Some say to eat back as many calories as you burn?

resistsweets

I know this has been covered but can someone explain how weight loss can happen when you're supposed to "eat back" as much as you burn in the gym? Everyone is telling me this but I can't see how I can lose weight if I eat what I worked hard to burn off back!! It seems counterproductive and the reason why I workout is to burn more calories to lose weight not eat them back. Input? Thanks.

MrDisk

This depends if you have a deficit set for your calorie intake or if you're already eating to maintenance.
For example. If you have a daily deficit of 500 calories, this will be 1 lbs lost a week due to diet alone. If you exercise on top of that you may creating too steep a deficit so a portion or all of these calories should be "eaten back".

hill8570

^ What he said

For little burns, it really doesn't matter if you eat them back or not. For bigger, 1000 calorie + burns, good luck prying yourself out of bed the next day if you don't eat some back...if you don't fuel your body, it don't work worth a crap.

On a practical note, eating back *all* the calories is usually a bad idea, since most calculators, databases, etc. overestimate calorie burn.

KCMission

Just for clarification, in case you didn't know... When MFP sets your calories, it is already set at the deficit you require to lose the amount of weight per week you indicated you wanted to.

When you exercise, this burns even greater calories, so you run the risk of not eating ENOUGH. Most people only eat back half of their exercise calories, as a safety net.

Personally, I set mine according to TDEE, which already takes into account my exercise habits, and I do not record my exercise here.

weavernv

For little burns, it really doesn't matter if you eat them back or not. For bigger, 1000 calorie + burns, good luck prying yourself out of bed the next day if you don't eat some back...if you don't fuel your body, it don't work worth a crap.

On a practical note, eating back *all* the calories is usually a bad idea, since most calculators, databases, etc. overestimate calorie burn.

I've been questioning this too. My husband is telling me to eat back my calories but I don't trust the calculators, etc... What about the HRMs? I actually for the first time got a rather high count on my HRM recently, higher than the database, but I had got my heartrate up nicely. I don't normally eat back any of my calories, but I don't usually don't get a lot of calories to eat back anyway so I haven't worried about it at all.

malibu927

When you choose your deficit on MFP, say, for one pound a week. If it gives you 1500 calories to eat, then it expects you to be burning 2000 calories a day just from day to day activities. If you exercise for 30 minutes and burn 200 calories, it brings your total burn up to 2200 calories for the day, meaning in order to reach your goal you need to eat 1700 calories. Just be careful depending on what you use to calculate your burns, as the MFP database/cardio machines/etc. can overestimate...it's generally recommended to eat back 50-75% of exercise calories.

blaccoffee

When you choose your deficit on MFP, say, for one pound a week. If it gives you 1500 calories to eat, then it expects you to be burning 2000 calories a day just from day to day activities. If you exercise for 30 minutes and burn 200 calories, it brings your total burn up to 2200 calories for the day, meaning in order to reach your goal you need to eat 1700 calories. Just be careful depending on what you use to calculate your burns, as the MFP database/cardio machines/etc. can overestimate...it's generally recommended to eat back 50-75% of exercise calories.

Correction: If you exercise for 30 minutes and burn 200 calories, it brings your total burn up to 2200 calories for the day, meaning you will reach your goal of a pound a week sooner.

All you are doing is increasing your caloric deficit from 500 calories to 700 calories by exercising.

My suggestion is to do what feels best for you.

lemurcat12

I know this has been covered but can someone explain how weight loss can happen when you're supposed to "eat back" as much as you burn in the gym? Everyone is telling me this but I can't see how I can lose weight if I eat what I worked hard to burn off back!! It seems counterproductive and the reason why I workout is to burn more calories to lose weight not eat them back. Input? Thanks.

As others have said, the goal MFP gives you assumes that you don't exercise. IF it included exercise it would give a higher goal to start (just as it gives a higher goal if you say you are active rather than sedentary).

If you want to set it up to create a certain percentage of your deficit through exercise and another percentage through calorie cutting, then you should give it a lower goal in the first place, that covers only a percentage of your overall loss goal. For example, if you want to aim at 1.5 lb a week, you could set MFP for 1 lb per week and then try to exercise enough to burn on average 250 calories/day, and through that get 1.5 lb lost per week overall.

OR, you could do the exact same thing by telling MFP you want 1.5 lb lost per week, getting a steeper calorie deficit, but then make sure that some of that deficit is actually achieved by exercise by exercising and eating back the calories.

Make sense?

Kate7294

^ What he said

For little burns, it really doesn't matter if you eat them back or not. For bigger, 1000 calorie + burns, good luck prying yourself out of bed the next day if you don't eat some back...if you don't fuel your body, it don't work worth a crap.

On a practical note, eating back *all* the calories is usually a bad idea, since most calculators, databases, etc. overestimate calorie burn.

What he said ^^^

resistsweets

Thanks for the replies, I burn about 1500 a week by exercising and my goal caloric intake is 1200 a day

hill8570

Thanks for the replies, I burn about 1500 a week by exercising and my goal caloric intake is 1200 a day

Assuming you're spreading that 1500 across most of the days (so a daily burn of 200-300 calories), I wouldn't bother to eat them back. However, *do* eat all of your 1200 allotted -- that ain't a lot of calories to begin with.

hill8570

For little burns, it really doesn't matter if you eat them back or not. For bigger, 1000 calorie + burns, good luck prying yourself out of bed the next day if you don't eat some back...if you don't fuel your body, it don't work worth a crap.

