To eat back calories? Or to NOT eat back calories?

erickirb

I don't personally prescribe to the "eat back your exercise calories" school of thought because I can't be sure that the "burn" I am supposedly getting is accurate. I'd rather be cautious and under calories than consume more than I should.

With that said though if I'm hungry I do eat but not because I feel I 'earned' the extra calories through exercise.

Then why not just change your activity level to active, then they will be accounted for there, no need to log, and if you don't lose what is expected, drop another 100 or add 100 depending.

jlneibauer

I don't personally prescribe to the "eat back your exercise calories" school of thought because I can't be sure that the "burn" I am supposedly getting is accurate. I'd rather be cautious and under calories than consume more than I should.

With that said though if I'm hungry I do eat but not because I feel I 'earned' the extra calories through exercise.

Yea...it my gut I'm on your side. But I don't want to get what they call "skinny fat" again. I've definitely been there. I guess it's a matter of trial and error?

wibutterflymagic

You need to eat your calorie goal. If you've calculated your calories on MFP it already has a deficit so you will lose weight. Your body needs fuel in order to function properly. Yes, you will lose weight but it will be muscle. You need calories to build your body. If all you are concerned with is losing the weight then eat as little as possible but you will pay for it later on by destroying your metabolism.

TeaBea

I don't personally prescribe to the "eat back your exercise calories" school of thought because I can't be sure that the "burn" I am supposedly getting is accurate. I'd rather be cautious and under calories than consume more than I should.

With that said though if I'm hungry I do eat but not because I feel I 'earned' the extra calories through exercise.

Yea...it my gut I'm on your side. But I don't want to get what they call "skinny fat" again. I've definitely been there. I guess it's a matter of trial and error?

Definitely some trial and error. There are soooo many ways to screw this up. Your activity level is a "range".....I use sedentary, but I do believe I am less sedentary than others. I use a HRM for cardio.....this is likely a "better" estimate.....but it's still an estimate. I measure my food ....I don't weigh it. MFP has some bogus calorie counts (user added) ....I do try to check.....but still not perfect.

I would rather lose slowly than lose muscle mass.....I'm over 50 and already (likely) lost a fair amount of muscle.

cwolfman13

I don't personally prescribe to the "eat back your exercise calories" school of thought because I can't be sure that the "burn" I am supposedly getting is accurate. I'd rather be cautious and under calories than consume more than I should.

With that said though if I'm hungry I do eat but not because I feel I 'earned' the extra calories through exercise.

Yea...it my gut I'm on your side. But I don't want to get what they call "skinny fat" again. I've definitely been there. I guess it's a matter of trial and error?

It also depends on your exercise. If your primary exercise is just walking or otherwise not that intensive then it's probably not a huge deal...I train for triathlons and century rides...I needz fuel. No way you do any intense activity for a prolonged period of time trying to stick to 1500 gross calories...you'd be a puddle of gooey flesh after a good brick session.

just_Jennie1

I don't personally prescribe to the "eat back your exercise calories" school of thought because I can't be sure that the "burn" I am supposedly getting is accurate. I'd rather be cautious and under calories than consume more than I should.

With that said though if I'm hungry I do eat but not because I feel I 'earned' the extra calories through exercise.

Yea...it my gut I'm on your side. But I don't want to get what they call "skinny fat" again. I've definitely been there. I guess it's a matter of trial and error?

It also depends on your exercise. If your primary exercise is just walking or otherwise not that intensive then it's probably not a huge deal...I train for triathlons and century rides...I needz fuel. No way you do any intense activity for a prolonged period of time trying to stick to 1500 gross calories...you'd be a puddle of gooey flesh after a good brick session.

My point is that whenever this subject comes up most everyone says that you should or must eat back your exercise calories. Obviously if someone is training for an event then yes, they need fuel but the normal person doesn't necessarily need to eat back all the calories "burned" through exercise.

I know that when I start training for my duathlon I'll have to fuel properly but other than that I don't find it an absolute necessity after a normal workout (30 minutes hard cardio, 60 minutes heavy lifting) to eat back my calories just for the sake of eating. If it turns out that I do then fine but I don't set out to do it purposely.

Joanne_Moniz

After exercising, should you eat back the calories you burnt off? In some ways I feel like this would be counter productive. But if you're eating 1500 cals a day and exercising away 300-400, would that put your calorie intake for the day at an unreasonably low level?

It is all calculated in when you complete your profile... You always eat back the calories.... unless you want to lose more weight than you told MFP in the first place... Any questions, I can send you it from MFP

Joanne Moniz
The Skinny on Obesity Group

erickirb

I don't personally prescribe to the "eat back your exercise calories" school of thought because I can't be sure that the "burn" I am supposedly getting is accurate. I'd rather be cautious and under calories than consume more than I should.

With that said though if I'm hungry I do eat but not because I feel I 'earned' the extra calories through exercise.

Yea...it my gut I'm on your side. But I don't want to get what they call "skinny fat" again. I've definitely been there. I guess it's a matter of trial and error?

It also depends on your exercise. If your primary exercise is just walking or otherwise not that intensive then it's probably not a huge deal...I train for triathlons and century rides...I needz fuel. No way you do any intense activity for a prolonged period of time trying to stick to 1500 gross calories...you'd be a puddle of gooey flesh after a good brick session.

My point is that whenever this subject comes up most everyone says that you should or must eat back your exercise calories. Obviously if someone is training for an event then yes, they need fuel but the normal person doesn't necessarily need to eat back all the calories "burned" through exercise.

I know that when I start training for my duathlon I'll have to fuel properly but other than that I don't find it an absolute necessity after a normal workout (30 minutes hard cardio, 60 minutes heavy lifting) to eat back my calories just for the sake of eating. If it turns out that I do then fine but I don't set out to do it purposely.

Maybe not, depending on size of deficit and number of cals burned, but keep in mind the larger the deficit the large the % of your loss will be lean muscle, not fat.

Mr_Knight

Two very common mistakes on MFP are over-estimating exercise burn and over-estimating BMR/TDEE. This is especially true for people with "a lot" to lose, as the standard BMR/TDEE formulas exaggerate their base burns.

While eating back exercise calories is, in theory, the right thing to do when using MFP as intended, in practice, most people will have more consistent results if they don't, because it counteracts the mistakes cited above.