eating back exercise cals: yay or nay?

LorinaLynn

Exactly, that's the point. It's not misleading, it's just the way MFP is designed. Activity level on MFP is just daily activity level (job/lifestyle), it doesn't take exercise into account. Pretty much every other calorie calculator does, hence the confusion.

Yep. Another calorie calculator would tell me to eat about 1700 to lose one pound a week.

MFP would tell me to eat about 1300 plus an additional 200-600 in exercise calories, depending on the day, which averages about the same.

Same math. Different way of getting there.

kandilynn03

No. I set my activity level to include some of my exercise so that I didn't have to eat back my exercise calories. Because sometimes at night I might randomly decide to go for a walk or do something extra, and I don't want to have to eat well after my eating window.

But I'm trying to get someone to get me a body media fit for Christmas, so that I can track my actual calorie burn and make sure I don't dip below my BMR when it's all added together.

liltenji

I always go to the gym before my dinner so if i burn alot there then i know that i can be a little more relaxed about what i have for my dinner. I don't overindulge but I know that i can afford to have something 'bad' if i wanted to. I never seem to eat more than 200 of my burned calories [i usually have about 900 'extra' calories after exercise]. i prefer to keep under my calorie intake and then i won't feel so bad if i go out and end up having a pint of beer or a spur of the moment takeaway with a friend. I want to still be able to enjoy my life aswell as losing weight, i just use MFP as a guideline to start teaching myself about portion control and try to keep my ED habits at bay.

Juliechilli

Nay. If I were trying to maintain, maybe but not to lose. I will have 1 or 2 cheat meals a week but the other 5 days, I stick to my daily calorie allowance.

jenmsu83

I always eat atleast some...generally I eat about half of them back. I believe in eating as much as possible while losing so that I will be able to maintain on a higher amount of calories. I also don't feel deprived which definitely helps with motivation! I am able to LOSE weight eating over 2000 cals a day with the amount of exercise I do ("moderate" - I workout 5 days a week for about 40-60 minutes each session).

gingerjen7

If you have your MFP profile set up correctly (Right activity level etc) and a realistic loss set for your target, then definitely eat those cals back.

That's a little misleading, though. If you set your activity level correctly to account for exercise, you shouldn't eat those calories back because they've already been accounted for. Logging your exercise would just be for recording purposes and shouldn't factor in.

exactly. every professional i talk to says not to eat back calories. The goal is to burn more then u take in. Why would you return them to your body. It makes no sense....

I bet every professional you've spoken to doesn't know how the MFP system works either.

Exactly, that's the point. It's not misleading, it's just the way MFP is designed. Activity level on MFP is just daily activity level (job/lifestyle), it doesn't take exercise into account. Pretty much every other calorie calculator does, hence the confusion.

MFP does take exercise into account if you set it up that way; a lot of users do.

NoahandPresleysMom

If you have your MFP profile set up correctly (Right activity level etc) and a realistic loss set for your target, then definitely eat those cals back.

That's a little misleading, though. If you set your activity level correctly to account for exercise, you shouldn't eat those calories back because they've already been accounted for. Logging your exercise would just be for recording purposes and shouldn't factor in.

exactly. every professional i talk to says not to eat back calories. The goal is to burn more then u take in. Why would you return them to your body. It makes no sense....

I bet every professional you've spoken to doesn't know how the MFP system works either.

I've explained it to them. They have all told me that system doesnt work. Calories in and calories out. That's the only real way to drop lbs.

msacurrie

That's why we track calories. It's okay if you don't eat all your extra calories if you had a killer burn, but if you only burned like 200 calories and you're stomach is growling - eat those 200 calories. Your body needs fuel!

darleyschroeder

If you have your MFP profile set up correctly (Right activity level etc) and a realistic loss set for your target, then definitely eat those cals back.

That's a little misleading, though. If you set your activity level correctly to account for exercise, you shouldn't eat those calories back because they've already been accounted for. Logging your exercise would just be for recording purposes and shouldn't factor in.

If you set up your MFP correctly then you still have the deficit, calories in and calories out. The calories are set up to automatically give yourself a deficit. It depends on what your put your activity level at. Put it at sedentary and eat back your work out calories. I think its easier that way.

exactly. every professional i talk to says not to eat back calories. The goal is to burn more then u take in. Why would you return them to your body. It makes no sense....

I bet every professional you've spoken to doesn't know how the MFP system works either.

I've explained it to them. They have all told me that system doesnt work. Calories in and calories out. That's the only real way to drop lbs.

tameejean

Yay (also yea). MFP sets your calorie goal based on a deficit calculated before exercise. If you exercise and burn more and don't eat more, you've just increased your deficit. In most cases this is not a good thing. A moderate deficit is better than a large deficit in most cases.

This. Eat them

simba01

Yes, I usually eat most of mine back.

megsmom2

Yay....more food, more flexibility.

tameejean

If you have your MFP profile set up correctly (Right activity level etc) and a realistic loss set for your target, then definitely eat those cals back.

That's a little misleading, though. If you set your activity level correctly to account for exercise, you shouldn't eat those calories back because they've already been accounted for. Logging your exercise would just be for recording purposes and shouldn't factor in.

