Eat back your exercise calories?

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  • PodWif
    PodWif Posts: 16
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    I eat my calories back and I've lost all the weight I wanted plus a few extra pounds (26lbs in all). For me it was nice motivation to work out because I knew I could eat more if I got my workout in and I do like eating :)
  • dietfree2012
    dietfree2012 Posts: 868 Member
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    i think, in my opinion, it depends on where, u are in your journey...if u have a lot to lose..lets say over 25 pounds...its probably not crucial you eat them back...if you have less to lose, lets say less than 25 pounds, it is important to. Food is fuel and eventually you will need to eat them back to fuel your body for the exercise. It seems counteractive, but you eventually will have to do it. Your calorie allowance will get smaller the more you lose. So when you get down to an allowance of 1300 a day to lose weight and then you burn 500 calories, if you dont eat them bach you will net 800 calories which is not enough energy to function properly off of, therefore, eating those calories back will become more and more important. You will still lose just at a slower pace, which happens the closer you get to goal.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    Simply stated 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.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    I asked this same question to my physician and he said that I shouldn't eat them back. It is my personal opinion that you should not eat back your exercise calories and that by doing so assures that you have an added boost in the amount of calories (and pounds) that you burn. This works for me though it may not work for others. Losing weight is a lot of trial and error: try something and if it doesn't work, try something else.

    Did you explain to your physician that you're already eating at a deficit before exercise? I can't imagine a medical professional telling someone this, but what do I know.
  • Amanda0325
    Amanda0325 Posts: 245 Member
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    I've been eating some of them lol
  • Shannonnn92
    Shannonnn92 Posts: 86 Member
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    I try to eat mine back, but I hardly have any appetite when I work out, which is something I do every day... but I'm trying to make myself eat them back in a healthy way.
  • Quiing
    Quiing Posts: 261 Member
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    I havent, but I think I should. I've started lifting weights again and eating just 1500 cals leaves me STARRRRRVING.
  • EricMurano
    EricMurano Posts: 825 Member
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    Are we suppose to be eating back our exercise calories? I see it says I earned "bonus" calories when I exercise, but not sure if I should be consuming that much more in calories or leave it as a defecit. What have you all been doing and what results are you seeing if eating them back?

    That's the way MFP is set up, yes :)

    If you don't believe in that philosophy but you still want MFP to work for you then either don't log exercise or log less calories than you burned.

    As for what you should be doing there's a lot of discussion about this in the forums and on the internet in general. It's best to look for articles about it rather than asking forums because it'll just turn into a flame war.
  • rydn4h2o
    rydn4h2o Posts: 255
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    I think it depends on the person. Each body is different. Myself, if I eat them back, I find I have a hard time losing. But there's other people who can, and they drop weight like crazy. I guess what I'm saying is find what's right for you...good luck!

    :flowerforyou:
  • andythorn1969
    andythorn1969 Posts: 17
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    Personally, I only tend to eat my saved exercise calories if I feel hungry (which I often don't after exercise). Your body tends to tell you when you need to eat, that is once you've got past the eating out of boredom stage.

    Good luck!

    Andy
  • NicoWoodruff
    NicoWoodruff Posts: 369 Member
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    latoyabooker said: i think, in my opinion, it depends on where, u are in your journey...if u have a lot to lose..lets say over 25 pounds...its probably not crucial you eat them back...if you have less to lose, lets say less than 25 pounds, it is important to. Food is fuel and eventually you will need to eat them back to fuel your body for the exercise. It seems counteractive, but you eventually will have to do it. Your calorie allowance will get smaller the more you lose. So when you get down to an allowance of 1300 a day to lose weight and then you burn 500 calories, if you dont eat them bach you will net 800 calories which is not enough energy to function properly off of, therefore, eating those calories back will become more and more important. You will still lose just at a slower pace, which happens the closer you get to goal.

    ^^ This. Thank you, you said it better than I could. How old you are/short, small framed etc can make some differences too. Studies show that every year we age, we need less calories to maintain.
  • 2hungariangirls
    2hungariangirls Posts: 220
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/


    Try these links.
  • tessiemay04
    tessiemay04 Posts: 13
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    I use mine to top up what I can eat in a day. 1300 cals barely seems anything when you like to snack!
    Thankfully I cycle to and from work every day which gives me a nice 250cal boost to my diet :)

    I have only been on here a week, so far lost 3ib, so I'll have to wait and see whether this tactic continues to work for me!
  • TheNaturalNanny
    TheNaturalNanny Posts: 27 Member
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    Heres my theory on it... If i burn an extra 1000 calories in a day (which is normal for me) I am not going to stuff my face with 1000 more calories worth of food just to eat back the difference. If I am hungry I will eat, which often when i workout hard I am hungry. However if Im not hungry im not going to force myself to eat purely to make the numbers match. Somedays I eat back my excercise calories and somedays I dont. So far Im still losing weight.

    Weight loss works differently for every body, what works for some doesnt work for others. Some have to eat back the calories because the body can go into starvation mode and start slowing the metabolism thus holding on to your fat. some people are the opposite. everyones chemistry is different.

    i just say eat when your hungry and always make healthy choices.
  • Rinny_D
    Rinny_D Posts: 80 Member
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    im new here and I don't understand this eat back thing? Can you explain. Thanks,

    MFP sets you calorie target at the appropriate deficit for the weight loss you have set it to (without going below 1200), if you burn calories you are in excess of this deficit (eg you burned 200 through exercise and you are set to loose 1lb a week = -700)
    I wasn't eating my calories back when I started my weight loss (I had no idea about this concept before joining MFP) and 2 months in I plateaued, now eating most, if not all, and losing again.

    Just keep in mind a plateau is completely normal, natural and required to tell you and you're body that your body has become accustomed to what you were doing and to tell it to change, increase speed, endurance, , intervals, reps & sets in order to progress, become fitter, go further and continue/increase your weight loss if that continues to be a goal :)

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