Eating back calories? huh? I'm confused!

TaraTLC83

Hey everyone!

I'm new to the site. I've been lurking the forums and have noticed a lot of people talking about eating back their calories. I don't understand what that means. MFP tells me that I can eat 1320 calories a day to loose 1.5lbs a week, so, I've been eating 1320 calories plus 30 mins of exercise a day.

Maybe I just don't understand the format?

Could someone explain this all to me? I'm new to counting calories and stuff.

Thank you!

99Tinkerbell

It just means if you log the exercise under the exercise tab it will tell you how many calories you burned so you can use them as extra calories if you want to eat something else.

tmontgomery69

When you work out...... let's say you burn 300 calories during your workout. You should be eating back at least 75% of those 300 calories that you just burned......

On your home screen see where it says "NET".......you should always keep your NET calories as close to the GOAL amount of 1320.

skinnyjeans13

You need to be eating 1320 net calories, that means in total. So if you burn off 300, you'd be at 1020 net calories and should eat 300 more to get back to 1320. MFP already calculates the deficit needed to lose weight when they give you the amount you're supposed to eat.

There's a lot of debate on here about eating them back or not, but I eat mine and I've been losing weight consistently and at a healthy rate.

raisingbabyk

MPF is already setting a calorie deficit for you to lose weight, so if you exercise you're making a larger deficit of negative calories which could put you into "starvation mode" and make your body hold on to extra weight. By eating back the calories you burn your staying at the goal (in your case 1320) of what MFP has set for you to lose the 1.5lbs. I suck at explaining things but hopefully that makes some sense haha

keeponkickin

I hope this link will help clarify.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

kendernau

You can check through some of the stickied/recommended posts as there are better, more in-depth explanations, but I'll try to give a quick explanation.

In your case, MFP is NOT telling you to eat 1320 calories per day to lose the 1.5 pounds per week. What it is telling you is to have a net total of 1320 calories per day to lose the weight. If you don't exercise, you eat 1320 calories. If you exercise, you eat 1320 PLUS the number of calories you burned doing the exercise.

MFP focuses on the NET calories you need to lose the weight. Net calories = calories consumed - calories burned.

You don't want your net calories to be much above or below that number. If you are over, you don't lose the weight. If you are under, you don't lose as much fat - you lose more lean muscle mass.

idiocracy

I need 1200 to lose weight. Under that is not healthy. On the days that I work out, I burn around 300 calories. Now, if I eat 1200 and burn 300, means the net calories for that day would be the difference, which is 900. Having only 900 calories at the end of the day is not healthy, so I need to eat some more, to bring it back to 1200. That means eating ALL of the exercise calories back. If you have 1300 calories for weight loss and burn 300 by exercise, that means your intake would actually be 1300-300=1000. 1000 is unhealthy, so you need to eat at least 200 calories more to make it to 1200. That is eating SOME of the exercise calories back. When you log your food and exercise in MFP, it does the calculations for you, and you will see it in your diary on the bottom "you earned an extra 300 calories from exercise today" and your goal will be from 1300 to 1600. People did experiments here and posted blogs about eating those exercise calories back or not, and from my understanding is that you should, at least some, so your body doesn't go into starvation mode.

TaraTLC83

I see. Thank you all for the speedy replies! I've been doing it wrong since I started then.. I would eat my 1320 calories and then burn off 300+ calories with exercise leaving me at 1020 calories. That could explain why I was waking up hungry at night?

So, another newbie question. Besides being healthy, what is the point of exercising? Could I just sit around and eat my 1320 calories? Why burn away 300+ calories only to eat them back?

Buhbeee

I am 100% with you, chica! I've been doing it wrong too and my little ticker hasn't moved a muscle though mine are pumping every freaking day! I guess we have to fuel up to cause the body to relinquish the storage!

2myfuture

Well a quick answer is that exercise raises your heart rate which raises your metabolism. You should loose more if you work out. In the long run it is better for your body.

kendernau

You can definitely sit around and only eat the 1320 calories, and you will lose the weight, but you would be missing out on a lot of the benefits from the exercise.

Laura mentioned one of the big advantages: higher metabolism, because muscle burns more calories just sitting there than fat does.

Exercise also helps you lose the inches faster, since muscle is more compact than fat. It also weighs more for the same volume, so you can actually change clothes sizes without losing any weight if you want, just by exercising, and keeping your calories under control (or do both...lose the same amount of weight and drop clothing sizes even faster with the exercise).

There are even more benefits - if you have depression, exercise gives you a natural boost, and if you are on antidepressants, it can make them more effective too.

idiocracy

You can definitely sit around and only eat the 1320 calories, and you will lose the weight, but you would be missing out on a lot of the benefits from the exercise.

Laura mentioned one of the big advantages: higher metabolism, because muscle burns more calories just sitting there than fat does.

Exercise also helps you lose the inches faster, since muscle is more compact than fat. It also weighs more for the same volume, so you can actually change clothes sizes without losing any weight if you want, just by exercising, and keeping your calories under control (or do both...lose the same amount of weight and drop clothing sizes even faster with the exercise).

There are even more benefits - if you have depression, exercise gives you a natural boost, and if you are on antidepressants, it can make them more effective too.

...I agree and I want to add that more toned muscles makes a better posture. But the most important thing exercise did for me was taming my PMS. It did WONDERS! No more mood swings (not as bad), and depression has improved A LOT!!!! Also TOM pains and problems are all going away. I am a much positive person, optimistic and not as grouchy all the time as I was a month ago. Not to mention how my butt is starting to look like now

Mens sana in corpore sano!