"Eating back" Exercise Calories - Simple breakdown
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Thanks for taking the time to write all of that and give your opinion. But I don't agree with you for my goals. I recently cut weight and NEVER ate my calories back and felt great all day while working out at 4:00am during the week. It all depends on your goals and what you want to accomplish.
Again, good post.0 -
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Ive seen several new people confused about this. Ive tried to narrow down the debate to a very simple logical train of thought that should clarify the importance of not counting ONLY the calories you eat. You have a PLAN for your daily caloric deficit, not "eating back" your exercise calories ruins this plan and gives your body fewer calories than you planned on giving it.
example:
Your net caloric goal for the day is based on a total deficit deemed appropriate for your body. if you are supposed to have a 1,000 calorie deficit for the day to lose 2lb/wk and 1,500 calorie goal gives you that deficit, you need to think of it as a calorie ledger just like finances. think of exercise you do as a WITHDRAWAL from the calorie bank and food you eat is a DEPOSIT to the calorie bank. you start each day at 0 and you want your calorie bank BALANCE to be 1,500 by the end of the day. See the following example
[Example of eating back calories: body gets 1500 calories for the day]
Wake up: 0 calories
Breakfast: +600 calories
Exercise: -200 calories
Snack: +200 calories
Lunch: +800 calories
Snack: +200 calories
Exercise: -500 calories
Dinner: +400 calories
Total Net calories for the day: 1,500 calories. You ate 2,200 calories but 700 calories of that were used by your exercise.
[Example of not eating back exercise calories]
Breakfast: +500 calories
Exercise -200 calories
Snack: +50 calories
Lunch: +500 calories
Exercise: -500 Calories
Dinner : +450 calories
Total Net calories for the day: 800 calories. You ate your daily goal of 1500 calories, but almost half of it didnt actually go to your body, it was used by exercise. Your body should receive 1500 calorie in this example.
Your lifestyle burns 2500 calories a day, so a 1000 calorie deficit is your 2lbs/week weight loss deficit so you need to net 1500 calories a day.......but if you arent "eating back" your exercise calories you arent considering the full picture. you are adding all the exercise you do each day to your pre-planned 1,000 calorie/day deficit. your day to day deficit is completely unpredictable because it depends on your exercise. if you dont exercise your deficit is 1,000.......if you do a 1,000 calorie burn workout your deficit is 2,000. this is not right.
* this uses the example of a person with a 1500 caloric daily goal.....im not saying EVERYBODY has this goal, lol*
feel free to rebuttal on my take on this argument, but id say its difficult to argue with this logic. not "eating back" exercise calories is a wild card in your fitness plan and can cause your daily caloric deficit to be way too high. too high of a caloric deficit is bad. your body NEEDS calories to run
*EDIT ADDITION*
IF CUTTING 1,000 CALORIES IS GOOD, THEN CUTTING 2,000 MUST BE GREAT, RIGHT?
Wrong! somebody posted "you willl lose more weight on the second plan" thinking that if cutting a few calories is good, then cutting more must be better: This is untrue! read my comment below for more details. your body has an absolute minimum amount of calories its willing to work with, and if you drop below that level it will declare a food shortage and stop dropping the weight and holding onto everything it can get. stick to the recommended 2 pound per week maximum 1,000 calorie deficit. you might get away with a 2,000 calorie deficit for a while, but it wont last.....then you will have to fight your body back out of starvation mode.
EXCELLENT and THANK YOU!!! I preach this, too, & explain it often!0 -
wow. so basically, you really should eat back most of your exercised calories daily...i always tried to stay away from that, over worrying that i was eating too much and that i wouldn't lose weight. thanks for explaining it like that!0
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Thanks for the clarification. Now I can go eat those extra calories. No wonder I have been so hungry. Of course, I will only eat healthy foods. : ) : )
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So I recently saw a nutritionist and spoke to her about losing weight. I don't know what my calorie intake was before, but she told me to eat about 1400-1500 calories a day. She also said that the key to losing the weight was to not eat back the calories I burned during exercise. Now I'm confused...0
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So I recently saw a nutritionist and spoke to her about losing weight. I don't know what my calorie intake was before, but she told me to eat about 1400-1500 calories a day. She also said that the key to losing the weight was to not eat back the calories I burned during exercise. Now I'm confused...
This website sets your calories lower, then you need extra fuel for workout. Like the running out of gas comparison.
Your nutritionist probably recommended calories that are higher than this website, correct? In which case you wouldn't eat back calories. So set your calorie goal to that and don't log your exercise.0 -
Yes, the site recommended 1200 calories but I have it set for 1500. I have been logging my exercise, but I have been trying to leave those calories as being "under my calorie goal."0
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But what if your to full to eat anything else? I understand what your saying but somedays I get full off of just getting my water intake in...you know that rule of drinking 8oz before every meal......thanks
:huh: There's no such thing as Not being able to find room for extra calories. Nuts are good fats, high in calories & make a great snack on their own,in a salad, or yogurt & you don't have to eat a lot of them.
1 tbsp Walnut Pieces - Unsalted - approx 95 cals
1/3 cup of Pumpkin Seeds Hulled, Roasted, Unsalted - 290 cals
1/3 cup of Sunflower Seeds Hulled Roasted & Unsalted - 300 cals0 -
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Bump to read later0
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My BMR is 1433 x1.2=1720 -1000 for a 2 pd a week loss. that would be 720 calories a day is that right!!!!!!!!
No, that's not right.
Your BMR is the amount your body needs just to function, i.e. breath, heart beat, etc. etc. Just go by what MFP has suggested to you, which would have been based on the info you submitted when you created your account. Then also eat the exercise calories you earn on top of what you've been allocated by MFP, unless you already took into account your exercise when you indicated your activity level.
Eating 720 calories a day WOULD be starvation and totally unsustainable.
Personally, I eat my BMR calories - which is actually a little higher than my daily allocation by MFP - (and some days even 100 - 300 calories more), plus the majority of my exercise calories and have been averaging a 1.5 pound loss every week.
Good luck!!
Edited for typo
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an example of "lightly active" might be a total of walking normal pace two hours a day. maybe 600 calorie burn worth of activity. keep in mind this needs to be as consistent as possible in your life, because if you say youre lightly active, but then sit around on your butt all day on sunday and still meet the net goal set, your deficit is actually smaller because you werent 'lightly active' that day. theres a possiblity you arent eating enough calories per day, or maybe you are focusing on an exremely low carb diet and your DNA reacts better to a low fat diet or vice versa, Do you follow an extremely disciplined low carb/low fat diet? what is your age,height, weight, and gender and how many calories per day do you currently eat from food?I am always confused about my activity level . I am a programmer , i work from home. I try to work out atleast 3 times a week (i count that under exercise cals) . When I work I sit , but my day is not like i am sitting for 8 hours continously. I drop and pick kids from school , activities , i cook , basic cleaning , gardening etc. My weight is barely moving and I am not sure if my activity level is sedentary or lightly active. Please help.0 -
My BMR is 1433 x1.2=1720 -1000 for a 2 pd a week loss. that would be 720 calories a day is that right!!!!!!!!
No, that's not right.
Your BMR is the amount your body needs just to function, i.e. breath, heart beat, etc. etc. Just go by what MFP has suggested to you, which would have been based on the info you submitted when you created your account. Then also eat the exercise calories you earn on top of what you've been allocated by MFP, unless you already took into account your exercise when you indicated your activity level.
Eating 720 calories a day WOULD be starvation and totally unsustainable.
Personally, I eat my BMR calories - which is actually a little higher than my daily allocation by MFP - (and some days even 100 - 300 calories more), plus the majority of my exercise calories and have been averaging a 1.5 pound loss every week.
Good luck!!
Edited for typo
actually, what the poster said about 720 calories a day is correct. they posted their BMR multiplied by the sedentary activity value of 1.2, and subtracted 1,000 for a 2lb per week deficit goal equaling 720. if you look, youll find my response confirming the math but letting them know a 2lb/week goal isnt realistic with their TDEE, advised them to shoot for a 1lb per week goal with a 500 calorie deficit instead.0 -
ive found that unsalted sunflower kernels have a LOT of calories. typically almost 200 calories for only a quarter cup, i can sit down and eat a half cup of those quite easily and thats 400 calories.But what if your to full to eat anything else? I understand what your saying but somedays I get full off of just getting my water intake in...you know that rule of drinking 8oz before every meal......thanks
:huh: There's no such thing as Not being able to find room for extra calories. Nuts are good fats, high in calories & make a great snack on their own,in a salad, or yogurt & you don't have to eat a lot of them.
1 tbsp Walnut Pieces - Unsalted - approx 95 cals
1/3 cup of Pumpkin Seeds Hulled, Roasted, Unsalted - 290 cals
1/3 cup of Sunflower Seeds Hulled Roasted & Unsalted - 300 cals0 -
sounds like your nutritionist has you on a completely different process than the way MFP was designed to work. here, you set up a TOTAL NET CALORIC GOAL. which is your Total daily energy expenditure (BMR times lifestyle activity quotient) minus your calorie deficit. This is the number you need to hit each day including the foods you eat AND the exercise you do. so you log EVERYTHING and try to use all the calories available. This results in you consistently hitting your daily caloric dificit goal, in most peoples' case 1,000 calories. so you work backwards. you start with deciding how much of a daily deficit you want, then by setting a goal based on that, you can track EVERYTHING you eat and ALL your exercise and make sure you are eating enough to make up for the exercise so you still adhere to the original deficit goal.Yes, the site recommended 1200 calories but I have it set for 1500. I have been logging my exercise, but I have been trying to leave those calories as being "under my calorie goal."0 -
wow. so basically, you really should eat back most of your exercised calories daily...i always tried to stay away from that, over worrying that i was eating too much and that i wouldn't lose weight. thanks for explaining it like that!
no problem. and make sure you are operating on the correct premise by calculating the correct TDEE, i found that MFP actually had a higher recommendation than that from the miflin st jeor equation i set mine manually.0 -
what is your age, height, weight? and whats your activity level like outside of your exercise regimen? job and home life, etc?Hi Marc, I am still very confused. My BMR is 1,739 and my activity is light (3 days week average of 580 calories). My calories per day are 1,530 and have it set to lose 1 1/2 lbs a week. So I actually need to be eating less calories a day than mine is set for? Please Help!!??
