Eating back burnt calories,defeating the object?

gemmamummy

I understand where the Original poster is coming from. Personally I try not to, mostly because I've already planned out my food for the day and I know I'll end up using my extra calories on chocolate rather than something nutritious! I know some people say you lose nutrients and will get ill and your legs and arms will fall off, but so far I feel OK!

erickirb

When it comes to calorie deficits, bigger isn't necessarily better. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, your calorie deficit gets larger. You're already starting with a 26% deficit, which is way too high, and then you're adding more of a deficit on top of that.

Muscle tissue is calorically expensive so if you're not eating enough your body will get rid of muscle tissue before it gets rid of fat to conserve energy. Someone with your BF% shouldn't go lower than a 15% deficit if they want to maintain their lean tissue. Extreme deficits also have a tendency to mess with your hormones and metabolism, too. It's just not a good idea.

So good luck with that 26-30% deficit.

15%? no the understood percent to lose roughly a pound a week is 20% deficit while holding on to lean muscle tissue

If your maitenance is 2700 and you are cutting at 2000 you are more than 20%..you are at 25%...

Hard to believe your maintenace is 350 higher than mine tho...interesting...

I was at 500 deficit but stalling so dropped to 700.How much do you weigh?

If your weight loss stalled then you were not in a 500 cal/day deficit, either your are under estimating how much you eat, or over estimating how much you burn.

amyx593

Put simply, MFP method assumes that you're NOT going to work out.

It calculates a deficit in purely diet alone.

If a person DOES happen to work out, you eat those calories back since the deficit was already in place.

dopeysmelly

I log my exercise but set it manually to 1 calorie burned.

If I'm hungry I eat back a little of it (half a banana, say), but then I'm sedentary apart from a 1hr walk every day, I'm short (5'2") and I'm 40, so my TDEE -20% gives me 1300 - ultimately I don't have a lot to play with in the first place. Also, I just don't believe for one second that my brisk 1 hour (4.5 mile) walk burns 630 calories, which is what MFP calculates.

mckat08

Do you mean eating back exercise calories defeat the purpose of losing weight?

I eat back at least half of my exercise calories and continue to lose weight.

yeah,I don't understand burning off all them calories then eating them back.Makes no sense to me

It makes sense if you consider that you are already starting out at a deficit. Not eating back at least some of the calories you burn COULD potentially leave you with insufficient nutrition.

^^^This. And that's all folks.

^^^rubbish,depends if your hitting your macros etc

Exactly!

felonebeats

When it comes to calorie deficits, bigger isn't necessarily better. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, your calorie deficit gets larger. You're already starting with a 26% deficit, which is way too high, and then you're adding more of a deficit on top of that.

Muscle tissue is calorically expensive so if you're not eating enough your body will get rid of muscle tissue before it gets rid of fat to conserve energy. Someone with your BF% shouldn't go lower than a 15% deficit if they want to maintain their lean tissue. Extreme deficits also have a tendency to mess with your hormones and metabolism, too. It's just not a good idea.

So good luck with that 26-30% deficit.

15%? no the understood percent to lose roughly a pound a week is 20% deficit while holding on to lean muscle tissue

If your maitenance is 2700 and you are cutting at 2000 you are more than 20%..you are at 25%...

Hard to believe your maintenace is 350 higher than mine tho...interesting...

I was at 500 deficit but stalling so dropped to 700.How much do you weigh?

157lbs...5ft 7... 41 year old female. Just calculated my TDEE for maintenance and it works out to 2288 for the last 21 days of my data.

Consumed 39294 calories, lost 2.5lbs total is 48044/21=2287.81

Everyone is different.Right I understand now MFP doesn't include your workout calories which is why people eat them back,whereas my maintenance is already including my exercise so that's why I don't eat them back.CASE SOLVED.THE END

buzybev

to read for later.

Alissa_Sal

I eat them. That's like the whole reason I exercise. LOL

SezxyStef

When it comes to calorie deficits, bigger isn't necessarily better. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, your calorie deficit gets larger. You're already starting with a 26% deficit, which is way too high, and then you're adding more of a deficit on top of that.

Muscle tissue is calorically expensive so if you're not eating enough your body will get rid of muscle tissue before it gets rid of fat to conserve energy. Someone with your BF% shouldn't go lower than a 15% deficit if they want to maintain their lean tissue. Extreme deficits also have a tendency to mess with your hormones and metabolism, too. It's just not a good idea.

So good luck with that 26-30% deficit.

15%? no the understood percent to lose roughly a pound a week is 20% deficit while holding on to lean muscle tissue

If your maitenance is 2700 and you are cutting at 2000 you are more than 20%..you are at 25%...

Hard to believe your maintenace is 350 higher than mine tho...interesting...

I was at 500 deficit but stalling so dropped to 700.How much do you weigh?

157lbs...5ft 7... 41 year old female. Just calculated my TDEE for maintenance and it works out to 2288 for the last 21 days of my data.