On a practical note, eating back *all* the calories is usually a bad idea, since most calculators, databases, etc. overestimate calorie burn.

I've been questioning this too. My husband is telling me to eat back my calories but I don't trust the calculators, etc... What about the HRMs? I actually for the first time got a rather high count on my HRM recently, higher than the database, but I had got my heartrate up nicely. I don't normally eat back any of my calories, but I don't usually don't get a lot of calories to eat back anyway so I haven't worried about it at all.

For aerobic activity, I trust my HRM far more than a number in a database. Still plenty of fudge factor, 'tho. But none of this is an exact science...you do your best to log accurately, then adjust things as you go based on your goals.

kgeyser

When you choose your deficit on MFP, say, for one pound a week. If it gives you 1500 calories to eat, then it expects you to be burning 2000 calories a day just from day to day activities. If you exercise for 30 minutes and burn 200 calories, it brings your total burn up to 2200 calories for the day, meaning in order to reach your goal you need to eat 1700 calories. Just be careful depending on what you use to calculate your burns, as the MFP database/cardio machines/etc. can overestimate...it's generally recommended to eat back 50-75% of exercise calories.

Correction: If you exercise for 30 minutes and burn 200 calories, it brings your total burn up to 2200 calories for the day, meaning you will reach your goal of a pound a week sooner.

All you are doing is increasing your caloric deficit from 500 calories to 700 calories by exercising.

My suggestion is to do what feels best for you.

The problem with this is that your body can't handle larger deficits the closer you get to goal, which is why MFP recommends dropping your weekly weight loss goal as you lose weight. I'm less than 10 lbs from goal, slightly under 25% BF. If I had a 700 calorie a day deficit, I would not only strangle someone, but I would have no energy and wouldn't be able to keep up with my workouts. Not to mention that larger deficits can lead to more muscle loss, which is counterproductive, especially the closer you get to goal.

SEAFOODMAN

don't do it! better off not even logging exercise,

erickirb

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back and already have an aggressive weight loss per week target you risk having a large portion of your loss come from lean muscle, not the fat you are trying to lose.

erickirb

don't do it! better off not even logging exercise,

Why, please enlighten us all?

nxd10

MFP is set up differently than most calorie counting programs because it is SET UP FOR YOU TO EAT BACK CALORIES.

You put in your info, it gets you a calorie count you need to lose a pound a week, given your activity level. If you exercise a lot and log that, it adds in more calories and you can eat that and STILL lose a pound a week. If you don't log your exercise, you will be eating fewer calories than allotted. You may lose faster, but if you aren't eating enough, you can find it hard to sustain (you'll be really hungry, possibly grumpy, and in extreme, get sick).

I always log my exercise (with a fitbit for steps and a by hand for other things). I eat back whatever of that I'm hungry for. but have never forced myself to eat when I'm not. It has worked fine for me.

sijomial

I agree. I think it's most important to just eat back a minimum calorie requirement. But trying to eat everything back is probably detrimental. I would eat a little more if I felt extremely hungry after long exercise, but only if your body tells you so. Sometimes it's just not necessary.

Sweeping statement is inappropriate to lots of people.
If you have a lot to lose you can get away with large deficits and not lose too much lean mass - not the same for people closer to goal.
You are going to have to account for your exercise when you get to maintenance so why not when you are losing weight?

It's much more important to form sensible and sustainable habits than it is to lose weight quickly for the vast majority of people.

nxd10

I agree. I think it's most important to just eat back a minimum calorie requirement. But trying to eat everything back is probably detrimental. I would eat a little more if I felt extremely hungry after long exercise, but only if your body tells you so. Sometimes it's just not necessary.

Sweeping statement is inappropriate to lots of people.
If you have a lot to lose you can get away with large deficits and not lose too much lean mass - not the same for people closer to goal.
You are going to have to account for your exercise when you get to maintenance so why not when you are losing weight?

It's much more important to form sensible and sustainable habits than it is to lose weight quickly for the vast majority of people.

I agree. When I started losing I had enough extra fat on me that I could be very flexible with when I ate and not logging exercise. Now that I'm at (actually below) goal, if I don't eat back exercise, I feel lousy. Food is fuel and you need it to stay healthy.

SezxyStef

Couple things already mentioned

MFP uses NEAT Method..where you are set at a deficit pre exercise
Extra burns means you will lose faster but is that always a good thing? No...losing faster means you are probably losing muscle too.
Eating them back just when your hungry is not a good idea either....hunger is not the best indicator of what your body "needs"

Think of it as fuel for your next workout...

For example...if you drive your car a distance that requires 3/4 tank of gas and need to drive that the next day are you only going to put in 1/4 tanks of gas to get ot half a tank? No you make sure you fill your tank to 3/4 full to ensure you get where you need to go. Then you are empty so you have to put more in...that's the same way with exercise calories using NEAT.

ETA: most recommend eating back 50-75% of the exercise calories if you log them and use MFP estimates...I always ate them all back and still lost the weight I wanted...might have been lucky that the estimates were for someone my size...