Eating Back the Calories You Burned...

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  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    There are different answers depending on your BF %, your total calorie intake, type of exercise and your total exercise expenditure. What might be the best answer on Day 1 might not be the best strategy after you have lost 40 pounds.

    IMO, most of the variance in people's anecdotal evidence of whether or not it "works" can be traced to inaccuracies in estimating calorie intake, calorie expenditure, or both. It's more a question of the total deficit then it is the actual act of "eating back" the calories.
  • BackTatJIM
    BackTatJIM Posts: 1,140 Member
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    I am not sure anyone can give you a yes or no answer, do what works for you if you eat a few back and are still losing then great. All I can say is personally I try not to eat them back, but every once and awhile I might use a few and it has not effected my weight loss.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    Every calorie calculator I've ever seen suggests that you eat more if you have a more active lifestyle (ie. if you exercise more).
    MFP doesn't count exercise when it sets your daily calorie allowance, assuming that you will add (and eat) those calories when you exercise.

    So, the simple answer is:
    If you are using MFP to calculate your calories, then yes, you should eat extra when you exercise.
    If you are using a different calorie calculator, then most likely not because it probably already includes extra cals for exercising.

    The end result is going to be around the same number of calories, it's just a different method of getting there.
    .
    Many people here (including me) have had great success using MFP as it is designed (ie. following MFP recommendation and eating the suggested daily allowance plus exercise calories). It may seem illogical, but if you take the time to read the many threads about this, you'll see that it is in fact very logical. More so, really, than eating a random amount that guesstimates your exercise.

    But, its your body and your choice. No one is going to force you to eat those calories and if you don't want to, then don't, it makes no difference to anyone but yourself.
    Some people find great success on a very low calorie diet, others find that they lose a lot at first but either can't sustain such a reduced calorie lifestyle or find that their body responds by plateauing and they need to change things around to keep losing weight.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    Ooops, duplicate.

    I'll add this: www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
  • jdploki70
    jdploki70 Posts: 343
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    From the research that I have done, most doctors say to stay active, eat no less than 1200 calories if you are a man and no less than 1050 if you are a woman (this does not account for size, weight, pregnancy, etc). That being said, the simple answer is ask a doctor before doing anything extreme. If you know a dietitian, ask them too. The most common answer I have gotten from doctors is a simple "burn more than you eat, but don't deprive yourself of vitamins and minerals".

    Basically, if you want a real answer, ask a real doctor.
  • lu136mickey
    lu136mickey Posts: 202
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    Most days I eat them

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