Eating Back Burned Calories??

Adina81

The concept seems a little...backwards?
Do I really want to be eating back all the calories I busted my butt to get rid of in the first place?!

lovelee79

I agree with you. I don't eat back my calories. I worked to hard to do that to myself.

aurorasangel2000

At least some of them... When you work your body to burn fat, you also need to fuel your body for the work that it's doing. In the event that you workout and don't eat enough, your body will start to eat the muscle instead of excess fat. Muscle loss is a bad thing, lol.

rockerbabyy

the way mfp is set up, yes. they already have the deficit set for you to lose x-amount of weight/week.. if you add in exercise you need to eat more so that youre fueling your body and eating enough to function

sheisbrown

'At some point you might want to start eating back some of your exercise calories. It will fuel your body for all that exercise you are doing and actually help you lose weight in the long run. There are a TON of post on this topic so I'm not gonna say much more. Simple search the topics field for exercise calories and see for yourself.

SergeantSunshine_reused

the way mfp is set up, yes. they already have the deficit set for you to lose x-amount of weight/week.. if you add in exercise you need to eat more so that youre fueling your body and eating enough to function

*sigh* exactly this. If you eat 1500, then burn 900, then your body only has 600 calories to work on ALL DAY. Your organs and muscles need those calories to function! If not, say good buy to your muscle mass and metabolism.

2blueeyedbabies

My trainer says absolutely do NOT eat those calories! I am to eat 1100 calories a day PERIOD! When I hit a plateau, I go up to 1300...then when I hit another, back down to 1100 - and so on. Just my two cents -- it's worked for me so far. 43 lbs in 3 months...

LemonPoppySeedMuffin

the way mfp is set up, yes. they already have the deficit set for you to lose x-amount of weight/week.. if you add in exercise you need to eat more so that youre fueling your body and eating enough to function

*sigh* exactly this. If you eat 1500, then burn 900, then your body only has 600 calories to work on ALL DAY. Your organs and muscles need those calories to function! If not, say good buy to your muscle mass and metabolism.

I know this is a stupid question from me but what would be the point in burning it off in the first place?

mrmanmeat

The concept seems a little...backwards?
Do I really want to be eating back all the calories I busted my butt to get rid of in the first place?!

Yes, I eat all of mine. Usually w/ in 100-200.

You're body needs a certain amount of "net" calories and you'll lose weight by eating back those calories.

Some days I burn between 1400-2200 calories, that means I basically ate nothing.

michiganderrdh

the way mfp is set up, yes. they already have the deficit set for you to lose x-amount of weight/week.. if you add in exercise you need to eat more so that youre fueling your body and eating enough to function

Ditto. If you don't eat enough you're body will know that and slow your metabolism down.

FUEL your body. Eat healthy calories and you'll be fine! Keep up the great work!

jessmars

I usually eat back some of the calories I burn, but sometimes I just can't eat that much to eat them all back...unless Im going out for a special event then I usually end up eating the calories I burn so I stay even.

Plus MFP has the calorie count set up for you to be in a calorie deficit. Remember when you set up your account it asks like how active your job it? how many days you plan to work out? how many pounds you want to loose a week? All those question were so they could accurately set up how many calories you should eat in a day.......and still loose

JessicaMarie9382

I hardly ever do. It's too hard cause I get sick if I eat after working out.

sheisbrown

Ugh....This topic is the pitts. It just goes around in circles on here. If you want to know why. Just search for "exercise calories" and read.

trelm249

I tried to skip eating back my exercise calories and it was making me sick. I was too tired and weak to keep exercising. For me it isn't about just the weight loss. By eating back my exercise calories I am still losing weight and able to engage in the exercise I want to and need to for my fitness goals. I am also a lot more pleasant to live with and work with.

My 2 cents.

liftingbro

My maintenance is 2400. To lose 2 pounds per week I need about 1400 calories net or 1700 or so for 1.5 pounds.

I routinely burn 600-800 calories in my workouts, 5x per week.

So for a work out day I just ate 1700, burned 700 that would leave me at a net of 1000. A male should generally not be under 1500 net, 1200 for most women. So my total deficit would be 1400, far too much for someone my size.

Realistically I should probably be no more than 700-800 for my deficit. So, on this day I would eat closer to 2400 calories and still be on track to lose around 1.5 pounds.

If you have issues losing weight with this method you can always try eating back only 2/3rds of them and see if that helps.

rockerbabyy

My trainer says absolutely do NOT eat those calories! I am to eat 1100 calories a day PERIOD! When I hit a plateau, I go up to 1300...then when I hit another, back down to 1100 - and so on. Just my two cents -- it's worked for me so far. 43 lbs in 3 months...

my nutritionist said its a great idea to eat them back, at LEAST to net 1200/day.

SergeantSunshine_reused

the way mfp is set up, yes. they already have the deficit set for you to lose x-amount of weight/week.. if you add in exercise you need to eat more so that youre fueling your body and eating enough to function

*sigh* exactly this. If you eat 1500, then burn 900, then your body only has 600 calories to work on ALL DAY. Your organs and muscles need those calories to function! If not, say good buy to your muscle mass and metabolism.

