To eat or not to eat calories earned from exercise

healthyNEWday4me

Hi My Fitness Paleans! My question is this "are you supposed to consume the calories you earn or is it optional?" I never ate these before and I was fine between meals. Now I seem to be getting famished as my exercise regimen has been kicked up a notch. Any wisdom gleaned from your knowledge will be so appreciated. Thanks all.

Hornsby

Hi My Fitness Paleans! My question is this "are you supposed to consume the calories you earn or is it optional?" I never ate these before and I was fine between meals. Now I seem to be getting famished as my exercise regimen has been kicked up a notch. Any wisdom gleaned from your knowledge will be so appreciated. Thanks all.

Yes, eating your calories back is the way MFP is designed. Be aware that calorie burns can be exaggerated in dare I say "most" instances so you may not want to eat back all your exercise calories. You have to play with the numbers to see what works best for you.

cwolfman13

I always did (adjusted for estimation error)...it's the way this tool is designed. From a pure common sense POV, it makes sense that if you are doing activity above and beyond the level of activity you input in your profile that you would need more calories and could consume more calories while still accomplishing the same goals. It's the way this and any other NEAT method calculator works.

Also, the stickies are a good read on how this tool works.

PunkyRachel

I eat if I'm hungry. Most days I do eat my exercise calories, but every now and then I don't just because I'm not hungry.

thavoice

I personally dont but that is how this site is set up.

My trainer friends are well aware of this site and their suggestions are usually this:
Because calorie burns are so estimated it is tough to get real close to how much you burned. Even if you did the exact exercise as the site has listed your metabolism could be diff, your intensity of the workout could very well be different.

They have told me time and time again that more people run into issues trying to eat back some of their calorie burns because.
Their suggestions usually were at first to not eat them back. See how you feel and how your body responds. If you are getting into some big PT sessions and getting famished then start eating back 10% and see how it goes. Then to 15% and so on if need be.


But that is just how they do it

healthyNEWday4me

Thanks so much. Good advice.

healthyNEWday4me

Thanks. Self explanatory I know but I forgot to change my exercise. I will do that. Thank you.

healthyNEWday4me

Okay, I will start slowly at first just to be sure I'm not overdoing it. Great idea! Thanks.

jpapp13

This depends on what you're using to calculate calories. MFP uses NEAT.. I know there's the ability to find and set your calories to TDEE so that you eat the same everyday regardless of exercise.

That being said I ate generally about 50% of my exercise calories before I invested in a simple heart rate monitor as MFP does tend to overestimate. Now I eat closer to about 75% to allow for error and have been maintaining my weight without a lot of fluctuation.

Good Luck!

kluvit

If your "Activity Level" used to calculate your base calories does not include expected exercise, then the MFP plan is eat back exercise calories; however, as a practice, it's a good idea overestimate food calories in and underestimate exercise calories. My practice was to eat back about half of the exercise calories.

CFrancine88

I eat them back. I need to. I feel so drained after working out. Mind you, I just eat more throughout the day so the numbers might not be exact. You have to know your body. Personally, I know I have to eat ALL THE TIME when I'm working out and losing weight. I mean, every couple hours I'm eating something because I am constantly hungry. But it might be my body type. I missed my calling as an athlete. I put on muscle really quickly and have a large frame even though I'm not extremely tall for a woman. I could never be really slim unless I had some kind of illness.

SRDB00

My main focus is to eat my daily calorie allotment. If I feel hungry I will dip into the execise calories. I do not eat them all back. at the most I will eat enough to "NET" 1200 calories for the day.

47Jacqueline

On maintenance, I am trying to get to the point of eating back my calories from exercise becausse I am still losing weight. I use a heart rate moniter to get my burn becuse MFP is inaccurate. I burn way less than they say because as I've lost weight, I've gained muscle and my body is more efficient; there fore lower burn rate foar all activities.

RachelSteeners

Generally speaking I don't eat back my calories, but I do if I'm hungry

RachelSteeners

My main focus is to eat my daily calorie allotment. If I feel hungry I will dip into the execise calories. I do not eat them all back. at the most I will eat enough to "NET" 1200 calories for the day.

