Calories gained from exercise

laurenadams95

Hi just looking for a bit of advice

I'm trying to lose around 4 stone which is 56lbs (down by 10lbs already) and I've been doing some light exercise each day. I have a dog so I take him for a light walk/jog for around 90 minutes per day. I'm also doing squats with some light kettlebells and ab crunches, this is just to get me started and keep active. I feel like this is helping me along with my journey.

I see a lot of my friends on here exercise and then 'eat back' the calories lost, I haven't been doing this, I stick under my goal of 1200 cals per day and don't go over even though I'm exercising.

Basically, my question for you guys is should I be 'eating back' these calories to ensure my body has enough fuel to keep going or is it better to ignore those extra calories that I've earned as this will help speed along my weight loss?

Help!

Carrieendar

I think I am correct to say that MFP gives you a calorie goal that has a 500 cal deficient built in, so you are expected to eat back at least some (not necessarily all esp if you use the calorie setting in the database for exercises bc they overestimate) or else your intake could be really low.

martyqueen52

Don't eat back calories.

If MFP says you burn .... EXAMPLE: 90 calories from walking 25 minutes, it's more than likely incorrect.


Just stick with a caloric deficit, and incorporate a "re-feed" day, (if you've been cutting for a while) on the weekend, where you eat calories at maintenance level with a higher carb intake for that day ONLY.

laurenadams95

My only issue is I do the majority of my exercise in the evening as I work long hours throughout the day, I don't tend to eat very much in the evening. I think I'd struggle to get anything in late in the evening. Hmmm, not sure how to approach this!

laurenadams95

Thanks, that's really helpful that's the approach I've been taking so thank you!

aneary1980

you should eat back 50%-75% of your exercise cals especially as you are already on the lowest cals that you can be on.

I tend to save mine so I can go out to dinner once a week so you don't have to eat them on the same day I look at my weekly totals and that seems to work for me.

joanna_82

I tend to eat back about half of my exercise calories given the estimations are a bit high. The only time I eat them all is when I run with a heart rate monitor on which is only once a week...

I usually exercise in the evening so I usually put my planned exercise in at the start of the day and then eat around that.

For example today I am swimming after work today so I have added in an extra banana and a cup of soup later on this afternoon, and I'll have my normal dinner later.

It seems to be working for me and I'm not hungry on the exercise days.

3dogsrunning

Don't eat back calories.

If MFP says you burn .... EXAMPLE: 90 calories from walking 25 minutes, it's more than likely incorrect.


Just stick with a caloric deficit, and incorporate a "re-feed" day, (if you've been cutting for a while) on the weekend, where you eat calories at maintenance level with a higher carb intake for that day ONLY.

As long as you have distance and time to establish pace, the estimate for walking is fairly accurate. The energy requirements for walking and running are well researched and are relatively easy to predict.

Also, OP is very young, does not appear to have much weight to lose and is at 1200 calories a day. It is highly unlikely she needs those few calories.

Yes, OP, the way MFP is designed to work, you are supposed to log it and eat those calories back. If you want, you can eat a portion of them back, particularly for things that are much harder to estimate calorie burns for, like your kettlebells. Since you are at the very low end of calorie intake, you really should be looking at eating them back.

Also, if you chose 2lbs a week as a weight loss goal, keep in mind for some that is not an appropriate goal. 2lbs a week is for someone looking to lose more than 75lbs.

You may want to check out this link, it is full of helpful information
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

kgeyser

Yes, eat back a portion of your exercise calories. If you do not, your net calories will be well below 1200, which means you are going to be losing a lot of muscle along with fat, and you don't want to do that. You'll end up "skinny fat," which means you'll be a thinner, flabby mess. Much better to keep the muscle you have, it's hard to put it back on, especially for women.

If you don't want to add the calories in at the end of the day, calculate your TDEE-20% and just have that be your calorie goal for the day. That way you don't have to worry about exercise calories or trying to eat more at the end of the day; you can eat more earlier in the day when you are hungry.

elliej

If you're on 1200 you're already on a massive deficit.

If you were eating more calories I'd say don't worry too much about your exercise calories but you're already at the bare minimum...

Let's say your maintenance is 1800 cals a day (bearing in mind the typical figure given for women is 2000), your weekly calories would be 12,600. You're only taking on 8,400, that's more than a 4000 calorie deficit and you /will/ lose weight. But the weight you lose will be muscle, fat, and any other lean body mass you have spare.

I implore you to eat back your exercise calories and consider doing some research into TDEE and safe, steady healthy changes rather than an unsustainable crash loss..

3dogsrunning

Oh, I forgot about the end of the day exercise thing.
You have two options - like others have suggested, you can switch to TDEE (it is explained in the link above). Or you can eat them throughout the day when you know you will be exercising. You do not have to wait until after you exercise, you can plan ahead. Which method is better depends on how consistent you are.

MeanderingMammal

I'm trying to lose around 4 stone which is 56lbs (down by 10lbs already)

Given that you have a fair way to go you can afford a reasonably aggressive defecit, however the general medical consensus appears to be that about 1200 - 1400 is the minium calorie intake for a woman to maintain general health. The actual figure varies in different georaphies, but none go any lower than 1200.

The principle there is that below that the body ends up cannibalising itself over the long term, essentially leading to the classic symptoms of eating disorders; poor quality tissue growth, anemia etc.

I have a dog so I take him for a light walk/jog for around 90 minutes per day. I'm also doing squats with some light kettlebells and ab crunches, this is just to get me started and keep active. I feel like this is helping me along with my journey.

So walking for 90 minutes is going to be consuming in the order of 300-400 calories. Given that your goal is already 1200, that would place you well below the minimum for maintenance of your health. Equally as a basis for progress you'll find as your fitness improves you'll need to do more training to progress, which will lead to higher calorie expenditures.

I see a lot of my friends on here exercise and then 'eat back' the calories lost,

That is how the MFP model works. Givne that your goal is 1200 calories already you don't have any scope for flexibility.

You then need to question how you're assessing your calorie expenditure, different methods have different levelsof accuracy. For something like walking, it's reasonably accurate, for resistance training it's difficult to know as there are so many variables. Personally when I'm doing CV work; running, cyling, rowing etc I'll use Runkeeper estimations and transfer them to MFP.

Given that it's all a question of approximations some people only eat back a proportion of their exercise calories. Personally after a big session when I'll burn 1000-1500 calories I rarely manage to account for that afterwards. As far as time is concerned, load up earlier in the day, the main thing is that you end the day on goal, or thereabouts. You don't need to wait until afterwards.

ekat120

My only issue is I do the majority of my exercise in the evening as I work long hours throughout the day, I don't tend to eat very much in the evening. I think I'd struggle to get anything in late in the evening. Hmmm, not sure how to approach this!

Maybe you could change your activity level to moderately active, and then not log your workouts? That way it's easier to spread the calories throughout the day.

Fentyman

I think MFP needs to update the app to explain this further because this question is asked a lot.

tycho_mx

MFP works based on a model for calorie intake and expendture. This model is based on average people, with significant margins of error.

So, there's large individual variabilities. Are you getting the results you want? If so, why change things? Are you too hungry? Weak? Sick? Then for sure maybe you need to eat more. Are you not losing weight? Then you need to consume less calories.

It seems like you're well on your way. I wouldn't change a thing - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.