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

tazzy2805

i stick to my min 1200 max 1400 as i struggle eating them in first place some days lol

Cal28

As a general rule, I don't eat back my calories at all. I like to stick with my regular limit. However, there are times when I do eat back my calories, but that's more because I want to eat than I want to lose weight

^ This :-)

PJ_73

I eat my minimum of 1200 daily and dependent on how hungry I am or what's going on I may eat back some of my exercise calories, but rarely all.

sumeetn

oh god!!!!!!!!!!!!!

same questions again and again, search, please search, before posting

denisebme

I try to eat back most of them, but it depends. If I'm not hungry, I don't worry about it.
For the record, I am the poster child for eating back your calories and what it can do. I never did before I joined MFP. I was strict 1200 calories a day, and really struggled to lose anything.
Now, my goal before exercise is 1400. I'm set to lose 1 pound a week, and eat back most, if not all my calories, and my weight loss has been closer to 2.5 pounds per week. I burn about between 350-500 exercise calories a day.
I know that there is a lot of controversy around this issue, but for me, my body, when I work at it, is a calorie burning machine. I give it fuel, and it burns more efficiently, and I'm not wiped out after a really hard workout. Win, win!

StrawberrySt

oh god!!!!!!!!!!!!!

same questions again and again, search, please search, before posting

Chill out dude

It's a community of people having a conversation on the internet. EVERYTHING has been said before

tadpole242

I only eat a small portion of my work out calories back, mainly because there are so many I’m averaging around 4500 per week, but just to make it more complicated I make sure that I deduct from my work out calories my normal calories so if it take me 7 hours a week to gain my 4500 calories I deduct my normal calories from that
2041/24(hours in the day) = 86 x 7(hour) = 602
Weekly workout calories 4500 – 602 = 3898 /7(days in the week) = 557
So the maximum work out calories I’ll eat back is 557 per day.

oh god!!!!!!!!!!!!!
same questions again and again, search, please search, before posting

Two points one no one is forcing you to read let alone reply and secondly
Excessive exclamation marks are a sure sign of someone with either too much time and too little to do on their hands or a diseased mind. Which one are you?

imchicbad

LIKE JESUS SAID " I TOLD YOU 1000 TIMES: If you eat 1200, then Yes. anything under 1200 calories is starvation mode.

I eat 1500 and do not eat them back, it would be pointless. like a dog chasing its tail.

Like the saying goes 'YOU ARE NOT A DOG, SO DONT TREAT YOURSELF WITH FOOD"

leopard_barbie

At the moment I'm eating 1500, and not eating them back.

midschool22

Yes, I eat them back more often than not.

tadpole242

LIKE JESUS SAID " I TOLD YOU 1000 TIMES: If you eat 1200, then Yes. anything under 1200 calories is starvation mode.

I eat 1500 and do not eat them back, it would be pointless. like a dog chasing its tail.

Like the saying goes 'YOU ARE NOT A DOG, SO DONT TREAT YOURSELF WITH FOOD"

It's not ‘treating ‘ yourself, it common sense. Look at your daily summery and it will tell you (providing you're not lying to it/yourself) what your net calorie is.

Currently I’m netting -513, I’ve eaten breakfast but I’ve also used up 682 calories by cycling really fast (8.5 miles at an average today of 20mph) I’ve a similar journey to cycle home, slightly longer but for the sake of simplicity we say I’ll use up the same calories on the way home. So 1364 for the day, if I eat all my normal calories 2041 but no more I’m actually only netting 677 calories for the day. So I’m eating less than is needed for routine normal everyday maintenance survival. It really is simple
I cannot understand why people struggle with it.

caraiselite

i don't count calories, it just depends if i'm hungry.

imchicbad

LIKE JESUS SAID " I TOLD YOU 1000 TIMES: If you eat 1200, then Yes. anything under 1200 calories is starvation mode.

I eat 1500 and do not eat them back, it would be pointless. like a dog chasing its tail.

Like the saying goes 'YOU ARE NOT A DOG, SO DONT TREAT YOURSELF WITH FOOD"

It's not ‘treating ‘ yourself, it common sense. Look at your daily summery and it will tell you (providing you're not lying to it/yourself) what your net calorie is.

Currently I’m netting -513, I’ve eaten breakfast but I’ve also used up 682 calories by cycling really fast (8.5 miles at an average today of 20mph) I’ve a similar journey to cycle home, slightly longer but for the sake of simplicity we say I’ll use up the same calories on the way home. So 1364 for the day, if I eat all my normal calories 2041 but no more I’m actually only netting 677 calories for the day. So I’m eating less than is needed for routine normal everyday maintenance survival. It really is simple
I cannot understand why people struggle with it.

like i said below 1200 i would eat some back, AS FOR ME-no. :huh: This is my reasoning, thats yours, its different im not a bike maniac-im a strenght training nut- its an opinion.:smokin: (i dont smoke-i just like this smiley)

ssnowdon76

I eat all of them back, if I am hungry .... but I don't eat just for the sake of eating

This.

