Should I eat my calories back?

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Voca_Star
Voca_Star Posts: 140
in Health and Weight Loss
So two weeks ago when I weighed myself i was 141 pounds. Last weekend I was 138. This weekend I was 139.5.
I'm not stressing that anymore, weight fluctuates. I want to get down to about 115 - 120, hopefully by my 19th birthday, next February. By the way, I'm only 5'3". So I have a couple of questions and as many answers as possible would be greatly appreciated ^^

First of all, I usually burn about 250 -400 with my exercise, depending on what it is. So should I eat those calories back or just stick with the 1250 that MFP recommends for me daily? I want to lose fat, so keeping a calorie deficit is a MUST. Will it still count as a calorie deficit if I eat my exercise calories back?

Second of all, for exercise I do: Sun, Tues, Thurs, Friday, I do 35 - 45 minutes of intense cardio. Depending on what I do for cardio, it burns between 250 - 400 calories. And then on Monday and Wednesday, I do a circuit routine. This is my routine:

5 minutes of rope jumping
20 crunches
25 squats
10 - 15 (all I can do...for now) push ups)
5 minutes of running in place
25 leg lifts
15 lunges on each leg
25 chest flies (ten pound weights)
*****And, repeat. About, 4 -5 times.******

Is this a good routine for losing fat? The cardio alone will burn about 400 calories.

Third, with doing all of this and keeping a diet high in protein, low in sugar, and eating lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free dairies, and drinking lots of water, will that be a good way to get a flat stomach? I have an event next May I want to look lean for so any advice is great!

Replies

  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    MFO recommends you eat those1250......PLUS your exercise calories. Its how this program is designed to work. And it does work. Up to you how you choose to apply it, since its a tool, not a commandment.
  • mgobluetx12
    mgobluetx12 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    I've never heard of any site or anything at all anywhere recommending you eat your burned calories back except for this one. My doctor told me that's absolutely ridiculous. I'd maybe eat a few back if I burned like 1000 and I'm only eating 1200...sure. But for a few hundred? No way.
  • girl_afraid82
    girl_afraid82 Posts: 178 Member
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    I've never heard of any site or anything at all anywhere recommending you eat your burned calories back except for this one. My doctor told me that's absolutely ridiculous. I'd maybe eat a few back if I burned like 1000 and I'm only eating 1200...sure. But for a few hundred? No way.

    It's not ridiculous. MFP already has you eating at a deficit. By not eating exercise calories back, it creates an even bigger deficit.
    Depending on how your goals are set up, not eating these calories can take you down to a dangerously low NET calorie intake, hence why MFP tries to have you eat them back.

    If you factor your exercise into your daily allowance (for example, saying that you are active rather than sedentry), it's fine not to eat them back, as technically you shouldn't log them anyway. You've already accounted for them.
    However, if you are set as sedentry, or only lightly active, and are not counting your workouts as part of your normal activity level, you should eat them back to stay at the correct level of deficit.

    Your body needs fuel for workouts... if you want to work out hard, you need to eat accordingly. Not sure why this baffles people.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    I've never heard of any site or anything at all anywhere recommending you eat your burned calories back except for this one. My doctor told me that's absolutely ridiculous. I'd maybe eat a few back if I burned like 1000 and I'm only eating 1200...sure. But for a few hundred? No way.

    Actually, just about every calorie calculator system I've ever seen asks how active you are and if you do lots of exercise, it suggests you eat more.

    MFP does the same thing, but uses a different method. It gives you a lower amount to start with and then you add the cals as you exercise (example: MFP sets my maintenance calories around 1800 without exercise, and I add about 200 - 300 or so each day for exercise. Total 2000 - 2200)

    Most other systems estimate an extra amount of calories to account for exercise and include them instead of estimating an extra amount of cals each day and including them in your daily calorie amount. (example: freedieting.com sets my calories per day for maintenance at 2022).

    There is practically no difference - not quite sure how that is ridiculous!

    But, if you choose to eat less and create a larger calorie deficit - go for it.
    Deprivation isn't my thing, but if it works for you, that's great!
  • leopard_barbie
    leopard_barbie Posts: 279 Member
    Options
    I've never heard of any site or anything at all anywhere recommending you eat your burned calories back except for this one. My doctor told me that's absolutely ridiculous. I'd maybe eat a few back if I burned like 1000 and I'm only eating 1200...sure. But for a few hundred? No way.

    Actually, just about every calorie calculator system I've ever seen asks how active you are and if you do lots of exercise, it suggests you eat more.

    MFP does the same thing, but uses a different method. It gives you a lower amount to start with and then you add the cals as you exercise (example: MFP sets my maintenance calories around 1800 without exercise, and I add about 200 - 300 or so each day for exercise. Total 2000 - 2200)

    Most other systems estimate an extra amount of calories to account for exercise and include them instead of estimating an extra amount of cals each day and including them in your daily calorie amount. (example: freedieting.com sets my calories per day for maintenance at 2022).

    There is practically no difference - not quite sure how that is ridiculous!

