Why You Shouldn’t Eat Back Exercise Calories

WendyTerry420

The only reason to not eat back your calories is if your burns are already including in your daily calorie goal, such as some of those doing to TDEE method. Otherwise, if you are basing it on MFP's calorie recommendations, you need to eat them back to prevent having a deficit that's too high.

Natashadb

I work out late at night, so for me it is almost impossible to eat my calories back!I would also feel too full.

Roni_M

I don't get the whole "you will die if you NET below 1200" folks. I don't eat exercise calories. On days I work out I only NET about 800. I've recently had a full blood work up including all vitamins, electrolytes, etc. It all came back fine. After a whole year of this I should be dead according to these folks (or at the very least bald, have no skin and be unable to stand up!). I guess I am one of those "special snowflakes". :flowerforyou:

DebbieLyn63

My TDEE without exercise is around 1600. I am still 50 pounds overweight, so I choose to have a deficit of around 750 to lose 1.5 pounds per week. This is a widely acceptable loss rate for someone my size. Since MFP won't recommend a base calorie level any lower than 1200, that only gives me a calorie deficit of 400 calories per day, if I were to eat back my exercise calories.
Sorry, but with 50 pounds left to go, I need to lose more than 8/10 of a pound each week.

NO ONE on here has ever provided scientific evidence that having up to a 1000 calorie daily deficit is unhealthy for someone who is obese.

Nor has there been any scientific evidence proving that netting under 1200 cals per day is unhealthy for EVERYONE.


Making blanket statements that EVERYONE has to eat back ALL their exercise calories is simply ridiculous.

If you create your ideal deficit by diet alone, then you should eat back your calories. Just be careful that you are not overestimating your calorie burns.

BUT

If you choose a combination of diet decrease and exercise to create your calorie deficit, then eating back your calories would sabotage your efforts.

ETA And scientific evidence does NOT mean that you read it on a forum on MFP, or in a fitness magazine, or on a body building website.

T1mH

I'm more hungry on intense workout days. I eat more. I generally don't eat all of my exercise calories. It's been working for me for 3 months. I'm still losing weight at a steady pace. When I stall I'll change what I'm doing.

Funny how the this thread started with the point not to eat back your exercise calories based on someones blog post who is eating their exercise calories back by calculating them into their daily goal. My exercise is not consistent enough to factor in to my daily goal. I did that for a while and got bored with the same routine. Now I try to mix it up and do different things. Like racquetball, swimming, mountain biking. Not just the tread mill and weights. I know not the most efficient workout to make the most progress the fastest but I'm doing things I enjoy doing which is much better than my old lazy habits.

WendyTerry420

My TDEE without exercise is around 1600. I am still 50 pounds overweight, so I choose to have a deficit of around 750 to lose 1.5 pounds per week. This is a widely acceptable loss rate for someone my size. Since MFP won't recommend a base calorie level any lower than 1200, that only gives me a calorie deficit of 400 calories per day, if I were to eat back my exercise calories.
Sorry, but with 50 pounds left to go, I need to lose more than 8/10 of a pound each week.

If your deficit is only 750, and you have 50 pounds or more to lose, then your deficit is not too high. With such a low TDEE, then you need your exercise to increase your deficit, like you said. For some people they have a much higher TDEE and are eating 1200 *PLUS* burning 500-1000 calories with excessive exercise. These are the ones that will face the problems associated with a high deficit. Based on your numbers, you're doing just fine. :flowerforyou:

DebbieLyn63

My TDEE without exercise is around 1600. I am still 50 pounds overweight, so I choose to have a deficit of around 750 to lose 1.5 pounds per week. This is a widely acceptable loss rate for someone my size. Since MFP won't recommend a base calorie level any lower than 1200, that only gives me a calorie deficit of 400 calories per day, if I were to eat back my exercise calories.
Sorry, but with 50 pounds left to go, I need to lose more than 8/10 of a pound each week.

