Question about "earning" calories

owletti

Every time I log a workout, my food diary tells me that I've 'earned' the calories I've just burned off. Does that mean those are extra calories that I'm allowed to / must consume for the day based on my calorie goal?

But my question is..if I'm to eat the calories I've just burned off, why did I work it off in the first place?

Ahh but... forgive me if I sound ignorant. I'm still wet behind the ears as far as proper dieting and exercising goes. This whole calorie count vs. calorie burn thing has always confused me. I just want to learn!

TR0berts

Yes - you can "eat back" those calories. You don't have to, but you can. Essentially, whatever your goal is, MFP (or you, manually) set the number of calories that it'll take - WITHOUT EXERCISING - to lose/maintain/gain the weekly weight.

So, as an example... If you have your goal to lose 1lb per week, set your activity level to sedentary, MFP will calculate the daily calories you need to lose 1lb if you don't do any additional exercise - let's say, 1700 calories. Then, you go for a run and burn off - let's say 300 calories. That means that you can - for that day - eat up to 2000 calories, and still be on track to lose 1lb that week.

The benefit of doing the exercise is to help your body's overall health - not *just* to lose weight. You'll find that many people try to eat back about 1/2 their exercise calories - or 1850 calories on the above theoretical day - so that they'll still lose the weight, but their bodies will get stronger as those "extra" calories will go into repairing the body after the exercise.

Again, you don't' *have* to consume the extra 300 calories, but can. And, as my personal recommendation, if you're doing any sort of strength training, definitely eat back some - if not all - of your exercise calories.

bokodasu

You should eat at least some portion of them - what that portion is depends on how you calculated your calorie burn. (I eat between half and 3/4, depending, other people eat all of them.) You need to fuel your workouts with good nutrition, or you're just going to be spinning your wheels and not actually doing anything good for yourself.

Why you bother exercising, then, is for a few reasons:

First, for health reasons - exercise is good for your heart and all those other organs and stuff that you want to keep functioning.

Second, to keep as much lean body mass as you can while losing fat. If you don't exercise, you can still lose weight, but your body will try to get rid of all that metabolically expensive muscle and keep your wonderful energy-storing fat. If you can convince your body that you're really using all those muscles, it will be less likely to use them for energy.

Third, so you can eat. Most people don't like eating tiny portions and no treats, but if you burn more, you can eat more and still keep the same deficit.

And fourth, because none of this is exact, no matter how much people will tell you it is. Even if you weigh every gram of food that goes into your body, there will be variations in calorie content due to everything from growing conditions to machine malfunctions at the factory. Even if you wear a HRM and use the most accurate calculations, you're still only using an estimate of how many calories you're burning. Exercise gives you a little cushion on the energy-out side of the equation, so even if the energy-in is off, you're still good.

mareeee1234

First reply was great and explains it well !

I personally eat back about half