do you eat exercise calories as well?

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  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    wow, this is a new refreshing topic :indifferent:

    I sense the sarcasm and some of us just started here. These things can be confusing. And unless you have a solid answer that backs up your knowledge, then why even respond? Have some respect for newbies. I think its a very valid and important question to have clarified if you want to be healthier and lose weight.

    To be fair, it gets asked almost daily so I can understand the sarcasm, especially when there is a search facility.

    I understand having some tolerance for newbies, but I also epect newbies to do a bit for themselves to avoid the sarcastic answers by reading the stickied threads at the top, which explain how MFP works, and say NEWBIES Please read me.

    like these

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    Happy bed time reading - good luck :flowerforyou:
  • aubreykkkk
    aubreykkkk Posts: 147 Member
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    I try to get negative net calories. So, yes :)
  • julieh391
    julieh391 Posts: 683 Member
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    wow, this is a new refreshing topic :indifferent:

    Glad you're getting your jollies trying to make new people feel stupid. Ugh.

    To answer the question, yes, most of them. And I'm losing 1.5-2lbs a week. I also don't use a heart rate monitor, so I plug in lower numbers than MFP says for calories burned. I don't want to overestimate how much I'm burning.
  • wolfi622
    wolfi622 Posts: 206
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    Typically, No, I often eat back some - generally no more that 1/4 of them and never more that 1/2. Have never been unhappy with that choice.
  • tizzie_14
    tizzie_14 Posts: 72
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    NO. Why? Exercise is your daily deficit. If you are on a weight loss, why would you give it up?

    Exactly! It seems that the people that say "eat them back" complain about not losing weight, and those that take them as a deficit have nice weight loss numbers.

    MFP calculates a deficit in the amount of calories it gives you. By not eating your exercise calories back you are not consuming or (netting) the proper amount of calories. Example - you eat 1200 calories. you exercise and burn 400. You are only netting 800 calories for the day which is too low, not healthy, not sustainable. And eating too few calories can actually result in slow weight loss or a plateau. It is important to fuel your body and work outs!!!

    What they said!
  • HausOfTina
    HausOfTina Posts: 92
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    I aim to eat 1/2 of them back. For many weeks I tried eating the full amount... something wasn't adding up... I was either staying the same or gaining. I think that MFP estimates a higher burn than what I'm actually burning (hope to invest in a HRM soon).

    THX.
  • angelalf1979
    angelalf1979 Posts: 244 Member
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    wow, this is a new refreshing topic :indifferent:

    I sense the sarcasm and some of us just started here. These things can be confusing. And unless you have a solid answer that backs up your knowledge, then why even respond? Have some respect for newbies. I think its a very valid and important question to have clarified if you want to be healthier and lose weight.

    To be fair, it gets asked almost daily so I can understand the sarcasm, especially when there is a search facility.

    I understand having some tolerance for newbies, but I also epect newbies to do a bit for themselves to avoid the sarcastic answers by reading the stickied threads at the top, which explain how MFP works, and say NEWBIES Please read me.

    like these

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    Happy bed time reading - good luck :flowerforyou:

    If someone has to be sarcastic then they need to just move on. Sometimes instead of doing endless google searches for things you don't quite understand, in my opinion it is better to get an answer from a consensus of people that have the same goals in mind. Also if you are new to this site, its just easier to post a topic like this then to search forums. Once you know your way around it does get easier. There is no room for sarcasm. You never know who it could discourage.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    NO. Why? Exercise is your daily deficit. If you are on a weight loss, why would you give it up?

    This is what I thought too. Surely if you're trying to lose weight, you're trying to create a deficit so why eat some of that deficit back?! It doesn't make sense to me, and I've never understood it when other people on MFP talk about eating back their calories. If someone could explain, that would be much appreciated :)

    If you're setting yourself to maintain or lose slowly and creating/increasing a deficit through exercise, that's an absolutely valid way to work the system.

