Exercise calories

knoes1

Hi guys,

I need to know once and for all should/can I eat back my exercise calories. MFP adds it to your daily total and thus the logical assumption is that you can eat some of them.

Thanks in advance..

litchfieldd

You won't get a single answer here on that!

If you are using the MFP method then yes you should eat something back otherwise you are increasing the overall calorie deficit and will lose weight faster than planned. That might mean insufficient nutrition and muscle loss which will not help your health or achieve your goals longer term.

How much seems a matter for constant debate. Problem is that the exercise calories may not be accurate for you. I measure most of mine on a heart rate monitor but get the odd one from the MFP database, always eat 100% back, and have consistently lost weight faster than MFP predicts for someone lightly active. My solution was to stick with that but manually increase the calorie goal MFP comes up with. But it's said the MFP database overestimates the burn for most people and therefore you shouldn't eat all those calories back, 50-75% is often quoted. That's probably true for others.

But the whole system is based on estimates whether it be what you burn, the amount of calories in the food you eat or the amount you actually absorb from that food! So best to test it out in reality I reckon. Keep yourself sensibly well nourished and do eat at least some of your exercise calories back. If you keep your approach consistent, you can see what actually happens over a few weeks to your weight. If you are losing weight too fast or too slow, either adjust your approach or change the calorie goal itself.

Sued0nim

The prevailing wisdom is to eat 50% of them because it overestimates

Personally I eat a few hundred extra and extra if I'm particularly hungry or out to eat - means my weight loss is sometimes quicker than it should be (eg 2lbs rather than 1 a week) but I reckon it evens out with any miscalculations in calories

Edit due to stupid crapPad autocorrect

Liftng4Lis

I don't eat mine back because that leaves me a margin of error in miscalculations from MFP's food database. Remember when you use MFP's exercise database, it usually estimates calories burned higher than they are, so I believe most people eat only half of them back.

cw106

The prevailing wisdom is to eat 50% of them because it overestimates

Personally I eat a few hundred extra and extra if I'm particularly hungry or out to eat - means my weight loss is sometimes quicker than it should be (eg 2lbs rather than 1 a week) but I reckon it evens out with any miscalculations in calories

Edit due to stupid crapPad autocorrect

this.
after 2 months of diet and gym, i need the extra energy.initially i was averse to it, but have listened to advice on here and go off my NET calorie guide now( but allowing max 50% of exercise cals to allow for over inflation of exercise values).
g luck.

knoes1

Thanks guys really appreciate the feedback. For my running and cycling I use the endomondo app which links in to MFP and gives a far more accurate reading with its GPS. Its just really squash and T25 that I rely on MFP to count. But I will heed the advice and aim to only eat back 50% of my exercise calories!

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

RGv2

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf