Eating back exercise calories...

AshLinds11

So I'm confused on how/ why to eat back exercise calories. I never did with weight watchers in the past and lost weight. Also, since I have been eating them back I'm going way over on fiber, protein, fat and carbs. If I have to go way over those, what's the point of eating my exercise calories back? Seems like its defeatin he purpose and I've actually been gaining weight on mfp instead of losing.

Jester522

Didnt loose on WW.. huh. I like their system as it usually teaches a person how and what to eat. Gives an education element.

Anyway you're probably not doing this right, allow me to explain:

MFP works to have your calorie goal set as your NET calorie intake. That means your total energy intake minus energy output. Therefore, in order to have a deficit for weight loss you want your calorie goal to be UNDER your BMR.

If you so choose to not log your exercise (as I don't) but want to monitor your macronutrient intake then youre looking at your GROSS energy intake. Regardless of what you put out only totaling what you take in. To me, this is more beneficial as 1) the "calories burned" in exercise here are higher than what it really is generally 2) monitoring macros is a much better approach then calorie counting and 3) MFP's recommendations are wack. I know my BMR and what I need calorically to be in a deficit then calculate my macros accordingly. Thats all I care about.

kjw1031

How did you calculate your calorie goal? MFP setting or the BMR/TDEE calculations?

What did you say your activity level is when you set up that goal? Was your exercise already calculated into your calorie goal when you chose that activity level? If so, then you're not supposed to also be eating your exercise calories.

Just some possibilities....

Pebble321

www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

In a nutshell:

Most other calorie calculators ask how active you are (including exercise) and if you are more active, your recommended calories are higher. In other words, they estimate an additional calorie amount to account for more exercise.

MPF asks how active you are (without including exercise) and calculates your daily calorie allowance assuming you do no exercise. If you work out, then you log the exercise and the additional calories get added to account for the exercise.

So, the end result is going to be around the same calorie allowance, it's just a different way of calculating it.

AshLinds11

No, I did lose on ww. But then it stopped working so I decided to try mfp.

BamaBreezeNSaltAire

Check out the link below, it takes you to several posts that you will find very helpful.

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

neverstray

Do a search. It comes up everyday, sometimes more than once in a day.

tigerpenguin

Just some thoughts...

I do add to my exercise log as I find that it does encourage me to do more everyday. Though I do not add on to my calorie intake usually, I just make sure that I eat enough to have the energy to workout and be active. Also... if you're wanting to add muscle you definitely DO NOT want to deprive your body. I can usually do all of this and still be way under my calorie limit.

Something else... I do use a heart monitor when I workout and I usually burn much more than the exercise log gives me credit for... so I'd think that's really person to person basis. You really should log as much as you can, it helps you realize patterns be it healthy or not.

Good luck! I know you can do it!

jwaitman

You need to find what works for you. What works for everyone else may not be the right anwer for you. I personally try never to eat all of my exercise calories back, but if I didn't eat some of them it would be really hard for me to stay under. 1200 calories is just not enough food.

JesterMFP

As others have explained, it doesn't defeat the object because MFP gives you a calorie goal that already has a calorie deficit built into it. If you never did any extra exercise you'd still be eating at a calorie deficit. Extra exercise makes that calorie deficit bigger (too big? you decide!) and eating those exercise calories back brings you back to the original calorie deficit suggested by MFP based on the info you submitted. You'll find all kinds of opinions on whether to eat them back or not, I can only say that it has worked for me to eat them back.

I can't see how you would be going "way over" on carbs, fats and protein if you are sticking to your goal and eating exercise calories. That doesn't make sense. When you add your exercise calories, the macronutrient goals are adjusted to compensate.

Helloitsdan

You can either eat back calories lost or set a goal that includes the calories burned per week.
For instance I'm set to 2k a day and workout 3x a week.
I dont eat back cals usually because i'm already eating at a slight deficit.

Best bet is to figure TDEE and go from there.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

alpine1994

Just wanted to add:

I was eating my exercise calories back during the first couple months and it was working, then I stopped losing. I switched up my exercise routine and I still wasn't losing, so I stopped eating the calories back and I started losing again. You just kind of have to play around with it and see what works for you. I WILL eat extra calories if I am hungry though (high quality, nutritious food) and I try never to go to bed hungry because I won't sleep. I lose about 1lb per week which is fine for me.

Good luck!

JesterMFP

Ok, looking at your diary for yesterday, something's really not adding up with the numbers. You shouldn't be under your calorie goal and over on all of your macronutrients. That doesn't make sense, that is where your calories are coming from. I checked just one food entry - your Hershey's kisses. Another entry for what looks like the same food (I haven't checked its accuracy but it has been confirmed by 9 users) gives 1 piece as 20 calories, 1 g of fat, 3 g of carbs. So, 6 pieces should be 120 calories, ~6 g of fat and ~18 g of carbs. Not 36 g of fat and 75 g of carbs. So maybe the entry you are using has been input incorrectly. Maybe other foods that you are using have been too. If you are regularly eating foods that have incorrect info on them - that could explain why you have been gaining weight. I would go and check all the entries for the foods you are adding against the nutritional info on the packets and see if that's where things have gone wrong. Underestimating the number of calories you are consuming could be the problem.

