Can you eat back your calories

tiffloy

Buying myself extra calories to eat is my favorite part! If I want more I exercise more and I steadily lose weight as long as I keep track of what I eat. In fact I told my husband yesterday that a bike ride to Dairy Queen will burn 200 calories so I could ride up there and get figure out which blizzard (or portion of a blizzard) is 200 calories then eat it and its like it never happened. He thinks I'm crazy but it works and i don't deprive myself of treats.

albinogorilla

I would say no. It makes no sense to me, you are burning calories which is good! You are supposed to burn more calories than you take in each day, through a combination of exercise and natural calorie burn. My advice, don't eat them!

by that logic you recommend if you eat 1200 calories, and you spent enough time working out to burn 1200 calories, which many of my friends do, you say dont eat anything else? That means you have a zero net calorie number for the day............if you burnt up all you ate, then what is left to run your vital organs, and replenish the tissues that are constantly dying and being replaced in your body?

I mean isn't that how weight loss works? You burn more than you take in and that is how stored fat gets burned up?? I am only saying this because it has been told to me by " fitness buffs" it could be false information. But it made complete sense to me?!

your neglecting the fact that you need calories to remain alive..............if you burn more calories, through exercise, than you eat, you are forgetting about the calories you need to survive.......... this site tells you how many calories to eat to lose whatever amount per week you want, up to 2lbs.............you dont have to exercise at all for that to happen.

Jenne1979

Well I thank you for your knowledge...see this is why I am here In my defence though, I never said to burn all of your intake off of exercise alone...I said the combination of exercise combined with your natural calorie burn. Though that information could still be false...I dunno :0/

susannamarie

I mean isn't that how weight loss works? You burn more than you take in and that is how stored fat gets burned up?? I am only saying this because it has been told to me by " fitness buffs" it could be false information. But it made complete sense to me?!

your neglecting the fact that you need calories to remain alive..............if you burn more calories, through exercise, than you eat, you are forgetting about the calories you need to survive.......... this site tells you how many calories to eat to lose whatever amount per week you want, up to 2lbs.............you dont have to exercise at all for that to happen.

In addition to what bigbear said:
If your calories are THAT low, eventually your body is going to decide it's never going to get properly fed again. That means that when you DO put some extra food into it (which most people do at some point), it's going to do its best to store the food however and wherever it can. It's also going to do its best to cling to whatever fat reserves there are, because it doesn't know when the famine's going to lift.

Does this matter to someone who's, say, eating 1300 calories and burning 200? Probably not that much, although I'd still prefer to net 1200. But does it matter to someone who's eating 1300 and burning 800? Yes.

10_M

I agree that this tool on the site is difficult to understand. I actually don't use it because I feel like you do. If to loose weight I need to eat 1200 calories a day, then if I burn 200 more by exercising that should be a bonus and a way to loose more in a smaller amount of time. I guess for someone who just wants to focus on the 1.3 pounds a week they can loose from eating correctly this helps them see what they are burning from working out and gives them the chance to add it back in.

I say, what is the point in working your butt off if you are just going to turn around and put that energy back in your body. I think the site should give us a way to record our exercise without having to add it to our daily calorie goal.

You eat back the calories to feed your muscles, and burn the fat :P Not to mention 1200 is the amount of calories your body needs to live!

Papa_Swearingen

I have a goal of 1670 cals a day, but thats really not a lot of food for me to eat... I will in turn burn anywhere from 400-500+ cals in a single workout. I eat a lot of those back, so yes its really a 2000 cal diet, but with exercise.

jdelot

I have not been able to find a clear answer on this. When I work out, can i eat back my calories?

When you setup your profile, you entered you weight, activity level, and weight loss goal...let's say 1 pound per week.
MFP then gave you a goal for calories. I'm not sure what you weight is, but for example 1300 calories. That number already has a 500 calorie deficit built in. So, if you hit that number at the end of the day, you will have a 500 calorie deficit....even if you eat back your exercise calories. However, I don't think MFP will go below 1200...so if you're small already...you may need to do some math.

AntWrig

I would say no. It makes no sense to me, you are burning calories which is good! You are supposed to burn more calories than you take in each day, through a combination of exercise and natural calorie burn. My advice, don't eat them!

Why"?

AntWrig

I just started this site but eating them back makes no sense to meet and I find it so frustrating b/c I SUCK at math and I find it confusing when I am looking at my food journal. How many damn calories do I have left? Haha!

Why do you log your exercise?

Exactly. Exercise is already factored in.

IvoryParchment

All that matters is the overall total calories, and how honestly/accurately you entered them.

I definitely eat back my calories. Why they hell else would I work out, except to be able to eat more?

gleechick609

OP, If you are following MFP guidelines, yes, eat your exercise calories back. You can also search for topics that you have questions on. 99% of the time, there are answers already out there Good luck!

Jozie_

I don't have an opinion on whether you should or shouldn't eat them back. I eat mine back and it works for me have had a steady loss since I joined.

Cheri_Moves

I have been really struggling with this myself. I recently picked up the intensity and frequency of my workouts, turning them into "training" for my first triathlon this summer, but i am stuck at the same weight. I've figure this topic has something to do with my plateau, so I came to the message boards looking for help and found some very helpful websites with what seems to be legit math and reasoning.

http://calorieneedscalculator.com/index.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110126090511AAlE1Qn

Maybe these will help you too! (I now believe I need to up my calorie intake by 300 to meet my lowest required caloric intake)


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