Should I really eat back the calories I burned off?

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simplyychaos
simplyychaos Posts: 53
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a little confused about why the calories I burned off while working out are added onto my total calories I can eat for the day. Doesn't eating back all the calories you've burned defeat the purpose of working out?
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Replies

  • shmo1969
    shmo1969 Posts: 85 Member
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    I was wondering the same thing. I think you need to eat some of them, especially if you work out hard. But certainly not all of them. Cal in and Cal out is how you lose weight.
  • FairyMiss
    FairyMiss Posts: 1,812 Member
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    no
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    MFP gives you a calorie deficit based on no exercise. If you work out and don't eat your calories your deficit gets bigger. It can become "too big" which make this process harder, slow and / or stop weight loss.

    Lets say it takes 2000 calories to maintain without exercise. MFP tells you to eat 1500 to lose a pound a week (deficit of 500 a day). Then you burn 500. Suddenly your deficit is 1000 which can be "too big" so you need to eat 2000 to make up for it.
  • Shausil82
    Shausil82 Posts: 218 Member
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    MFP gives you a calorie deficit based on no exercise. If you work out and don't eat your calories your deficit gets bigger. It can become "too big" which make this process harder, slow and / or stop weight loss.

    Lets say it takes 2000 calories to maintain without exercise. MFP tells you to eat 1500 to lose a pound a week (deficit of 500 a day). Then you burn 500. Suddenly your deficit is 1000 which can be "too big" so you need to eat 2000 to make up for it.

    I noticed that when I looked at my goals. I haven't been netting my 1,200, and now I've created a HUGE domino effect. Now I gotta eat, LOL
  • pnieuw
    pnieuw Posts: 473
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    Search the topic. Probably been 10,000 posts on this subject, and many good responses.


    This website is useful as well.

    www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
  • Skeith5
    Skeith5 Posts: 89 Member
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    The reason they do that is because the standard recommendation is you lose 1-2 pounds per week. The weight loss is figured into your daily calorie goal. So let's say your goal is to lose 2lbs (the max they allow to auto calculate) and your daily calorie goal is 1500 calories a day. The daily goal uses your age, weight, gender, and activity level to calculate how many calories you burn without adding workouts. If you burn more than that by exercising you can still eat those calories to maintain your goal weight loss. If I burn 400 calories working out, I could eat an extra 400 to maintain my goals. I'm sure there would be some liability issues if the system allowed for you to have a higher goal than what is deemed medically safe.

    Now to really answer your question...

    I typically don't eat back the calories I burned off. Sure 1-2 pounds a week is great, and I think healthy if you are losing a small amount of weight <20lbs. I've got a ton of weight to lose and I'd like to burn more like 4-5 pounds a week. If I ate back my exercise calories It'd take me twice as long. I know once I get closer to my goal weight I'll start losing less weight each week. Once I'm at my goal weight I'll eat back my exercise calories.
  • shmo1969
    shmo1969 Posts: 85 Member
    Options
    MFP gives you a calorie deficit based on no exercise. If you work out and don't eat your calories your deficit gets bigger. It can become "too big" which make this process harder, slow and / or stop weight loss.

    Lets say it takes 2000 calories to maintain without exercise. MFP tells you to eat 1500 to lose a pound a week (deficit of 500 a day). Then you burn 500. Suddenly your deficit is 1000 which can be "too big" so you need to eat 2000 to make up for it.

    Thanks Rachel...I usually burn about 600 to 800 cal 6 days a week, but only eat about 200 of them. Still new to this site so I need to see what works for me.
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
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    Love the honesty, looking good naked is all I want too
  • wbgolden
    wbgolden Posts: 2,071 Member
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    Search the topic. Probably been 10,000 posts on this subject, and many good responses.


    This website is useful as well.

    www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

    Wonder how many hungry children could be fed for what he or she is paying to host that ridiculous site.
  • pnieuw
    pnieuw Posts: 473
    Options
    Search the topic. Probably been 10,000 posts on this subject, and many good responses.


    This website is useful as well.

    www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

    Wonder how many hungry children could be fed for what he or she is paying to host that ridiculous site.

