Do you eat back your calories from excercise?

mzbek24

I'm relatively new to MFP. I'm trying to lose weight, and I noticed that when you do log in a certain amount of exercise, your caloric limit for the day then increases. Are you supposed to eat all of those calories back? It seems to me that's the sensible thing to try and do, so I normally do that.

Do you eat back all your calories from exercise, and do you know if it's a good idea?

rosepetal325

I try not to, because then what was the reason for exercising?

FarTooJones

How many calories are you consuming a day? If your consuming 1200 calories and then burning 300 calories working out i would eat those back. Now if you consuming 1800 calories and burning 300 exercising than I wouldnt worry about it as much. If your hungry eat some or all of them back, if your not no worries.

mzbek24

Hmm. Yeah I have no idea whether or not what I think makes any sense, kinda hoping other people will have a better idea lol. I should read up about this as well.

But I basically thought *may be silly* that since MFP is already set up to have a bit of a deficit, that when you exercise its just creating an even bigger one. And then if I ate the same amount of calories as normal, it would be too big, you would get too hungry and your immune system could slow down and prevent you losing any more weight. It's just set at 1200 for now, and it goes to around 1600 with my usual exercise. I tend to burn between 200-500 a session riding my bike, and I do it about 3 or so times per week.

arainiday1

yes you hit it on the head, MFP is already set up for a deficit.... if you excercise then its just a bigger one. i DO eat them back some days and others i don't.... it just depends on how hungry i am or whats going on. you CAN eat them.

trogalicious

okay... so....

this thread again.


MFP is already set up so you lose weight. If you don't work out AT ALL, you're already at a caloric deficit.

Now, that said, the calorie burn estimates that MFP gives off are... well.. just that... estimates. Not eating back at least 50-75% of your calories isn't really doing you any favors.

If you're using MFP as it is designed, then you eat the calories back.

Unknown

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TheSlorax

I try not to, because then what was the reason for exercising?

to eat more? to improve cardiovascular fitness? to increase strength and maintain lean body mass? because it's enjoyable?

and yeah, basically what everyone else has said.

mzbek24

Oh ok. Thanks for your help guys looks like maybe it's just one of those situational/personal pref things. I'll just have to see how I go. I will probably still eat some back. I generally try not to leave myself feeling too hungry or having calories left over, I want to be able to have plenty of energy and gradually increase the distance I ride, too.

felonebeats

I don't eat my exercise calories back. My maintenance calories is about 3000,I'm eating 2200 atm and losing fat nicely but not too quickly.I workout for 90 mins 5 times a week

AdventureFreak

Absolutely! Isn't that part of the point?!

Graelwyn75

I try not to, because then what was the reason for exercising?

Good luck with sustaining a lifestyle change if the only reason you exercise is to burn extra calories, lol.

To the original question... Yes, I do and have always eaten back most or all of my exercise calories, usually 800-1200 of them and I seem to be doing just fine.

joycloete

I do 'cause I seriously can't function on 1200 calories a day.

mzbek24

But I basically thought *may be silly* that since MFP is already set up to have a bit of a deficit, that when you exercise its just creating an even bigger one. And then if I ate the same amount of calories as normal, it would be too big, you would get too hungry and your immune system could slow down and prevent you losing any more weight. It's just set at 1200 for now, and it goes to around 1600 with my usual exercise. I tend to burn between 200-500 a session riding my bike, and I do it about 3 or so times per week.

You're exactly right, MFP is designed so that you are supposed to eat back your exercise calories. You're set up at a deficit. Eat those exercise calories!
That said, the calorie burns from the MFP database and from what I understand from most HRMs depending on the type of exercise, are often vastly over-exaggerated. What many people do is to eat only some or like 1/2 of the burned calories. As well, be as accurate and honest as you can with entering your food/exercise it will help you see the best results

That's actually a really good point. Trying to get the amount of calories burned accurately measured is really important. I'm going to work on getting a HRM, at the moment I use the 'Mapmyride' app on my phone and it gives a calories burn reading after a workout. It's usually at odds with MFP so yeah that's something you've gotta be mindful of...I mean if you assume its accurate and eat back all the calories, could be over eating them. Maybe I shouldn't eat back all of them until I get something more accurate sorted?

