Do you eat back your calories exercised?

sunnyhlw77

I don't eat back my calories, I as many of you already said try to stay on 1200 cal. range per day. I feel like if I'm working out more that day and burn over 1000 calories I will go over some. But I feel like if I eat back my cal. excercise that would be maintaining my weight, and I'm here doing this because I am trying to lose the weight. Maybe I am wrong , but thats how I do it

I do it pretty much the same. Some days I struggle to eat 1,200 calories mainly because I try to eat more veg and less other fill, like crackers or breads and stuff like that which makes me feel laggy.

jenndymond

I eat most of them back espically if I need the protein or am lacking something

cwolfman13

MFP uses the NEAT method in determining your calorie goal (with built in deficit). As such, exercise is extra activity...given that it is extra activity, that activity needs to be fueled...thus you eat back those calories. If you're at a very modest calorie deficit, then it's not a such a big deal...when you're only eating 1200 calories per day, it can be...if you burn 300 calories and don't eat those back, you're only netting 900 calories per day which is extremely low, even for a 5 foot nothing 80 year old woman.

_Zardoz_

Oh no not this argument again. What people seem to forget is this all works on estimates. The MFP goals are estimates. The calories on all the foods are estimates. Your calories burned (even using a HRM is an estimate) so all the people saying you have to eat them all back are assuming that all these estimates are correct that's plain silly because with out a lab measuring all the foods and all the exercise no one can be 100% accurate. Also mfp s calculations also take into account some exercise depending how you set it up

I work on the common sense approach. If I'm hungry I need to eat some of them back. I though would never eat them all back because as I said they're all estimates. In reality I probably eat them back around 30 to 50 per cent of the time. So my advice is listen to your body.

mifflersmom

This is an old topic but i found it because i am also confused by this. Some days i find it hard to eat my 1200 calories if i didnt exercise that day. On days i exercise, im pretty hungry and i go over my 1200 by 200-300 extra cals. So far that has worked for me. I lost 2 lbs this week doing this. Yes..this is my first week too.

megsmom2

Yes! 1200 calories is...lunch.
I lost this weight eating over1600...PLUS my burn!