Confused about exercise calories-can you help?

MandyCanDo

I have only been on MFP for a little over a week and am still learning so much, but there is something that still confuses me. I have been reading about "eating your workout calories" so does that mean that at the end of the day if you have worked out, you should eat your normal allotment AND the 500-600 calories burned at the gym so you are at as close to zero as possible? Up until now, I was trying to end my days that include a workout with as much banked as possible? Any thoughts or philosophies on what works best would be appreciated!

As always, thank you for your help and have a great day!

nakabi

I make sure that I stay within the alloted calorie count and don't eat the work out ones. if you are trying to just maintain your current weight, than yes, you can eat the workout calories. if you are trying to lose weight, than you dont want to eat them.

veganbaum

Yes, that's what it means. I have really been trying to do so, because being vegan it's easy to eat under 1200 calories without realizing it! - Very bad for me. But I don't usually eat them all, I leave room for miscalculations in food calories and exercise calories - so maybe 1/2.

Here's a link that was created by a member and I've seen posted several times:
http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

Hope that helps!

bubbab666

If you are trying to lose weight, you need to burn more than you eat, so eating those extra calories will help you maintain, not lose.

amysj303

this was a great thread about this topic:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/173853-an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories

taso42_DELETED

I make sure that I stay within the alloted calorie count and don't eat the work out ones. if you are trying to just maintain your current weight, than yes, you can eat the workout calories. if you are trying to lose weight, than you dont want to eat them.

^^^^ this is why there's still confusion.

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

losethechalupa

Use the search engine to find ur answers, many ppl ask this question. It's really a personal choice. I eat back a small portion if I need to .

erickirb

I have only been on MFP for a little over a week and am still learning so much, but there is something that still confuses me. I have been reading about "eating your workout calories" so does that mean that at the end of the day if you have worked out, you should eat your normal allotment AND the 500-600 calories burned at the gym so you are at as close to zero as possible? Up until now, I was trying to end my days that include a workout with as much banked as possible? Any thoughts or philosophies on what works best would be appreciated!

As always, thank you for your help and have a great day!

If you don't eat them you may end up damaging your metabolism. You should be withing 100+/- of your goal plus workout calories. So if you are set at 1350 and burn 500 at the gym you should aim for 1850 (1350+500) and will be fine eating between 1750-1950

erickirb

If you are trying to lose weight, you need to burn more than you eat, so eating those extra calories will help you maintain, not lose.

Wrong, MFP already puts you in a deficit to lose without exercise. When you workout your deficit grows, you eat them back to ensure your deficit is in a "safe" range and to lose your goal amount of weight.

You would only maintain your weight if you were set at maintenance and ate them back.

milaxx

Check the pinned post at the top of the forums. It will explain it better. I have found however, that when you have more than 75lbs to lose eating back you exercise calories is pretty much impossible if you are eating healthy, however I do allow more calories on exercise days. Feel free to browse my dairy. This week has been crazy, but today is a good example. Either way you should always eat at or above 1200 calories a day to prevent starvation mode.

ruststar

Your allotted calories from MFP INCLUDES the calorie deficit you need to lose weight even if you do no exercise. It is intended for you to eat any additional calories you burn through exercise to make sure the deficit you create is not too high and make all your efforts counterproductive. If you deny your body the calories it needs to function it will start conserving energy and slow your metabolism making your weightloss slow to a standstill.

TTHdred

You will find a wide variety of responses on if this is the most effective thing to do. Without making this a heated debate, I can’t answer that for you, but I can say that in short that is way MFP was designed. It determines your calorie deficit without factoring in exercise, so if you exercise your deficit is actually higher. Therefore for the most part, you should be eating back your calories. This is again, by design.

Now, you will have to do what works best for YOU. And with each workout routine, plan, regime, that will differ. So, my advice is to always do something, stick to it, see the results THEN make adjusts if/as necessary.


As a fairly new member of the family, please see some helpful links below.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/188509-my-take-on-exercise-calories-please-read-if-you-are-new

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

Jog72

I eat back all of mine, or as many as I can if I've done a long trek / bike ride which can be 1000cals+ You'll need to work out what's best for you but I consistently lose if I eat them back and don't if I stick to 1200. Your body needs fuel to exercise! If your basic cals are 1200 and you burn 500, you're only getting c.700cals which is way too low.

