Do you eat back your exercise calories?

sbro32

I love this site, so please don't think I"m complaining. But I typically never log in exercise, because I don't want it adding those calories to my remaining balance. Unless I have a fairly intense workout or a long distance run, I try and stay away from those calories. However, I just started my mini marathon training this morning and thought I'd log in my run out of curiosity. I'm a fairly in shape person trying to lose about 15 pounds. I have ran for many years, but have never been an expert when it comes to weight loss. So I'd love your opinion! Am I hurting or helping myself by not eating back those calories from a 30 minute run or any other kind of brief workout?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

sehaley

I try hard not to eat back my workout calories. I do log my workouts, but I wait until the end of the day after I've logged ALL of my meals.

AmyRhubarb

MFP is set up in a way that you are supposed to eat back those exercise cals. The daily goal they give you is already a deficit for you, based on your settings for activity level and how many pounds a week you want to lose. Eating the daily calories withOUT exercise and you would lose weight because it's already a deficit from your estimated TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).

So exercising and not eating back any of those calories puts you at an eve bigger deficit, which may cause you some problems in the long run - eat too little and you may eventually hit the wall, feel exhausted, lack of energy for workouts, and over a long period of time, can screw up your metabolism.

Food is fuel - that's why MFP shows your NET calories - that number should match your daily goal, or at least close to it, and you should still lose weight. At the very least, you should be netting your BMR.

714rah714

I bank my exercise calories during the week so that I can use them on the weekends

letjog

for me, I already eat a deficit if I am not exercising - I have 1100-1200 cals a day. If I exercise (which I do most days), i eat extra but try to underestimate my calories so I don't gain/the weight loss speeds up a little. But if i didn't eat extra my net would be less than 1000 each day which is not sensible.

So it depends on how much you already eat and how much you work out.

fitgma4

I love your Question! When I joined MFP, a friend told me that she never ate back her exercise calories, so I started out that way. My favorite part of my day is pressing that little button, "If you you continue like today, in 5 weeks you will weigh....". I LOVE THAT! It's my motovation that MFP is working...AND IT IS! I started MFP in July 2012 with a 5 lb. goal. I'm an avid Jazzercise fan - three days a week and fitness at home on off days. About 2 months into MFP I began to get curious about what would happen if I ate those extra calories. I ate healthy snacks and added 100 calories to meals that day. I continued to lose weight. My advice - add the calories but keep them healthy calories. Workouts are too valuable to sabotage with bad calories. Best wishes!

ravenchick

If you're hungry, eat them. If not, let it go.

WendyTerry420

Technically I do because they are built into my calorie goal. But I quit using MFPs numbers. After six months of logging, I calculated my true TDEE. I changed my calorie goal to my TDEE and try to stay 500 calories under that. I generally wait until the end of the day to log my exercise then. But once in a while, if I do something major with a huge burn, I will eat a little extra because I will be hungrier than normal.

irisheyez718

I didn't eat back my exercise calories when I first started but after reading the forums and learning how MFP is set up, I started eating them. I feel better, and still lose the weight when I do.

SideSteel

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

cutiepieinchi

It depends with me. I generally eat some of them back every time I work out. If I have a big dinner or party then I will bank my ecercise calories and use them then. I look at my net number everyday and make a goal of having it be at at least 1200. I do find that my weight loss stalls if I eat all of my exercise calories every day.

genghis54

I try not too, so when I go over cals I have a cushion and if I do not exercise again I have a cushion and I do not panic!

CherokeeTopaz

No... not at all.... lol the only thing is if I go over my cals a little then I exercise to bring it back down... at least to even it out.... BUT I don't call that eating back the calories. Plus that's only every now and then on cheat days

chevy88grl

Absolutely. If I don't, I create too large of a deficit and eventually stop losing weight. If you use MFP the way it is intended to be used, you should eat them back as it has already created a deficit for you. It works differently than other weight loss websites or programs (with those your deficit is created with the exercise -- here it is created in your daily calorie goal the site gives you).

oldernotwiser

I typically do not eat back all of the exercise calories that I burn as I can't be certain that the numbers are truly accurate. From reading various posts here and elsewhere, it seems that my New Balance HRM, the cardio machines at my gym and MFP are inherently flawed when it comes to calculating calories burned.

BostonBill99

My food calories are fixed at 2000 per day. If I exercise a lot, all the better, but I never take the exercise calories into consideration, I've never had a "zero" day, but I am working on it.

csheltra26

For a long time I was working out like a maniac and maintaining about 1500-1600 calories a day. I lost a ton of weight fast. Then I gained most of it back. I was tracking calories, using a body bugg and still couldn't figure out why if I had 3 pieces of pizza and a couple of cookies on the weekend how it would calculate into a 2 pound gain. I know I was running at least a 5,000 calorie deficit with my exercise. I was always hungry. ALWAYS. And apparently shut down my metabolism.

Point is - MFP is set to already show a deficit with your calorie goal. Eat back those exercise calories - gives you more to eat, you will feel better and have more energy, and it will be easier to keep the weight off.

AsellusReborn

I almost always eat back about 2/3 of them (to account for the burn being on the high side) unless I'm starving, when I will eat them all back. Otherwise you push your deficit much higher than you actually intend which I don't find safe. I don't exercise to lose weight - I exercise to get in shape - and I view eating those calories back as protecting the progress I made in my workout because if you don't fuel your workouts you're not going to be able to work out as hard.

sbro32

So I just saw where this topic was already posted a few times already. Sorry for the repeat, everybody! And your answers were just what I was looking for. I'm an old Weight Watcher's member, and I often get the two a little mixed up. Thanks so much for all of your input!

CyberEd312

Yep most definitely!! I eat back 85% of my exercise calories leaving 15% for error in logging or whatnot but always go off my HRM for better accuracy..... Best of Luck...

My0WNinspiration

I eat back my calories only when I'm hungry at the end of the day.

Sul3i

MFP is set up in a way that you are supposed to eat back those exercise cals. The daily goal they give you is already a deficit for you, based on your settings for activity level and how many pounds a week you want to lose. Eating the daily calories withOUT exercise and you would lose weight because it's already a deficit from your estimated TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).

So exercising and not eating back any of those calories puts you at an eve bigger deficit, which may cause you some problems in the long run - eat too little and you may eventually hit the wall, feel exhausted, lack of energy for workouts, and over a long period of time, can screw up your metabolism.

Food is fuel - that's why MFP shows your NET calories - that number should match your daily goal, or at least close to it, and you should still lose weight. At the very least, you should be netting your BMR.

This^^ also do u use a hrm?? Mfp estimates high. Do u have ur settings set to lose 2 lbs per week? Its hard for someone on the outside to know how low ur cals are already set.... I never ate mine back sometimes due to. Wanting an extra snack I needed to use a little and if I felt hungry I would listen to my body and eat. If u start feeling burnt out eat some of them back good luck!

xilka

Yes. And I've lost 15 pounds in 3 months.

glitteratthesea

Yes, I do eat them back, I love food too much to let them go. But most of the time I bank them so I can eat more at a special ociasion, I actually never eat them back at the same day (or I must be craving).