Eat the calories your burn or no?

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mrsgrabowski
mrsgrabowski Posts: 2
in Fitness and Exercise
When you log your exercise on here, do you eat those calories? Or only eat them if you are hungry? Some days I really want to eat those calories but I am afraid it will negatively effect my weight loss.
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Replies

  • memphis297
    memphis297 Posts: 10 Member
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    That's a good question I am also curious on that one
  • Nerdy_Rose
    Nerdy_Rose Posts: 1,277 Member
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    Eat it.
  • StarvingDiva
    StarvingDiva Posts: 1,107 Member
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    I never eat my exercise calories but if I was ravenous I suppose I would.
  • EbonySD
    EbonySD Posts: 142
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    Tried it for a little over a month - didn't work for me. Gained 4 lbs. Back to the regular for less than a week and have already lost 1 lb.
  • jg4ever
    jg4ever Posts: 85 Member
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    I also would like to know what others do
  • Perfectdiamonds1
    Perfectdiamonds1 Posts: 347 Member
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    There are a lot of opinions on that, I usually do not eat mine back. So far I have not had any problems. But, if I'm hungry I eat, but on a regular day I do not eat them back.
  • tmauck4472
    tmauck4472 Posts: 1,785 Member
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    I don't usually, but if I'm hungry I sure like having the extra there for me to eat.
  • sunnyflower1177
    sunnyflower1177 Posts: 212
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    yes u can eat back the calories u burn or at least half of them.
  • kiminikimkim
    kiminikimkim Posts: 746 Member
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    1200calories: When I was on my weight loss journey, I only ate half my burned calories and sometimes just 25%. If I ate more than that, my weight loss stalled.

    1400 calories: Now that I am maintaining, since I don't want to lose anymore I have been eating 100% of my burned calories, sometimes a little more. It depends on the scale. I check every couple of days to make sure I am the same weight. I adjust my calorie intake if my weight goes up or down.
  • anothermop
    anothermop Posts: 187 Member
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    I usually eat back some but rarely more than 25%. I've been losing between 1-3 lbs / week so I'm going keep doing what I'm doing.
  • spammyanna
    spammyanna Posts: 871 Member
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    I eat them if I am hungry. If I'm not, I don't.

    Edited to add: I have my calories set to maintain my weight, so if I eat under that I may lose a little more.

    When I had my calories set to lose, I ate my exercise calories. I measured my food AND wore a heart rate monitor. And I lost 50lbs.
  • Minu135
    Minu135 Posts: 48
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    Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't,
  • sirmio
    sirmio Posts: 44 Member
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    Your goal on MFP already accounts for the deficit needed for what you want to lose, taking your activity level into account. If you really are as active as you say, you log your calories accurately, and you log your exercise expenditures correctly, you will lose your goal amount each week if you eat your exercise calories.

    If you don't use a food scale and measure everything you consume and you don't use a heart rate monitor, it's likely that your numbers aren't accurate, so you won't see the results MFP says you will. For that reason, if you don't eat your exercise calories, you are more likely to meet your goal if you aren't logging correctly.
  • kshiraakshara
    kshiraakshara Posts: 119 Member
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    If I'm hungry, yes. If not, no. I don't work out a lot, though; if I were more diligent about it I would make more of an effort to eat my calories back.
  • hbm616
    hbm616 Posts: 377 Member
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    What you "should' do depends on how you have set up your daily calorie goal. MFP gives you a 500 calorie deficit per day if you have set your goals for 1 lb/week. With that in mind, anything your burn is extra and you are free to eat it and still lose 1 lb/ week. The tricky part is actually knowing how much you burn...even a HRM is not 100% accurate.

    For me, eating my exercise calories back was causing me to eat when I wasn't hungry and choose bad snacks just because I could. My weight loss stalled so I decided to set my calorie goals based on my TDEE. I set it a little lower than -20% so I have some wiggle room on days I go over, like if I go out for dinner and drinks. I now just log my workout times and only input 1 calorie burned b/c I like to keep track of how much I am actually exercising.
  • GypsysBloodRose26
    GypsysBloodRose26 Posts: 341 Member
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    Basically, it is recommended to eat a net of 1200 calories minimum. So, if you eat 1200 calories but work out and bur 200 calories, your net intake is 1000 calories. In this instance, it is recommended to eat the calories back. If you are like me, and eat around 1400 calories, I only dip into my exercise calories if I am hungry, or want a cupcake.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
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    Yep.... Have lost a few pounds eating my exercise calories back..... Best of Luck
  • Ke22yB
    Ke22yB Posts: 969 Member
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    I eat about 2000 calories a day my calorie goal is 1800 and I usually burn over 500 exercising so I eat some of my calories back my goal was 1610 and I bumped it up to 1800 by dropping the pounds per week to 1 from 1.5 as i get closer to some of my major goals I dont exercise every day but I still eat the 2000 calories as I average over the week
  • rox2112
    rox2112 Posts: 15 Member
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    Eat them if you're HUNGRY. Don't if you're not. Don't eat them if you just want to eat because you're bored. Some days I do, some days I don't. But I generally try to keep at least 100 calories uneaten regardless.
  • Ketomaniac9
    Ketomaniac9 Posts: 108 Member
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    not eating them all back works the best for me

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