Should I still eat my exercise calories?

MarKayDee

Should I still eat my exercise calories if I don't FEEL like I worked out?
I did a bit of cardio this morning and then walked a few mile tonight, and I feel like the number I calories it wants me to eat back are pretty high. I walk a fair amount every day(my job is just walking in circles really) so it didn't feel like a lot of exercise to do it tonight. Should I still eat back all of my calories?

DHogan80

My answer would be no for the simple fact you'd be eating what you've burnt off. I use to and ended up putting weight on. Try to stick to what your calorie goal is. That's my suggestion...

pauljsaunders

It depends on you really, I've mostly read that it may be advisable to eat back half, it still aids weight loss, but if you intend to maintain, then find a way to enjoy putting back in healthly..... You may find workingout/exercising will make you feel as if you have lost your appetite so be careful.... also be mindful of what your body is telling you......health issues sometime creep up unsuspectingly due to not eating enough....

Snow3y

Yes, if the calories were burned, eat them

djxil

My goal is to burn off 1-1/2 per week, been at this for 47 days I think, so almost 8 weeks and I have lost 29 lbs NOT eating my exercise calories back, that puts me at 3.6 lbs a week. I feel good and have more energy. I know that it will get harder, as I lose the weight, my calorie intake will reduce as well, I see, leave as many calories as you can as long as you feel good and healthy.

bitshred

That's a good question. I do. I feel I can eat them back since I exercised AND my total calories after burning is still under my goal calories. Sure, I could lose faster (maybe) if I didn't eat those back, but I want to feel good to.

Additionally, I have my "goal" set to 2 pounds a week, so my daily intake it pretty low for my size. I think of it as a "buffer", because even if I do go over by a couple hundred calories, I'm still on track for weight loss. (we'll see).

VoodooAborisha

I found that I, personally, should NOT eat my exercise calories back, and that eating them back was making my weight loss go slower. Here is why.

I don't have one of those armband things to measure exactly how much I have lost, and MFP overestimates the calories you burn with any exercise, so MFP was giving me more calories to eat back than I actually earned.

I realized this because there was a month when I hurt my back and I stopped exercising. I had been alternating days of cardio and days of weights, and suddenly for a month, I had no exercise. The weight started dropping off. I realized that, without the added question of exercise calories and calories to eat back, my calorie goal and intake was much more accurate, and I have continued to lose weight quickly with this in mind.

Now if I were doing something intense like teaching 5 hours of zumba, I'd definitely eat PART of that back (or if I was that into exercise, I'd probably have an armband thingy and be able to accurately log calories burned! But anything like walking for an hour, doing weights for 30 minutes, I don't eat the calories back for minor things like that.

I lost the first 10 lbs slowly, but since I stopped logging exercise, I have lost another 10 in half the time.

dtimedwards

If you set your activity level when you signed up to account for "some cardio and an evening walk", then no. Do not eat back those exercise calories.

If you set your activity level to NOT account for those things, then yes, you are supposed to eat them back. HOWEVER, there is a general consensus that calorie burn estimates are inflated, so most people get good results only eating back about 75% of their exercise calories.

lmhbuss

It depends. Are you hungry? If you are, eat some of them back. If not, skip it. Listen to what your body is telling you. I never eat all of them back, but if I've burned 450 calories doing cardio that day and I feel really hungry, I'm totally going to have a filling snack. I just try not to eat back more than half of what I've burned for fear that the estimate of what I've burned is too high.

j6o4

If your calories burned was accurate then yes eat them back, if you don't you will make your deficit larger than it is suppose to be. MFP wouldn't add back calories if you wern't suppose to eat them back.

hiljainen

I do, and no problem, I lose weight.

devitodk

I do it if i have had a long hard workout. burned 800-1200 cals... When im don´t eat at least half of the cals back, i will feel exhausted when i wake up next morning.

CattOfTheGarage

I do. It's my motivation to exercise! I haven't found it slows weight loss. What slows weight loss is going over the net calorie target - the estimates are working well for me.

It's surely a balance. If you don't eat back exercise at all you'll end up with a deficit that's bigger than planned, losing weight too fast, and I'm reading on here that that can mean you lose more muscle. Why not try it for a while, eating right up to target? If you're not losing as quickly as you expect, cut it back a bit. Everyone's bodies are different.

andit001

I'd say you should find out for yourself.

I mean: eat those calories for a week and if you loose weight, you're loosing it in a healthier way (you don't starve yourself too much). And if you don't loose weight this way, go down to eating back about 90% of your exercices next week and see if you loose weight then and so on.

It's better to learn to know yourself better this way with your own data instead of just following some rules of thumb.

VoodooAborisha

I'd say you should find out for yourself.

