Do you eat back the calories you burned off from exercise??

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  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 8,018 Member
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    Yes, I eat back my exercise calories. I think that is the secret to my success on MFP. I never knew that was an option before, so exercise always seemed like a punishment. If I want to go out for a big dinner, I fit in a workout in the morning, so I can "afford" the splurge. I never feel deprived, so I don't get discouraged. I eat pretty clean, but I can have a candy bar or an order of fries if I budget for it.
  • xochi71
    xochi71 Posts: 33
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    Thank you for asking this!!!! I had hit a plateau when I started here at MFP. I was surprised that i needed to consume nearly 300 less calories but I was determined to lose the weight so I never ate my exercise calories. For the last 6 months I have struggled and actually gain back 10 lbs. I am frustrated but now after reading this I think I just might need to play with my calorie intake. A few more calories for the amount of exercise that I do might be the trick!
  • oats4breakfast
    oats4breakfast Posts: 225
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    I just setup my activity level and quota to include exercise cals and the adjust over time. So I end up eating the same each day regardless of exercise. Effectively, I'm zig-zagging my cal intake.
    I do crossfit and run different distances and swim, and sometimes just do active stuff. I also walk golf a few times a week. But I'm basically sedentary in other parts of my life. So if I were to set me at sedentary and then add back exercise, I'd have like 1800 cals to eat each day, then add anything from 200-800 cals back in exercise. One of the problems I found, asides from the inaccuracies, was that it was very hard to plan just what I was going to eat during the day. What if I planned to workout but didn't get to because something came up at work ? Then I might overeat or undereat or whatever.
    So now, I setup to eat 2200 cals a day, every day, regardless if I work out or not.
    There are some days where this is hard to make, so I may only eat 2000 but the next day, I might do a big workout and run too so I will need extra cals (you can feel it) so I'll eat 2400 cals that day. Over two days, I'm still at 2200 cals. So, as I do this, I can plan my diet easily and then after two weeks, if I only lost 1.5 pounds but was expecting 2 pounds, well then I can adjust my daily quota and reduce it be 125 cals per day.
    Why 125 ? Because the theory is 3500 cals per pound per week which is 500 a day. I was off by 1/4 pound per week so that's 125 cals.
    The same formula will be used if I loose 2.5 pounds instead of 2.

    I don't tweak it every two weeks, it was just an example.
    But I will also tweak if I find that I'm hungry all the time and are still loosing. Or if I'm always tired or whatever. It's a long game so I have time. 2200 seems to work really well for me. I'm fueled, feel good and perform well. Occasionally I will get more into me, but sometimes I don't need it too. It's certainly simpler and makes planning easier.

    EDIT: Often, what I eat post workout will make the difference between me eating 2000 or less versus 2200 or more. So I have a "eat back workout cals" function in there too. Almost all other planned meals are the same (same in cals, but variety to eat).
  • jscns
    jscns Posts: 6 Member
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    Thank you everyone for answering. I am noticing that i seem to eat about half of my exercise calories back and i lost 4 lb in 2 weeks so i think i might stick with what i'm doing for now and see how it goes. Then maybe experiment with it a bit to see what works for me.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    I eat every single one of them. :smile:
  • Mommsue3
    Mommsue3 Posts: 5
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  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    I eat most of them back...love having those calories to use!
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
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    ALWAYS eat back your exercise calories. I have lost a steady one pound a week doing this. If you don't, your body will not get what it needs to function properly. Trust me on this.
    Thank you! I flip out every time I see people not eating their exercise calories. You're right, it's how the site is set up, at the end of the day our goal and net should be equal.
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
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    Well I don't and those exercise calories just go to waste sometimes... No biggie.. I've kept weight off before, its only due to pregnancy that I'm overweight. I DO zig zag my calories though which in a sense means I do sometimes eat them back.. sometimes I don't. I know that I've created a 500 cal food deficit and up to 500 cal working out everyday so that's always worked for me.

    Whatever floats your boat. No need to get up in arms

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