Balancing Exercise & Eating!

leannemb27

Hey all,

Just out of curiousity, do many of you exercise & use those calories you gained while exercising to eat those calories....I`ve been getting into the habit of that, which makes me still technially even for calories, or under everyday but i feel guilty for using them.

Sreneesa

I haven't due to it being hard to consume the calories I need a day.

But, for me I'm allowed to consume around 1700 but knocked it down to 1550 but rarely eat that much even when I exercise. Yes, I'm working on uping my calories.

I say as long as its within your calorie requirements, you will still lose that minimum of 1/2lb per week(if that was your goal), but if you are trying to lose more a week then you will have to omit calories.

Nothing wrong with it. Go at the pace you are comfortable with.

beanrider

I hear ya, feel guilty when i eat all my exercise calories back, but I am NOT going to just let them go, so I split the difference and try to only eat back about half of them. That way I don't feel too guilty, get to enjoy my exercise efforts, and maybe counter any calculation errors in overestimated burns.

meshashesha2012

i'm doing the TDEE method so my exercise calories are already accounted for. i log my burned calories as 1 but i'm keeping track of the exact number in the notes section.

i'm currently not eating anything back but that might have to change since my workouts are becoming a bit tougher

andibenoit

I eat back the majority of my exercise calories, but I have my daily calorie goal set a little lower than my RMR, so I'm still on a small deficit each day but still getting enough to fuel my workouts and build up some muscle.

BlueBombers

I eat most of my exercise calories back. Why? Because I love food.

RGv2

If you're using MFP as it is designed, yes you eat your exercise calories back. Your deficit is built into your daily caloric goal if you were to do no exercise at all, so when you exercise you get more calories to eat.

With that said, many eat only a percentage of exercise calories back due to most caloric burns (from MFP or a HRM) are estimates and can be off, so if you eat all of your exercise calories back and your caloric burn is estimated too high you could be in a surplus.

It takes a bit of trial and error to figure out how many exercise cals you need/should/can eat back.

lyricsmamma6469

I've done a bunch of research on this because I didn't quite understand why I should eat back my calories burned and why I was slowing on my weight loss. As soon as I started eating the calories back, I started losing weight again. This is what I found out...if you're using MFP's suggestions, you should eat the calories back because if you don't, you're putting your body into starvation mode. I usually can't eat back all my calories so I will eat back a portion of them. The estimates could be off so eating back a portion helps keep me under.

Thommothebear

I nearly always eat back my exercise calories, has worked fine for me

mmm_drop

I eat most of my exercise calories back. Why? Because I love food.

^This. And then some for me, actually. I know what my TDEE is even if I'm not technically using it to calculate my intake, so as long as I'm within my calories for the week I'm cool.

mrspride1

I eat about half of mine when I am really hungry. And because I also love food.

mrspride1

What is TDEE?

meshashesha2012

What is TDEE?

total daily energy expendiblahblahblah

basically it's the total amount of calories your body needs to maintain taking into account your activity level

brianages

Oddly enough I haven't been eating the calories back. I have still been losing weight and follow a strict diet and excercise routine. I do hit what I call a barrier every 10 days where it goes into a holding pattern and then it breaks and a few pounds drop off quickly.

Once I hit my goal I will loosen up a little. Thus far my diabetis is gone, I feel good, still miss my pizza and beer.

ell_v131

Hell yeah! I eat my exercise calories back! For me the point of exercise is to shape my body and retain muscle mass, as well as up the calories I can eat each day lol

Like others said, if you are using MFP as designed, you should eat them back (not all though as MFP overestimates the burns), otherwise you're putting yourself in too much deficit. That is not a problem if you're seriously obese, but for people with just some to lose, slow loss is easier on the body.

I don't understand why anyone would feel guilty eating calories back, that's the whole point of the MFP method. If this is bringing you negative feeling, find a TDEE calculator online (I like the scooby calculator) and figure out how much to eat including your exercise. Then you don't eat back as it is already counted in and you don't have to stress over it.

rhoule76

Most days I do eat back my exercise calories. I do have days where I don't feel as hungry and don't eat them all back though. Don't feel guilty eating them back, MFP configured everything for you when you went through the setup process to have a calorie deficit already.

DianneP6772

I am always hungry and love food. So yes - i eat them back. But like others - i don't usually eat all back as MFP overestimates the burn factor. But some days - lately - i eat them all.

maasha81

It depends on the day but most times I eat at least half back.