Do you eat your calories earned by exercising?

CLFrancois

For me it depends. If I burn over 500, I don't eat all of that. If I burn 300 or less, I eat it. In between depends on how my appetite is.

seif0068

I eat back a portion of them. Not only to account for inaccuracy of the number burned, but because I only want to eat back my NET calories burned. MFP takes into account how many calories you burn in a given day without exercise. For me, it works out to about 75 calories per hour just sitting on my butt. So if I work out for an hour and burn 500 calories, I only eat back 400 - because that is how many EXTRA calories I burned, and then 25 is the wiggle room. I hear virtually no one talk about this on MFP, which is surprising.

seif0068

Nope. I know the numbers are higher than I burn, but, I have fun recording them anyways (I sometimes try to "net" negative calories).
But, I personally work out as much as I do to increase my fitness levels to burn extra calories, not to eat more. That's my goals, I'm happy with the outcome for far.

I'm not sure how often you "net" negative calories, but that is not a long-term solution and could be very dangerous. Your body needs a minimum level of calories to survive - if you are netting a negative number, that means you are quite literally starving your body.

CyberEd312

Yes I eat back 85% of my calories burned leaving 15% for error in logging and whatnot..... Best of Luck....

apittmanrn

I use TDEE-20%, so I do not eat my exercise calories back...

ApexLeader

not when i burn 2-3k. i'll eat like half or 75% back then.

if i had a ton of weight to lose, i'd probably not be too strict on it. now that i'm down to only needing to lose a handful of pounds (between 5-10) i try to hit 1700-2000 net calories a day.

JenniTheVeggie

Most days I don't. If I'm hungry I will eat some but not all.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

I use TDEE-20%, so I do not eat my exercise calories back...

This method is still inadvertently eating them back.

fae14

I eat back a portion of them. Not only to account for inaccuracy of the number burned, but because I only want to eat back my NET calories burned. MFP takes into account how many calories you burn in a given day without exercise. For me, it works out to about 75 calories per hour just sitting on my butt. So if I work out for an hour and burn 500 calories, I only eat back 400 - because that is how many EXTRA calories I burned, and then 25 is the wiggle room. I hear virtually no one talk about this on MFP, which is surprising.

My guess would be that not a lot of people know about it.

seif0068

I eat back a portion of them. Not only to account for inaccuracy of the number burned, but because I only want to eat back my NET calories burned. MFP takes into account how many calories you burn in a given day without exercise. For me, it works out to about 75 calories per hour just sitting on my butt. So if I work out for an hour and burn 500 calories, I only eat back 400 - because that is how many EXTRA calories I burned, and then 25 is the wiggle room. I hear virtually no one talk about this on MFP, which is surprising.

My guess would be that not a lot of people know about it.

I forget where I read about it, but I am glad I did, and it makes sense once you think about it. What I do now is subtract the calories I would have burned from the amount of calories I log for my exercise - that way I am still shooting for the calorie goal MFP gives me and it makes my charts/reports more accurate than if I logged all the exercise calories and came in "under" because I didn't eat them all back. Using this method, my weight loss has progressed pretty much exactly on target with my goals over the course of 6 months.

katevarner

I eat back a portion of them. Not only to account for inaccuracy of the number burned, but because I only want to eat back my NET calories burned. MFP takes into account how many calories you burn in a given day without exercise. For me, it works out to about 75 calories per hour just sitting on my butt. So if I work out for an hour and burn 500 calories, I only eat back 400 - because that is how many EXTRA calories I burned, and then 25 is the wiggle room. I hear virtually no one talk about this on MFP, which is surprising.

If you search for this info, you will find it. I used to only use my net calories burned during exercise, but MFP gives me a really low number of calories to eat (right now I get 1690 per day in maintenance), so I quit. I have a BodyMedia Fit Link, so I agree that MFP overestimates calories burned, and as a result, I rarely use MFP's calories. If I measure a walk or run with Endomodo, I let those calories stay, altho they are high as well. For other workouts, I use the calories from my BMF.

I have tried other methods of calculating calories, and I don't like the way the numbers come out, particularly the red or green at the end of the day, so I still use MFP's goal, but I try not to stress if I'm over or under within 100, because I think there is that much wiggle room anyway.

majope

I eat back a portion of them. Not only to account for inaccuracy of the number burned, but because I only want to eat back my NET calories burned. MFP takes into account how many calories you burn in a given day without exercise. For me, it works out to about 75 calories per hour just sitting on my butt. So if I work out for an hour and burn 500 calories, I only eat back 400 - because that is how many EXTRA calories I burned, and then 25 is the wiggle room. I hear virtually no one talk about this on MFP, which is surprising.

My guess would be that not a lot of people know about it.

I've only been here a couple of months, and have seen several conversations about it. For me, it doesn't make a bit of difference so I don't bother to do the extra calculations. I still lose at or ahead of schedule by entering the number that shows up on my HRM. But by all means, if it works for you, do it!

brendabryden

I eat some of my exercise calories back, but my net calories has been about 300 less then my goal of 1200; so I probably should eat a few more of them back with some healthy foods.

serasv

I try to eat 1/2 my exercise calories.
It gives room for a bad estimate on calories burned and saves some calories to work toward my goal!

GamerLady

No I don't.

Francl27

Nope, but I don't sweat it if I go over (which doesn't happen much at all). I don't think I burn more than 200-300 calories from exercising though. But this way I don't sweat it and I don't have to worry about miscalculating portions etc.

bogden78

No, but on the occasion that I am having a 'hungry' day I don't feel too guilty.

trudijoy

no. i raised my calories so i eat a bit above BMR daily because i don't burn the same amount daily and didn't want my food fluctuating to that extent. so i just eat my goal calories, which are set at 500 over what MFP set for me, and don't eat back excercise ones because then my intake is regular so it's just my net that fluctuates.

theCarlton

Sometimes that's the only reason I can find to exercise that day :indifferent:

krystonite

I eat if I'm hungry.