Eating back exercise calories... does it work?

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  • MarcoFerreiraFit
    MarcoFerreiraFit Posts: 9 Member
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    It's all about energy balance. If you're eating back calories already taken into account in your activity level setting for your TDEE then you'll even out and stay the same weight. However, if you for example have your settings as "sedentary" and your goals are on a weight loss (eg. Lose 1 or 2lbs per week) setting then you've already been given a caloric deficit by Myfitnesspal due to the settings you entered and can eat back the calories for any additional exercise which hasn't yet been accounted for in the initial settings of your profile and goals. You can do this and continue to lose that 1 or 2lbs per week as entered in your settings. You can also choose not to eat back the calories and therefore create a larger deficit and lose weight even faster but eventually if you do to much of that on a regular basis you will face a bit of metabolic adaptation and reach a point of diminishing returns due to a slightly slowed metabolism.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    Yes. It works.
  • SaiSrini
    SaiSrini Posts: 13 Member
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    Yes, I eat them back... I don't try to stay under my goal for "Total calories eaten". That's too hard. The only thing I look at: is my net calories for the day atleast 300 calories (it not more!) less than the daily goal. I do this for "margin of error" so that if I overestimated my food intake, I need to account for them through a "margin of error" process. And its been working for me so far.
  • peachybum21
    peachybum21 Posts: 22 Member
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    It's all about energy balance. If you're eating back calories already taken into account in your activity level setting for your TDEE then you'll even out and stay the same weight. However, if you for example have your settings as "sedentary" and your goals are on a weight loss (eg. Lose 1 or 2lbs per week) setting then you've already been given a caloric deficit by Myfitnesspal due to the settings you entered and can eat back the calories for any additional exercise which hasn't yet been accounted for in the initial settings of your profile and goals. You can do this and continue to lose that 1 or 2lbs per week as entered in your settings. You can also choose not to eat back the calories and therefore create a larger deficit and lose weight even faster but eventually if you do to much of that on a regular basis you will face a bit of metabolic adaptation and reach a point of diminishing returns due to a slightly slowed metabolism.

    This confuses me. So i put my activity level as medium activity or whatever it is, which affects my TDEE by increasing my calorie needs (right or wrong?!)
    I adjusted my weight loss goal to 1lb/week which gave me 1460 cals/day as opposed to the 1200 i had before.
    So i now try to eat 1460/day plus eat back whatever i burn off through additional exercise. Will this make me gain if i eat back my exercise calories but when im not exercising, just sitting down!?
    I work 12 hour shifts so only do 3 days per week, and its a pretty labour intensive job.
    Im just struggling to get my head round this...and wondering if i should change my activity level to sedentary. I don't want to gain but i don't want to be eating too little.
    XD
  • spikrgrl503
    spikrgrl503 Posts: 247 Member
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    I eat mine back. My fitbit says I burn anywhere between 500-900 cals from exercise. I walk a lot in my job, and I run somewhat frequently. If I dont eat those back I get shaky and lightheaded. I lose at approximately 2000-2500 a day). I'm a 6' female 179 lbs.

    Dont change to sedentary. I would choose lightly active. That's what I use, and my fitbit always tells me that I need to eat even more than that.
  • MarcoFerreiraFit
    MarcoFerreiraFit Posts: 9 Member
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    It's all dependent on your individual circumstances and body. There's really no exact one-size-fits-all TDEE formula. The TDEE calorie estimate is exactly that. If it were 100% accurate then what I wrote on my previous post would apply perfectly but what I suggest is to try adding back exercise calories (or not adding them back) and stick to that for at least a week and then base what you do next on the weight change results after that time is over. If you weight loss continues at the rate that you're after then keep doing what you tried. If it slows down or you gain weight then try to reduce your daily intake by 10% and continue that for a week and so on until you find the right balance. Most people tend to overestimate their activity and underestimate their calories so being 100% honest with your tracking and using the above feedback loop method is the best suggestion I can make.

    .
  • MarcoFerreiraFit
    MarcoFerreiraFit Posts: 9 Member
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    Long story short: in a perfect world where TDEE estimations are 100% accurate, any extra activity which you didn't account for in your activity level can be eaten back. That's why MFP lists total calories and net calories to account for that extra activity.
  • kimosabe1
    kimosabe1 Posts: 2,467 Member
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    I eat about 1/2-2/3 back....
  • caseyjamshack
    caseyjamshack Posts: 2
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    Everybody is different. I'm supposed to eat 1840 cals a day according to MFP, but I typically only eat around 1500. Then I do my daily exercise routine and burn around 800 cals. I never eat any of it back, and I'm down 42 lbs in 74 days.

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