QFT.

chivalryder

Unless I have burn a LOT of calories (1000+) from exercise, I eat them all back. If I didn't, then I'd be burning too much for my goal weight loss. My body will suffer from that.

FuneralDiner

Some I guess. Just depends how hungry I am.

Tbh, I think eating back calories is a load of tosh, but that's just me. If someone wants to provide scientific evidence that you must eat back your work out calories, I'll eat my words.

umer76

Well I am not a regular calories burner! But when I do I keep them as buffer and only eat them if I am really feel hungry may be only 25% of the total burnt.

chivalryder

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.

This is the best way to do it. Day-to-day isn't as important as week-to-week.

chivalryder

Some I guess. Just depends how hungry I am.

Tbh, I think eating back calories is a load of tosh, but that's just me. If someone wants to provide scientific evidence that you must eat back your work out calories, I'll eat my words.

I'll take you up on that in one of my blogs. Stay tuned!

jenilla1

As many as I can! (Usually all of them - unless I've been doing an extreme exercise like backpacking and I've burned so many calories there aren't enough hours left in the day to eat them...) I've been on maintenance for over a year now. I just follow what MFP tells me and it works like a charm. :drinker:

samcorvus

All of them, but I only eat what I burn.

Slimjem55

I have no idea, but I do "eat back" my calories. If I want that 1/2 cup of ice cream later, I can! YUM!!

FuneralDiner

Some I guess. Just depends how hungry I am.

Tbh, I think eating back calories is a load of tosh, but that's just me. If someone wants to provide scientific evidence that you must eat back your work out calories, I'll eat my words.

I'll take you up on that in one of my blogs. Stay tuned!

OMG I knew it. Fine. :x

nikkiprickett

You're supposed to eat most of them back.
You're not supposed to net less than 1200-1300 (even that's dangerous)

It's simple, I eat when I'm truly hungry.
Listen to your body, that doesn't mean eat all day
it just means when you're hungry you know
Just eat clean.

And there is evidence on eating back calories. I read a MFP worker post on a message board saying
they research all of their database exercise and everything they put on this site. Therefore, they researched this topic as well or they woudn't give you the calories back to eat!

Also, all of the research I've done has proven the same thing, most of them actually say slashing calories is the worst thing you can do for your body.

amytag

I don't eat them back unless I'm hungry. I consider my exercise to be separate from my "diet" and rather just part of a healthy lifestyle. So I only gauge my progress by calories consumed.

sjschewlakow

Depends on the day. Most of the time I eat nearly all my exercise calories back. I have lost 25lbs on MFP alone by doing this.

tryinghard71

I have a Polar FT60 heart rate monitor that I wear to get a more accurate calorie burn.. and I have always ate back 85% of my burned calories, leaving 15% for logging errors.... Been using this system throughout my journey and it has worked quite nicely.... Best of Luck....

Wow! 310 pounds lost! Just wanted to say Wow! and Congrats!!!!

chivalryder

I'm not going to take the time to look for a study that proves my point right now (at work), but the reason why you SHOULD eat back most of your exercise calories is this:

Imagine your body is like a car. Your BMR is like how much gas the car would burn if you were cruising down a highway.

Now, when you exercise, it's like racing your car around a race track.

Do you really think it'll burn the same amount of gas as if you were just cruising down the highway?

MFP sets up your calorie goal to be a deficit of 500 calories (1 lb/week It'll be more if you choose to loose more). If you don't eat back your calories, then your deficit will be a LOT more than if you didn't. This will cause you to lose more weight faster, or worse, your body will start fighting back. You'll loose energy, have a harder time sleeping, become irritable, and you could even start putting weight back on.

If you're racing your car around the race track, put more fuel into the tank!

maylene1853

i try not do, but there are days where i feel starved and ill eat back not more than half the exercise calories...and if i do eat them back, i make them count, lo fat hi protein

CLCinNOLA

I have a Polar FT60 heart rate monitor that I wear to get a more accurate calorie burn.. and I have always ate back 85% of my burned calories, leaving 15% for logging errors.... Been using this system throughout my journey and it has worked quite nicely.... Best of Luck....

Wow! EdDavenport, I didn't notice that you have lost over 300 pounds until reading the post above by tryinghard71 that quoted it. That's fabulous and a great testament to your persistence and the fact that your method works for you. I just ordered a Polar FT7 heart rate monitor and when I get it, I think I will try doing the same to see if it works for me as well. Your method makes a lot of sense to me, anyway. Basically you are eating back the vast majority of the calories, which ought to fend of "starvation mode", but also allowing for some error in measurement and as a retired scientist I like that too.