Earned calories from exercise? Has anyone tested these?

rosenkrantzz

I hit my goal a few months back and have been working on maintaining and learning to eat healthy on a daily basis. So far it's going great. I set a target of 1850 calories a day (from talking to my nutritionist and doing my own research). Usually I come in just under that in terms of calorie intake.

What I have never tested is allowing myself the extra earned calories from exercise that MFP tell me about. I guess I don't feel I "trust" that math. For example, yesterday I burned approx 350 calories from walking. So I could have eaten 300-400 calories more (in theory). I didn't feel the need to so I didn't, but sometimes I get peckish at night (mmm oatmeal).

Question 1 - Does anyone regularly eat their extra earned calories? Did it affect your ability to maintain? Did you gain and found you had to cut back on using those "earned" calories? Or was it just a wash (no noticeable effect either way).

Question 2 - Am I hampering my nutrition by NOT taking in those extra calories that I burn thru exercise? Meaning should I actually consume those extra calories to stay healthy (by eating say 400 calories of something nutritious...)

I guess the reason I don't know if I can trust the math is I know those are just very general estimates based on my age, gender, height and weight calculated against other estimates of the amount of calories burned thru different types of exercises. So to me, that's a whole lot of estimating to make me feel comfortable tucking in an extra 400 calories.

Yeah I know I'm obsessing, but that obsessing (I think) has helped me to lose the weight and to keep it off.

Thanks if you care to chime in, just looking for other's experience.

BeeNcouraged13

My nutritionist told me not to eat them back.Most of the time I dont feel I need to eat them anyway.You should ask your nutritionist since you are at your goal and want to maintain you may have to eat those back.

johloz

I agree that some of them are way too high - walking and cooking are perfect example. However, some of them are too low, like strength training.

If the walking you're logging is just part of your normal activity for the day, I would suggest not logging it.

For the exercise I generally do (such as strength training, running, etc), I eat my calories back (and sometimes more), and I just don't log walking as this is part of my regular daily activity. The only time I will log walking is if I'm doing so for the express purpose of exercise and I'm getting my heart rate up and keeping it that way. Then I will generally eat back about half of my walking calories.

jmapes9

I've been eating back ALL of my exercise calories since day one, and I've lost 184 pounds in less than two years.

fitandfortyish

I'm not an expert on what happens, nutritionally, when you don't eat back all your calories.

What I can say is I've been in maintenance for a long while now and I no longer weigh my foods--I log but I "guesstimate". Quite often i will not log my exercise calories, or I under estimate my caloric burn through exercise, because this offsets any errors in calculating my calories.

I don't weigh myself but do pay attention to my measurements and so far haven't seen any significant changes that cause concern.

rosenkrantzz

jmapes9, what sort of exercises are you doing, if I can ask? Just to get a sense...

Thanks all for the responses... I only log cardio walking (using runtastic) but that being said... since I am maintaining I don't walk quite as vigorously as I did when I was actively losing weight. So I walk about a 15min mile which I consider a medium pace. I also use a recumbent bike 3-4 times a week for 45 mins a session - and there I do a decent job of getting my heart rate up into my zone. But again, I don't want to lose weight now, just stay in shape and keep active.

sijomial

If you are maintaining (i.e. weight staying relatively constant) at 1850 then unless you are adding in additional exercise over your current amount then why would you consider eating more? That would put you into surplus and lead to weight gain.

Q1 - Yes I ate back all my exercise calories both when losing weight and maintatining weight (the MFP method). It works better for me as my exercise varies enormously from day to day and week to week. Certainly accurate enough to allow me to hit my weight loss/maintenance goals. I don't use the MFP estimated calories though exept once in a while for walking.

If you are doing the TDEE method (which you are by eating a set amount daily) then your current exercise routine is already factored in, whether by design or accident.

Q2 - In theory the more you eat the more nutrition you can get but with most things enough is enough, you don't get bonus benefits for extra vitamins, protein etc. over and above your needs.

Is there a reason you want to switch from TDEE method to the MFP NEAT (eat back exercise calories) method?