MireyGal76

Every last bowl of ice cream worth!

Check my diary... Truth! Lol

MissBabyJane

When I was losing weight, I didn't eat them. Now, when I'm on maintaince I eat at least half of them.

mzbek24

I'm still losing weight when eating them back, it's slow progress though. I have shifted 3kg in a month. At that rate it would take around 4 months to reach my goal weight if I can stick with it.

yogicarl

- because I underestimate the calories I consume and MFP is too generous with calorie burns in most cases - I only eat back half my exercise calories, so I don't feel like all that work was for nothing but I also don't make the whole thing a waste of effort by not losing excess body fat.

I used to eat back all my exercise calories but would either stay the same or start to increase (most likely fat) weight, so I now do the above and it is working for me.

samyadas

no. that's a bad idea. unless you're clocking hours of intense cardio, don't even enter your walks/treadmill/etc in MFP. the calories burnt factor in your BMR, so if the treadmill says you burnt 350 cals in an hour, its realistically at least a hundred calories less. the excess adds up over time.

sbarella

Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

yogicarl

in MFP. the calories burnt factor in your BMR, so if the treadmill says you burnt 350 cals in an hour, its realistically at least a hundred calories less. the excess adds up over time.

I don't think you are correct here as the MFP initial registration takes into account BMR and then anything you do as exercise is extra as BMR has already been taken into account at registration.

Having said that, I find MFP exercise calories to be on the high side and tend to eat back half to be safe.

Platform_Heels

No, I don't consciously eat back my exercise calories. I'm not 100% sure that I'm actually "burning" the amount my HRM says or the machine. If I do eat more on a day I exercised it's not because I felt the need to. I just set my calories at my own deficit and eat that regardless.

MireyGal76

For me, I set my exercise level to sedentary. I am a full time working mom, two kids, in a two story home. I walk a lot and do a lot of stairs.

I try to err on the side of caution when I log my food, and therefore when I exercise, I log all my cals. I use an HRM.

I eat back almost all of my exercise cals and have since I started on MFP two years ago.
When I started, I was struggling with those last ten pounds, which I firmly believed I would never lose. Ever.

I've lost close to twenty. Strictly by keeping at a very mild deficit (I've lost 5 pounds since I switched to maintenance), busting my *kitten* with my workouts, and eating what I want as long as it fits in my total cals for the day (including exercise cals). Yesterday... I burned around 1200 cals, and ate close to 3000.

If you are weighing your food, and being honest with your effort... there is no reason why, if you are following the MFP method, you can't safely eat at least 50 - 75% of your exercise cals back.

dalesimpson1

Most days I don't eat exercise calories but I have been known to go on a long, brisk walk so I can have some pizza!

scubasuenc

I think it depends on how much you have to lose and how large a deficit you have built into the MFP numbers already. If you have a relatively small amount of weight to lose and you have your MFP deficit set to 1lb per week and you are exercising a couple of hundred calories per day, then you can probably get away with not eating them back. However if you are set to a 2lb per week loss and exercising 500+ calories per day, then you should probably eat some of them back. When I started on MFP I was on 1680 calories with a 2lb per week goal and at my doctor's instruction I did not eat my exercise calories back. I lost weight and MFP lowered my calories down to 1230, which was still at 2lb per week deficit. But I could no longer recover from my exercise as well. I calculated my TDEE and discovered I was eating at a > 50% deficit. I switched to the TDEE method and increased my calories so that I eat the same amount each day and still lose 2lb per week. As my goal gets closer I'll reduce the deficit further.


