What does it mean to Eat Back Exercise Calories?

HeyGrlHey

This may have been asked before, but I need to know! I searched the Forums and was unable to find a clear answer.

What does it mean when some one says, "I eat back my exercise calories"?

I just got a HRM so I am able to track my calories burned so I was wondering if I should be eating back some?

Also, how do I calculate how many calories I should be burning a day or per week?

Thank you!

NoAdditives

Yes, you should be eating back the calories you burn from exercise. Unless you are eating your maintenance amount of calories MFP has already given you a calorie deficit. You don't want to increase that deficit too much because it isn't healthy. So, eat the calories you burn to give your body the proper nutrition it needs.

People don't need to burn more than 500-700 calories per day. Burning more can stress your body to the point where it won't burn much, if any fat. Extremely high calorie burns will make your body think it is going through a period of extreme stress and that can sometimes result in fat storage as opposed to fat burning.

Michelle9939

It means to eat the calories you burned during exercise. If you workout and burn 500 calories, eat 500 extra calories for the day. It will show up on your food log.

channa007

When you put in your exercises MFP adds the calories burned back into your available calories to consume for the day. When someone says they eat them back they're saying they're actually going over the MFP daily allowed calories but since the exercise for the day balances it out they break even or at least have more available to eat.

Erindipitous

Calories you burn during exercise are exercise calories.

Whatever you burn, eat back (until you net your goal).

Example:

If your calorie goal is 1200, and you eat 1200, but you burn 300.. Eat 300 more calories to keep the 1200 balance. Otherwise you will be "netting" only 900, and that's bad news.

BUT

If your calorie goal is 1200, you eat 1400, and you burn 400.. Eat 200 back until you bring your net back up to 1200.

HeyGrlHey

Thank you so much! I get it now!

M.

sunnyd52

I did not know that. Thanks for the helpful info.

lauristewart

Here we go again......LOL!!!

There are some of us here that do not eat back their exercise calories. Now I do eat more than what MFP tells me to.....I zig zag my calories daily.......there are days I eat 1400 calories, some days I eat 1600 some I eat 1800 calories......so when I workout, MFP will say I need to eat those calories back, but I usually don't.

Anyhoo, there is a big division here on MFP on to eat them or not. You do what you think works for your body. I cannot live off of 1200 calories a day.....even on days when I don't workout!

Good luck!

Megan8404

New to dieting - i thought you had to burn more calories than you consume to lose weight? Another site said: "To lose one pound you must burn at least 3500 excess calories or 500 calories per day over the course of a week." If that's the case, you don't want to eat calories back unless you burn more than 500 extra per day, right??

lauristewart

New to dieting - i thought you had to burn more calories than you consume to lose weight? Another site said: "To lose one pound you must burn at least 3500 excess calories or 500 calories per day over the course of a week." If that's the case, you don't want to eat calories back unless you burn more than 500 extra per day, right??

YEP!!!

abcerc

I'm really confused on this topic. I know this may be a stupid question... but- if my "goal" is to eat 1200 calories per day, and I feel full on that, what is the point of exercising if I have to eat those calories back? I'm thinking that as long as I'm eating the 1200 calories, it doesn't matter if I burn 1000... I just enjoy the extra burn to help reach the 3500 calorie deficit goal of getting rid of a pound. Would not eating back part or all of the 1000 burned cause issues?

MauiDavid

That makes about the most sense of anything I have read so far!