do you lose weight when you eat exercise calories back

mariieexo

i know this is a hot topic, but i want your personal opinion about your own body. do you eat them back and still lose weight?

citygirl04

In my experience, as long as I'm building muscle yes.

effcla

I do log my exercise and eat my calories back and have had a loss every week since I started the first of August. I know there are some that do and some that don't. I just know I would rather eat them and be satisfied than not and be hungry. Good luck!

amnsetie

yes.
I eat them all back some days and on other days at least 50%
losing weight no probs

Jacium

I think it depends on the nature and intensity of the excercise being done. I do BFL, wherein there are 3 high intensity cardio workouts weekly, and 3 intense weight training sessions weekly. The cardio helps burn off fat, and the weight training builds muscle. Now, fat and muscle are hardly equivalent, and one of the key differences is that muscle is metabolic. So, lets say you're reading a book, typing a reply to this website, or some other sedentary activity. Fat will just sit there, doing nothing, But your body has to feed the muscle, whether you're using it or not. So, depending on how much the excercise is building muscle, you can get into a state of weight loss (actually more likely to be a change in body fat composition) even if you consume calories equal to those that you just burned off via excercise. This a a long-term effect, of course, you wouldn't see any change if you ran two miles and then ate three hundred calories worth of protein shake.
Jacium

vickilr5

It depends on what you are eating. If you eat whole nutrient dense foods, whole wheat bread some turkey, cheese or peanut butter/almond butter on w/wheat, fruit.......as opposed to calorie dense dense foods, then yes you can.

larbot3000

As long as you maintain a caloric deficit then you will lose weight.
If your TDEE is 2500 calories (including exercise calories) and you eat 2500 calories you will maintain.
If your TDEE is 2500 calories including exercise calories, and you eat 2000 calories, you will lose weight

aross001

I eat them back. I use Fitbit and it seems pretty accurate, so I don't mind taking the risk. I'm been losing slow and steady at about a lb or so a week.

agent99oz

For me - No, I gain weight when I do this or stay the same - I tried this for 7 months this year - following BMR and TDEE...

Now I follow a strict 1200cals a day and my weight is shifting and I have lost 25 cms in total off my body in 8 weeks

ubermensch13

You WILL lose weight if you eat less than you burn off, period. It might take longer for some than others, but you will lose. It is basic science. If you eat your exercise calories, as long as you stay in deficit, you will lose over the long haul.

justal313

My exercise calories are there so I can eat. I worry about my NET not the amount I eat. That being said now that I'm 80% of the way to my goal I've changed my goal to be only 1 pound a week and I might not be quite eating my exercise calories back.

VeganZombie13

Some of them I do yes, and I still loss weight.

hottottie11

Yes.

californiagirl2012

i know this is a hot topic, but i want your personal opinion about your own body. do you eat them back and still lose weight?

We are all different. If I ate them back I would gain weight for sure. Others need the extra to be sustainable. It really depends on what your RMR is and where you have net calories set.

t2kburl

I believe the exercise calories are typically overestimated and the calorie intake tends to be underestimated. So I've lost more when NOT eating them back, but I still eat at least 1500 - 1800 per day regardless.
Maybe on workout days I'll go as high as 2200, then I don't lose much, if any.

Bess_74

There is a really good explaination of this topic in the post titled "Links in MFP you want to read again and again." I had this same questions before and the basic answer is that you are supposed to eat back your exercise calories because your calorie deficit is figured prior to any exercise, and when you burn too many calories with out eating them back it will send your metabolism into starvation mode.

WhatAgirl_

ya if you eat back only clean foods

ubermensch13

ya if you eat back only clean foods

This makes no sense...it doesn't matter if they are clean or not...I'm sorry, but there are no peer reviewed studies that show clean v non clean when it comes to this topic making any difference.

psuLemon

Its in my tdee calculations... and since i prefer to lose fat and not muscle i fuel myself with 2600-2800 calories a day which is a 20% deficit below my tdee.

shans91

I'm not sure where I read it, but a study I was reading a few weeks back said eating back exercise calories helps to maintain muscle mass - and the more muscle mass you have, the more you burn at rest. So I'd say eating back exercise calories is the way to go! I've been doing it mostly, and as you can see from my ticker I'm now pretty close to my goal weight :-) works for me!

shans91

Its in my tdee calculations... and since i prefer to lose fat and not muscle i fuel myself with 2600-2800 calories a day which is a 20% deficit below my tdee.

And P.S, jealous! I get 1340 cals a day...doesn't give me much room to slip up!

LelliAmi

Usually, yes. I would just make sure that if I'm eating them back, to eat protein foods instead of carb/fatty foods. That way you build lean muscle which basically guarantees weight loss.

Lady_Bane

I had the best results at the beginning of my journey by changing it back and forth every 3 weeks. Now that I am lifting, I log everything.

AmberJo1984

When I first started this journey, I would eat them all back. Yes, I lost weight.

My doctor now has me on a 1500 calorie a day diet. I may eat back some of my exercise calories... but, I try to keep them minimal. Maybe 100. Sometimes I don't even reach 1500 calories. I'm still losing -- as well as getting stronger.

bemott

Yes, have always eaten all of them back and lost 59 lbs in 8 months. From 206 to 147 right now.

ElizaRoche

it didnt work for me!, i tried that a few months ago and nope... So i dont eat mine back!

kimosabe1

I don't eat them all back but only some and I'm losing.....

Timmyttt418

I don't risk it, so I almost never eat my calories back, I have lost 76 pounds since June 28th.

juliec33

I don't always eat all of them back. I do try to keep my net calories to at least my BMR.

larbot3000

Another thing to note is that exercise calories are often a guesstimate rather than an exact science, this is when it may not work for some. A deficit is still a deficit though..

Consider the following:

Person A eats 1800 calories and burns 1400 calories doing a boxing class
Person B eats 1400 calories and doesn't do any exercise

Weight loss outcomes should be the same provided Person A hasn't overestimated their calories burned..

Then you have Person C, they eat 1400 calories and burn 500 calories. They've actually created a much larger deficit than the two above. Typically it's not a good idea to consistently create such a large deficit - it's not sustainable.

rlv2680

Another thing to note is that exercise calories are often a guesstimate rather than an exact science, this is when it may not work for some. A deficit is still a deficit though..

Consider the following:

Person A eats 1800 calories and burns 1400 calories doing a boxing class
Person B eats 1400 calories and doesn't do any exercise

Weight loss outcomes should be the same provided Person A hasn't overestimated their calories burned..

Then you have Person C, they eat 1400 calories and burn 500 calories. They've actually created a much larger deficit than the two above. Typically it's not a good idea to consistently create such a large deficit - it's not sustainable.

if a person burned 1400 cals and only ate 1800 it is NOT the same as someone eating only 1400.;....do u mean if someone burned 400 in a class?