Poll: How many calories do you "eat back" after exercise?

24

Replies

  • rextcat
    rextcat Posts: 1,408 Member
    all and then some:tongue:
  • KayeeDaisyBee
    KayeeDaisyBee Posts: 124
    all and then some:tongue:

    Yet you've still lost 14 of those bad boys, you're a boss, lol.
  • KayeeDaisyBee
    KayeeDaisyBee Posts: 124
    Well it depends how many I've already eaten.... when I was losing weight I typically aimed for my calorie goal. I always tried to make that number "remaining calories" as close to zero as I could get it. So yes... I ate them back...

    Honest question from a curious, confused mind...why did you aim to make your 'remaining calories' zero?
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    My MFP goal is 1700 calories a day. I walk off 600 calories on the treadmill each day and eat back up to 300. If I walk more than that I may eat back a bit more, but I don't normally eat back everything. I don't think the numbers are accurate enough to do that.
  • FrugalMomsRock75
    FrugalMomsRock75 Posts: 698 Member
    Well it depends how many I've already eaten.... when I was losing weight I typically aimed for my calorie goal. I always tried to make that number "remaining calories" as close to zero as I could get it. So yes... I ate them back...

    Honest question from a curious, confused mind...why did you aim to make your 'remaining calories' zero?

    Because mfp sets you up at a healthy deficit to lose weight. You should get that remaining to 0 so you can have a healthy deficit. If you exercise 300 calories, you still want that number to be 0 so you remain at a healthy deficit.

    I know you didn't ask me, but I am answering anyway. :p
  • katamus
    katamus Posts: 2,363 Member
    I eat when I'm hungry, period. I can't force feed myself just because I haven't eaten back my workout calories.
  • KayeeDaisyBee
    KayeeDaisyBee Posts: 124
    Well it depends how many I've already eaten.... when I was losing weight I typically aimed for my calorie goal. I always tried to make that number "remaining calories" as close to zero as I could get it. So yes... I ate them back...

    Honest question from a curious, confused mind...why did you aim to make your 'remaining calories' zero?

    Because mfp sets you up at a healthy deficit to lose weight. You should get that remaining to 0 so you can have a healthy deficit. If you exercise 300 calories, you still want that number to be 0 so you remain at a healthy deficit.

    I know you didn't ask me, but I am answering anyway. :p

    Well thank you very much for answering, i appreciate it so much, lol. It makes sense to me that way.
  • Merrysix
    Merrysix Posts: 336 Member
    At my nutritionist's suggestion I eat back 100 calories for each hour, over 1 hour of exercise. For example if I just do my 50 min kettle bell class I don't eat back but if I do a 3 hour bike ride I eat 200 back. I have a pretty high base (1500 calories). This is working fine for me right now -- slow and steady. I really need the calories during endurance type sports not to bonk!
  • MFPBrandy
    MFPBrandy Posts: 564 Member
    My profile is set to sedentary, because I sit behind a desk all day. So 1200 calories is what I need to get each day to maintain health and lose weight at that level of activity (none). Now, I'll be the first to admit I'm no expert, but adding in exercise WITHOUT adding in any extra fuel doesn't make intuitive sense. So yes, I eat most of my exercise calories back, although I try to not eat ALL of them back so I stay in the green.
    Those with much higher daily intakes may see it differently; I'd feel like crap working out on only 1200 calories a day.

    *edit* I also like to use my exercise calories as freebies for treats like dark chocolate truffles...so not always the BEST fuel, but I've lost 20 lbs and don't (usually) feel deprived. I'm looking for a sustainable lifestyle, and for me, that must include chocolate. :)
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    I'm curious what the broad approach is on this topic. When you exercise, how many of the calories do you "eat back", if any? i.e. If you burn 500 calories working out, do you add an 250 calories to your daily intake, or zero? I'm sure it's different for everyone but I would be curious how different people approach it and how successful it is. Thanks!

    Where I feel I have calculated them reasonably accurately, I eat most or all of them back.

    Where I feel that MFP has over- or under-estimated them (usually over-estimated in my experience), I adjust the calories to what I know or feel is right, and eat most or all of those adjusted numbers back.

    Result: 6 pounds from "normal" BMI, losing weight faster than I have my entire life, body FAT percentage coming down, blood pressure coming down, and feeling the best I have in 30+ years of being overweight, including being able to participate in the Trek across Maine (a 180-mile 3-day bike ride that until recently I would NEVER have considered possible) while maintaining a calorie deficit DURING the event.

    I've spent 30+ years losing weight intermittently and with much pain, regain, angst, and hunger by reducing calories blindly and exercising until I puked. Mindful, controlled weight loss is finally working for me, and I WILL BE "NORMAL" WEIGHT IN 6 FREAKING POUNDS, a goal that has eluded me for over THIRTY YEARS.

