Who Eats Theyre Exercise Calories?

lsorci919

Only if I'm hungry still after I've reached my calorie goal.

Listen to your body. It will let you know if it needs more food.

hammondo

I listen to what my body says! If i've walked the mile and a half to the shop to get some milk, I probably don't, but will use the calories if i'm hungry. If I run 10 miles, then i will certainly make a dent in it, but knowing that i've run 10 miles! Everything has its own scenario and no hard and fast rule i guess!

erickirb

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.

So, if you follow MFP's caloric intake suggestion, then eat them back, but be conservative on the amount you burn/eat back.

MinnieInMaine

You should, that's how MFP is designed. The only caveat is, many of the listings in the exercise database are overestimated, as are those from most cardio machines. So plan to eat back somewhere between half and 2/3rds of what you get for burns - and it wouldn't hurt to eat all of them occassionally if you're hungry enough. Once you become more accustomed to understanding real hunger vs bored or emotional or stress hunger, feel free to listen to what your body tells you. I wouldn't encourage someone new to this to do that from the start as many feel they're ok undereating but it catches up eventually.

I've eaten back my calories 99% of the time over the last 4 years. The ticker below speaks for itself.

psych0kitty

I do not.

I don't care how MFP does things - I use this site to keep track of my food intake.

It's fairly well-known that MFP's calories burned estimates are wildly inaccurate. If you have a heart-rate monitor, more power to you, but I do not. I set a calorie goal based on my typical weekly activity level and if I'm hungry, I eat.

KarmaKills

I am brand new to this (just started with this app and a new workout and eating plan) but I have decided to try and eat all meals under my given calories and my night time snack can dip into my workout calories. I have found that taking non-fat vanilla greek yogurt, placing it in the freezer for a bit and topping with a frozen berry medley along with a few almond slices and two little squares of dark chocolate is the perfect way to end my day. I get the sweet and chocolate I am craving with the protein of greek yogurt and almonds post-workout.


Hope that helps a bit!

Brand new with a new workout and eating plan but gives advice anyway.....hmmm....seems legit.


Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did we???

AHack3

For the most part I try and listen to my body, if I'm hungry I eat them , if I am not I don't. Some days I'm hungrier than others.

Laquincy

I don't eat mine back, but I'm allowed 2200+ at a 1.5lbs weight lost. I'm never to hungry anyway after consuming that. I'm sure when the calories drop I will start to eat them back lol.

1PatientBear

I am brand new to this (just started with this app and a new workout and eating plan) but I have decided to try and eat all meals under my given calories and my night time snack can dip into my workout calories. I have found that taking non-fat vanilla greek yogurt, placing it in the freezer for a bit and topping with a frozen berry medley along with a few almond slices and two little squares of dark chocolate is the perfect way to end my day. I get the sweet and chocolate I am craving with the protein of greek yogurt and almonds post-workout.


Hope that helps a bit!

Brand new with a new workout and eating plan but gives advice anyway.....hmmm....seems legit.

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did we???

Nope. I slept great. :bigsmile: (Oh and I fixed your quote box for you too. Free of charge. :flowerforyou: )

suziepoo1984

i eat each and every one of them, and i can other people's too if that would work :devil:

lyzmorrison

No. I work too hard to burn those calories so there is no way I'm eating them back.

RGv2

No. I work too hard to burn those calories so there is no way I'm eating them back.

That's kind of how MFP is designed though......It already has your deficit built in.

psuLemon

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jenifr818

I don't, but that's because I use the TDEE-20% method. I'm sure someone else posted about it in one of the 4 pages, I'm too lazy to check I prefer it over eating back exercise calories, simply because I was always overestimating my burn and quite often underestimating how much I ate since I wasn't weighing or measuring very well at the time.

On the off chance someone else didn't:

Use an online TDEE calculator to find your general energy expidenture (sp?). I use the Scooby workshop calculator

Subtract 20%

Eat that every day

lyzmorrison

No. I work too hard to burn those calories so there is no way I'm eating them back.

That's kind of how MFP is designed though......It already has your deficit built in.

Sure, I get that, but I'm still not doing it. One of the reasons I was overweight was because I ate when I didn't need to. Just because I have calories "available" doesn't mean I need to use them.

trogalicious

No. I work too hard to burn those calories so there is no way I'm eating them back.

That's kind of how MFP is designed though......It already has your deficit built in.

Sure, I get that, but I'm still not doing it. One of the reasons I was overweight was because I ate when I didn't need to. Just because I have calories "available" doesn't mean I need to use them.

then you're just doing it wrong. by design.

RGv2

No. I work too hard to burn those calories so there is no way I'm eating them back.

That's kind of how MFP is designed though......It already has your deficit built in.

Sure, I get that, but I'm still not doing it. One of the reasons I was overweight was because I ate when I didn't need to. Just because I have calories "available" doesn't mean I need to use them.

then you're just doing it wrong. by design.

^^^Yep, and it doesn't mean you shouldn't use some of them either....

parkscs

Rather than not eating your exercise calories back, why don't you simply set your caloric deficit to a more aggressive amount? It seems rather intuitive to me you would want to give your body more energy/nutrients on days when you're doing strenuous exercise and less on days when you're simply resting. If you don't lose weight fast enough when you eat your exercise calories back, lower your target calories. To each their own though. :-)

topazora

I exercise so I can eat more calories. I enjoy eating foods like pizza and cheap chinese, and wash it down with a good beer. Can't do that if I haven't hit the gym.

Springfield1970

I eat 1750 plus my exercise calories.

If I cut I eat 1550 PLUS my exercise calories.

If I bulk I eat 1950 PLUS my exercise calories.

Since growing a thicker skin, I've done a lot less emotional eating.

Funny that.