If your deficit is only 750, and you have 50 pounds or more to lose, then your deficit is not too high. With such a low TDEE, then you need your exercise to increase your deficit, like you said. For some people they have a much higher TDEE and are eating 1200 *PLUS* burning 500-1000 calories with excessive exercise. These are the ones that will face the problems associated with a high deficit. Based on your numbers, you're doing just fine. :flowerforyou:

THANK YOU! You are the first person to actually read my posts about my numbers and agree that it is appropriate for me. Of course it is not appropriate for everyone, but it works for me. We all just need to use some common sense and have realistic expectations and goals as we are figuring out what is best for our bodies. Severe calorie deficits combined with obsessive over-exercising can certainly be unhealthy, at any size.
BTW Congratulations on reaching 50 lbs lost! Your hard work is paying off.

IronSmasher

Bump! I'm very interested on the subject :flowerforyou:

Necropost

SanDiegoCasey

Sorry I didn't read all the responses.. I know there are smart people on here,so this has obviously been said.. this person is seriously not thinking... She's calculating her daily calories as if she works out every day... that is eating her calories... so on the day's that she doesn't work out.. she's OVEREATING! doesn't take a rocket surgen to figure that one out.

Schraudt814

I admit to not reading all the responses because the absoluteness that people treat this subject with makes my eyes cross. EVERYONE is different. no exceptions. no one has the exact same body, genes, metabolism, lifestyle, etc etc etc. I personally have to eat back my exercise calories for two reasons- I tend to work out hard enough that if I didnt eat them, my net would be under 1000 AND blood sugar problems run in my family...if I eat too little I pass out. That's a problem. So while I try not to eat them all back, I would be WAY worse off if I abstained from ever eating them back. Will we ever stop beating this subject to death?

drgndancer

Long story (and arguments) short, it depends. if you spend 30 minutes 3 or 4 days a week on the elliptical, it really doesn't matter which you do. You're trying to lose weight; you'll probably lose it a little faster if you don't count the exercise calories. You'll probably still lose it if you do. Three or four hundred calories a day, a few days a week are not going to make or break your weight loss goals, unless you're playing it pretty close to the wire anyway. I'm personally of the opinion that there's no hurry, and you are more likely to keep weight off if you make it a lifestyle thing, so eating your calories gives you some play to eat a bit more and makes you more likely to keep weight off if you keep exercising. That's only an opinion though, do what makes you happy.

If you workout a lot though, that's a different matter. I burn about 155 calories a mile, and I run maybe 30 miles in a week. That's nearly 5000 calories a week just from running, and I do strength training three times a week too. Let me tell you, I eat back some of my exercise calories. On long run days I've been know to burn more that my standard daily calorie intake from MFP just on my run. When MFP is telling you to eat 1850 calories on a day and you burned 2250 in just two hours of that day, you'll be sure to eat a little more.

bagge72

Umm the person who created this tumblr page is eating back her exercise calories she just builds them in a head of time.

bagge72

Oh come on...its simple math!!!

If you ate 1200 (most people get this as a recommendation) , and burned 200 with exercise, you are only working with 1000 measly calories to get you through the day.

1000 calories a day is not healthy...for anyone...(and don't you dig on the internet to prove me wrong with a 1%-er case!)

This makes the most sense to me.

actually if you are eating 1200 calories you are working with 1200 caloires no matter how much you burn. The amount of calories you eat does not change just because you went to the gym.

sleepytexan

NEVER eat bananas.

igottaworkout

NEVER eat bananas.

Only nearly every day

pastryari

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

SHHitsKaty

I never used to eat back my exercise calories because I didn't realize that my deficit was already added into MFP because I selected my activity level as sedentary.

After working with a trainer for a month and having him look at a week log of what I eat, he HIGHLY advised me to starting eating back my exercise calories and on days I work out to eat anywhere from 1600-1700 calories.

I'd rather eat back my exercise calories back and not lose my muscle that I'm busting my behind in the gym with weights to obtain than be so stuck on eating 'below' a certain number every day.

stephdeeable

I'm confused. People exercise for other reasons besides more food?

michellekicks

Here's my explanation of why I did eat them back to lose:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/mrsbigmack/view/finding-the-sweet-spot-452184

Deipneus

I eat as little as I can stand every day. Sometimes that includes my exercise calories, sometimes not. What I don't like is people telling others what they should and should not do.

A better topic would have been: Why I Don't Eat Back Exercise Calories.