Newbie - to eat exercise calories or to not?

Skeemer118

I'm "restarting" after a loooong time of being off MFP. Should I be eating my fitness calories back since I'm just starting or is that something more designed for down the road?

bekahlou75

Before anybody yells at you on here, go to search and type in eating calories back. TONS of discussion. Bottom line is some say yes, some say no....

donjessop

Yes, eat your exercise calories back.

However, be very aware that the actual number of calories burned during exercise can be very difficult to accurately determine. The MFP numbers seem high for many exercises so you may want to visit a number of different sites to get an average before deciding that those are the actual calories burned. (If you have a piece of exercise equipment that keeps track of your weight then the calorie expenditure numbers it produces are probably closer to reality.)

Skeemer118

Thanks for the advice guys!

bcattoes

The MFP plan is to eat the calories for activity not included in your profile activity setting. If you are set to sedentary, then you should eat your exercise calories. If you included some exercise in a setting of light active or active, then only eat those that go beyond that.

Calories are set based on your input. If you want the plan to work, follow the plan.

TeaBea

Copied from another post............

MFP gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. So, when you exercise the calorie deficit becomes even bigger. When the deficit is too big you "risk" losing muscle+fat....instead of just fat.

There are considerations though........calorie burn "guesstimates" that machines & MFP provide are often generous. Many people over-ride the calorie burns given & use a percent (say 60%).

Another consideration.....there are people who have very aggressive weekly weight loss goals (already) ...and then exercise like crazy.

Another consideration is ......how close you are to goal. The closer you are, the less reserves your body has. Very obese people are protected from muscle loss initially.....even when they are on super low calories (ie: Dr. supervised plans).

So ....is it important to you to preserve muscle? are you close to goal? are your calorie burns more accurate (HRM)? ....only you can decide.

TR0berts

Eat them back for a month.

If you haven't lost the amount of weight expected due to the theoretical Caloric deficit, then eat back half of them for another month and reassess.

If you haven't lost the amount of weight expected due to the theoretical Caloric deficit, then don't eat them back at all for another month and reassess.


In short - trial and error.

Mr_Knight

I'm "restarting" after a loooong time of being off MFP. Should I be eating my fitness calories back since I'm just starting or is that something more designed for down the road?

It depends on your eating habits, level of exercise, how well you log food and exercise, and how much weight you want/need to lose.

There is no one pat answer.

littleburgy

I often leave a bit of wiggle room and eat back just a portion of them. So far that has been working for me. But earlier this week I was feeling weak, exhausted and hungry, possibly fighting illness and ate them back for a couple of days. Now feeling back to my old self and much better. I think it depends and it is different for everyone.

eazy_

I'm "restarting" after a loooong time of being off MFP. Should I be eating my fitness calories back since I'm just starting or is that something more designed for down the road?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

SummerLovesPhil

Try it, and if it doesn't work, stop.

Francl27

Eat your calories back but don't overestimate them either. That's where most people go wrong, IMO. If you follow MFP numbers, eat back half.