    Eat them back, don't eat them back, whatever. I know what hasn't worked for me for thirty years. I know what is working for me.
  • sarahjay1
    sarahjay1 Posts: 175 Member
    My MFP is set at 1200 calories per day. I usually burn around 300-500 calories per day with exercise (I play a lot of sports). I eat back enough so that my total calories consumed is around 1640 (which is 20% lower than my TDEE). When I started on MFP, I was staying around 1200 but after sports and exercise, I was just too hungry and needed more.
  • stephyy4632
    stephyy4632 Posts: 947 Member
    all of them or at least as many as I can
  • lilmisfit
    lilmisfit Posts: 860 Member
    It depends. I don't have a set number of calories that I eat back. I eat until I'm satisfied. Sometimes that's all of them, sometimes it's none of them.
  • Kybelle132
    Kybelle132 Posts: 71 Member
    Ok so let me ask this....Is it better to eat a flat 1000 cals/day with NO exercise OR eat 1500 cals/day and burn 500 in exercise/day??? People tend to think if you are eating below 1200 you are starving yourself, but turn around and burn loads of cals and end up netting below 1200 themselves..???
  • SPNLuver83
    SPNLuver83 Posts: 2,050 Member
    I try to eat back every last one.
  • lilmisfit
    lilmisfit Posts: 860 Member
    Ok so let me ask this....Is it better to eat a flat 1000 cals/day with NO exercise OR eat 1500 cals/day and burn 500 in exercise/day??? People tend to think if you are eating below 1200 you are starving yourself, but turn around and burn loads of cals and end up netting below 1200 themselves..???
  • SPNLuver83
    SPNLuver83 Posts: 2,050 Member
    Ok so let me ask this....Is it better to eat a flat 1000 cals/day with NO exercise OR eat 1500 cals/day and burn 500 in exercise/day??? People tend to think if you are eating below 1200 you are starving yourself, but turn around and burn loads of cals and end up netting below 1200 themselves..???

    neither is a healthy approach.
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    None. My calorie goal is set as a cut from my TDEE, which already includes my exercise. To "eat back" exercise calories would be to erase my deficit.

    That said, the end result isn't much different. My daily calorie goal is 2100. I eat that regardless of exercise. If my goal were 1500 and I burned 600, which is an average burn for me, I'd still eat 2100. The difference is that I don't starve on no-exercise days.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I pretty much always eat back my exercise calories. Been doing so for a year now.
  • j5thomas3
    j5thomas3 Posts: 2 Member
    I don't eat back any unless it's Friday and I know I'm going out. I found out at the beginning even if I workout and eat only a portion back I wasn't loosing weight. So I eat my alloted calories (1230) and workout and that is how I've been loosing my weight (1-2 pounds/week).
  • BeetleChe13
    BeetleChe13 Posts: 498 Member
    No more than half unless I have a considerable weekly deficit. I don't have an HRM, and I know that MFP's estimates are very generous. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot for all my hard work, but I do deserve a little extra for the effort.
  • YoshiZelda
    YoshiZelda Posts: 340 Member
    Bump
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    None. I have my deficit set at about 80% of TDEE (but safely above BMR) and that's what I eat to.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    I'm curious what the broad approach is on this topic. When you exercise, how many of the calories do you "eat back", if any? i.e. If you burn 500 calories working out, do you add an 250 calories to your daily intake, or zero? I'm sure it's different for everyone but I would be curious how different people approach it and how successful it is. Thanks!

    When I was losing weight, I used to eat back 50 to 100 of the calories I burned, it took me just over six months to get to my goal.

    Now I am maintaining I eat them all back.
  • AdnanKashwani
    AdnanKashwani Posts: 5 Member
    I try to eat zero back. but if i'm really hungry i eat back maximum half of what I burned.
  • aqua_zumba_fan
    aqua_zumba_fan Posts: 383 Member
    I eat them all back but work on a weekly basis so if I'm not hungry enough to eat them all back on a specific day I can eat more another.
  • StrawberrySt
    StrawberrySt Posts: 235
    All of them!

    I work out so I can eat them :smile:
  • Tdk4685
    Tdk4685 Posts: 293 Member
    I eat most of my exercise calories back every day.
  • Assassins_Angel
    Assassins_Angel Posts: 329
    i dont eat any back as that never worked for me and made me put more weight on ive also increased my calorie intake to a minimum of 1500 and also dont actually log my exercise but make a note of what ive burnt and how long i worked out for
  • ElizaRoche
    ElizaRoche Posts: 2,005 Member
    none... I dont eat my extra calories back.
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