This is incorrect. MFPdoes not account for your exercise calories *outside of normal daily activity*, hence why it *adds* the calories to your diary in the first place. Sure, you might lose weight faster if you don't eat them, but you're just setting yourself up to regain weight later on (like most people do) IMO.

CrackedMojo

Short answer - 'Sort of'. Long answer...

Before I bought a heart rate monitor & app that tracks calories, I was using do a little math to figure out my 'eat back' calories. For an exercise I would take the figure MFP gave and add to figure MapMyFitness gave then divide by four. Basically counting half the calories of the average between the sites.

I'm not 100% trusting my HRM & app, so I may start halving whatever figure it gives and eat back that amount.

joybedford

I always eat back all my exercise calories and it has worked for me. My goal is 1620 cals a day and I manage to eat them all + exercise cals and somedays could use more calories. I don't understand why people struggle to eat, guess I just like food LOL. I eat cleanly but don't deprive myself also, having the odd glass of wine, protein bars tend to be my treat. My main goal now is to be healthy by eating well and working out, I am leading by example showing my kids you can eat well look great and be healthy.

elka67

I usually eat them. And sometimes I do extra exercise to eat more. It's working great so far.

Me too! I've been doing this for 6 months and have had a steady weight loss.

Me too. I've always eaten them back otherwise I'd be starving and weaker at my workouts. It's never stopped my weight loss, I'm almost at target weight now and don't feel I've 'suffered' at all to get there. If you do more then your body needs more to function healthily.

FeebRyan

This website clearly gives me two or three times the amount of exercise calories i actually burn, so i dont eat them back but i dont restrict myself. To be honest now i am in the habit of eating the correct amount so if i want a teat and i ave exercises i know whether i am going to go over because of it.

I breastfeed and i eat back those calories but i generally dont eat back all the exercise ones.

RUBusinessman

Nay. I tried it out and I gained weight. Stick to your calorie number and go over once a week for your cheat meal.

Kaiukas

It really is extremely simple if you get your assumptions right:

First of all, double check your BMR and TDEE to make sure it all aligns with what MFP is suggesting and then decide how you want to go about your activity level and that determines your yay or nay.

If you set your activity level NOT to take into account your exercise, then yes, you should eat your exercise calories back.

If you set your activity level to take your exercise into account, then it is already in your kcal allowance and you should NOT eat your exercise calories back.

I set my activity level to sedentary and that gave me a daily 1200 kcal goal. I do quite a bit of exercise, sometimes up to 800 kcal a day and I eat these all back and have been losing weight at a pace of 1 lb a week exactly how I set out.

If I did not eat them back, I would net 400-600 kcal on many days which for me would be unsustainable, unhealthy and frankly plain silly

I personally would be miserable if I ate any less and, very importantly, I most definitely do NOT want quick weight loss.

It may be different for people who have more weight to lose and/or have very generous daily kcal budgets to start with.

chubbygirl253

I could never eat that much. but I work out A LOT and at my weight that means super high calorie burns. I routinely burn 3000+ calories 6 days a week. today I burned over 4000. but I ate 2500 instead of 1700 which is my goal on a rest day. So I ate roughly 50% more than on a rest day but had a huge burn.

tryclyn

I don't log exercise because I've manually set my goal to somewhere between my BMR AND TDEE. I'm not in a rush and work to eat close to my goal weight maintenance now instead of having to increase much when I get there.

For a better explanation

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

maryannmiclat

Listen to your body. If you're hungry then eat! Personally, I don't eat back my calories. I may eat 100-300 back on some days, but if I did each day I'd be eating close to a total of 3,000 calories a day and I don't want to do that. Also, what's worked for me is keeping at my normal daily intake and when I decide to have a cheat at the end of the week I don't feel guilty about it because I'm under like 5,000+ calories for the whole week so in a sense it's making up for it?

rvicini

To me, it's not a matter of all or none, I personally need 100 cals off my daily diet to be OK. I just eat that back and no more. I do not trust completely the MFP's exercise calories so I eat less. Besides, if you really look into it, you could not probably need any more.

lauren3101

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

xSakura

There's nothing wrong with eating your exercise calories, but I still can't bring myself to do it lol

Cait_Sidhe

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

That website is no longer relevant, just FYI.

LMick1986

I read something recently that explained it for me. If you are at the baseline of 1200 calories a day, yes...eat them back. You don't want to ever net below 1200. That starves the muscles...which is counterproductive to the whole health journey. Of course you will lose weight either way...and obviously probably quicker if you aren't eating them back. But remember, it's not all about the weight loss. It's about doing it in a healthy way. You don't want to lose a ton of muscle in the process of losing weight.
If you are in a higher calorie range, do not eat them back.....you don't get allotted 1800 calories, burning 200, then eating ultimately 2000 calories.

chigsy

ive only ever done it once had about 60 cal into them dont think its a bad think every once in a while but dont have them all xx

MadelineTaylah

As long as you do not go below 1200 calorie net (calories eaten - calories burnt through exercise) then I think it is okay.

ekz13

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