Ditto

LAT1963

I have been eating back my exercise calories but I've been using the values calculated by Runkeeper (which talks to MFP). I believe the Runkeeper values because my weight loss seems consistent with the values it has been reporting.

add: I tend not to eat all the calories back though because I get full first.

Im_NotPerfect

Personally I'm not really sure how this is even a question...the whole reason I exercise is so that I can eat more!!

liekewheeless

I don't in the sense that I look at how much I burn and eat that back. I give myself a calorie range instead of a set amount.
On days I don't exercise I stay at the low end and when i do, I stay on the high end. Not every day but mostly. Sometimes I'll be at the high end when I don't exercise and sometimes the other way around.

I just make sure I'm always in a deficit, with or without the exercise.

kecmw25

July 15, 2014 2:18 PM

Personally I'm not really sure how this is even a question...the whole reason I exercise is so that I can eat more!!


Haha me too!

ladybird89

I do think you should give yourself the option to eat them back if you're hungry. Especially if you are given a 1,200 calorie a day limit like many users are, because that limit is borderline anorexic. Having said that, though, make sure you don't overestimate how many cals you are burning. Personally, I usually split the number in half and only eat those back. Seems like a good compromise.

LSinVA

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I eat when I'm hungry. I almost never eat them all back though- not on purpose, it just works out that way.
Oddly enough, since changing my diet to more nutrient dense foods, I find I don't need to stuff my face as often so I'm full for longer on less calories. Either way, it's not going to hurt if you decide to eat them back just make sure you're getting something out of it and not doing it because you're bored (which is what I would normally have done).

mdebonee

Here's an interesting question though, sometimes i go for long walks (3-5 miles) late at night, and i get home around 9:30pm or so. If i've earned 800 calories, how can I justify eating 400-800 calories that late at night? usually i'm not even hungry but i will have a greek yogurt or banana. One walk i burned 1200 calories (according to multiple sources including my Jawbone UP), but thats almost a whole day's worth of calories. I cant eat that much late at night.

Hornsby

Here's an interesting question though, sometimes i go for long walks (3-5 miles) late at night, and i get home around 9:30pm or so. If i've earned 800 calories, how can I justify eating 400-800 calories that late at night? usually i'm not even hungry but i will have a greek yogurt or banana.

Just know that your eating times have 0 influence on weight loss and that should help you get through the mental anguish of eating that late. Or if you know you are going to burn those calories, plan ahead and eat prior, or add some snacks throughout the day.

kirkor

Here's an interesting question though, sometimes i go for long walks (3-5 miles) late at night, and i get home around 9:30pm or so. If i've earned 800 calories, how can I justify eating 400-800 calories that late at night? usually i'm not even hungry but i will have a greek yogurt or banana.

If you're going to eat back those calories why go for a walk in the first place?

RachelSteeners

Oddly enough, since changing my diet to more nutrient dense foods, I find I don't need to stuff my face as often so I'm full for longer on less calories.

Agreed! I eat much less now, but what I eat is much better for me, so I'm never hungry

mdebonee

Here's an interesting question though, sometimes i go for long walks (3-5 miles) late at night, and i get home around 9:30pm or so. If i've earned 800 calories, how can I justify eating 400-800 calories that late at night? usually i'm not even hungry but i will have a greek yogurt or banana.

If you're going to eat back those calories why go for a walk in the first place?

That's kinda the whole topic of this entire post, no?

47Jacqueline

You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories, but I usually don't get to it. I am working on that. Also on doing less cardio and more strength training, which doesn't add calories to MFP's daily goal. I understand that if you do strength training instead of cardio, you can still eat more, but it will show that you should eat less calories than you were used to when doing more cardio

It seems to me that it makes it harder to calculate my requirements than doing a lot of cardio. It shows that I have a lower calorie goal for the day, but I think I would be exerting more effort. With strength training you need more protein. So I think I'm going to go over my goal for the day, but it won't matter.

I'm still trying to get up to my daily goal at the moment, than to worry about extra exercise calories, but I'll be interested to see what happens when I lower my cardio.

It's confusing.