Why you shouldn't eat back excercise calories.

half_moon

Do this for an extended period of time and even 1200 calories will be too much. If you want to keep eating less and less until your body can't survive on anything lower then be my guest.

eyeroll.

chrissy28

You are correct, if you put that you exercise 4-5 times a week, don't add them. I sit at work all day so I selected Sedentary and I eat some of my exercise calories, especially if it is a high burn and I am hungry.

I did the same thing. My activity level is sedentary b/c I sit at a computer all day and I didn't include my 5 day workouts in that.

DestroyTheOpposition

Disagree. I try to eat back all my exercise calories... and I don't gain weight. My muscles have become more defined and inches are coming off. I don't know if you're right or wrong. I just know that what I am doing.. works.

bernieboom1

There's alot of debate among people here as to whether you should or shoul not eat bac excercise calories. Let me offer you an explanation as to why you should not eat back excercise calories, and hopefully this will put the topic to a rest.

Put this topic to rest? This is the FUNNIEST thing I have ever read on these message boards...

yeah I'm sure this thread will change everyone's lives forever.
I Just think do what works for you.... how do you know what works for you??? Well try a week eating them back and then try a week not eating them back.

HowieTwoPointZero

Except it asks you both activity level AND how often you plan on excerising, meaning it wants to know how active you are just in your dailty life. And it's also BUILT INTO MyFitnessPal to eat back your exercise calories.

:drinker: Bingo!

(and FWIW, those pounds lost in my ticker? all lost while eating my exercise calories back. BAM! on flawed logic!)

Same

DOUBLE BAM!

dvisser1

There's alot of debate among people here as to whether you should or shoul not eat bac excercise calories. Let me offer you an explanation as to why you should not eat back excercise calories, and hopefully this will put the topic to a rest.

When you set up your goals for myfitnesspal it asks you what your activity level is, based on your activity level it roughly calculates what your daily energy (calorie) expenditure is. From this you select what your weight loss goal is, let's say you want to lose 1 pound of fat a week. It then subtracts 500 calories (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories (1 pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 calories)) daily. So at this point the amount of calories that you consume already takes into account your activity level because you would have had to choose it when setting up your profile. So if you are now consuming an extra 700 calories that you "earned" from excercise you are in fact just consuming an extra 700 calories, and are consuming 200 calories above your goal so you will very slowly gain weight instead of losing weight.

Now if you are planning on gaining weight as some do, for weightlifting, powerlifting or even body building purposes then it would be ok to eat back calories as your goals differ from simply cutting fat. For everybody else, eating back excercise calories is counter-intuitive to your weight loss efforts and should be avoided.

You may say, I feel sapped after a workout... well plan your daily calories in such a way that you can afford a protein shake after your workout and you'll feel 100% better.

I hope this helps people understand and clarifies the "excercise calories" fiasco.

This makes one basic assumption, and it all comes down to how you set up your MFP profile.

You, the OP, assume everyone on here set up their profile by including their exercise into their average daily activity level. You apparently work out everyday and burn roughly the same number of calories doing so everyday. That makes it part of your average daily activity level. And you should not log any calories from your workout.

News Flash, NOT EVERYONE DID THAT!!!

If the activity is NOT part of you average daily activity level, it is exercise calories that should be logged and can freely be eaten back while not threatening the deficit built into your net calorie goal.

Only the person who set up their MFP profile knows what they included when they set up their profile. Broad based assumptions on how everyone should act based off nothing but your own actions, like the one stated above, are very short sighted, bordering on stupid.

Lisseth03

Most people select "sedentary" as their fitness level yet they workout 5-7days a week...these people should be eating more than the allotted 1200.

I fall under this as I have a "desk job" so I picked sedentary, MFP told me I should eat 1200 calories.
now if i wasn't eatingback my excercise calories (i workout 6-7 days a week)
I would always be hungry

dhiammarath

I have a fit bit and it tracks the calories I burn each day... Then it adjusts my mfp calorie intake based on how many calories I've burned and how many I am projected to burn. So I do eat more, but only if I earn it!

This is what I do too. Honestly, I rely more on my fitbit telling me how many calories I have remaining to eat than MyFitnessPal's expected goal. I use MFP for the community and for easily counting, but I rely on my Fitbit to tell me based on how much I burn, how many calories I can eat. I always make sure that, at the end of the day, I have a 1000 calorie deficit. Whether that means I eat 1200 or 1400, it's still a deficit.

But then, I never take my Fitbit off, so this works for me! I think what works for one person might not work for another person -- but in the long run, if you're losin' you're losin'. And that's awesome!

Pebble321

Do you think we could change the title of this post to:

"How to sound like a complete *kitten* by making incorrect assumptions on how other people use this site" ?