    But, if you choose to eat less and create a larger calorie deficit - go for it.
    Deprivation isn't my thing, but if it works for you, that's great!

    ^Everything this person said is right.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
    Options
    I've never heard of any site or anything at all anywhere recommending you eat your burned calories back except for this one. My doctor told me that's absolutely ridiculous. I'd maybe eat a few back if I burned like 1000 and I'm only eating 1200...sure. But for a few hundred? No way.

    Actually, just about every calorie calculator system I've ever seen asks how active you are and if you do lots of exercise, it suggests you eat more.

    MFP does the same thing, but uses a different method. It gives you a lower amount to start with and then you add the cals as you exercise (example: MFP sets my maintenance calories around 1800 without exercise, and I add about 200 - 300 or so each day for exercise. Total 2000 - 2200)

    Most other systems estimate an extra amount of calories to account for exercise and include them instead of estimating an extra amount of cals each day and including them in your daily calorie amount. (example: freedieting.com sets my calories per day for maintenance at 2022).

    There is practically no difference - not quite sure how that is ridiculous!

    But, if you choose to eat less and create a larger calorie deficit - go for it.
    Deprivation isn't my thing, but if it works for you, that's great!

    ^Everything this person said is right.

    Cool, I'm going to tell my husband that everything I say is right!!! :smile:
  • Lmezz11
    Lmezz11 Posts: 619 Member
    Options

    First of all, I usually burn about 250 -400 with my exercise, depending on what it is. So should I eat those calories back or just stick with the 1250 that MFP recommends for me daily? I want to lose fat, so keeping a calorie deficit is a MUST. Will it still count as a calorie deficit if I eat my exercise calories back?

    I think that is a personal choice. You are going to get a lot of different answers on this question. For me, I generally do not eat back my exercise cals unless I am hungry. You are the only one who knows your body- listen to it. If you are hungry, eat. If you are not hungry, don't eat. Thats how I see it.

    ETA: Also, yes it will still be considered a calorie deficit if you eat back your exercise cals.
  • birdieaz
    birdieaz Posts: 448 Member
    Options
    So two weeks ago when I weighed myself i was 141 pounds. Last weekend I was 138. This weekend I was 139.5.
    I'm not stressing that anymore, weight fluctuates. I want to get down to about 115 - 120, hopefully by my 19th birthday, next February. By the way, I'm only 5'3". So I have a couple of questions and as many answers as possible would be greatly appreciated ^^

    First of all, I usually burn about 250 -400 with my exercise, depending on what it is. So should I eat those calories back or just stick with the 1250 that MFP recommends for me daily? I want to lose fat, so keeping a calorie deficit is a MUST. Will it still count as a calorie deficit if I eat my exercise calories back?

    Second of all, for exercise I do: Sun, Tues, Thurs, Friday, I do 35 - 45 minutes of intense cardio. Depending on what I do for cardio, it burns between 250 - 400 calories. And then on Monday and Wednesday, I do a circuit routine. This is my routine:

    5 minutes of rope jumping
    20 crunches
    25 squats
    10 - 15 (all I can do...for now) push ups)
    5 minutes of running in place
    25 leg lifts
    15 lunges on each leg
    25 chest flies (ten pound weights)
    *****And, repeat. About, 4 -5 times.******

    Is this a good routine for losing fat? The cardio alone will burn about 400 calories.

    Third, with doing all of this and keeping a diet high in protein, low in sugar, and eating lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free dairies, and drinking lots of water, will that be a good way to get a flat stomach? I have an event next May I want to look lean for so any advice is great!

    This is a good calculator to help you figure out your target calories. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
    IMO netting so few calories as you are doing will likely result in a plateau, that's what happened to me.

    To give you an example. I'm just under 5'3 and 123 and eating 1750cal, if I do an insanity workout then that can go up to 1950 easily and I'm finally losing again after stalling for 2months!
  • Its_Nat
    Its_Nat Posts: 184 Member
    Options
    I've never heard of any site or anything at all anywhere recommending you eat your burned calories back except for this one. My doctor told me that's absolutely ridiculous. I'd maybe eat a few back if I burned like 1000 and I'm only eating 1200...sure. But for a few hundred? No way.

    It's not ridiculous. MFP already has you eating at a deficit. By not eating exercise calories back, it creates an even bigger deficit.
    Depending on how your goals are set up, not eating these calories can take you down to a dangerously low NET calorie intake, hence why MFP tries to have you eat them back.

    If you factor your exercise into your daily allowance (for example, saying that you are active rather than sedentry), it's fine not to eat them back, as technically you shouldn't log them anyway. You've already accounted for them.
    However, if you are set as sedentry, or only lightly active, and are not counting your workouts as part of your normal activity level, you should eat them back to stay at the correct level of deficit.

    Your body needs fuel for workouts... if you want to work out hard, you need to eat accordingly. Not sure why this baffles people.

    Thank you!!! You explained this beautifully for me, I've never been entirely sure how it worked! :flowerforyou:
  • avocado12
    avocado12 Posts: 197 Member
    Options
    I don't eat back my calories, absolutely pointless for me.

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