Eat the calories your burn or no?

mrsgrabowski

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.

memphis297

That's a good question I am also curious on that one

Nerdy_Rose

Eat it.

StarvingDiva

I never eat my exercise calories but if I was ravenous I suppose I would.

EbonySD

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

I also would like to know what others do

Perfectdiamonds1

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

I don't usually, but if I'm hungry I sure like having the extra there for me to eat.

sunnyflower1177

yes u can eat back the calories u burn or at least half of them.

kiminikimkim

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

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

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

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't,

sirmio

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

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

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

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

Yep.... Have lost a few pounds eating my exercise calories back..... Best of Luck

Ke22yB

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

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

not eating them all back works the best for me

Lauran845

I like to pre-plan my day. I pretty much know what I am going to eat for breakfast, I have already made lunch for the next day and I include my snacks. So by the time my feet hit the floor in the morning I know how many calories I have left for dinner. If I know that I have 600 calories remaining and my dinner is going to be 650, I went 50 calories over my intake for the day. I usually plan to spend an hour or so working out, which gains me about 600 calories, so it isn't that I eat the calories I "gain", but I don't sweat if I had a big caloric day and end up going 200 calories over, becuase I know I am going to workout to counter them and if I don't feel up to it, I will only burn enough to get me zero'd out for the day. Does that make sense? I also look submit my diary for the day to see where my weight would be in five weeks if everyday were like today, and than I play with the numbers on my exercise to see what I need to get me to my goal.

For example, last night I was ravenous and really wanted pasta for dinner. I had more than enough calories to cover that, but apparently I wasn't in the best shape nurtionally because when I submitted my diary it said I would be 3 lbs above my five week weight than the day before....so I played with the numbers and figured out that I needed to spend XX amount of time working out to get me back to my five week goal.

A further example of my crazy rambling, I took a stand. One day it said I would weigh XXX in five weeks if every day were like today and I said FINE, everyday will be like today and I will weigh that in five weeks. Today was my first week completed and I have four more to go. It feels like an achieveable goal since it is short term and I can start again in five weeks. I am already down four lbs.

dosmundos

bump

MidgeN27

I don't eat my calories back!

Dsuth42

I try not to eat them, but glad they are there just in case.

70davis

Bump

jibbala

I wasn't...I'm going to now. Ive been eating more and Ive LOST weight. It had come to a halt and now I'm dropping again and eating a few hundred more a day. I feel about 1000% better and very healthy. I'm kicking vaccine without even noticing!

mamaomefo

I usually do not eat my exercise calories back. The exception is on the days I swim. For some reason when I swim I am always starved the remainder of the day. So like yesterday I ate most of the calories back. This is the only exercise that makes me feel like I am hungry.