eating exercise cals back?

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oilphins
oilphins Posts: 240 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Everyone,
Been on mfp now for about 6 weeks now and I am very happy with my progress. But I just want to know what to do about eating my exercise calories back. I usually dip into them but some people say you can eat them all and some say your not suppose to eat any. So I'm getting mixed messages. I normally leave about 300 to 400 calories at the end of the day after burning about 800 to 900 calories running so I'm eating about half of what I've burned. I'm losing weight and it's working but can anyone tell me what were suppose to do? Thanks.

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  • trollydollymolly
    trollydollymolly Posts: 107 Member
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    Well done you... you seem to be doing so well. I'm no expert but I would carry on doing what you are doing. I personally do not use my exercise calories but treat them as a reserve if I need to dip into them (which so far I havent!!!

    Take advice from others by all means, but do what you think is right for you.

    :wink:
  • him1025
    him1025 Posts: 44
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    i dip into if i need to like for a craving i just dont use all of them
  • Barbellsandthimbles
    Barbellsandthimbles Posts: 205 Member
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    Your diary is closed so I can't tell what kind of calories your netting during the day. From what I understand, you want to make sure you net your BMR. So, if your BMR is 1600, you ate 2000 cals and burned 800 cals, then you need to eat back at least 400 of those exercise calories to reach your BMR. The BMR is what your body would burn if you layed in bed doing nothing, so you're going to have a deficit. That being said, how is your energy level? If you're working out a lot and don't feel like you have much energy you may want to consider eating back more of your exercise calories. Otherwise, if it's working for ya then keep on trucking.
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
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    If it's working, KEEP DOING IT!

    It's possible that you are actually eating back all your exercise calories, depending on how accurately you are tracking what calories you are burning. I've verified mine as accurate, and it takes me 50 minutes on the elliptical with my heart rate pushing the limits of "cardio" to burn 700 calories, and I'm 6'3" and 216 pounds. 800 calories, for me, would be about a 60-minute full-tilt-boogie cardio burn.

    The reason for eating back your calories is so you don't get hungry, and so you control your weight loss and do it at a reasonable pace, which reduces the transition back to maintenance once you reach your goal. It's also to keep your metabolism up and get plenty of energy in your body to rebuild muscle and keep your workouts energetic.

    But if you're losing weight at the pace you set in your goals, good on ya', keep it up!

    If you're losing weight a lot faster, keep in mind that your body will probably start adjusting to a reduced caloric intake soon, your weight loss will slow, and you'll have to decide if you want to keep "chasing the rabbit" (lowering your caloric intake, which will lower your metabolism and make you hungry, which means you have to keep lowering your intake, etc), or try bumping your calories up (which probably means a brief weight GAIN as your metabolism comes back up).

    Also, don't forget to go back through the setup process and re-assess your goals frequently. I've found that for each couple of pounds I lose, the site takes away about 20-30 calories from my daily intake. Even though I'm rarely THAT close to my calories, I avoid a plateau by updating that number frequently. So far so good!
  • oilphins
    oilphins Posts: 240 Member
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    Thanks for your input everyone. I found out my bmr is 1635. Mfp is allowing me 1470 cals a day which was adjusted from 1530 after I lost the first 10 pounds. I try to burn 500 to 1000 cals at least 6 days a week, but the days I don't exercise, I definitly don't go over. I think I've only gone over twice since I started. I guess what I'm doing is working so I'll try not to let so much different advice discourage me too much. I really only want to get down maybe another 6 pounds, then I guess I can up my cals a little to maintain where I want to be. But one more question if anybody knows: If mfp allows me 1470 a day, I burn 1000 calories a day,which takes me to 2470 and I eat almost all my calories back say, 2400, will I still lose the 1.4 to 1.7 pounds a week? or will that just maintain what my weight is now. Thanks again everyone.

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