Eating back exercise calories

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AroraSumita
AroraSumita Posts: 19
in Health and Weight Loss
I do eat back some of my exercise calories but on days that i burn 500-700 caloriess in Gym, I really do not want to eat so much more...was wondering..what is the 'safe' amount so that body still gets nutrition it needs and not go in starvation mode?
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Replies

  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Do not worry about starvation mode.

    Try to eat back 50% to 75% of your exercise calories.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Do not worry about starvation mode.

    Try to eat back 50% to 75% of your exercise calories.

    This would work, or you could just up your cals everyday which would have you eat more than you do now on non-workout days, but less than you do on workout days. (eat the same amount of calories everyday, but this amount should be a fair bit higher than the initial MFP recommendation)
  • ElizaRoche
    ElizaRoche Posts: 2,005 Member
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    i dont eat mine ..... i stay at 1200
  • BeingAwesome247
    BeingAwesome247 Posts: 1,171 Member
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    I don't eat back my exercise cals personally.
    Found the equation to figure out your basic calorie needs, subtracted 500 and have my set goal.
    Lot of ppl do this actually.

    MFP over complicates things in a lot of ways I think
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    i dont eat mine ..... i stay at 1200

    Yikes. 1200 is not enough for anyone that works out. I would suggest if you don't want to eat them back that you eat 1500-1700/day instead.

    Having too large of a deficit can lead to a large % of your weight loss coming from lean muscle instead of the fat you are looking at losing.

    As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I don't eat back my exercise cals personally.
    Found the equation to figure out your basic calorie needs, subtracted 500 and have my set goal.
    Lot of ppl do this actually.

    MFP over complicates things in a lot of ways I think

    This is a great way, as long as you account for exercise in your basic calories needs. You can also take that number and -20%, that is what a lot of people do as well.
  • DivaMoe40
    DivaMoe40 Posts: 159 Member
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    I usually eat something after my workout, but just enough to satisfy my hunger. I'm not trying to eat it all back, I just don't want to go to bed hungry.
  • MissJenn85
    MissJenn85 Posts: 2
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    oh yay! thanks for asking this question!! i've been trying to find the balance also b/c i am trying to lose and have been by watching my food but i also play derby. on the days i have practice, i burn upwards of 1,000 calories... obviously i would need to eat some of those back to keep my body from freaking out. these pieces of advice have been super helpful!
  • Debbe2
    Debbe2 Posts: 2,071 Member
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    I don't eat my exercise calories back. When I do I find my weight loss stalls however when I want to maintain my weight I will begin to do so. One thing to add is that I also don't stress or fixate on a 1200 calorie number. Instead I try to eat til I'm satisfied and stop. That tends to do it for me. Some days I'm slightly over and some days slightly under but physically satisfied. Best advice is for you to see what works best for you :flowerforyou:
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
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    Around a 20% deficit from TDEE
  • AroraSumita
    AroraSumita Posts: 19
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    Thank you everyone. This sure is helpful ...
  • EmilyOfTheSun
    EmilyOfTheSun Posts: 1,548 Member
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    Do not worry about starvation mode.

    Try to eat back 50% to 75% of your exercise calories.

    That's pretty much what I do. It's worked great for me so far. I originally tried to NOT eat them back at all. It sucked, I was hungry all the time. When I started to eat back 50-75% of them...I started to lose weight more quickly and steadily. It's great :)
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
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    I do eat back some of my exercise calories but on days that i burn 500-700 caloriess in Gym, I really do not want to eat so much more...was wondering..what is the 'safe' amount so that body still gets nutrition it needs and not go in starvation mode?
    I eat mine back and on the weekends when I burn over 800 calories I have pizza!! I love it!
  • NatashaB8
    NatashaB8 Posts: 202
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    This might be a silly question but..
    why exercise if you're going to eat the calories back? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't but I don't understand it really :/
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    This might be a silly question but..
    why exercise if you're going to eat the calories back? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't but I don't understand it really :/

    You eat the extra amount to fuel your workouts, and you workout to ensure that you are losing fat and not muscle, to strengthen the heart, increase endurance, become a better athlete, get stronger etc.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    This might be a silly question but..
    why exercise if you're going to eat the calories back? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't but I don't understand it really :/

    MFP sets your calories low so that you will lose weight without exercise. Then when you DO exercise, you need to eat more to fuel the workout. If you don't then you may be creating too large of a calorie deficit which is not healthy, and may stall your weight loss, or cause you to lose muscle mass.
  • NatashaB8
    NatashaB8 Posts: 202
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    Ah right okay!
    Thanks for the replies, will definitely try and eat my exercise calories back :)
  • sarah1334
    sarah1334 Posts: 77 Member
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    This might be a silly question but..
    why exercise if you're going to eat the calories back? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't but I don't understand it really :/

    You eat the extra amount to fuel your workouts, and you workout to ensure that you are losing fat and not muscle, to strengthen the heart, increase endurance, become a better athlete, get stronger etc.

    And because adding some exercise/building some lean muscle means you'll look better naked in the end! :smile: Hehe.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    I get better results if I don't so I try not to, but sometimes I do if I really want something (last 2 days = homemade apple crisp!!)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/729141-exercise-calories-to-eat-or-not-to-eat-results?hl=exercise+calories+psulemon&page=1#posts-10742097

    Pretty much states, those who do NOT eat back exercise calories, increases the chance of muscle loss.

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