I mean: eat those calories for a week and if you loose weight, you're loosing it in a healthier way (you don't starve yourself too much). And if you don't loose weight this way, go down to eating back about 90% of your exercices next week and see if you loose weight then and so on.

It's better to learn to know yourself better this way with your own data instead of just following some rules of thumb.

I think this is great advice. What works for one may or may not work for another.

callyart

I am sticking to my calorie limit and not eating over.

patrickfish7

I don't. I use the exercise as my way to creating a deficit and it makes me stick to a plan. If you eat because you are hungry then fine but otherwise don't bother.

accendo

Read this
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

countingdownthekilosx

I used to eat back my exercise calories but I don't anymore. At first for a while I ate back my exercise calories and saw results but I was pretty big (started at 147.5kg and I'm now 83.6kg) then I recently stopped seeing results so I randomly decided just to eat at or near 2,000 calories a day regardless of what I burn and it's working I'm seeing results and I'm not hungry.

errorist

Deciding not to eat your exercise calories sounds like deciding to exercise light, or not at all, to me. If you exercise hard, you will have to eat more to fuel the next workout.

MarKayDee

Thank you all for your advice. I decided to eat back some of them since I wasn't too hungry without them, but wanted a little extra with my dinner.
I don't usually log any of the walking I do at work, or I only log half of it so I don't over estimate my calories burned. Today was my first day doing a real work out though and I didn't want to over do it eating back my calories and end up undoing all of that work.

Thanks again for the help

spankythewondermonkey

it's personal preference.

if you want to lose weight, then i don't see the point of shovelling the calories you've worked off back into the body. you get to see it as a reward and it will probably slow or stall your weight loss. weight loss is simply calories in < calories out. the bigger the delta, the faster you'll lose (or gain) weight.

i usually burn about 800-1500 cals of 'proper' exercise each day (weights/cycling/swimming/running/circuits etc), with the occasional rest day thrown in. on fast days (tues,weds & thurs), i'd stick to the 600 cal limit so am massively negative on those days. it didn't affect the intensity at which i could work out as tiredness and lethargy is 90% mental where you *think* you should be low on energy. i'll qualify this by saying that when i was on the weight loss phase about 13 months ago, i'd weigh just before the gym session on the 3rd day of 600 cal fasting, see that i'd lost another 1-2kg and could nail anything i wanted in the hard workout that followed.

as usual, ymmv. :-)

errorist

As you say, calories in, calories out. Which is why I don't understand why you also say that eating back exercise calories will stall weight loss. This is the mfp system. Those that follow it eat their calories back to a 10-20% calorie deficit. Is that not enough?

I'm not sure if my viewpoint is valid though. You're clearly superior in every way, with your infinite capacity to deny your body nutrients and yet to exercise at extreme levels of intensity. I guess sad people like me, sat here, shovelling in the calories, falling victim to mental weakness and imagined lethargy, should just stop bothering to understand and to better our bodies. YMMV indeed.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Read this
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

This.

dmt4641

I usually eat some or all of them back, depending on my level of hunger. It is motivation to exercise for me and also a way to refeed my body after a workout. After lifting I always have an extra smoothie with protein and carbs, so that is around 200 calories I wouldn't have had if I didn't workout. Also, if I have a day I know I am going to a restaurant or something, it motivates me to work a little harder in the gym so I can make up for the extra cals.

Jackpalm

I wouldn't unless you really want to. This is when you could start to lose the pounds. When I eat my exercise points, I don't lose, just stay the same weight.

Binky_Muffin

I eat when I'm hungry. So far, I had a 500 calorie deficit one day and 30something yesterday. I feel good so far. I say go by how you feel. I do workout pretty hard, so I'm mindful of that as well.

lrmall01

My answer would be no for the simple fact you'd be eating what you've burnt off. I use to and ended up putting weight on. Try to stick to what your calorie goal is. That's my suggestion...

If you let MFP set your calorie intake using the guided goal setting feature, then this is bad advice.

See here: http://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1026720-how-does-myfitnesspal-work-

and here: http://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/410332-how-does-myfitnesspal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

If you don't feel like you worked out hard, then make sure to log a light activity exercise and it shouldn't suggest you eat many calories back.

4flamingoz

I did, and kept gaining. Now, I never do, and have lost 16 pounds. Yayyyy!

erickirb

I did, and kept gaining. Now, I never do, and have lost 16 pounds. Yayyyy!

Then you were eating more than you thought you were, or your BMR was much lower than MFP calculated it to be, or you were burning less than you thought you were.

dswolverine

I don't think I could NOT eat at least some of them back. I am not allotted many calories by MFP, so I think I would be starving if i didn't! I invested in a HRM and i usually deduct about 10-15% from that number (it's not 100% accurate, so best to be on the safe side). Then i usually eat back 3/4 of my exercise calories, give or take. If you're hungry, eat!