Do you eat back your workout calories?

karrielynn80

I am not sure if I should be eating back my workout calories. What do you do?

Do your MFP goals have workouts figured in? if so, it's not necessary but if not, than it might help.

I don't figure my workouts into MFP goals & I generally do, but sometimes I don't - I let my body tell me if I need it... Course on the days I don't - i find myself wondering if I could have pushed it harder that day... lol seems like when I'm @ 150% i NEED my workout calories & maybe then some.

jacksonpt

I do not, i ride 100-150 miles a week. It all depends on the quality and nutrients your taking in. If your eating junk food or processed food you will probably be hungry if you don't.

Hunger is not always a good gauge for if/when you should eat. That's how a lot of people got into trouble in the first place.

MommyToCutie

Hmm, I figured that the creators of this website knew what they were doing when they gave you extra calories to eat per day after you burn a bunch off. So I've been eating most or all of them back. I've been on this website since last Tuesday and I already lost 4 pounds, so it must be working so far. I can't imagine eating only 1200 calories on a day that I've exercised. I tried eating 1200 on the few days I don't exercise and I'm hungry enough. I don't think this should be about starvation. If I'm hungry I'm going to eat something.

kikicooks

I don't have my calorie goals set the recommended way MFP suggests, but if I did I would eat back my exercise calories. I have my calories set based off my weekly TDEE average so my exercise is already figured into my calorie goal.

oOMusicBabii

I do not, i ride 100-150 miles a week. It all depends on the quality and nutrients your taking in. If your eating junk food or processed food you will probably be hungry if you don't.

Hunger is not always a good gauge for if/when you should eat. That's how a lot of people got into trouble in the first place.

THIS.
I know I used to go solely by hunger, but that 'hunger' was dehydration. Now that I hydrate enough (more than enough some days), I know that if I'm feeling hungry, it probably is actually hunger (though I will drink some water first to make sure).

BioShocked89

I eat pretty much all of mine back. I notice the days where I burn calories that make my net calorie total close to or below 1200, I will start to feel like I have no energy and hungry.

At the very least, I make sure my net calories are 1300-1400. Most of the time, I'll make sure my net calories are the total I'm supposed to eat for the day, eating back exercise calories included.

AllonsYtotheTardis

I eat back 1/2 - 3/4 of my workout calories. I try to make sure I don't net below 1200 calories for the day. I don't eat back ALL of my calories, because I'm a little leery about the accuracy of the burned number. But that's probably the only reason I don't eat them all back.

However - if I'm not hungry... I might 'save' some of the calories for the next day. That doesn't happen often though - exercising usually makes me a little hungry in the evening.

EmilyOfTheSun

Yes. Simply because I lose weight more quickly when I eat them back. I don't normally eat all of them back, but at least half. I make sure I eat them back in HEALTHY calories though. I don't say, "o0o I burned 500 calories! Let me go eat that back in ice cream!"

cbsavga

I don't and have not had a problem with fatigue or anything. That said, mine tend to be about 25% of my total of 2030.
I would say that there is a ratio that probably makes sense. for example you may want to start with eating back some workout calories to keep them less than 50% of your total or something like that

palmerig88

I have eaten all mine

Illona88

Most of it.

Sometimes I go for a 2 hour hike and then there is absolutely no way I can eat that much back without getting sick.

royal_ruler

It depends on how hungry I am and how intense of a workout I've did that day. Usually I try not to though...

topgun86

Hey guys, just need some help to work out what i need to be doing....

(Me) Male, 5ft 10", 246lbs, 26years, sedentary = 2888cals

Currently using mfp and struggling to eat the amount required on days i take dog for a walk for 2 to 3 hours up a winding mountain path. So my question is:

Is the 1630 cals needed per day really appropriate then adding exercise on the days i do it or can i average it over the week?

I have worked out my maintenance calorie allowance is 2888cals per day or 20,216 per week.

I also do strength training 3 days a week 1 hour each day, which totals 1151 cals per week. Along with walking the dog for say an average of 450mins per week equals another 3653 cals burned in total per week.

My target is 2lbs per week = 7000 cals, in total i burn roughly 4804 cals per week in exercise alone. Which leaves 2196 weekly cals for deficite to hit my target.

2196/7 = 314cals per day.

2888 - 314 = 2574cals

2574cals to eat per day. In order to achieve my goal of -2lbs per week as I will get my cal deficit from exercise + slight reduction. And not the 1600 mfp gives + exercise for that day.

Currently 2574 calls is not far off what mfp gives on 1600 + 1000 cals exercise day.

I currently aint getting my goal weight loss from mfp. Is what I've worked out correct? Can I restrict cals further? (or would this result in starvation mode?)

Please Help!!!

californiagirl2012

Never!

Do what you want. I ignore exercise calories anyway so the exercise log is just to track time spent exercising for me. Exercise calories are highly over rated. You can't exercise away eating too much food. I learned this the hard way most of my life running marathon after marathon (and lifting) and not being able to lose weight and in fact continued to gain year after year. And I don't pig out, binge, snack mindlessly, eat out of boredom, etc, but the portion sizes are too big for a small person like me. (well I wasn't small when I weighed over 170 lbs at 51'0"!)

Anyway I found what worked for me was separating out the two things:

Eat less to lose weight
Exercise to maintain or build lean body mass
end of story.

Well, it did work for me. I am the fittest, leanest, strongest, and most muscular I've ever been in my life at age 51 and I'm healthy and don't get sick and have long endurance. Doesn't feel like starvation mode to me. Can you build muscle like I did while supposedly being in starvation mode?

sparklelioness

I eat half of mine. Works for me

Molly182

I saw this and that made me think a little differently: My general level of exercise is already reflected in my choice of an activity level multiplier, so if I ate back my exercise calories I would be eating them twice!

I think it just depends how you feel though.

neverstray

I am not sure if I should be eating back my workout calories. What do you do?

Will it ever end?

LOL

kaylou

I do 90% of the time

JustJennie1

Not on purpose.

Some days I end up eating some back but I don't consciously do it. In my opinion it's counter productive.

JustJennie1

I am not sure if I should be eating back my workout calories. What do you do?

Will it ever end?

LOL

No. And neither will the resurrection of the "Fifty Shades of Grey" posts.:grumble: