Do you eat back your workout calories?

ghosthackexe

Been on here not too long but as I've come to see what healthy eating is and seeing those lbs and inches drop off I've become someone who loves going through and reading the message boards to find interesting things to help me along the way. Most of the time I see people struggling with their new caloric goals that MFP gives them and it got me thinking about the Exercise part of MFP normally I don't even touch it. I log my food and my cals make sure I am in deficit and hit all my macros and near the end of the day I crank up a T25 or Insanity hit the showers and there's the end of my day so I rarely log my exercise into MFP. But, here's my question is when you do log your jogging/running/ect do you eat back those cals? and if so why?

SezxyStef

When I was using the NEAT method I did eat them back yes...

I look at it this way...it's fuel for my next workout...MFP already has me at a deficet to lose my weight so it's needed to exercise.

Not sure how many calories you are getting ATM but if it is less than 1800 you need to eat them....

charleigh78

I think it depends on whether the person is taking into account their workouts when they set their calories. I can't decide which is best....to set the calories lower but eat back exercise calories or use a TDEE minus 20% so that the exercise calories are already figured in?

ghosthackexe

When I was using the NEAT method I did eat them back yes...

I look at it this way...it's fuel for my next workout...MFP already has me at a deficet to lose my weight so it's needed to exercise.

Not sure how many calories you are getting ATM but if it is less than 1800 you need to eat them....

Atm MFP gives me 1810 and I get somewhat close to that maybe minus 100-200

SezxyStef

When I was using the NEAT method I did eat them back yes...

I look at it this way...it's fuel for my next workout...MFP already has me at a deficet to lose my weight so it's needed to exercise.

Not sure how many calories you are getting ATM but if it is less than 1800 you need to eat them....

Atm MFP gives me 1810 and I get somewhat close to that maybe minus 100-200

Yes eat them back....min should be 1800 for you...what is your weekly weight loss goal set at???? if it's over 1lb a week...change it..

If you lose weight too fast you will lose muscle too and I am sure you don't want that...

and to give you perspective there are a lot of women here who eat more than you and lose weight...me 1700 a day and lose...

Aaron_K123

I eat them back. The portion control and calorie counting is to establish the deficit that is necessary for weight loss, the exercise is to help improve my cardiovascular fitness and my strength. I view them as two separate goals. The weightloss goal just requires a calorie deficit, the strength and fitness goal requires fuel to maintain intensity during workouts.

Some people seem to exercise with the idea that it burns more calories which increases their deficit. I guess I understand that but that's not how I view exercise. If I wanted a larger deficit it would be simpler to just eat less.

FraggleRockerFitnessLover

I typically do not, but when I burn, I do a minimum of 1000 calories. I usually just listen to my body, I eat when hungry and stop when full....

Aaron_K123

When I was using the NEAT method I did eat them back yes...

I look at it this way...it's fuel for my next workout...MFP already has me at a deficet to lose my weight so it's needed to exercise.

Not sure how many calories you are getting ATM but if it is less than 1800 you need to eat them....

Atm MFP gives me 1810 and I get somewhat close to that maybe minus 100-200

Sounds similar to me. I have a calorie goal of 1800 a day but that is net after eating back all my exercise calories which means most days eating ~2200 calories. Even at that level I am often told I am not eating enough by a lot of MFP forum regulars and they may be right I'm just seeing how it works for me at the moment.

seltzermint555

I eat back all or most of my calories but I am set to totally sedentary and am actually a pretty active person despite having a desk job (i.e., walk around the office all day, clean a lot, too hyper to sit and watch television).

I underlog sometimes though. If I go for a speedy walk outdoors in sneakers I'll log my actual time, but for 4 hours of running errands and walking around stores I may put in an hour of leisurely pace walking.

Meerpka

No.
I do not trust the amount it lists. I don't even log it.

4aces61

On occasion I do, but most days I'm way under my caloric #'s.

SezxyStef

No.
I do not trust the amount it lists. I don't even log it.

they are known to be a bit high and that is why most recommend eating 50-75% of them back....esp if it puts you under the min recommended.

knra_grl

I try to eat back some but not all - anywhere between 1/3 to 3/4

thankyou4thevenom

Depends on the day. I am doing intermittent fasting, so on the two days I do that no. Otherwise I try to eat about 50% of them back.

shadow2soul

I do. I have no desire to have a huge deficit when I'm losing weight. Before my pregnancy, I was eating on average 1886 calories per day (some days more, some days less). I don't use MFP's database for calories burned though. I use a Fitbit and a HRM (for things fitbit doesn't track well). With the HRM, I only log 80% of the reported calories. Fitbit automatically adjusts my calories (sometimes taking away, sometimes adding) based on how lazy or active I was for the day.

Aaron_K123

No.
I do not trust the amount it lists. I don't even log it.

I get not trusting the exercise burn calculations, after all you don't want to mess with your calorie deficit for weight loss by overestimating your calorie burn from exercise. That said when you exercise you are definitely burning some amount of calories above your basal rate so it can be a good idea to eat back half of what the calculators predict or pick the lowest calculated value.

PTMama0614

I use a heart rate monitor when I work out and I usually eat some of the calories I burn but not all.