Should I eat my burned calories?

tball1383

Because your body is like a car, the further the car drives the more fuel it needs. The more you workout the more food you need. Your body burns way more calories on days you workout so in turn you should eat back at least half of those calories. You should always have a NET of 1200 minimum.

I agree. 1200 minimum or your body thinks it is starving! I currently am having the issue of losing my last 5 pounds so I am trying to only eat about half of the calories I burn per day. I also have cheat days (FUN days I like to call them). Over 3 months I have lost 20 pounds (5'3 currently 125 pounds) by exercising with TurboFire 6 days a week and using a 1200 calorie deficit (total - exercise). I am pretty sure now my metabolism is in full gear because even when I don't exercise and eat too many calories I don't gain weight. It is hard work for sure so good luck!

channa007

You likely need a lot more than at least 1200 colries a day. Use MFP to calculate your BMR. Your BMR is the number of calories your body needs to function at total rest (to keep your heart beating, to breathe, etc.). If you are eating less calories than your BMR, you may lose weight at first, but eventually you WILL enter starvation mode, and you will hit a serious weight loss plateau. On top of that, it won't be fat you are losing, but a lot of lean muscle mass as well. It's not healthy to deny yourself the calories your body needs to function.

My BMR is 1560 cal/day, and MFP had me eating at 1350. I have found it impossible over the last several months to move past 163 pounds. In fact I actually started to gain a little weight back. Now that I'm eating at least my BMR every day, things are starting to settle back down for me, and I feel much better. Plus I'm no longer in starvation mode, so my body isn't panicking and holding onto fat.

So to answer your question, you do not need to eat back exercise calories, UNLESS the amount of exercise you do takes your total net calories for the day below your BMR. As long as you're eating your BMR, you will lose weight and will do so in a healthy way.

As for the TDEE-15% arguments, this likely will work as well, but it's a lot less complicated to just eat your BMR. Eating BMR also let's you burn more calories per day than TDEE-15%.

Good answer! Yes eat under BMR and if you plateau then you need to re-evaluate, eat more/less calories and up your workout.

Meaganandcheese

I don't always eat them the day I earn them, but at some point during the week, almost always. I wear an HRM so I know exact numbers with confidence.

sabrinalg

Find what works for you. I personally don't eat back my exercise calories, but they are there if I should go over on my calories and even with that I don't eat them all back. I have tried eating back my exercise calories, and when I do I don't lose. So, find what works for you because everybody is different.

smor27

I only eat back calories if I am not going to have the initial base calories. 1600 for a guy. If I fall below that but not by that much I don't eat them back. I found that f I do eat them back every time I am more in a maintenance mode and do not lose any weight.

myfitnessnmhoy

oh my goodness i cant cope with this i am scared of ruining it and adding more weight by eating back calories that are too overestimated...on the other hand i dont want my metabolism to slow down or my body to store fat through not eating enough calories! either way i dont trust computer generated guesses to make the right choice for me...our bodies are all so different! i understand the frustration a person who suffers from anorexia feels. so much to think about ! i have started thinking about these things all the time so worried about what i do !

You relax and accept that the estimates are probably pretty good. If the estimates are wrong, your weight loss may be briefly delayed while you and your body get on speaking terms and you can learn to listen to what it is telling you. In the meantime, start drinking plenty of water and get your macros (carbs, fats, proteins) in balance. Eat what the site recommends, including exercise calories.

Before getting all worked up about it not working, going off and trying all sorts of things and getting confused - keep it simple and try using the site the way it was designed to be used. There's a lot of good science behind the site being designed the way it is.

fernanda78

I agree with yes and no. My main treat from exercise is to be able to have more flexibility. I sometimes used them..I sometimes don't. I feel better and less tempted (mentally especially during those crazy craving moments).. to have extra calories to play with. That's just my opinion. :blushing:

ShellyShuey

THIS -- must use an HRM.