As an example and assuming you are doing 300 cals of exercise a day.....
TDEE method = 1850
MFP method (1550 + 300 exercise cals) = 1850

kittykarin

I am no expert but I know what works for me is to not eat those calories back. I just read a study that most people underestimate what they really are eating in the course of a day. Even for those of us that use MFP, we are more likely to underestimate rather than overestimate. I figure the exercise calories are my buffer in case I forget to log a bite or the amount or the nutritional facts of what i have eaten are off somehow.

Dnarules

My first question would be....are you maintaining your weight, or are you still losing? I only ask because when I was in maintenance, I could maintain on 1900 to 2200 calories as long as I was active 4-5 days a week. And I am a 49 year old female. So your calorie goal for a man seems a little low, but I could be wrong.

Maintenance can take some tweaking. You can try adding a 100 or so calories of your exercise calories for a few weeks and see what happens.

There are some maintenance groups on MFP that you might find useful.

jmapes9

OP, I log in everything from strength training, running, walking, elliptical, etc. I only rely on the calorie amounts that my heart rate monitor calculates. I use a Polar FT7.

Dnarules

If you are maintaining (i.e. weight staying relatively constant) at 1850 then unless you are adding in additional exercise over your current amount then why would you consider eating more? That would put you into surplus and lead to weight gain.

Q1 - Yes I ate back all my exercise calories both when losing weight and maintatining weight (the MFP method). It works better for me as my exercise varies enormously from day to day and week to week. Certainly accurate enough to allow me to hit my weight loss/maintenance goals. I don't use the MFP estimated calories though exept once in a while for walking.

If you are doing the TDEE method (which you are by eating a set amount daily) then your current exercise routine is already factored in, whether by design or accident.

Q2 - In theory the more you eat the more nutrition you can get but with most things enough is enough, you don't get bonus benefits for extra vitamins, protein etc. over and above your needs.

Is there a reason you want to switch from TDEE method to the MFP NEAT (eat back exercise calories) method?

As an example and assuming you are doing 300 cals of exercise a day.....
TDEE method = 1850
MFP method (1550 + 300 exercise cals) = 1850

This is good info. Part of your answer depends on how you determined 1850 was your number. Did you already factor in exercise? Or is it a number from MFP. If you used exercise in your determination, then you shouldn't eat those calories back, although I still say 1850 is too low for most men. But if you are no longer losing, that is part of your answer.

Have you tried a TDEE calculator that takes exercise into account?

Edited to add: Congratulations on reaching maintenance !

Iwishyouwell

You're already successfully maintaining.

Looking to change that by adding in a whole bunch of complications could lead you right into maintenance ruin.

Do what's working for you and be grateful that you're pulling off maintenance so far.

Don't clutter your mind with information that doesn't pertain to your current situation.

zoeysasha37

Congrats on maintaining! :-) that's awesome!! When I first started I used to eat my calories back and started to gain. So since I've stopped and I will eat a little extra if I feel hungry, but not the entire sum back. But do what you've been doing, obviously your doing great already! :-)

heybales

As far as the walking calories go, if you really matched the speed in the description, weight is the only factor, and very accurate, more than HRM.

Some studies referenced in here as to just how accurate the formula's are.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/774337-how-to-test-hrm-for-how-accurate-calorie-burn-is

As to any issue with constantly eating below where you could be eating. That may or may not be the case. The lack of gain or loss is no proof you are eating at potential maintenance.

Well, this is referencing the side effects that women can get, some men can get too. May take longer, different aspects may show up, ect.
But generally you aren't going to get as much out of your workout, at least not the positive changes you could get, if your body is already getting under what it would like.
http://skepchick.org/2014/02/the-female-athlete-triad-not-as-fun-as-it-sounds/

Now, if workouts aren't hard, like if walking is the extent of it, probably no big deal. If you ever plan to do something more strenuous and intense, and want to get the most out of it, fuel your workouts.

einzweidrei

I have always eaten my exercise calories back---while I was losing weight and since I have been maintaining. And I do NOT do any type of heavy exercise---all I usually do is walk. I like to eat thank you very much and I will take any opportunity to do so.

If you don't trust MFP on numbers, you can always eat back partial amounts. Let's say you think you didn't really burn 350 calories. Why not at least eat 200 of them back?