    I could set myself to maintain (about 2000/day) and not eat exercise calories, or I could set myself quite a bit lower and then eat the exercise calories, and I'll end up with the same total calories. If I do both -- set my calories low AND continue current expenditure through exercise without eating the calories back -- I'll end up under 50% of TDEE, and I just don't feel good there.
  • Deedsie
    Deedsie Posts: 348 Member
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    I customized my goals with MFP (meaning I didn't let it decide I was going to eat 1200 calories and could add and eat exercise calories.) I set my goal using the scooby calculator in the eat more to lose weight group. It added in my exercise to my daily goal. I don't worry about going a little over and I still log my exercise and if I am way below my BMR after exercise than I eat more. I'm losing a little less than a lbs a week. I weighed 145 lbs when I started in May and now weigh 138 lbs.
  • turquoise_elephant
    turquoise_elephant Posts: 83 Member
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    NO. Why? Exercise is your daily deficit. If you are on a weight loss, why would you give it up?

    This is what I thought too. Surely if you're trying to lose weight, you're trying to create a deficit so why eat some of that deficit back?! It doesn't make sense to me, and I've never understood it when other people on MFP talk about eating back their calories. If someone could explain, that would be much appreciated :)

    If you're setting yourself to maintain or lose slowly and creating/increasing a deficit through exercise, that's an absolutely valid way to work the system.

    I could set myself to maintain (about 2000/day) and not eat exercise calories, or I could set myself quite a bit lower and then eat the exercise calories, and I'll end up with the same total calories. If I do both -- set my calories low AND continue current expenditure through exercise without eating the calories back -- I'll end up under 50% of TDEE, and I just don't feel good there.

    Thank you for this. So if I feel fine doing so, I can continue with a deficit in the calories I eat, as well as exercise?
    I'm rarely hungry, I can do my workouts (they push me, but in a good way!) and I don't feel tired. It seems to be working for me so far doing it this way, but I've seen so many people talking about eating their calories back I wondered if that was the way I should be doing it.
  • 916lude
    916lude Posts: 305
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    I eat most if not all back. I'm already at a calorie deficit to lose 1lb a week so eating my exercise calories back is fine with me. Still losing weight.. still staying on track!
  • MrsLong1980
    MrsLong1980 Posts: 181 Member
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    Earn them, then eat them!

    What he said :D
  • tryinghard71
    tryinghard71 Posts: 593
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    Yes!!!!


    Or drink them :drinker:
  • artslady96
    artslady96 Posts: 132 Member
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    I don't plan to eat them, but I don't freak out if I use 10 or 20 of them (I burn 330 calories per cardio workout at the present time). Then again, I'm on the 2-lb per week track because I have a total of 90+ lbs to loose. Guess it all depends on your weight loss needs and how you feel. Definitely don't feel guilty about using them as long as you are loosing weight doing so.
  • tryinghard71
    tryinghard71 Posts: 593
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    I am set at sedentary already. So when I log exercise if I don't eat back my calories I would not being eating enough. This has been working great "for me"!
  • dhiannon
    dhiannon Posts: 111 Member
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    Yep, now I am totally confused. I thought the reason why worked out is so we had calories left over to go against our weight loss. If we are eating what we earn aren't we just staying the same?

    I dont understand now :(
  • Brittany3914
    Brittany3914 Posts: 258 Member
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    I try to get negative net calories. So, yes :)

    How is that healthy?!
  • sofiav76
    sofiav76 Posts: 22 Member
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    I tend to not eat them back, sometimes I eat some of them back if I feel like I need to. Everyone is different so just listen to your body. I prefer to save some of my exercise calories for occasions where I know I will not avoid going over my daily calorie goals and the rest of my exercise calories are there to add to weight loss.
  • megleo818
    megleo818 Posts: 595 Member
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    Yes. That's how it's done. Amazed that people don't understand that MFP already factors in a deficit for you when it calculates your daily calorie amount.
  • samntha14
    samntha14 Posts: 2,084 Member
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    usually yes I do. I'm into heavy lifting so I need my cals to build muscle.

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