Do you guys eat back your exercise calories?

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  • angelfood111
    angelfood111 Posts: 2
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    I was eating the exercise earned calories, but I was either maintaining, losing very slowly or gaining! I always thought you had to eat them back, but recently I lowered my total calories for the day, do NOT eat my workout earned calories, and 10lbs came off in 4 weeks--which is great for me. I really don't know why this site makes it look like you have "earned" extra calories to be eaten when most people are here trying to lose weight.
    Also, maybe it depends on individual metabolism...?
  • jessibella714
    jessibella714 Posts: 2
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    whats the point in eating them back when u push to work them off? I was told by a doctor to eat but workout too, healthy people with healthy weight work out to stay the same it would make sense to me that heavier people would work harder, i try and stay in the negative myself i eat 900 to 1400 a day depending on my hunger and i always overwork it because my daughter needs a more fit mom
  • mznisaelaine
    mznisaelaine Posts: 2,262 Member
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    I tend to eat back about half. My logic? I'm likely underestimating calories and overestimating burn. :smile:



    ^^^ This, I try to do this...But today I was super hungry so I ate like 95% of them back :)
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    whats the point in eating them back when u push to work them off? I was told by a doctor to eat but workout too, healthy people with healthy weight work out to stay the same it would make sense to me that heavier people would work harder, i try and stay in the negative myself i eat 900 to 1400 a day depending on my hunger and i always overwork it because my daughter needs a more fit mom
    The point for me is to eat enough. :smile: I'm trying to NET 1200-1400 calories a day. If I don't eat back some of the 500-700 calories I burn exercising I won't be eating enough.
  • ElizaRoche
    ElizaRoche Posts: 2,005 Member
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    No I dont.. I just eat my 1200, no matter what!
  • hedwighigh
    hedwighigh Posts: 299
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    I'm not really worried about losing weight anymore just inches so I'm just trying to hit my BMR which is around 1540 so I try to get around that in my net calories. I was eating around 1200 but I slowly moved it up by about 100 per week. I've gained a little weight but my inches are the same or less depending on which part of me you're talking about. I mainly just want to eat the extra calories in order to be able to work out more effectively for my body. I think less than 1500 would be too little for my body now anyway (I'm 5'10 and 153-157 pounds).

    I would like to eventually get to 145 but I'm not in any hurry anymore.
  • SPBROOKS68
    SPBROOKS68 Posts: 561 Member
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    depends on the day...
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
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    Depends on if you're trying to lose weight or if you're trying to be healthy.

    If you're just trying to lose weight, no. Don't eat them back. You'll lose lots of weight in muscle mass. If you're trying to be healthy, you should absolutely eat them back.
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
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    Yes, I eat all of them back, all of the time!
  • CoryIda
    CoryIda Posts: 7,887 Member
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    Sure do!
  • lissymae11
    lissymae11 Posts: 71
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    I eat them back if I'm hungry, otherwise I don't force it unless I have like 1000 left over. I'm not really in a rush to lose the weight though, and I know I'll stay more motivated if I'm not hungry all the time. It's also more of an incentive to me - if I exercise, I can eat more. I even find myself craving healthy foods now :)
  • M1chelles5
    M1chelles5 Posts: 107
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    No.

    You can just make it a whole lot easier by not tracking the caloric expenditure of exercise. Given that most people overestimate this anyway, why make it more complicated than it needs to be?

    Exactly!!! The cardio machines are not accurate...neither is MFP. I fill up and then I'm done. If I have a craving I dont belive in depriving myself but I have enough willpower and self control to satisfy my hunger THATS IT. I know I'm starving after cardio so I plan my daily menu accordingly. Same for my heavy lifting days. This works for me :)
  • CassieReannan
    CassieReannan Posts: 1,479 Member
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    Yes, I do if I am hungry. Which is pretty much always.
  • Amy_Lee_2012
    Amy_Lee_2012 Posts: 156 Member
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    Typically, no. If it's a special occasion or a holiday, I might dip into my workout calories, but even when I do, I never eat them all back.
  • ericgAU
    ericgAU Posts: 271
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    I wouldnt be eating back if I was running a deficit. Bulking up now so on the days I do cardio and depending on how my eating has gone for the day I probably would eat some of them back.
  • Glucocorticoid
    Glucocorticoid Posts: 867 Member
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    No.

    You can just make it a whole lot easier by not tracking the caloric expenditure of exercise. Given that most people overestimate this anyway, why make it more complicated than it needs to be?

    Exactly!!! The cardio machines are not accurate...neither is MFP. I fill up and then I'm done. If I have a craving I dont belive in depriving myself but I have enough willpower and self control to satisfy my hunger THATS IT. I know I'm starving after cardio so I plan my daily menu accordingly. Same for my heavy lifting days. This works for me :)

    Finally. I have not lost all hope for this thread after all :tongue:
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
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    Exactly!!! The cardio machines are not accurate...neither is MFP. I fill up and then I'm done. If I have a craving I dont belive in depriving myself but I have enough willpower and self control to satisfy my hunger THATS IT. I know I'm starving after cardio so I plan my daily menu accordingly. Same for my heavy lifting days. This works for me :)

    Did I burn 800 like the machine said, or only 700? Oh well, may as well just assume I burned 0.

    Get a heart rate monitor. It's 2012. There's no reason to be uninformed about what you accomplished.
  • doinitforme2012
    doinitforme2012 Posts: 98 Member
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    If your trying to lose weight, no you dont eat them back, the bigger defict the more you will loose, i have over a 2000 calorie defict every day im loosing 5 pounds a week by doing this

    this. doesn't sound healthy. like that 500 calorie diet that a lot of people were doing last year. as soon as you start eating a normal maitnence calorie goal you gain weight back.

    I always eat back all my exercise calories. exercise is for fitness and firming and toning. not to create a deficit.
  • BaconMD
    BaconMD Posts: 1,165 Member
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    Yes... Losing just fine, and I don't want to destroy my metabolism.
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Ugh! Here we go again. Yes and No. That ought to clear it up. Well, maybe it doesn't. Ok, try this. It depends. There...nope still kinda iff. Ahh, here we go. If your deficit is low and your calories is high then you ought to be able to balance them off by adding it back it. Nope, that doesn't work either. I guess there is no 100% of the time a correct answer. Everybody is different and our goals are different too. So there really is no clean cut yes or no answer on this. I would suggest you do some research along the lines of what your goals are.

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