Curious as to how tall you are---mostly because you're male and you're eating less calories than I am on maintenance. And you seem more active than I am.

vegipete

exercise calories on mfp seem much higher than those given on various crosstraining machines at the local gym. i use the gym numbers. still gives me a bonus of 350+ calories daily.

charlicee

Nope. Just calculate your TDEE, subtract 500 to see how much less to eat to lose a lb/week, 1000 to lose around 2 lbs/week.

BelleVegan77

I kid you not I lose SO much faster when I eat them back and I feel a lot more energetic.

GertrudeHorse

Question 1 - I almost always eat back my exercise calories. I do tend to underestimate them slightly in the first place (rounding down to the nearest 50 calorie mark). But, no, this approach hasn't affected my weight loss or maintenance.

ETA: For calculation purposes I tend to average out MFP, HRM and what the machine at the gym tells me I'm burning. They all seem to be roughly the same though!

Question 2 - I don't think you're hampering your nutrition necessarily, but I notice on days when I eat back my exercise calories I always have more energy the following day to do a really intense workout. When I don't eat them back, the following day I am probably a bit lazier at the gym. I guess I am willing to risk a teeny bit of weight gain so that I can be stronger and more dominant in my fitness. YMMV.

TonyStark30

Eat them back to fit something in like a treat, otherwise don't eat them if you are not hungry, and still feel up to doing your work outs. I find I have to eat them back about once a week really.

jasper186

I've been eating back ALL of my exercise calories since day one, and I've lost 184 pounds in less than two years.

Do you use the daily calories set by MFP or have some other calculator? MFP set me at 1200 but the Scooby site sets me at 1430

Slim_strategy

I've been maintaining for about 3 months (taking a break before trying to lose those last 10lbs lol ) and I've been regularly eating back allll my exercise calories, and it's worked for me, I've stayed pretty static at about 120ishlbs the entire time

I do have my base set calories at sedentary though because my exercise is fairly random

jackielou867

Ok, so I was not sure how active I am in real life so on MFP to maintain I put sedentary and I get 1820, I used to exercise hard and log all exercise so I could eat back, because I was a food junkie. Weight wise this was working, but I obsessed a bit over what exercise burned what .
So I looked at Tdee on several different sites I work out on different sites work out around 2200.
Then I got a fitbit for Christmas which syncs to MFP and most days it gives me about an extra 400 calories, which corresponds to my TDEE. I eat most of these back, but I am under more than I am over, not a lot, and I find I maintain nicely at this.
I think the answer really is do what you do and monitor, if you maintain, great, if not adjust up or down till you do.

salvyhead

You're not obsessing - this is important information and will affect your results.

I cannot eat all my exercise calories. If I do, I gain. So I generally eat 50 - 60 percent of them. Everybody's metabolism is different. I've discussed this with my dietitian and she is of the same basic makeup as I. She cannot eat hers completely, either. We're in that particular demographic that cannot trust the math the machine calculators deliver. We've learned this through trial and error experience. In my case I have been maintaining for nine months.

What's important in my experience is to accept the fact that every body is unique. When you hear a 'rule' like - "you MUST eat your exercise calories," it's best to take it with a grain of salt and do your own testing to determine guidelines that work best for you.

cwolfman13

Question 1 - Does anyone regularly eat their extra earned calories? Did it affect your ability to maintain? Did you gain and found you had to cut back on using those "earned" calories? Or was it just a wash (no noticeable effect either way).

Question 2 - Am I hampering my nutrition by NOT taking in those extra calories that I burn thru exercise? Meaning should I actually consume those extra calories to stay healthy (by eating say 400 calories of something nutritious...)

When I was doing MFP I always ate back my exercise calories because that activity was not accounted for in my activity level. The way MFP is designed is so that your calorie goal is based on your NEAT activity (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)...thus your EAT (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) is unaccounted for until you log it and thus get those calories to "eat back". Other calculators include some kind of estimate of your EAT in your activity level...this is actually the most common method of calorie tracking which is why most nutritionist and whatnot are baffled when you talk to them about "eating back" exercise calories...they assume some estimate of that activity upfront so you would be double dipping if you ate them back.

