... under any scenario 600 calories is not adequate nutrition to maintain muscle mass
  • kimcalica
    kimcalica Posts: 525 Member
    i don't eat back my calories.. i eat 1200 most days and net between 500 and 900.. i lose fast most weeks.. i don't go to the gym... i find yard work to be my forte' ive been landscaping my 1 acre property and bringing the beauty out of the nature all around... it's hard work.. long and laborous and it has been very successful.. i can't say for certain just how many calories it burns but i can say it works well.. i just put the gardening selection on and two hours of it is about 600 calories burned.. normally what i eat is what makes me lose because i try to eat as little sugar as i can. carbs of course are sugar as well.. fruit is sugars so i stay away from that as well. i eat good fats, lean meats, veggies, whole grains, and nonfat dairy. even though there is sugar in the nonfat dairy, i have to have some sugar.. It's a rough diet but if i do this for a couple weeks i lose a lot... maybe it's just me but sugar is what makes me gain. and it's hiding in everything. i haven't had any problems with not losing with this diet, but it's hard to sustain for a long period of time without going a little crazy and taking a little va-kay and just eating some hot wings or ice cream every couple weeks or so. i gain then, but only for a couple days.. then i get back on the wagon.
  • soldiergrl_101
    soldiergrl_101 Posts: 2,205 Member
    600-800 calories is quiet a bit. How are you getting this figure? I'm not saying you aren't burning this amount, but my HRM always records a lower number than what the machines record. Also, if you are weight training, you can't use a HRM for those calories unless you are doing circuits.

    My experience is that the more calories I burn in my workout, the more hungry I feel during the day. So eating back those calories is not hard to do ... at all! However, if I don't work out, I don't feel as hungry.

    As a rule, I under estimate my workout calories and over estimate my food calories. Seems to work.

    I usually do an hour of intense cardio such as swimming or zumba and then 30 min of weight lifting everysite I check says that burns close to 800 cals but I underestimate it as about 600 because it depends on your effort. Somedays I do an hour and a half of cardio it just depends

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