Do you eat your workout calories?

Yup always have and always lost weight.

I just realized today that eating back has been my problem. The estimates that come up in MFP when I log my runs overestimate calories burned by quite a bit (sometimes double). I was eating those calories - I stopped. Now the weight is coming off.

I rarely eat them. I try and take in as close to 1200 calories as possible. Sometimes I am a little over, sometimes little under. So far, I have lost 8 lbs in 3 weeks, which may seem too rapid, but I feel great!

Some of them sometimes but not always and never all of them. I've done some research and experimentation and if I eat over 1400 or so, I stop losing weight. I put my goal weight into the calculator (and several others I found online) to see what my maintenance calorie level will be once I get there.....and I can't see that eating more calories than my maintenance will be at that point as the way to weight LOSS! I eat well, I feel full, not tired, sluggish or sick and most weeks I'm losing weight. I'm going to experiment with this whole lowering sodium to reduce water retention though cause I've kind of gotten stagnant (plateau -- and no I don't want to hear any advice about eating more to stimulate the metabolism. Tried that, doesn't work for me. So no unasked for advice or opinion please, with all due respect!). So I changed my settings to show me sodium levels and most days I'm under but it looks like I've had more high sodium days than usual in the last few weeks that I've been stuck so I figure it's worth a shot to try it out. If it works, so much the better. If not, time for new experiment. I need to head on over to my diary to inspect it for which foods are causing the spike. So enjoy your weekend everyone!

Most of the time I do. MFP already takes a 500 calorie deficit off.

Wait, what?? So I have a 500 cal leeway? So if what was "set" for me was 1,200 but I work out 4+x a week and there's a 500 cal defecit...I should be taking in much more, correct?

I just HATE when the number turns red!!! LOL

MFP does NOT assume anyone will exercise. In your initial set up you stated "I want to lose XX pounds per week" MFP gives you the numbers to accomplish that .... or 1200 in your case ... which is the minimum MFP will give anyone.

When you ADD exercise into the equation .... (think of exercise / activity as calories out) ...... you increase the deficit. So it's like 1200 calories eaten LESS 500 calories burned. That's 700 net calories per day.

Your body needs 1200 calories (most women) just for basic bodily function: heart, lungs, kidneys. The problem with too large a deficit, your weight loss will stall, and your body may burn muscle as well as fat.

Your body won't start burning muscle until your body fat is below 5%, so don't worry about that

I don't eat mine, but then I rarely eat the allowance it sets me anyway, even before exercise is factored in. I usually manage 1200-1400 a day, so there's no way i could manage an extra 500+ for exercise.
Plus the idea, for me, is to create a calorie deficit.

Most of the time I do. MFP already takes a 500 calorie deficit off.

Wait, what?? So I have a 500 cal leeway? So if what was "set" for me was 1,200 but I work out 4+x a week and there's a 500 cal defecit...I should be taking in much more, correct?

I just HATE when the number turns red!!! LOL

MFP does NOT assume anyone will exercise. In your initial set up you stated "I want to lose XX pounds per week" MFP gives you the numbers to accomplish that .... or 1200 in your case ... which is the minimum MFP will give anyone.

When you ADD exercise into the equation .... (think of exercise / activity as calories out) ...... you increase the deficit. So it's like 1200 calories eaten LESS 500 calories burned. That's 700 net calories per day.

Your body needs 1200 calories (most women) just for basic bodily function: heart, lungs, kidneys. The problem with too large a deficit, your weight loss will stall, and your body may burn muscle as well as fat.

Your body won't start burning muscle until your body fat is below 5%, so don't worry about that

That is wrong. You will lose lean mass during your weight loss. If I drop 5-6 lbs are least 1-2 will be lean muscle. Even body builder drop lean mass while cutting, even before they get to the 5% threshold. The smaller your deficit the less muscle you will lose while losing weight.

Most of the time I do. MFP already takes a 500 calorie deficit off.

Wait, what?? So I have a 500 cal leeway? So if what was "set" for me was 1,200 but I work out 4+x a week and there's a 500 cal defecit...I should be taking in much more, correct?

I just HATE when the number turns red!!! LOL

You can eat 1700 calories a day and maintain your weight. MFP takes a deficit of 500 calories off that amount which equals to 3500 calories a week, which is equal to a pound of fat. The 1200 calories you are eating is to lose weight, and if you exercise you should eat most of those calories back to stay around 1200 calories. Does that make sense?

Wow. The amount of misinformation in this thread alone is alarming. Of course your body will burn muscle if you're not eating enough. Muscle burns more calories, and your body will try to hold onto calories if it's starving. Therefore, it will get rid of muscle FIRST if you're eating too little to sustain normal functions.

Eat your exercise calories!

I do and hasn't affected my weight one bit.

Results may vary....eat them back, don't eat them back, find the sweet spot of what works, though I'd bet that MFP may lowball the estimate.

You know... I eat mine, but then again I am not sure if they are hindering or helping me at all. I haven't done enough research to find out if they are affecting me. But I'm a hungry person, so I just usually eat them.

I usually do, but i'm not having much weight loss at all, i'm thinking i'm going to start to try to limit to just some of the workout calories, and I try to not over estimate my workouts just in case. I like what most of the other posts are saying about somewhat making up the calories, but not overindulging in the workout cals. best of luck

If you don't eat all or most of the calories you burn, your body will go into starvation mode and hold on to everything else it can get. So yes, you should eat your workout calories. You have to understand, you are still burning calories when you are doing nothing, called your resting metabolic rate, or RMR. You are also burning calories with your active metabolic rate, or AMR. As long as you know these, it is easier to keep track of how many calories you should take in and how many calories you should burn during extra exercise per day (I say extra exercise because some people like to get technical and say that the walking of everyday life could be counted as exercise). The more you exercise, the better your RMR and AMR will get, and the more calories you will burn during the day without exercise. Hope this helps!

Oh, and I drink my exercise calories

Haha! I do that sometimes too