Eating earned exercise calories?

xraychick82

Do you eat the calories you earn during exercise or not? I guess its a balance thing depending on the person; but does MFP recommend we eat what we burn as well? TIA

HonkyTonks

Yes it does and you should eat the calories that you burned. However, you have to be careful with exercise calories as sometimes they are overestimated - I usually eat back about 80%

turningstar

I usually eat some, but not all. I usually keep a deficit of 100-300 calories, but no more. Of course, I also eat a lot more than most of the people on here. Id rather build muscle strength than just focus on cutting calories to lose weight. I also don't like to be hungry!

may2490

The way I look at it... I am burning those calories because I am trying to lose some weight/fat. SO I DO NOT eat back those calories. I am not sure how MFP is set up to calculate, but I would rather not eat them back. Sort of defeats my own purpose and goal.

lipglossjunky73

I do not make a point of eating them. I either eat them if I am hungry, or need them to fuel my day, or leave them if I don't feel I need them.

BL_Coleman

I keep under my 1200 a day so far...if i add calories with working out ( i usually do) I get to eat better tasting and worse for me things..and have wine.

sunshinegirlnm

I eat mine back and I use a HRM to track my calories burned. I find the calorie calculations on MFP for exercise are always about 30% higher than what my HRM says. Seems that many of us using HRMs have noticed the same thing. Good luck!

JHB2011

I keep under my 1200 a day so far...if i add calories with working out ( i usually do) I get to eat better tasting and worse for me things..and have wine.

wine. meeeeeee toooo!

LindseyDD

I never eat my exercise calories - EVER!!

vjrose

Depends on the day totally, busy day at work and home add workout and yep I eat some of those calories, I try to net 1500, below that I don't lose.

tigersword

MFP sets up a weight loss deficit without exercise. So by eating back your exercise calories you are maintaining the deficit that MFP gives you, which is the way it should be. Exercise is NOT for losing weight, it's for getting fit. If you exercise, and don't eat enough, you will actually make your health WORSE, even though you are losing weight, due to muscle loss and nutritional deficiencies. If you want to make sure you're losing fat, keep the deficit small, a large deficit actually causes more muscle loss than fat loss.

Articeluvsmemphis

Do you eat the calories you earn during exercise or not? I guess its a balance thing depending on the person; but does MFP recommend we eat what we burn as well? TIA

lol, can of worms. you would get a kick out of using the "search" function and reading some of the responses to this question. but it's more a personal thing, most say yay! others say nay! go by how you feel but don't make it a habit of having a significantly low "net" total daily

beastmode_kitty

lol, can of worms. you would get a kick out of using the "search" function and reading some of the responses to this question. but it's more a personal thing, most say yay! others say nay! go by how you feel but don't make it a habit of having a significantly low "net" total daily

I totally agree! If I'm hungry, I eat or I drink water. But my MFP tells me on a daily basis I should eat 1680 calories. So I try to stick to that whether I exercise or not. I also don't eat and burn the same amount of calories day to day. Keeps my body from going plateauing. I lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks doing this method. So it's all a trial and error kinda thing. Gotta see what works for you!

KeegansMomma

Right now, early on in my weight loss I try NOT to eat back my exercise calories. To me it defeats the purpose of counting calories for my weight loss. However, once I get to the point where I NEED those calories to help maintain my weight, I'll eat them back. Calories are fuel for our bodies after all.

Nerdy_Rose

MFP sets you up to lose weight with NO EXERCISE AT ALL.

Pardon the caps, but I see people saying they don't understand how it is set up.

That said, you would lose weight if you stick to your calorie goal and don't exercise at all.
So, exercising makes your already existing deficit even deeper. I usually eat back 50% ish of my exercise calories. I am also on 0.5 lb per day weight loss.

The one thing I can say is that if you do extremely heavy/hard exercise and burn a lot of calories, at least eat back some.

xraychick82

Thanks for all the quick replies. I have it set to no exercise at this point. I have also entered that I am eating for pregnancy. I am having a c-section Friday Jan 13th (lol) and since I had one before, I know the recovery is a slow one. I am just starting out by journaling what I eat for now and the extra calories for baby and once I am recovered and get the OK from my OB, I will slowly start exercise (walking, aquafit). I figured I wouldn't count much of the exercise as I am a)starting out b) doing low intensity exercise and c) if my breast milk supply depletes. ( I will also be counting my breast feeding sessions). I also just need to make healthier choices this time around as I didn't with my first pregnancy and when my son was one, I was quite squishy.

