Eat Back Your Calories?

MrsKite

I see a lot of people posting that we should eat back the calories we burn working out. I can burn 600 to 1500 calories a workout. That's a lot of calories to eat.

TavistockToad

eat them!

dg09

Reading through a few similar threads on here in recent days, I'd say a lot of people do not eat back their calories. I don't.

meerkat70

I see a lot of people posting that we should eat back the calories we burn working out. I can burn 600 to 1500 calories a workout. That's a lot of calories to eat.

Measured how?

MFP overestimates on most cardio,so enure you're trimming that number by about a third, if that's what you're doing to calculate burns.

psuLemon

Reading through a few similar threads on here in recent days, I'd say a lot of people do not eat back their calories. I don't.

Yes, but there is a huge difference between what people SHOULD do versus what people actually do. To answer the question, yes you should eat back your exercise calories (50-75% of them if MFP is the one estimating it) or you should include that in your TDEE calculation. So a sedentary person who workouts 5-6 days a week (like myself) would be considered moderately to very active so you eat them throughout the day.



www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

Brandie1029

I eat about half to take in over estimation. It's working for me! I tried not eating back my exercise calories and sticking to a little over 1200 calories but I wasn't dropping the calories. Once I upped my calories again....voila....I started losing again! Your body needs fuel.....feed it!

MrsKite

I measure my calorie burn with fitness monitor... I could go to McDonalds with the amount of calories I burn!!!

HonkyTonks

I measure my calorie burn with fitness monitor... I could go to McDonalds with the amount of calories I burn!!!

Well, looking at your diary you are definitely not eating enough. You are an active person and thus require more energy to sustain you. Try ditching the lean cuisine/healthy choice meals and eat a bigger lunch or something. Add in some healthy fats (avocados) and some more protein like chicken or eggs.

You could go to McDonald's but you could also eat more from foods that might provide you with more nutrition.

MrsKite

Thanks for taking a look. ( I was only kidding about the Mc Donalds)

junyr

You better get to it then.

Captain_Tightpants

Which HRM are you using? Some are notoriously inaccurate. Polar seem to be the preferred reliable brand around here.

I try to eat at least 50-75% of my exercise cals back. I don't eat them all because chances are I'm underestimating food cals and overestimating workout cals anyway, that's usually the case with most people.

albinogorilla

If you only were to eat 1200 calories, and then burn 1200 calories, you would take in no calories, and will eventually die. Thats no different than not working out and starving yourself, it FEELS different, but its not.

TNoire

I don't cause it takes 3500 BURNED cals to lose 1lb
if your eating back what you burn whats the point?
calorie min for males 1800
females 1200

guess what

Ive lost 7lbs since Feb 3rd to today NOT eating my cals back
cause I want to LOSE the weight
not maintain it



I eat between 1200-1300 a day
I burn between 500 - 2500 sometimes more

ashleynicol3

I will say that I was stuck at the same weight for a couple weeks & I started eating my exercise calories back this week & lost 2 lbs. I was eating around 1200 calories per day & burning about 200 from exercise, so I was only netting 1000 calories per day, if that. I'm now eating around 1400 calories per day (1200 + 200 from exercise), so I am netting around 1200. If I exercise a lot in one day, I won't eat all of them back, but I am trying to eat enough back to net at least 1200 calories & it seems to have made all the difference for me. It seemed counter-intuitive to eat more to lose more, but it has worked so far, so I'm going to continue this way!

MrsKite

Which HRM are you using? Some are notoriously inaccurate. Polar seem to be the preferred reliable brand around here.

I try to eat at least 50-75% of my exercise cals back. I don't eat them all because chances are I'm underestimating food cals and overestimating workout cals anyway, that's usually the case with most people.

Using a Polar...

junyr

I don't cause it takes 3500 BURNED cals to lose 1lb
if your eating back what you burn whats the point?
calorie min for males 1800
females 1200

guess what

Ive lost 7lbs since Feb 3rd to today NOT eating my cals back
cause I want to LOSE the weight
not maintain it

Do what you feel is right for you.

Eating back calories has some give depending on your body composition.

I eat mine back because my deficit is built into my profile and I'd rather my weight loss be as little lean mass as possible.

cranberrycat

My main goal is to exercise enough so that I can get more calories to eat! LOL

Seriously, though, if you are exercising like a fiend, then you should eat some it back, as you could experience some loss of lean body mass if you are not giving your body what it needs. I don't know a proven hard and fast rule, but I think that if you eat 1/2 of those calories back then you should be on the right track.

Think of it this way, MFP already gives you a calorie goal for weight loss, so if your net calories (total cals minus exercise calories) meets your calorie goal, then you should lose regardless of whether you eat back the calories or not. If you don't eat back the calories, then you may lose more (or faster), but again, you won't be feeding what your body needs to function at that higher level.

kryptonitekelly

You can drink them..protein shakes after a workout.

lind3400

yeh according to your diary your gunna starve to death.....

beckylawrence70

I'll usually eat about 75-90% back.......

taso42

Burn a lot, eat a lot. It's the way of the champion.