Eating back burned calories

Thinline1

I'm sure this has been asked before, but if your goal is weight loss, should you be eating back your burned calories? MFP says I have "earned" those calories....but.....I have a goal of about 1300 calories a day and burn about 3-400 through exercise 4x/wk and am STARVING on workout days. Should I be eating that back or is that counter-productive?

beccala18

Eat at least some of them back, especially if you are hungry. MFP already gives you a deficit based on what amount of weight to lose per week. There are arguments either way, but for me, I almost always eat most of them back.

twinmom01

Some people will say yes - others no...Personally I try not to eat back my exercise calories because I am working towards an overall calorie deficit and I still have a decent amount of body fat to pull from...I have a goal of 1400 a day for calories - most days I am about 1250-1300 - on my 3 main workout days I do my best to eat my goal (and usually a little more)

_GlaDOS_

Eat them. Eat them all.

killagb

Eat them. Eat them all.

This! :drinker:

CaptainGordo

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

dedaumier

It's not counter-productive. But obviously, the more you eat back, the slower your weight loss will be. I think if you're hungry, you should eat; your body is telling you it needs fuel.

rockerbabyy

Here is how it works, in a simplified manner:

You tell MFP: I want to lose 1lb per week.

MFP says: Okay, you need to eat X calories per day in order to lose 1lb/week, without exercise.

You do what MFP says, but then you decide to exercise and you burn an additional 400 calories. MFP then says "Hey, I told you to eat X per day to lose 1lb/week without exercise. You exercised, now you're going to lose it too fast and that's not ideal. Now I want you to eat X+400".

ilovemyhorse

I don't because MFP overestimates calories burned.

veganbaum

MFP isn't trying to sabotage your weight loss. Eat near to what it tells you to eat.

When you eat back your exercise calories you still maintain the same deficit to lose weight at whatever your goal is set to. You're hungry because you burned more energy than that 1300 is giving you - that goal is for daily activities, you have to fuel your body more for exercise. You can eat back only some if you're concerned about accuracy.

LorinaLynn

I eat them with relish. And sometimes ranch dressing.

Bellyroll

Eat them back. Have you seen episodes of biggest losers where they eat only 1500 cals or lower and do those hard core work outs and they dont lose weight one week? When they should because they do everything right. There is alot of things going on in weight loss(studying to be a dietitian) and you wonder why the numbers don't add up and you are not losing the weight when you should. So the best thing you can do is eat them back if you are hungry. I would not net under 1200 constantly. Good luck

Tarah1218

I don't because MFP overestimates calories burned.

Really? I think it depends on what exercises you are doing and if you are giving it your all....it underestimates weight training (if you really lift HEAVY) and it has been pretty close for the stair stepper (I do it on random mode).

I think you should eat back some, if not almost all, of your "Free" calories you get with exercise. If you are hungry your body is saying it needs food. Do you get enough protien? If I do not get enough protien I feel much hungrier. I can eat 1000 calories on leg training days, if most of those 1000 are protien sources. Obviously I don't make a habit of this, only if I forget to eat that day due to being out and about all day. If you a runner, you might want to eat more carbs, even though protien will still be important. I say eat them, or most of them, and see what happens. Losing too fast can be a bad thing. You can lose muscle if you push yourself too hard on the workout and/or the eating end.

jenkinsjerry

Some excellent thoughts/comments here...

I say that experimenting is key. The danger I see in "not" eating your burned calories is what I call the dreaded "Starvation Mode", where your body says, "Uh oh, I don't have enough calories today, so I'm going to hold on to the ones I have; store them as fat and live off them"... This can hault your weight loss, cause not so fun digestive challenges and so on. Operating for too long on less than your total recommended calories (exercise cals included), will cause you to get very weak as well, thus eventually leading to burn out and less energy for exercising, etc.

Also, do not rely upon MFP alone for exercise calories -- as there's no way it knows what "you've" done, really. The best antitode for really knowing is to wear a quality Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) while you work out. Polar is a good company to start with, and so many cardio machines will recognize the polar HRM chest-strap. When exercising free-form (e.g. without a cardio machine), the HRM and Watch are priceless for they give you an accurate caloric burn estimate that's based upon your age, gender, height, weight and heart rate over the course of your workout. Don't guess on calories burned.

You'll fully enjoy your exercise calories too -- especially now as Christmas and NY draws ever closer... Calorie intake goes up markedly in late December. Use your exercise cals as your secret weapon.

UsedToBeHusky

If you exercise and you are hungry then you should eat them back.

UsedToBeHusky

Some excellent thoughts/comments here...

I say that experimenting is key. The danger I see in "not" eating your burned calories is what I call the dreaded "Starvation Mode", where your body says, "Uh oh, I don't have enough calories today, so I'm going to hold on to the ones I have; store them as fat and live off them"... This can hault your weight loss, cause not so fun digestive challenges and so on. Operating for too long on less than your total recommended calories (exercise cals included), will cause you to get very weak as well, thus eventually leading to burn out and less energy for exercising, etc.

It takes a whole lot more than just one day for "starvation mode" to occur.

therealangd

If you are starving then eat them back.

WarriorMom2012

Bump

I have been wondering about this too.

twinmom01

Here is how it works, in a simplified manner:

You tell MFP: I want to lose 1lb per week.

MFP says: Okay, you need to eat X calories per day in order to lose 1lb/week, without exercise.

You do what MFP says, but then you decide to exercise and you burn an additional 400 calories. MFP then says "Hey, I told you to eat X per day to lose 1lb/week without exercise. You exercised, now you're going to lose it too fast and that's not ideal. Now I want you to eat X+400".

If this was true then when I submit my food for the day on wmy workout days MFP would tell me I am eating too few calories...on days when I only eat about 1200 with no exercise I get a little message from MFP telling me I am eating too few calories....on my workout days I will usually net about 1000 calories - I don't get the message I am eating to few calories when i submit...

The problem with MFP is it uses general calculations - and gives you numbers - I have found them to be off - I have mine set to loose 1 lb a week...but when I do calculations on my BMR if I eat 1400 calories a day and do no exercise I will not have a calorie deficit of 3500 - more like 2000 - so therefore I would not loose a lb a week...

The whole eating calories back takes into account a whole multitude of particular circumstances - this includes how much body fat you have - someone with a higher % of body fat wants to create a calorie deficit so you don't eat back...someone with a low body fat % may need to eat back their exercise calories. It is also dependant on the food you are eating and what type of exercising you are doing...simple cardio you may not need to eat anything back or very little - heavy lifting or strength training you may decide to eat back your exercise calories in the form of protien to help repair your muscles from your workout...

Basically you have to decide what is best for you and your body...if you are hungry YES you should feed your body - ultimately you should have a plan for your workout days and what you are going to eat when...if you are going to do strength training then factor in a good source of protien for after your workout - going to do cardio - factor in a good complex carb serving 30 -60 minutes before workign out...

Jorra

It's not counter-productive. But obviously, the more you eat back, the slower your weight loss will be. I think if you're hungry, you should eat; your body is telling you it needs fuel.

If you don't eat enough by not eating back exercise calories, the slower your weight loss will be. You will slow down your metabolism by not eating enough.

We can't always trust our bodies to tell us when we are hungry. Plenty of us have gotten here because of emotional or boredom eating. Your mind can track you into being hungry.

adjones5

I don't because MFP overestimates calories burned.

MFP greatly underestimates my burns.