Kebby83

I knew a rachelEwok once.

dgillary

LOL at all the experts on here. Go burn 1500 cals a workout and don't eat them back, see how long you last! Hint YOU WON'T.

prtybrwneyescd

I eat most of them back and I continue to lose weight each week... I'm down 28 pounds in less than 4 months. I'm in a healthy BMI range now and just trying to shed my last belly fat... I highly recommend that you eat what you burn. You are already starting at a several hundred per day calorie deficit. Why would you want to be hungry? Why would you want your body to run on fumes all the time? It is not necessary. Eat a balanced diet, and don't deprive yourself treats. That way you are more likely to stick with it... This should be a new way of life, not a quick fix.

Sooooo very true! Thank you.

HMK3

Webona293

I just went to that site LMAO!!

BeantownSooner

If you search this topic, it's been answered many times.

If you have read through how MFP is set up when you started your account, you would have noticed that MFP already creates a deficit for you, regardless of exercise. Which means that even if you don't exercise you will lose weight. When you exercise, you further increase that deficit, possibly to an unhealthy level. This is why MFP tells you to eat your exercise calories back. Think of food as fuel. Your body needs fuel.

^^^^^^^^^^THIS! You can lose weight by JUST sticking to your allotted calories...Look at your NET calories for the day....Let's say you eat 1200 calories and burn 600 exercising...Your body is only getting the 600 you didn't burn off...that is NOT ENOUGH. Please Please watch your NET calorie intake for that is the important number.

Yeah but what if you have 2 - 25 pound tires of fat around your belly? Does your body just ignore that fuel source?

JacksMom12

Way back when I was your age we never even THOUGHT about eating back exercise calories. We lost weight. We didn't starve to death and we didn't die horribly malnourished. Sometimes I think everything has to be so over thought. Eat less. Exercise. Lose weight. Pretty simple.

And lose all my muscle along the way? Be cranky and hungry? Ew, no thanks I'll do it my way. Eat 2000 calories, train like a beast, look awesome. The end.

SeannyB

Way back when I was your age we never even THOUGHT about eating back exercise calories. We lost weight. We didn't starve to death and we didn't die horribly malnourished. Sometimes I think everything has to be so over thought. Eat less. Exercise. Lose weight. Pretty simple.

And lose all my muscle along the way? Be cranky and hungry? Ew, no thanks I'll do it my way. Eat 2000 calories, train like a beast, look awesome. The end.

Thank you! So true. Reading through these comments I was so shocked that people are exercising over their deficit and NOT eating ANY of their calories back. Good luck getting fat again because you won't be happy keeping that up forever.

jkcrawford

Way back when I was your age we never even THOUGHT about eating back exercise calories. We lost weight. We didn't starve to death and we didn't die horribly malnourished. Sometimes I think everything has to be so over thought. Eat less. Exercise. Lose weight. Pretty simple.

^^^^^This

underwater77

Listen to your body. I am usually famished on my big workout days - there is no way I would be able to not eat at least some of the calories back. The bottom line is and always will be - burn more than you eat. Period.

samkomissarov

I use it like a safety net. If i dont feel like eating them back I dont. If im neutral about it i dont. If im hungry than I do. It gives you room to be flexible.

best answer yet

trobbin88

I look forward to eating them back.

Chadomaniac

i eat them back , reason being is WEIGHT TRAINING and the afterburn effect . you probably burning more than your reccomended daily allowance , i say eat atleast half of what u burnt during cardio.. its not 100% accurate