    Site is 99 cents a year, so I'm going with zero.
  • jchester71
    jchester71 Posts: 124 Member
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    The reason they do that is because the standard recommendation is you lose 1-2 pounds per week. The weight loss is figured into your daily calorie goal. So let's say your goal is to lose 2lbs (the max they allow to auto calculate) and your daily calorie goal is 1500 calories a day. The daily goal uses your age, weight, gender, and activity level to calculate how many calories you burn without adding workouts. If you burn more than that by exercising you can still eat those calories to maintain your goal weight loss. If I burn 400 calories working out, I could eat an extra 400 to maintain my goals. I'm sure there would be some liability issues if the system allowed for you to have a higher goal than what is deemed medically safe.

    Now to really answer your question...

    I typically don't eat back the calories I burned off. Sure 1-2 pounds a week is great, and I think healthy if you are losing a small amount of weight <20lbs. I've got a ton of weight to lose and I'd like to burn more like 4-5 pounds a week. If I ate back my exercise calories It'd take me twice as long. I know once I get closer to my goal weight I'll start losing less weight each week. Once I'm at my goal weight I'll eat back my exercise calories.

    This is exactly right. And the myth of starvation mode shouldn't be the bogey man it seems to have become (google Minnesota semi-starvation study for the only real scientific study of the issue), and exercise will boost you metabolism and offset any slowing you might experience. I tend to stick around 1200 calories a day, which is 500 below the MFP calculation for me, and I don't eat back the exercise calories, although sometimes (once every 2 weeks) I take a higher calorie day.
  • kevin3344
    kevin3344 Posts: 702 Member
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    In a perfect world you should eat back your exercise calories. Especially if you work out every day. However, I don't always eat back my exercise calories.

    Reason being, sometimes I go over my calorie goal for the day/week and instead of feeling guilty know I have "room" for it. To each his own. Bottom line is, if you continue to create a calorie deficiency you will lose weight. However, too much and it can backfire on you. Just keep that in mind. However, if you work out once/twice per week you should be ok. If you live in the gym, however, you'll have to consider that.
  • yanicka
    yanicka Posts: 1,004 Member
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    Eat. I didn't eat enought and lost almost 50% muscles. I am not trying to undo the damage
  • lisabstrong
    lisabstrong Posts: 165 Member
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    Search the topic. Probably been 10,000 posts on this subject, and many good responses.


    This website is useful as well.

    www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

    Wonder how many hungry children could be fed for what he or she is paying to host that ridiculous site.


    Oh yes...the hungry children in XXX country argument...that's how I got into this mess!! LOL...
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    When you set up your goal did you already factor in your exercise in your activity level? I think it gives you options like sedentary, active, very active etc. If you already included your exercise in there, then definitely don't eat them back cause then you're just eating extra!
  • mvkrayola
    mvkrayola Posts: 165 Member
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    the way I understand it you should not eat below your original goal for the day so any other calories would help with the decrease in your calories needed for the day. Remember that every 3200 calories equals one pound. So when you reach a -3200 you will lose one pound.
  • cupotee
    cupotee Posts: 181 Member
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    Yes, but MFP overestimates your calories burned by a lot. Everyone does something different. I just log 1/2 my exercise (eg. if i run for 40 min, i'll log 20).
  • smkcx♥
    smkcx♥ Posts: 317 Member
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    Everyone says something different, honestly its your personal preference. Some people never eat back their calories, some do and some eat them back occassionally, but only half of them.

    MFP says you should. If you've worked out and your hungry, eat. Most of the time after a really good burn people feel hungry -- thats your bodys way of saying it needs more "fuel". Listen to your body, if your hungry, eat them back. If not, then dont. Give it a trial run and see what works best for you. It's your personal preference and everyone's body is different. What works best for someone else, may not always work best for you.

    Just make sure your eating enough calories throughout the day.
  • pholbert
    pholbert Posts: 575 Member
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    When you set up your goal did you already factor in your exercise in your activity level? I think it gives you options like sedentary, active, very active etc. If you already included your exercise in there, then definitely don't eat them back cause then you're just eating extra!
    This what I think. That is what I did when I joined
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    When you set up your goal did you already factor in your exercise in your activity level? I think it gives you options like sedentary, active, very active etc. If you already included your exercise in there, then definitely don't eat them back cause then you're just eating extra!
    This what I think. That is what I did when I joined

    Yeah it's double dipping..
    It's much better to set it at sedentary and then it's safer to eat the exercise cals.

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