keola64

Watch the type of calories u take inn ,keep your sugars low,fats low, GOOD to have high intake of protein,& high fiber,just because a certain exercise burns calories and u get more according to myfitnesspal does n't mean use them all up ,due to metabolicdifferences between people calories burned is a rough estimate,I've hit my goal in 8 months 263-170 pounds u can add me if your interested in the methods I used diet,exercise,nutrition ect. By the way when you lack calories your body uses its fat as emergency fuel as long as u keep enough protein in your body you shouldn't lose Any muscle mass,you may feel fatigue but pushing through that with your will power will burn off excess fat fast! ( A bear before hibernation stocks up on calories it stores it as fat but because the animal needs energy to stay alive the fat burns off before the bear awakes ) its something to that effect,I did that and had amazing results look @ my photos all taken as of Sept.last year to current as OS yesterdays upload.ALOHA-Keola

veganbaum

Just to give you a personal view - if I didn't eat back some or all of my exercise calories, I would be NETTING fewer than 1,000 calories a day - not nearly enough to healthfully fuel my body.

lango6

I'm seeing some confused posts here. Your target calories for the day factor in your weight loss goal, so eating your exercise calories does NOT put you into weight maintenance mode. For you to maintain, you'd have to eat up to your adjusted BMR (your weight loss goal is the BMR adjusted for activity level minus the calories you give up daily to achieve your weekly weight loss) plus the exercise calories. You can "buy" some accelerated weight loss by not eating all your exercise calories. However, be careful to keep you net daily calories (consumed - exercise) above 1200 (1500 for men). Falling below 1200 on a consistent basis can have undesirable metabolic consequences (like putting your body into stress mode which may drop your BMR and make it harder to lose weight).

In a nutshell, if your daily calorie target is 1200, then you should be eating all your exercise calories. Whatever amount over 1200 your daily target is, then you can safely not eat that many exercise calories.

MandyCanDo

THANK YOU ALL!! A lot of great information and links too. I think I am relatively sure I am right where I need to be. I really appreciate how everyone is so willing to help and look forward to more helpful advice on my journey!

ruststar

To make things easier on myself I set myself a daily target goal that was consistent and then stopped worrying about eating exercise calories back unless my net seemed too low. I eat 1900 every day because I exercise 5-6 times per week and 1900 equates roughly to the maintenance calories of an active person at my goal weight. Knowing how many calories I have to work with every day makes it easier to plan.

keola64

Watch the type of calories u take inn ,keep your sugars low,fats low, GOOD to have high intake of protein,& high fiber,just because a certain exercise burns calories and u get more according to myfitnesspal does n't mean use them all up ,due to metabolicdifferences between people calories burned is a rough estimate,I've hit my goal in 8 months 263-170 pounds u can add me if your interested in the methods I used diet,exercise,nutrition ect. By the way when you lack calories your body uses its fat as emergency fuel as long as u keep enough protein in your body you shouldn't lose Any muscle mass,you may feel fatigue but pushing through that with your will power will burn off excess fat fast! ( A bear before hibernation stocks up on calories it stores it as fat but because the animal needs energy to stay alive the fat burns off before the bear awakes ) its something to that effect,I did that and had amazing results look @ my photos all taken as of Sept.last year to current as of yesterdays upload.ALOHA-Keola

thisismynewmindset

I make sure that I stay within the alloted calorie count and don't eat the work out ones. if you are trying to just maintain your current weight, than yes, you can eat the workout calories. if you are trying to lose weight, than you dont want to eat them.

Wrong - I have been losing constantly and I eat my exercise calories back. If you want to lose weight maybe a little faster then gain it all back once you are at your goal weight then don't eat your exercise calories back. HOWEVER, if you want to be able to maintain your weight once you hit your goal weight, then EAT YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES BACK!!!!

thisismynewmindset

If you are trying to lose weight, you need to burn more than you eat, so eating those extra calories will help you maintain, not lose.

Wrong again - you still burn more than you consume when you eat back your exercise calories.

Case in point:

My body burns about 2,000 calories a day just doing normal stuff like breathing and driving.
I work out and burn about 500 calories a day.
My minimum calorie goal is 1,200 calories (plus my wokout calories, would mean I eat 1,700 calories that day - but it really means I am still only NETTING 1,200)
All this equals to an 800 calorie deficit per day... that equals weight loss.

bubbab666

There appears to be a bit of bad info floating about here, and after receiving an angry note to my inbox following my previous post, I figured i'd fix things up a bit.

Anger noted. But sorry, what I wrote was correct, although I made a stupid assumption that ppl are doing things correctly, which I'm sure most aren't.
This is what happens when you omit things because you're in a rush lol.
What was not addressed was that if your food plan is set up for maintenance calories as it should be for someone exercising, [which is what I would advise anyone to start off with], then the cals burned thru your exercise IS/ARE your deficit , and eating them back is wrong.
A problem with basing your meal plan model on BMI and then adding back in calories for exercise is that you aren't using a logical scientific method at the onset of the programme. Starting with a flawed premise will not yield positive results past the short term. BMI IS ABSOLUTE TRASH. Here's a nice summary of it from this website: http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/02/08/the-skinny-on-the-body-mass-index-bmi/ Here's the article:
By M Parrott
Article ID: 137

Round up a group of ten-year-old children. Put each one on a scale. One third of those children are overweight. Expand your view, and you’ll see that 23% of school children are overweight. So says the British government. They also state that within four years, one out of three adults will be overweight. I’m not sure if this scare trend is common across all cultures, but let me tell you now it is bull. The problem here is that to make these weighty judgements, the government uses the Body Mass Index (also known as the BMI) which is so innately flawed that you might as well flip a coin on whether someone is obese or not.

What is the BMI (Body Mass Index)?

Let’s start with the BMI’s origin. A Belgian mathematician and sociologist named Adolphe Quetelet created the Body Mass Index between 1830 and 1850. He did this as a way to compare a person’s height with their weight. This technique was originally meant to aid in social science education, and wasn’t intended to determine obesity levels. BMI was not meant for medical diagnosis. So how can we use it to see if people are obese? If we’re analyzing a specific individual, we can’t! At least, not reliably.

Let’s consider the problem with using weight as an obesity measurement. You might be thinking, “well, of course your weight determines if you’re obese.” Not really. Muscle and bone density play a big part. Compare equal amounts of muscle and fat, and you’ll find the muscle weighs a lot more, at least four times more than fat. So a BMI label for someone with no fat but a lot of muscle will be obese. For example, Michael Jordan is obese according to the BMI and I guarantee he is a lot more fit than anyone reading this. I’m normal weight and Jordan is certainly in better shape than I. So here it is; if athletes are classed as obese then how can we possibly apply this formula to anyone? How can the BMI tell us if we are obese or not? (Yes, we can take additional factors into account like diet and exercise, but the BMI doesn’t do that.)

One of the key measurements of the Body Mass Index is weight. But weight isn’t even an accurate measurement of how healthy you are. Some health fanatics and personal trainers will tell you that there are no genetic factors behind being fat, but this is far from true. Consider the variation in ethnicities. Look at Viking descendents and Greek descendents and you’ll see a vast difference in structure. Those of Viking descendents are often higher than average weight; they have a larger bone structure. Greek descendants have a thinner bone structure and are in comparison generally lighter. So back to the BMI: why is one formula applied to everyone of every ethnicity if different ethnicities are genetically pre-disposed to be different weights?
Diet and exercise are good for you. If you eat right you will be your natural, healthy weight. Yes, the BMI may label you as obese or over-weight. But so what? That’s the weight at which your body is healthiest. END

The second flaw is the "add back the calories" method. When someone[or something] tells you you burned 200 cals doing an exercise based on a table or chart[based upon a math formula] they're inherently wrong. These algorithms are based upon either a singular human model or perhaps a few models. Here we run into the same problem as with BMI; you and your TWIN sister both do an identical activity the algorithms do not take into account intensity or effort of exercise, energy status, kinetics[exercise form], range of motion state of recovery, cardiovascular health, hormonal response,etc ,etc. 2 twins can be doing the exact same exercise with the same reps sets and weight and their energy expenditure will NOT be identical.

Hope that clears things up. I apologize for my hasty response earlier.
If anyone wants me to post the proper, logical, science based way of using MFP, let me know and I will trow a quick post up.
thanx again.

veganbaum

To above poster:

But MOST people here do not have their calculators set to maintain, but to lose, so eating back the calories is necessary. As I understand it, that's why if I change my weekly goals from 2 lbs to 1 1/2 to 1, it will give me different calorie goals - it is already building in a deficit for me to lose that weight without exercise, so with exercise I need more fuel.

For one explanation see:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

caitlin70433

When I was a 20-yr-old losing the "Freshmen 30" by herself with just a calorie-counting book and a Nutrional Almanac, I
"ate" my exercise calories On days when I exercised for an hour, I shot for 1500 calories, on days when I exercised for 2 hours, I ate 1800 calories. I lost 30 lbs in 3 months. On the rare occasions when I didn't exercise, I shot for 1200. Eat your exercise calories.

bubbab666

To above poster:

But MOST people here do not have their calculators set to maintain, but to lose, so eating back the calories is necessary. As I understand it, that's why if I change my weekly goals from 2 lbs to 1 1/2 to 1, it will give me different calorie goals - it is already building in a deficit for me to lose that weight without exercise, so with exercise I need more fuel.

For one explanation see:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

Please read my entire post[ i know it's long, sorry]. All you are essentially doing is guessing everything, which leaves too much to chance. I look for long term results like 20 yrs. If a person is quite obese then frankly ANYTHING will work for awhile. But People come to me when they are tired of trying,guessing and gimmicking, and I help them. I have 20 years in the industry, and you won't believe the amount of utter crap out there especially from other trainers and nutritionists whose thinking is still based in education 50-100 years old.

taso42_DELETED

To above poster:

But MOST people here do not have their calculators set to maintain, but to lose, so eating back the calories is necessary. As I understand it, that's why if I change my weekly goals from 2 lbs to 1 1/2 to 1, it will give me different calorie goals - it is already building in a deficit for me to lose that weight without exercise, so with exercise I need more fuel.

For one explanation see:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

Please read my entire post[ i know it's long, sorry]. All you are essentially doing is guessing everything, which leaves too much to chance. I look for long term results like 20 yrs. If a person is quite obese then frankly ANYTHING will work for awhile. But People come to me when they are tired of trying,guessing and gimmicking, and I help them. I have 20 years in the industry, and you won't believe the amount of utter crap out there especially from other trainers and nutritionists whose thinking is still based in education 50-100 years old.

It's always going to be estimates. Even with your way of eating the maintenance level and using exercise to create the deficit, which is perfectly legitimate - how would one figure out their maintenance level? They estimate, using a formula or a device.

What about those who want to maintain or gain weight? They need to estimate their exercise burn by some method (HRM, BodyBugg, or formula) and eat those calories.

Yes, it's always an estimate. Even our food logs are all estimates. Not to mention human error, database error, etc. But with a little trial and error, and consistency in habits and behavior, people can eventually get all dialed in.

Using the MFP system to factor in deficit, maintenance, or surplus, then adding back exercise is easy and straightforward. Why make it any more complicated?

Seems you've been a member here since Dec 2009. You realize this is how the system is designed to work, right?

bubbab666

To above poster:

But MOST people here do not have their calculators set to maintain, but to lose, so eating back the calories is necessary. As I understand it, that's why if I change my weekly goals from 2 lbs to 1 1/2 to 1, it will give me different calorie goals - it is already building in a deficit for me to lose that weight without exercise, so with exercise I need more fuel.

For one explanation see:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

Please read my entire post[ i know it's long, sorry]. All you are essentially doing is guessing everything, which leaves too much to chance. I look for long term results like 20 yrs. If a person is quite obese then frankly ANYTHING will work for awhile. But People come to me when they are tired of trying,guessing and gimmicking, and I help them. I have 20 years in the industry, and you won't believe the amount of utter crap out there especially from other trainers and nutritionists whose thinking is still based in education 50-100 years old.

It's always going to be estimates. Even with your way of eating the maintenance level and using exercise to create the deficit, which is perfectly legitimate - how would one figure out their maintenance level? They estimate, using a formula or a device.

What about those who want to maintain or gain weight? They need to estimate their exercise burn by some method (HRM, BodyBugg, or formula) and eat those calories.

Yes, it's always an estimate. Even our food logs are all estimates. Not to mention human error, database error, etc. But with a little trial and error, and consistency in habits and behavior, people can eventually get all dialed in.

Using the MFP system to factor in deficit, maintenance, or surplus, then adding back exercise is easy and straightforward. Why make it any more complicated?

Seems you've been a member here since Dec 2009. You realize this is how the system is designed to work, right?

Yes, i see that's how it's supposed to work. I'm biased because anyone I have directed to MFP uses it [hopefully] as I have directed. Human error is always a factor agreed; that aside, I'm not using guesswork. I'll post the basic method i use shortly.

bubbab666

Ok, this is really simple and basic there's no miraculous ingenuity at work here. lol

A new person comes in and I get them to track all food with no eating behaviour changes [ eat the way you always have] for a minimum of 10 days[ the longer the better of course] . If they are truly eating 'normally' [no exercise at this point] they will either maintain their weight or gain a little bit. Either way is fine. You find the average calories per day and that is your base amount. Often I will alter their macros [ a calorie is NOT a calorie after all] but keep the overall calorie count. After this is set, we then start them on a basic exercise programme, and this will create their deficit.
Continuous monitoring is necessary obviously and down the road some guess work starts to come into play, But at least we start with a sound set of base principals, and not guess work off the bat.

Ideally of course you'd want a controlled environment, to measure BMR with O2 consumption and infrared monitoring. Exercise controls of a similar type as well. Unfortunately those types of facilities are very expensive to operate as well as difficult to come by, but they would be the most precise and logical method. My method above is an unfortunately distant second, but still superior to using assumed algorithms for BMR & exercise expenditures along with the farce of BMI.
"You can't build a sturdy house without a solid foundation" as they say.

Hope this all clears up my stupidly short 1st post above. I only wanted to help out.
My apologies again.

amysj303

ok, bubba, but it is a lot easier to get your defecit from not eating 500 calories than by exercising 500-calories!

bubbab666

I don't know...exercising for 50 minutes is pretty simple...OH and healthier.
Diet + exercise is like 2+2=5 the sum result is more than the parts and def more effective and long-term than just one.