I know this is a stupid question from me but what would be the point in burning it off in the first place?

Not stupid at all :] There are many benefits of exercise! Cardiovascular health, conditioning, helps you keep muscle mass :] stuff like that! Have to eat to fuel your body :]

SarabellPlus3

the way mfp is set up, yes. they already have the deficit set for you to lose x-amount of weight/week.. if you add in exercise you need to eat more so that youre fueling your body and eating enough to function

*sigh* exactly this. If you eat 1500, then burn 900, then your body only has 600 calories to work on ALL DAY. Your organs and muscles need those calories to function! If not, say good buy to your muscle mass and metabolism.

I know this is a stupid question from me but what would be the point in burning it off in the first place?

for me, because I like looking good and being strong and healthy; my life is about that, not about being skinny but weak and soft (aka: skinny-fat). I definitely eat back my exercise calories-- it remains a deficit but allows me to keep muscle. Even if your only goal is to look good, rather than be healthy and feel good, healthy muscle makes a body look so much better.

SergeantSunshine_reused

My trainer says absolutely do NOT eat those calories! I am to eat 1100 calories a day PERIOD! When I hit a plateau, I go up to 1300...then when I hit another, back down to 1100 - and so on. Just my two cents -- it's worked for me so far. 43 lbs in 3 months...

Just a note: Trainers are NOT experts in nutrition. Just sayin.

foremant86

My trainer says absolutely do NOT eat those calories! I am to eat 1100 calories a day PERIOD! When I hit a plateau, I go up to 1300...then when I hit another, back down to 1100 - and so on. Just my two cents -- it's worked for me so far. 43 lbs in 3 months...

Just a note: Trainers are NOT experts in nutrition. Just sayin.

Indeed.

rockerbabyy

I know this is a stupid question from me but what would be the point in burning it off in the first place?

MFPs calories per day already factors in your activity level. exercise you do outside of that is EXTRA, and you need to account for that by eating those calories back. dont think of it as exercising to lose weight... think of it as strengthening your body. you need to fuel your body for all the hard work youre doing to make your body stronger. weight loss is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise.

LemonPoppySeedMuffin

I feel so silly for asking that question, but thanks for those who answered me . Hope the topic poster got what she needed

ReinasWrath

the way mfp is set up, yes. they already have the deficit set for you to lose x-amount of weight/week.. if you add in exercise you need to eat more so that youre fueling your body and eating enough to function

Well MFP had me on a 1200 diet and when I wasn't losing some people suggested I eat more. Now I take in 1700 (600 defeceit from maintenance) So in this sort of case would you eat back or no?

Raf702

All depends on how much you burn on your exercise, and how much you've consumed in calories. For myself, I don't eat my "exercise calories" but I still consume enough macro-nutrients to hit my proper daily amount. If your burning 500+ cals on an exercise and only consuming 1000-1500 cals, then your body is only able to absorb about 500-1000 calories. Definitely not enough nutrients within those calories for your body to use. IF anything, I would consume half the amount of exercise calories.

rockerbabyy

Well MFP had me on a 1200 diet and when I wasn't losing some people suggested I eat more. Now I take in 1700 (600 defeceit from maintenance) So in this sort of case would you eat back or no?

depends on how much youre exercising, how much weight you have to lose, what your goal loss per week is..and what you actually NET

MIMITIME

If you go under Tools and calculate your BMR, it all makes sense then to eat back your exercise calories. The BMR shows a close estimate to how many calories your body burns just to breath, keep your heart beating etc if you did nothing but lay in bed all day.

ReinasWrath

Well I try to go for a burn of 400 a day, should I just try and keep my NET at 1200? (meaning I eat back if it is under and don;t eat back if it isn't?) I was always a little confused on this because I adjusted it myself.

rockerbabyy

Well I try to go for a burn of 400 a day, should I just try and keep my NET at 1200? (meaning I eat back if it is under and don;t eat back if it isn't?) I was always a little confused on this because I adjusted it myself.

at the very least i would make sure to net 1200. if youre still hungry after that, eat more of the exercise calories.. if youre not, dont worry about it.
thats what i do anyway..

ReinasWrath

That's pretty much what I've been doing too. Thank you so much for the advice!!!

Adina81

Thank you for everyone putting in some input of opinion!
Regardless of who says what; fact is: Someone is always going to disagree.

I think I am going to meet middle ground on this one and see how that goes to start.

Again, THANK YOU!
Every opinion counts/help!

Jo2926

Regardless of who says what; fact is: Someone is always going to disagree.

Especially on the internet!!

Everyone is slightly different, so regardless of what MFP calculations are we all need to tweak it a little bit to find out what works for us.

My advise for those not sure about eating back exercise calories is try it and see what happens. If you are happy with weight loss (over a few weeks, not days) great. If not try eating half of them, and if you're still not happy try not eating them. Trial and error helps you learn about YOUR body and what YOU need.

Jodye