Ichristini

Here is what I read recently when I asked the same questions. Good Luck!!

Hello Folks,

So often people personal message me asking me if I think their calories are correct. It seems that people think there is some magical formula that only a very few can figure out. I see so many people on here just popping in numbers and following them heedless of what the numbers mean. I feel it's ULTRA important to know why MFP (and me, and a few others) gives you certain numbers. To that end I will try to empower YOU to be able to understand the basics about calories, calorie deficits, and why we recommend eating exercise calories. With this knowledge you should be able to easily figure out what your calories should be at for reasonable, healthy weight loss. So without further ado, lets get started.

1st things first, a few givens must be stated:

-Everyone's body is slightly different. ALWAYS keep in mind your numbers may not be exactly what MFP thinks simply because everyone's bodies all burn energy at a different rate. Tweaking may be needed.

- MFP's goals wizard is a "dumb" tool. That means it doesn't care whether a specific goal is healthy and/or right for you, it just subtracts the goal deficit from projected maintenance calories. This means that even if you shouldn't be trying for a 2 lb a week loss, MFP won't care, it will still try to help you get there.

-1200 calories is a generic number. It's not right for everyone. It's a baseline minimum given out as a floor by MFP based on prior research by the medical community. NOT everyone will need a minimum of 1200, very small people can go under, and bigger people need more.


OK with those facts firmly set in your mind (please go back and re-read the givens until you have them firmly planted in your skull!), we can continue. Figuring out your perfect deficit isn't magic, it's a few simple formula's base on some basic, worldwide standards, and generally with slight modefication, will work for just about anyone who (besides weight) is generally healthy.

Here's what you need:
Height, weight, age, activity level, sex

NOTE: activity level isn't as mysterious as it sounds. If you have a desk job, and do very little walking throughout the day and don't really perform any sports or physical activities, then you are sedentary, if you do some walking every day (or at least 4 days a week) or other light activity for at least 30 minutes cumulative at least 4 times a week, you are lightly active. If you do 60 minutes of light activity 5 days a week or do some kind of sport that requires walking or light jogging (say swimming or mailman or warehouse employee) then you are active, If you do a physically demanding activity (one that makes you sweat) for 4 days a week or more and for more than 1 hour a day, you are very active (like a coach that runs drills or you play volleyball). When in doubt, go down 1 level, you'd rather burn more than you think than less.

With all these numbers you can generate your BMI. Now I realize BMI is flawed, but for what we're doing it's good enough. After years on here, and doing lots and lots of research, I've been able to associate general BMI ranges with approximate goal levels. This works for about 80 to 85% of people out there (there's always a few that are outside the curve).

So now we can figure out where your goal should be.
Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

With this quick guide you can figure out your goal rather easily. I know many people will say "I can't eat my exercise calories, I gain weight when I do". Well I have news for you, that's not correct. I submit this, if you eat your exercise calories and gain weight 1 of 3 things happened:
1 you were previously in starvation mode, and you upped your calories, and had an immediate weight gain, that's normal, to be expected, and necessary to get your body on track. Give it a month, that will stop, and you, once again, will begin to lose, but this time, in a healthy manner.
2 you incorrectly calculated something, either your exercise calories, your calorie intake, or you put in to large of a goal. Go back and check all your numbers.
3 you haven't given it enough time to work. This site promotes HEALTHY weight loss people. Healthy weight loss doesn't happen in days or weeks, it takes months and years. Each change you make in how you eat needs a month or more to work, be patient, give it time. It will happen.

And to everyone who has a trainer that doesn't agree with eating your exercise calories. I also submit this: In 90% of the cases (and I have talked to a LOT of trainers about this exact topic) they actually DO agree with this method, you just explained it wrong.
Just saying to a trainer "should I eat my exercise calories?" isn't enough, you have to explain to them that MFP already generates a deficit prior to any exercise, therefore the deficit will remain whether you exercise or not. Once you give them that idea, and you are relatively sure they understand the concept then I'll bet they change their tune.

I hope this helps, it's pretty straight forward if you've been here a while, and to you new guys, I recommend going to the message boards link, clicking on the "general diet and weight loss" area, and clicking on those first few posts that have the little mouse trap next to them, they are sticky and will always be there, and are a wealth of knowledge about this site, exercise calories, starvation mode...etc.

regards,

-Banks

leejayem

Didnt loose on WW.. huh. I like their system as it usually teaches a person how and what to eat. Gives an education element.

Anyway you're probably not doing this right, allow me to explain:

MFP works to have your calorie goal set as your NET calorie intake. That means your total energy intake minus energy output. Therefore, in order to have a deficit for weight loss you want your calorie goal to be UNDER your BMR.

If you so choose to not log your exercise (as I don't) but want to monitor your macronutrient intake then youre looking at your GROSS energy intake. Regardless of what you put out only totaling what you take in. To me, this is more beneficial as 1) the "calories burned" in exercise here are higher than what it really is generally 2) monitoring macros is a much better approach then calorie counting and 3) MFP's recommendations are wack. I know my BMR and what I need calorically to be in a deficit then calculate my macros accordingly. Thats all I care about.

Buddy you didn't read what she wrote!! She said she DID lose weight with WW by NOT eating back exercise calories. :ohwell: