Eating back exercise calories burned

TheGreatYaYa

I'm taking a poll to see who eats back the exercise calories they've burned and, if so, has that helped in your weight loss.

Amanda4change

I only eat back on days when I work hard and am still hungry, though no more than 25-30%. For most days I find I don't need it, on the days when I do 8 or more miles of running I find that I need 150-300 more calories or I am starving.

kaseyr1505

I do if I'm hungry, or if it was a big burn. The percentage back varies on how hungry I was. Sometimes all, sometimes less than 10%

SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage

I eat back some, not all. Calories burned is just an estimate, and I prefer to have a buffer. 37lbs lost since mid-June so I think that method is working for me.

IsaCaliBel

Yes I eat back most of mine.
It has never stopped or slowed my weight loss in the past, so I'll continue to do so.

lizzie14115

Hello,
so far i haven't been eating my additional 280 calories from interval training, partly because i don't want to become reliant on them and because i can't be absolutely sure the extra calories are accurate,
feel free to add me,
Catrina x

KrzyGal

I only eat my burned calories if I'm hungry.

Raynne413

I always eat back, probably at least 1/2 of them (depending on how hungry I am).

aish1981

Hi! Im a mum of 4 kids and thats my excuse for piling up worthless pounds :-/
Looking forward to embark on this journey for a countless time ...however spirits n expectations r still high. Im eating max 1300 cals. And am really going the extra mile to get rid of all this excess weight..which is 15 kgs . I am determined to lose it All once n for all in 3 months! Did ya hear me?!
Im going to count on a lot positive encouragement from all your journeys.
Ive incorporated 1 hr of hardcore gymming alongwith 'the 28 day squat challenge ' from the files here. And have started 'preparing for 5k run -(Mayo Clinic explained method)' .today is day 1 of the run.

arditarose

I do 1400 calories a day so I find I need to eat mine back. Only calories burned from cardio, and I enter less time than I actually worked out. If I did some heavy weights as well, I might put in the full time of cardio and eat them all back-just because it probably balances out and it's only a different of 30-50 calories.

throoper

I eat back 50-100% of them - most often 80-100% unless it's a really big workout like a 10 mile run. However, I also tend to be conservative on the calorie estimates and don't put in things like cleaning, my 5 minute bike to work, etc. I'm also on a pretty low calorie goal (1200, I'm pretty petite) - so I feel like I kinda need to eat back anything I burn. If I go well over my calorie goal a couple days, I won't eat back as much from a big burn to make up for it.

As far as it helping... well, it still keeps me within my calorie goal, which is a deficit, and I'm slowly but steadily losing weight - so yes.

aish1981

Oh to answer the poll. .its so timely that ive come across this post, was feeling guilty that I had burned 785 or so cals today and eaten back 200 of them. Was too worried if I had messed up big time despite my log showing a deficit of 600 cals.
Well heartening to read everyone's comments. Will keep my fingers crossed n watch out for any off signs.
I would appreciate a weightloss buddy who's 5' tall and has a target like my own.lets compare notes n motivate eachother n c eachother through this once n for all.
All the best y'all

littlemissXsunshine

I do more now than I did before. When I still had a ton of weight to lose I found that eating back my exercise calories just meant not losing any weight (or worse, gaining!). Now I'm in all healthy ranges (BMI, body weight, body fat %) and only 7lbs from my goal weight. Now, I've upped my daily calories to 1500 and will sometimes eat back my exercise calories depending on what the rest of my day has been like. I've been losing weight a lot more, since I think my metabolism has increased a lot so I can usually eat back at least some of my exercise calories and still lose weight.

Hadabetter

I ate back exercise calories because I wanted to avoid extremely large calorie deficits on big workout days. I aimed for a 500 calorie/day deficit whether or not I worked out. This was primarily aimed at limiting the loss of lean mass while losing weight.

steezymom

I don't always eat back the calories, because I think it can be a slippery slope for me. I usually work out in evening right after work and to help avoid eating back the calories I don't eat dinner until after the work out. I keep my net calories in my maintenance range of 1200-1400.

sijomial

Yes I eat them back both when I'm losing weight and also when I'm maintaining my weight.
As I'm currently averaging about 6000 exercise calories a week at the moment I would have shrivelled away to nothing by now if I didn't!!

Feel sad for all those respondents who either don't understand how this tool works or think an excessive deficit and too rapid weight loss is a good idea. Why choose to be hungry and lose more lean mass than you need to?

hearthwood

If I eat them back, I will only eat back 1/2 of burned calories. MFP and other devices have a history of overestimating calories burned, and if you eat them all back you could end up overeating your workouts.

itsbasschick

i eat back exercise calories if i get hungry - usually no more than half the exercise calories. when i do get hungry between meals, i usually go for a fat free greek yogurt of half a scoop of protein powder. btw, my weight loss doing this is one pound per week on average, so it's working well for me. if i were still hungry, i'd up the calories - it's not good to go hungry after working out, and can slow or even reverse your progress. if you go hungry, you burn muscle - and having less muscle means your body will use less calories, which will slow weight loss and can cause serious health issues.

KameHameHaaaa

I'll eat some of them back, if I'm hungry.

williams969

I eat back just about all of them. Now, I do not use MFP's calorie burn numbers. I use my Fitbit to calculate my exercise/activity burns. Prior to the Fitbit, I calculated by heart rate (the "old fashioned" way, periodically through my runs/walks). Since those numbers are customized to ME, I feel confident in eating back most/all of them. My weightloss ticker agrees it works for me, too

segovm

I don't eat them back. I try to keep my calories to around 2100 a day and burn about 1700 a day riding my bike around for a few hours.

I think the idea of "eating back exercise calories" is pretty unique to MFP.