Nerdy_Rose

Congrats on the baby! I don't have any knowledge about losing weight while breast feeding, but there are MFP groups for pregnancy and breastfeeding, etc. if you want to get in touch with people in similar situations.

HMonsterX

It really doesn't matter tbh.

There are pros and cons for both, and everyone reacts differently to it. Sure, if you dont, you may lose weight faster. But remember, the faster you lose, the more chance of loose skin at the end.

Also, some people exercise PURELY so they can eat more and make this whole process more enjoyable.

Personally, i try to stay around 14-1500 net, so my body doesnt get too used to very low net cal days, plus i dont have to cut down eating too much. This, for me, makes it far more enjoyable, and far more likely ill stick with it long term. That's why this has been so easy and enjoyable for me!

Jomoli

For me it depends on the intensity and duration. For high intensity workouts of an hour or greater i definitely eat back some to most my calories. For example, I went for a mountain bike ride today for 1 hr 15 min. My HR monitor tracked me at working off 710 calories. I ate about 500 of those. My reading and research on this indicates that you need to replenish your body well after exercise for better recovery, but make sure the calories are good healthy calories including a balanced combination of carbs, healthy fat, and protein. I wake up less sore the next day if I do this.

LeeDahlen38

I do and I don't. For the same reasons the others do. Sometimes it's inevitable. But I have a rule. I won't purposely eat more than half of my accumulated EVER. Most of the time I don't eat any. I just want a damn good deficit at the end of each day! That's my daily goal! Not the exact number. So When I hit that scale each friday, I know it's a negative!! #NoExcusesLetsGo!!!

MaryDreamer

I do the same as lipglossjunkie: "I do not make a point of eating them. I either eat them if I am hungry, or need them to fuel my day, or leave them if I don't feel I need them."

Elleinnz

Congratulations on the new arrival - not long to go....

I eat about 80% of my exercise calories ......this post might explain how MFP is setup - and why you should eat your exercise calories....

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

Crystal_Pistol

Feed that baby! Eat! Eat them all back. I am eating for myself and I eat them back and sometimes a few extra for good measure!

MaximalLife

Do you eat the calories you earn during exercise or not? I guess its a balance thing depending on the person; but does MFP recommend we eat what we burn as well? TIA

Yes, unless you want to stifle metabolism and lose lean body mass.

MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories.

The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.

MissMaryMac33

I can't believe there are still so many people who don't understand how this site works...

xraychick82

I can't believe there are still so many people who don't understand how this site works...

Was that a jab at me or another poster? I am new, only 4 days into this site and was asking what other people do with earned exercise calories.

kygiirl

I do not eat the calories that I gain from working out. I kind of view those calories as money in the bank in case I need them later in that week...LOL.

Dustinryan24

what would michael phelps do

jogdog

Usually I don't eat my calories back, but if I'm still hungry and I have the room for it left over, I will eat some healthy choices. Now that I set my calorie goal a bit lower than where it has been I eat back my exercise calories only when I exercise so it helps me want to exercise so I can eat a little more (trying to get back into exercising again so it's a good motivator). When my calorie intake was 1500-1600, I didn't eat back calories. I have lost weight both ways and just breaks down into what your body needs and what you want to do. There is no right or wrong answer. Try it eating back the calories for a week or two and then try it without and see which one you'd prefer. It takes time.

CowLover111

I don't eat them back intentionally, but they help me to not feel so bad if I slip up so I can keep moving in the right direction.

Tigermomma66

It took me a bit to understand how it works, because it's different. MOST sites you visit emphasize exercise as a major component so they will include the planned exercise calories in your totals. That's what I love about MFP - it takes into account that things come up and I might not be exercising for a period of time.

For anyone who still doesn't understand, the light bulb went off for me when I thought of Weight Watchers. On their plan, at least the last one I did, you were assigned a given number of points based on your weight, etc. So, if I were given 20 points a day, then as long as I ate my 20 points (and they were emphatic that you eat ALL those points) - I would lose weight.

In Weight Watchers, they would encourage you to exercise - but those were BONUS points. You were encouraged to eat them as well to enhance weight loss. :happy:

Doctors and many other professionals in weight loss & fitness recommend Weight Watchers. Their setup is just like MFP - only it is points rather than calories. That is good enough for me, so although it may seem counterintuitive - I am going to eat and enjoy those exercise calories. :drinker: