Earned calories from exercise? Has anyone tested these?

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.

Dnarules

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.

If you trusted the fact that you burned 700 calories, then it makes perfect sense to eat them back because that is how the MFP method works. The deficit is already calculated. It makes more sense than not fueling your workouts properly. Also, he is in maintenance and not trying to lose.

Mr_Knight

Question 1 - Does anyone regularly eat their extra earned calories?

Yes. I track all exercise, and above a certain expenditure, I eat it back.

However, I don't use MFP or HRM numbers, I calculate the burn myself, independently. Done that way, it all tracks exactly as one would expect.

megsmom2

Heck yes I eat them back. They're mine, I earned them, and they're helping me stay healthy and happy.

drgmac

Hello, we are the same age and conventional nutrition wisdom states that we should have a harder time keeping weight off in our late 40s. I respectfully disagree. I congratulate you on your loss--that's an incredible accomplishment. I am not a logger or one who calculates out my caloric intake. I think everyone is different. My advice would be to play around with nit only how much you eat, but what you eat, for me, I find I am able to sustain. My weight by actually eating more calories of vegetables, fruits, and proteins, versus more refined carbs. You probably don't want to create too much of a calorie deficit because you could find yourself gaining it back if you go into starvation mode. Just my 2 cents.

Graelwyn75

Always eaten back most or all of my exercise calories. I have also used a HRM to get a more accurate idea of my burns for various activities but I have used both a fitbit and mfp for my walking logging. However, I do pretty high intensity workouts at the gym, cycling and weights work as well as walking. I think, if you would like to eat more on days you have exercised, and have the calories, then you should go for it. You can monitor your weight to see if it impacts you negatively at all. I find 1800 pretty low for a male, given most females who are averagely active, can maintain on 2000.

heybales

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.

MFP is not calculating in just any level of walking when you pick Sedentary as your non-exercise activity level.
It includes an avg of 1 hr of slow moving daily. So that would account for walking in/out of work, around at work, to/from store, shopping time, ect. Most seem to hit that unless inspired to get up more on their jobs.

But it does NOT include the walking the dog time 30 min daily or such.

Your laying in bed sleeping all day is BMR. BMR x 1.25 is Sedentary.

And correct on the exercise database that MFP and a lot of other sites use, and the formula's machines themselves use, and actually what HRM's report.
None of them take out your resting calorie burn that would have occurred anyway. Because most of them are not reporting calories for the purpose of someone eating them back correctly (yes, MFP could be a real Pal and correct that easily).
So all of them are Gross estimates, not Net estimates.

And actually, when in a diet like using MFP, every hour of your day is already accounted for with an amount of burn. Your Maintenance figure on Goals page divided by 24. That's what you were already expected to burn each hour.
And that's why MFP could handle that easily in the math prior to giving you a figure.

nxd10

Exactly. Same is if you use a Fitbit that integrates with MFP. They have a baseline and add other exercise as 'net' to that.

Frankly, I've found the exercise estimates to work pretty well. The differences I've found seem to have to do with my metabolism and base activity rates more than their estimates. Any 'misadjustments' are stable over time and not activity dependent.

ABsolute85

I've followed what MFP has said and I have had success...I don't think too hard about it...I do question some of the calculations for exercise...seems like they are a little low...

raindawg

My exercise is 30 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of weights four times a week. I used MFP's exercise calc of 269 calories for recording during my weight loss phase. Well today I used a HRM (FT7) for the first time. It calc'd 325 calories for my 30 minutes of cardio and another 113 for 20 minutes my weights ( total of 438 calories). Quite a big difference.

eso2012

1850 - is it TDEE or NET?

TDEE = not eat back. It has included your activities. i.e. You need 1850 each day to maintain your bodily function + the level of exercises yo have included in determining that TDEE.


NET = eat back. i.e. 1850 is what you should HAVE in your body each day. If you eat 1850 but exercise (cal out) 800, that means you are actually at a very low net of 1050.

It seems to be 1850 may be net for you - it is low (I can eat that much for TDEE and I am only 5'3', female!).

And yes, MFP is great for food logging. But for workouts, use your own HRM.