It also depends on how you are getting your exercise calorie numbers. The MFP numbers are often significantly higher than those from my HRM. For example, MFP has 596 for my morning bike ride and my HRM has around 300 calories. When possible I get the calories from my HRM. When I don't have my HRM I typically use half the MFP calorie number. If you are using the MFP calorie number, you might want to try eating about 50% of your exercise calories back.

mzbek24

For me, I set my exercise level to sedentary. I am a full time working mom, two kids, in a two story home. I walk a lot and do a lot of stairs.

I try to err on the side of caution when I log my food, and therefore when I exercise, I log all my cals. I use an HRM.

I eat back almost all of my exercise cals and have since I started on MFP two years ago.
When I started, I was struggling with those last ten pounds, which I firmly believed I would never lose. Ever.

I've lost close to twenty. Strictly by keeping at a very mild deficit (I've lost 5 pounds since I switched to maintenance), busting my *kitten* with my workouts, and eating what I want as long as it fits in my total cals for the day (including exercise cals). Yesterday... I burned around 1200 cals, and ate close to 3000.

If you are weighing your food, and being honest with your effort... there is no reason why, if you are following the MFP method, you can't safely eat at least 50 - 75% of your exercise cals back.

That's amazing! good work I hope I can stick with it like that, this is the longest I have remained logging on MFP, just on one month.

Just curious, what do you do for exercise that burns off 1200 calories?

DLo_122

I try not to.....but sometimes, I'm too hungry.

1200 calories is not enough some days.

cwolfman13

I try not to, because then what was the reason for exercising?

There are numerous reasons for exercising that go far beyond burning calories. Your weight loss deficit is built into your calorie goal...you do not need to exercise to create your calorie deficit. You activity level with MFP is just supposed to be your day to day kinda stuff...exercise is an extra activity that needs to be accounted for...this is particularly important if you have a substantially large deficit built in already and/or you are doing vigorous exercise...exercise is good for you but it also breaks down the body and you need nutrients to rebuild your body.

Also, this is why so many people have issues maintaining once they've lost the weight...they never really wrap their brains around the fact that you exercise for the sake of fitness and your general health and well being, not for weight loss....they lose the weight and stop exercising and then they're shocked when they put all that weight back on. You'd think it was a no brainer but obviously that is not the case...

Diet for weight control; exercise for fitness. I've been maintaining for almost a year and I exercise more now than when I was losing...so really...no other reason for exercising huh?

knra_grl

okay... so....

this thread again.


MFP is already set up so you lose weight. If you don't work out AT ALL, you're already at a caloric deficit.

Now, that said, the calorie burn estimates that MFP gives off are... well.. just that... estimates. Not eating back at least 50-75% of your calories isn't really doing you any favors.

If you're using MFP as it is designed, then you eat the calories back.

^^^ THIS! :flowerforyou:

Strokingdiction

I do.

Unless I don't.

But I usually do because I like food and exercise makes me hungry and it's my bodies way of fueling both my exercise and my weight loss. If I didn't generally eat them back then my deficit would be higher than intended and I might lose a higher ratio of muscle to fat than would be ideal for my goals. I don't want to be thin and weak. I don't want to spend months or years getting that healthy muscle tissue back.

Maybe other people hate muscle and so they don't eat those calories back or maybe they don't care or maybe they are too focused on losing the weight fast instead of overall health or... (insert reason people don't eat them back here).

Edit because didn't give it a once over before hitting post (though my grammar is still atrocious with the edit).

TeaBea

I try not to, because then what was the reason for exercising?

Fitness and health is the reason for exercise.

Re: eating calories back.....MFP gave you a deficit BEFORE exercise. If the purpose of exercise was "just to burn calories" ....then eating them back would be silly. But many people exercise to maintain muscle mass while dieting....this only works when the calorie deficit is not too big.

Eat calories back* if you want to look good.

Don't eat calories back if you want the SCALE to look good.

*MFP and many machines give generous calorie estimates. Many MFP'ers eat a % back....say 60%.