If your calorie goal is custom, the whole net calorie thing goes out the window because you're not using the tool as designed and getting your calorie goals from the tool. I have a custom goal that includes some estimate of my exercise in it rather than using MFP's net calorie method simply because I'm consistent in my exercise and it's easier for me to just have one set calorie intake daily give or take.

In RE to #2, it's important to account for exercise somewhere in your calorie goals...exercise requires fuel and exercise breaks down the body and thus nutrients and energy (calories) are needed for repair of the body. The question becomes where do you account for that activity...either upfront with a TDEE calculator and that EAT activity is included in your activity level or with MFP, after the fact when you log it. Either way, you are "eating back" exercise calories...it's just that one method has you doing it deliberately and the other just has it all wrapped up in your calorie goal.

How did you arrive at 1850 for maintenance? I was eating 2300 with exercise to lose and I maintain on around 2700-2800 or so...granted I'm pretty active...but even my sedentary no exercise maintenance was around 2300 calories.

ETA: you also need to consider the kind of exercise you are doing...the more vigorous the effort, the more important it becomes to really account for it and give your body the nutrients it needs to recover and repair. I lift full body and heavy 3x weekly and average around 80 miles or so per week on my bike...if I didn't account for exercise somewhere in my calorie goals I'd probably be dead...my body would most certainly be pretty broken at minimum and I certainly wouldn't be making the fitness gains that I'm making now.

Also, if you're using MFP's net method it is pretty important to use a HRM or some other kind of device for estimating calorie burn. Databases and calculators are just wildly inaccurate for estimating calorie burn...they're ok if you're just wanting some kind of rough estimate to look at...but when you're actually using this method you need more precision than that.

sijomial

Do you use the daily calories set by MFP or have some other calculator? MFP set me at 1200 but the Scooby site sets me at 1430

No - you are comparing two different methods, two different tools. This is such a common mistake!

MFP set you at 1200 plus exercise calories and Scooby set you at 1430 already including exercise calories.

nxd10

I agree with a previous poster - you're already successfully maintaining.

Whether or not you should eat the extra back depends on your baseline activity level. "Exercise" is over and above your normal activity. If you are sedentary, going for a 40 minute walk is exercise you can eat back. If you are set at 'active' it probably isn't.

I'm set at sedentary and I always eat my exercise calories back (or let myself do so if I'm hungry) and have done so while losing and maintaining. Most of my exercise is walking, which I now take from fitbit. Before fitbit, I just added in 'extra' exercise - walking to work, cleaning the chicken coop, heavy gardening, etc. I didn't enter in the walking I do at work or in the classroom or my normal busywork clearning. That's just life. "Sedentary" on MFP means you're walking around 4000 steps a day. Unless I am making an effort, that's my life - even though I walk to work every day.

SLLRunner

You've lost 212 pounds! Congratulations, that is so awesome! :drinker: :flowerforyou:

I do eat my exercise calories back. Always have, and I've successfully lost 40 pounds.

You eat your exercise calories to properly fuel your body. MFP builds your deficit/maintenance/gain goals into your calorie deficit, therefore you exercise calories are extra.

morticia16

When I was working towards my goal weight, I was eating them back. In maintenance, I am not so regular to do so. But this is also connected to the fact that I stopped logging in faithfully on a daily basis like I did while loosing.

hannaawh

I wouldn't log walking as an exercise and also not eat them back, because MFP is already calculating them in. If you would lay in bed all day doing nothing, you wouldn't need much more than maybe 1500 calories just to maintain a healthy weight.

But I also don't really trust all the statistics MFP gives you - you never know whether the amount of calories "burnt" is calculated minus the amount of calories you would have normally burnt (say in one hour you burn 100 cals normally throughout the day, while running you burn 500, but you would have burnt 100 anyways, so you actually just burnt 400 extra calories) or not.

cherys

Trust your body. I tend not to eat them back unless I feel light headed or hungry. Today, for example, I ran 7k, walked 4 k and cycled 5k. The estimate for all this was about 700 extra calories. No way would it make sense to eat 700 extra cals and hope to lose weight. But I did eat about 200 of them as I was hungry and treated myself to a glass of wine.
Certainly never eat when you are not hungry. And don't deprive yourself if you feel weak after exercise and MFP says you can eat more that day.