Eating back exercise calories

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Replies

  • bluebear_74
    bluebear_74 Posts: 179
    I just posted this in another thread but personally I think if you have a low net calorie and you're hungry, eat. I don't like this whole "starvation mode" thing when it comes to eating back your exercise. Sure if you're very low because you haven't eaten much (unless you ate veggies all day which are really low in calories) you're most likely starving yourself. However isn't the whole point of working out to burn some more calories? Why would you want to eat it back? Why exercise in the first place (though you do build muscle which makes your metabolism faster, not sure how much though).

    I think it sends a bit of the wrong message to be eating (when you're NOT hungry) to get calories up. Isn't this how many people got here in the first place? By over eating (well I know I did). I can understand giving yourself a treat when you have low net calorie at the end of the day, just not eating for the sake of eating.
  • theseus82
    theseus82 Posts: 255 Member
    I think different people will tell you different answers. I typically don't enter in my workouts for the full amount of calories. MFP exercise values in the database tend to be inflated in my opinion.

    As a former WeightWatcher, I use MFP exercise calories in a manner similar to WW: I count about 1/2 of my exercise calories to my daily calorie goal. When I was a WW member, one earned 1 point for 100 calories of exercise, but 100 calories consumed was typically 2 points. Thus, WW essentially only gave you half of your exercise calories to "eat back".

    Others have other approaches, but this is mine. I do think that the exercise values in the DB here are inflated, so keep that in mind.

    Regardless, you need to eat at least 1,200 calories a day. But in my view, if you get moderate exercise, you do not need to eat back all of the calories, so long as you are getting well above the 1,200 limit. Generally though, it's better to lose weight slowly than to do a "crash" diet. The slower the loss--and the healthier the habits to achieve those losses--then the more likely you are to cement those good habits into lifestyle changes.

    We all want quick results, but we're all in this for the long haul. Stick to a program that is tolerable, and exercise that is most enjoyable. I am not a proponent of the "no pain no gain" or the "Biggest Loser/Let's abuse each other to guilt ourselves into working out" approaches. . .
  • laurendisley
    laurendisley Posts: 1
    I think it all comes down to trial and error and what works best for everyone individually. I started eating my exercise calories back and ended up gaining weight! This is because I thought ohhh great I've got 500-600 calories left in my net today so I can have some extra greek yoghurt and fruit, plus some snack a jacks as extras and then maybe some soy an linseed bread toasted for supper, although I'd make healthyish choices to eat my extra calories back, the problem was I didn't actually need them, I wasn't hungry, I just used it as an excuse to eat more calories back! This is why I gained weight over the following month which really disheartened me as I exercise 5-6 days a week and eat a healthy diet. I only have another stone to lose to be at my goal weight and I feel as though eating back my exercise calories for the sake of it and because we're told to do so didnt help me even maintain my weight - granted my weekend treats didnt help but these were ok before i started eating exercise calories back, I was still able to have weekend treats and lose weight. This might not be the case for others but I find sticking to your calorie allowance helps with weight loss a lot more, and yes if after a big workout I'm still hungry because I feel my body needs replenishing more then I will eat a bit extra! But definitely won't eat them back just because I can. All in all.... if your hungry then eat, if not then don't, simples :)
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
    If you are following MFP's guidelines for calories per day, then you need to eat back your exercise calories. If you can't do it then try to eat back at least half.
    If you are following the TDEE method, then you don't eat them back.
  • rogerbosch
    rogerbosch Posts: 343 Member
    I just posted this in another thread but personally I think if you have a low net calorie and you're hungry, eat. I don't like this whole "starvation mode" thing when it comes to eating back your exercise. Sure if you're very low because you haven't eaten much (unless you ate veggies all day which are really low in calories) you're most likely starving yourself. However isn't the whole point of working out to burn some more calories? Why would you want to eat it back? Why exercise in the first place (though you do build muscle which makes your metabolism faster, not sure how much though).

    I think it sends a bit of the wrong message to be eating (when you're NOT hungry) to get calories up. Isn't this how many people got here in the first place? By over eating (well I know I did). I can understand giving yourself a treat when you have low net calorie at the end of the day, just not eating for the sake of eating.

    This sounds reasonable, BUT…
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    One thing to note....ever play with your MFP settings? It's kind of a joke. You can say you want to lose 2 lbs per week, 1 lb or .5 or maintain, and it still gives you the exact same calculations. Never 2 lbs. Ever. Same as choosing Sedentary or Highly Active. Same. Iy doesn't matter at all so I am not sure what the point of even asking is.

    MFP defaults to 1200 calories only if you don't weigh enough for the actual calculated value to be higher than that at the current settings. If you don't really need to lose any weight then it's not going to make a lot of difference how you set things up. But it can and will give you a 1000 calories/day deficit for 2 pounds/week if you're big enough.

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