Eating Back Calories Burned

Quinn4A

Should you eat back the calories you burn off during exercise?

Mr_Knight

It depends.

How much are you doing?
What kind of exercise are you doing?
How big a deficit are you running?
Are you eating a lot of processed/pacakged food (nutritional labels have large error bars!)
How are you measuring burn calories?

If you want a simple, general answer it's this - if you are quite fit (i.e., can knock of 5k run without thinking about it) and know what you're doing, eat them back - if you aren't fit (i.e., can't run 5k easily), don't eat them back.

TeaBea

Should you eat back the calories you burn off during exercise?

If you are using MFP as designed....they gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. This is why MFP adds them back......by making the deficit larger (thru exercise)....you are at risk for losing fat+muscle as opposed to just fat.

However............there are many variables. If you are already at MFP's bare minimum (1200) ....then I would plan on eating most of your calories back.

MFP calorie burns are estimates....the problem people run into when eating calories back....they use MFP's often inflated numbers at face value, or they add every little bit of activity as "exercise." Your activity level accounts for some calories already.

Quinn4A

I have just started exercising 4 to 5 times a week. I mostly do hour classes like kickboxing or half cardio/half using weights classes. If I don't get to a class then I do an hour on the elliptical and hit the weight machines for like 20 minutes after. I am trying to get away from processed foods. If I am on the elliptical I use what ever number the machine says I have burned but when I take a class I really have no idea how many calories I have burned. I am not quite fit so i guess I should not be eating them back. Thanks.

editorgrrl

MFP is structured so that you must eat back at least a portion of your exercise calories. A deficit is built into your calorie goal. The calorie counts & burns are estimates, so some people correct for that by eating back half their exercise calories.

If you customize your goals so that your exercise is built in (for example, TDEE - 15%), then you don't eat anything back.

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

Chain_Ring

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh the age old question.........

TeaBea

I have just started exercising 4 to 5 times a week. I mostly do hour classes like kickboxing or half cardio/half using weights classes. If I don't get to a class then I do an hour on the elliptical and hit the weight machines for like 20 minutes after. I am trying to get away from processed foods. If I am on the elliptical I use what ever number the machine says I have burned but when I take a class I really have no idea how many calories I have burned. I am not quite fit so i guess I should not be eating them back. Thanks.

The numbers on the machine are also likely inflated. Heart rate monitors do better (for cardio).

BUT the most important aspect is......how big is your calorie deficit up front? Eating at the highest deficit (1200 calories) everyday....and then adding a lot of exercise is like working out to reduce muscle mass.

Read the link that Editorgrrl gave you before making a decision either way. Good info there..........

MichelleLaree13

I tend to not want them the day that I exercise. The next day I am ravenous so I make up for it then.

eyecandyrayce

I have 50+ pounds to lose, work out 6 days a week but I'm just getting started. On average I burn 100-400 calories a day. On my 100-200 burn days I do not eat the calories back. On my 300-400 calorie days I will eat some of them back.

What I end up doing is creating a deficit for myself for the weekends when I have my cheat meal. I still don't eat back all the calories with going over on 1-2 days (if I have 1500 calories by the end of the week that I didn't eat back and I go over by 500-600 one day or even 2 days I still haven't eaten those calories back).

The main advice I can give is pay attention to your body. If you are tired, eat some of them back. If you have a lot of weight to lose, try not eating them back and adjust until you are feeling energized every day from the work outs. If you don't have a lot of fat to burn then you need to supply your body with some calories to counter that and not burn muscle instead.

rjt1000

I have just started exercising 4 to 5 times a week. I mostly do hour classes like kickboxing or half cardio/half using weights classes. If I don't get to a class then I do an hour on the elliptical and hit the weight machines for like 20 minutes after. I am trying to get away from processed foods. If I am on the elliptical I use what ever number the machine says I have burned but when I take a class I really have no idea how many calories I have burned. I am not quite fit so i guess I should not be eating them back. Thanks.

I have found that the machines significantly over estimate the number of calories you burn. When I started using a heart rate monitor to figure out calories burned, I found the machines were usually 15-25% higher in their estimate than the actual count from the heart rate monitor.

Quinn4A

Can anyone recommend a good heart rate monitor?

rjt1000

Polar makes several with a wide variety of capabilities and price. I use a Polar 4 (I think) and it includes count of calories burned. Cost around $70. I'm not concerned about matching workouts against each other, historical tracking, water proof, etc. All I wanted was "how many calories did I just burn in my workout" and the Polar does that for me. Easy to set up and use. You have strap that goes around your chest and a wristwatch type thing that displays your numbers. Took about 5 minutes to set up and I was off.

SheriM120

I love my Polar 4! Best $70 I have ever spent! I learned after buying it I was actually burning more calories then MFP was estimating!1