irunfree1

I eat them all back and I have consistently lost 2 pounds per week average for 18 weeks. My daily goal is set up to account for a 2 pound per week loss, for me that is net calories a day. I think it is very important to eat back the calories because it is really the best way to get the macro-nutrients you need if you are exercising or otherwise focus on protein consumption etc. Eating the extra calories give back what my body needs for the exercise I did to burn them off as long as my NET consumption remains at 1200. I typically exercise about 400-600 calories off a day, my actual goal is to eat as many calories as a I can but burn them off to get to the net of 1200. I do this though by eating very good whole foods as much as possible, and also breaking those calories up between 5-6 meals a day (I think this is extremely important). Again, I net 1200 daily and I eat back all the calories over that. I am 37 and have dropped from 205 to 168 over about 18 weeks using this method. I feel completely nourished and have monitored my body fat percent to make sure I am not losing muscle, i have gone from about 28% body fat to 16% body fat. The key to that is getting enough protein which I find the extra calories are needed to get enough protein and still eat a balanced diet. Some weeks I loose 3-4 some weeks I loose nothing, but that has to do with water retention and other factors, the trend is almost perfectly consistent with 2 pounds per week loss average. If there is a day that I dont or cant eat them back then its no big deal, just like there are days I go over- thats when I focus on the weekly consumption to make sure it balances out.

My understanding is that if you dont eat back your calories is that you will potentially burn more than you want which your body may recognize as starvation and you dont loose weight in a health way or you start to burn muscle. Of course this is determined by what your daily calorie goal is set up to be. Mine is set up to loose 2 lbs. for week and the decrease of calories is built into that calculation. If your goal is set up to loose 1 lbs per week or maintain this this may be different for you. I am completely surprised that following the daily calorie consumption determined by the app, tracking everything I eat and all the exercise that I have dropped the weight exactly as planned- amazing! My mother is 62 and using this app following the same principals and has lost 1 pound per week average over 8 weeks, and 1 lbs. per week is exactly what her daily NET calorie goal is set up to be. She eats back everything burned off to keep her net consumption the same daily.

Right now I am transitioning to maintaining my weight and then trying to gain .5 - 1 pound per week in muscle by doing strength training. Trying to figure out how many calories to eat to support muscle growth without gaining more fat is tricky....

shev11

I eat when I'm hungry...

etoiles_argentees

I drink when I'm dry...

WendyTerry420

I know that MFP says that I 'earn' calories by working out.
But it seems silly to me to eat what you burned. What's the point in working calories off if you just eat them back?
Do I have to eat them back?
Maybe this is a silly question (and it's probably been asked before), but I'm genuinely curious, because I don't usually eat them back, but I wonder if I should .

If the calories you burn are *in addition* to the deficit already created, then you could end up with a calorie deficit that's too high. If your deficit is too high, it will slow down your metabolism, hindering your progress.

Mavrakiss

I'm the same height -1/2" sane weight. I had a nutrition person do my calories
And they are actually higher then what this site suggests so under goals I adjusted.

Cals 1428
Carbs 97
Proteins 171
Fats 40

Problem with 1200 is its not enough and later on will be a problm

lina011

i do ....... but i seem to burn alot of calories some days and can go under my calorie allowance, it really also depends and how i am feeling if i see something really yummy i let myself eat it ( which i have been doing lately.

allthenamesaretaken1

If you search this topic, it's been answered many times.

If you have read through how MFP is set up when you started your account, you would have noticed that MFP already creates a deficit for you, regardless of exercise. Which means that even if you don't exercise you will lose weight. When you exercise, you further increase that deficit, possibly to an unhealthy level. This is why MFP tells you to eat your exercise calories back. Think of food as fuel. Your body needs fuel.

^^^ I found this very useful.

Tamefearnua

I know that MFP says that I 'earn' calories by working out.
But it seems silly to me to eat what you burned. What's the point in working calories off if you just eat them back?
Do I have to eat them back?
Maybe this is a silly question (and it's probably been asked before), but I'm genuinely curious, because I don't usually eat them back, but I wonder if I should .

The best thing to do with your I 'earn' calories
is to lodge them in a calories bank
or sell them on ebay
"Maybe this is a silly question (and it's probably been asked before),"
no its not a silly question and you are the first to ask it :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Ditchy69

When I burn calories from treadmill I add it to MFP and it adds the 500 on top of my daily allowance. I could be wrong but I just looked at it as eating another 500.