probably an old question, but...for the calorie counters,

Soy_K

when you burn calories in your exercise log, do you eat them back or do you just stick to around your original calorie goals?

Amelia0471

It honestly just depends. . Some people do some don't. I personally don't eat my calories back and if I do its still pretty close to my daily goal. It really depends on what works best for your body and your weightloss. If you do decide however to eat the calories back, I would suggest eating back healthy calories... eat more fruits or vegetables not cakes and chocolate lol but everything is good in moderation dont forget hope this helped a little bit!

Soy_K

Thanks Amelia! I think you're probably right about the not eating the calories back. Sigh. I eat pretty healthy in general, but I think that I have a tendency to bulk up when exercising. If I eat them back I will probably gain!

DanaW13

I have struggled with this question. I chose to go with MFP calorie estimate, which is way lower than the estimate I get from the TDEE method. Since it is so low, I have been eating back my exercise calories. But I have been at a plateau a few weeks now, so I am thinking this might not be working for me...

maria0elisa

It depends how good I've been..!

If I've stuck to my calorie limit that week, then my exercise earns me a treat equivalent to the amount of calories burned.

If I've already blown my calorie limit one day that week, then the exercise is to claw back those calories and I haven't earned a treat (but I feel much better to have 'cancelled out' the Bad Day where I lost control!)

If this happens, I copy/paste the exercise (I've synced MFP to runkeeper) to the previous Bad Day and delete it from today. This means the Bad Day is cancelled out (:D) and then I carry on as normal sticking to the calorie plan for today as if I have done 0 exercise.

I hope that makes sense!

maria0elisa

Obviously the first of those options is more ideal so I try really hard not to have a treat before I've earned it..! Just some days I slip up

DanaW13

Amy--I never thought of copy/pasting my exercise calories between days--that s a good idea!

jmnicholas

I have experimented with eating back/not eating back...on the whole, I maintain if I eat back, so try to only eat back half of my exercise calories...however, it depends from day to day and week to week...