Consumed 39294 calories, lost 2.5lbs total is 48044/21=2287.81

Everyone is different.Right I understand now MFP doesn't include your workout calories which is why people eat them back,whereas my maintenance is already including my exercise so that's why I don't eat them back.CASE SOLVED.THE END

Yup but I don't eat mine back...still doesn't explain your low maintenance...oh well.

sims2013

i dont eat them back, after all they do not count as your daily calorie intake goal. if you have a goal of say 1200 for example, and you workout and burn 300 calories, and then you eat 1500 calories, what was the point of the workout? to me i think it would be hard to lose the weight you wanted, you might even gain weight if you did that.!

diannethegeek

i dont eat them back, after all they do not count as your daily calorie intake goal. if you have a goal of say 1200 for example, and you workout and burn 300 calories, and then you eat 1500 calories, what was the point of the workout? to me i think it would be hard to lose the weight you wanted, you might even gain weight if you did that.!

I'm just going to hazard a guess that you didn't read any of the responses to this thread?

holothuroidea

When it comes to calorie deficits, bigger isn't necessarily better. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, your calorie deficit gets larger. You're already starting with a 26% deficit, which is way too high, and then you're adding more of a deficit on top of that.

Muscle tissue is calorically expensive so if you're not eating enough your body will get rid of muscle tissue before it gets rid of fat to conserve energy. Someone with your BF% shouldn't go lower than a 15% deficit if they want to maintain their lean tissue. Extreme deficits also have a tendency to mess with your hormones and metabolism, too. It's just not a good idea.

So good luck with that 26-30% deficit.

15%? no the understood percent to lose roughly a pound a week is 20% deficit while holding on to lean muscle tissue

A pound of fat loss per week is 3,500 calories, or 500 calories per day. That's 20% of a 2500 calorie/day diet. If your TDEE is more than 2500 you will be losing more than a pound per week if you eat a 20% deficit.

Secondly, the recommended deficit changes with your body fat percentage. I'm going by your profile picture, where you have visible abdominal definition, and therefore probably have a low BF%. The recommendation for lean tissue retention is no higher than a 25% deficit for obese people. As your BF% gets lower, your body is more likely to scavenge muscle tissue for energy because it wants to retain a certain amount of fat storage, so the deficit you eat at should be smaller to avoid this.

thavoice

Who eats back their burned calories?

I dont.
I see alot of people on here talking about doing so and I am not sure why.
Seems to me it defeats the purpose to a point.

I imagine if you want to maintain weight why you would want to

JulsiePie

I happily eat them!! Usually about 75% on average. I exercise so I can have treats....may not be the best reason to exercise, but everyone starts somewhere! I'm losing steadily, so it's working for me.



*goes back to eating her Cadbury Creme egg*

TeaBea

I'm in a 700 calorie deficit a day.My maintenance is 2700.I do 5 days a week of high volume intense weightlifting and never eat back my calories

If you figured your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) at 2700.....then you don't eat calories back. If you want to log...then over ride to 1 calorie.

TDEE includes exercise up front.............MFP does not. 2 different methods. MFP is great for people who exercise sporadically, or need to see the numbers for motivation.

holothuroidea

I'm in a 700 calorie deficit a day.My maintenance is 2700.I do 5 days a week of high volume intense weightlifting and never eat back my calories

If you figured your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) at 2700.....then you don't eat calories back. If you want to log...then over ride to 1 calorie.

TDEE includes exercise up front.............MFP does not. 2 different methods. MFP is great for people who exercise sporadically, or need to see the numbers for motivation.

I think setting your goal calories without exercise and eating back exercise calories is better for 3 reasons.

1. It's better to eat when you exercise to fuel your exercise. I don't like having to shovel in extra calories on rest days when I'm not hungry for them, and I don't like being hungry on days I exercise a lot because I ate those calories yesterday.
2. It's good to know what your sedentary TDEE is so you know what to eat not only on rest days, but if you happen to get sick or injured.
3. Not every time you exercise will you burn the same number of calories, especially if you change your workouts as your body adapts. For example, if you start a couch to 5k program, you're going to be burning more calories in week 9 than you are at week 1. This stops you from having to recalculate your TDEE every time your workout changes.

Aaron_K123

I eat my exercise calories back. I have two goals:

1. Lose fat, this goal has me eating at a deficit
2. Gain fitness and strength, this requires fueled exercise.

I am not expecting to gain muscle eating at a deficit but I can still gain some strength and increase my cardiovascular health. I eat the calories back to fuel that activity and keep my calorie deficit stable day to day.

Two separate goals, two separate agendas.

MCarbary

I do sometimes but for most part I try not to if I can

RGv2

i dont eat them back, after all they do not count as your daily calorie intake goal. if you have a goal of say 1200 for example, and you workout and burn 300 calories, and then you eat 1500 calories, what was the point of the workout? to me i think it would be hard to lose the weight you wanted, you might even gain weight if you did that.!

I'm just going to hazard a guess that you didn't read any of the responses to this thread?

#facepalm

ndj1979

lol at this thread ..you all have been trolled pretty hard by the OP ….