Do you eat your workout calories?

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  • ipiddock
    ipiddock Posts: 97 Member
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    There's no science to this - just what I do. I am working on a calorie deficit model from my BMR. On days where I exercise I eat my full BMR. That usually works out at eating half my exercise calories back. A simple model which seems to work for me.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
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    I try not to eat after 6PM and since I go to the gym in the evening, I dont "eat the workout calories". But I know if I really wanted to, I can eat a snack :)

    You don't have to eat them *after* exercising. If you *know* you're going to work out, and have a general idea of the number of calories you'll burn, you can eat them throughout the day.
  • sunshinesquared
    sunshinesquared Posts: 2,733 Member
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    bumping for later reading
  • wewon
    wewon Posts: 838 Member
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    I simply do my best to eat my maintenance everyday calories and my exercise calories are simply what I 'lose'.

    I'm losing weight and still end up with a net loss in calories at the end of the week.
  • melissast21
    melissast21 Posts: 4
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    Question- for 10 months I ate about 1200 calories a day and burned 500 calories a day M-F never eating my Calories back and consistently lost weight. The last 4 months have been harder to lose, a nutritionist told me to eat 1400 calories a day & not to eat calories back. On the weekends I splurge a little with wine & dinner so maintain my calories but seem to be bouncing back from 110-115 pounds. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong? Although I'm eating more on weekends I thought neting 600-800 calories during the wk would help?
    Any suggestions
  • MurphysLawTD
    MurphysLawTD Posts: 310 Member
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    MFP tends to overestimate on the number of calories burned, so I'll usually eat some of them back, but definitely not ALL. :)

    Totallly unrelated, but your default photo is gorgeous!! Looks like something out of a bridal magazine!
  • lmeasterling
    lmeasterling Posts: 139 Member
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    @carpetm - Thank you! It's one of my personal favorites! :)

    *edited to correct grammatical error*
  • ThomasFMendiola
    ThomasFMendiola Posts: 38 Member
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    Not intentionally, but if I am hungry I eat something.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Question- for 10 months I ate about 1200 calories a day and burned 500 calories a day M-F never eating my Calories back and consistently lost weight. The last 4 months have been harder to lose, a nutritionist told me to eat 1400 calories a day & not to eat calories back. On the weekends I splurge a little with wine & dinner so maintain my calories but seem to be bouncing back from 110-115 pounds. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong? Although I'm eating more on weekends I thought neting 600-800 calories during the wk would help?
    Any suggestions

    You may have damaged your metabolism by under eating for so long. I would suggest eating maintenance calories for 3-4 weeks (maybe longer) to reset your metabolism. Most likely you will gain a few lbs, but once you level off you could again go into a slight deficit (250-500 cals/day) to lose that weight slowly without hurting yourself.
  • LauraLJ85
    LauraLJ85 Posts: 10 Member
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    I try not to eat my workout calories. I prefer to keep my calorie intake at 1200 but sometimes I go over a few calories (between 50 - 100). As a previous poster stated, as long as you're eating at least 1200 calories a day, it may be better to not eat your workout calories if you're trying to lose weight.
  • melissast21
    melissast21 Posts: 4
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    Thanks for your response but you don't think maintaining my calories on the weekend is enough?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Thanks for your response but you don't think maintaining my calories on the weekend is enough?

    If you are still in a weekly deficit and still not losing it doesn't appeared to have worked. That being said do you weigh all your solids, and measure liquids consumed? If not you are more than likely eat more than you think you are, maybe much more, and therefore possibly not in the deficit you think you are in.

    Another possibility could be a thyroid or other hormonal issue. or
    you may have less lean muscle mass than MFP predicts when estimating BMR which means your deficit would be smaller than you calculate it to be.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,721 Member
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    typically, no
  • redredy9
    redredy9 Posts: 706 Member
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    I just started MFP last week and am still figuring out what works for me. I am eating some of my exercise calories back if I am hungry. I am also in training for a marathon so some days I earn 1000+ - can I "save" some of those and eat them on a non-workout day?

    Its seems that if I don't exercise - the MFP goal is way too low and I am starving. If I exercise I am usually under the MFP goal (which includes adding back exercise calories).

    Yesterday my run got rained out and I had already eaten most of the exercise calories I had anticipated earning for a total of 2000 calories consumed instead of the 1350 MFP set as my goal.

    Should I try to stay within the 1350 MFP goal better on my rest days?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Most of the time I do. MFP already takes a 500 calorie deficit off.

    Wait, what?? So I have a 500 cal leeway? So if what was "set" for me was 1,200 but I work out 4+x a week and there's a 500 cal defecit...I should be taking in much more, correct?

    I just HATE when the number turns red!!! LOL

    MFP does NOT assume anyone will exercise. In your initial set up you stated "I want to lose XX pounds per week" MFP gives you the numbers to accomplish that .... or 1200 in your case ... which is the minimum MFP will give anyone.

    When you ADD exercise into the equation .... (think of exercise / activity as calories out) ...... you increase the deficit. So it's like 1200 calories eaten LESS 500 calories burned. That's 700 net calories per day.

    Your body needs 1200 calories (most women) just for basic bodily function: heart, lungs, kidneys. The problem with too large a deficit, your weight loss will stall, and your body may burn muscle as well as fat.
  • CalJur
    CalJur Posts: 627 Member
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    You should do a search for topics. I see you are new to MFP so you possibly didn't know. This is an oft-repeated forum and there is a wealth of knowledge, disagreements, and responses to this subject. For me, the answer is if I'm hungry. If I'm not hungry I don't force myself to eat.
  • jdploki70
    jdploki70 Posts: 343
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    I just factored the workout calories into my "activity level" and did not eat them back. Then again, I rarely got close to my goal calories, usually netting way less. I can't afford to eat the healthy foods I do at twice the volume I do, and I have no desire to put crap into my body to make up for a fabricated "deficit"
  • Adsnwfld
    Adsnwfld Posts: 262 Member
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    I eat back some. I mostly make sure I'm over 1500 calories for the day and just go from there. If I'm real hungery I'll eat back more. In around 65 days I've dropped about 40 lbs ... So it works for me, experiment a bit and see where you are
  • tami101
    tami101 Posts: 617 Member
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    I eat them back on most days, but save them a couple of days so that on the weekend when I go out to eat (we have a family dinner every Sunday) I have "extra calories" to use. It seems to work well for me.
  • catembi
    catembi Posts: 2
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    It hadn't occurred to me NOT to eat them... h'mmm... could explain why my weight loss has tailed off. Might try not eating them for a couple of weeks & see what happens.

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