Thanks!
:huh:0 -
This all seems way complicated. :grumble:
MFP has each user set up to loose weight (or maintain, whatever the users goal is) using the settings it provides and you choose. You eat what it says to eat!
It can get a little more complicated (when you are close to goal, are gaining muscle, metabolic issues, etc) but for simple weight loss, following the calories it gives will produce results.
When someone does not eat back exercise calories, it causes too much of a deficit.
-Too large a deficit= plateau and metabolic damages.
-Eating back exercise cals= maintaining activity level settings, deficit is reasonable for continued loss.
That's my 2 cents, anyway. :flowerforyou:0 -
Your algorithm isn't working for me... My weight 159lbs, height 5'8, age 30. My weight 72.121kg, height 72.72, age 30. Doing your algorithm, my bmr is around 1200; my daily expense is 1700 but at a 1000 deficiency I would be at 700 kcalories. I eat 1200 calories (or under that depending on how hungry I am) and I still lose 2-3 lbs per week. No muscle loss, just body fat (I eat lots of lean protein).0
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bump!!! yep I understand and agree.. and it makes it simple too on mfp cuz it ADDS the exercise cals back to your 'food calorie bank" i trip out on peeps that dont eat there exercise cals back!! like they will burn dang 600+ and eat NONE back!! ridiculous.... I would faint.. LOL.. i mean sometimes i'll leave 100 or 50 cals left.. but not the full thing.. and i usually eat em all.. i burn minimum 400 a day in exercise and usually closer to 600-800.. so umm yeah I b grubbin... LOL.. thank u for your post.. i know a lot of peeps need to read it! 0
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actually the numbers work out just fine, your bmr is about 1656 calories, your TDEE is about 2,000. a net 1,200 daily caloric intake would be an 800 calorie/day deficit, so somewhere around 1.5-2lb per week expected weight loss. your extra care on WHAT you include in your diet can probably account for the extra weight loss.....eating such nutrient dense foods definitely helps. The problem in your math was listing your height as 72.72 cm. 159lbs actually converts to 172.72 you forgot the "1".Your algorithm isn't working for me... My weight 159lbs, height 5'8, age 30. My weight 72.121kg, height 72.72, age 30. Doing your algorithm, my bmr is around 1200; my daily expense is 1700 but at a 1000 deficiency I would be at 700 kcalories. I eat 1200 calories (or under that depending on how hungry I am) and I still lose 2-3 lbs per week. No muscle loss, just body fat (I eat lots of lean protein).
edit: granted its possible your daily lifestyle outside of exercise falls into the 'lightly active'" category which bumps your TDEE to 2278 calories, almost exactly a 1,000 deficit for a 2lb per week expected weight loss. im assuming you quoted 1200/day as the total net calories youve been getting.0 -
Great info. Everyone is different. We each have to find out what works for us. I have had some success and I never eat my exercise calories back. I'm losing weight and keeping muscle . If I ever stop losing then I would try to eat my calories back and see if it works.0
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So i am still a bit confused (never takes much to confuse me, i am only new to MFP too), if my Daily Goal is 1830 according to age weight etc etc, and like today i earned and burnt 400 calories in a spin class ( i have a polar fitness watch) so then that takes my daily total up to 2230 calories for the day .... how many calories should i stick to and eat daily ???? 1830 or 2230?? I have only just noticed the NET calorie on the home page the other day and it confused the crap out of me lol !! I work out every day most days i burn a min of 300 calories a day in a cardio workout. Love MFP but would love to be using it correctly.0
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Marc, while I see the "logic" in what you explained, the wild card you have to take into account is the accuracy of the calories that you record for your consumption or burn. On the food side, the calories on the package is the total container divided by the # of servings. So if you have a can of soup and only have half of it, you do not know if you got an equal distribution of the calories. You may have gotten more of the meat in your half and left more broth in the remaining half. Likewise, if you go to subway's website and calculate the calories of your sub and record them in your diary, you are counting on the person behind the counter to actually build the sub to the company specs. While these are small calorie differences, they all add up. For the burn aspect, my elliptical shows a different calorie burn than the MFP shows. Even if you use a heart rate monitor, you are still assuming that it is calculating correctly. So you could be underestimating your calories in and over estimate your calories burned and end up being over your calories.
You ended your post with the statement "feel free to rebuttal on my take on this argument, but id say its difficult to argue with this logic." I will give you an argument that it is difficult to argue. I have NEVER eaten all of my exercise calories back and I average a 2 lb loss a week and have lost a total of 108 lbs. I can also show you examples of other people that have had daily calorie deficits of up to 3500 calories a day that have successfully lost weight.
My point is that there is no absolute with this argument. Everybody's body acts differently and everyone needs to find what works for them. If eating back your calories works, do it. If it does, try not eating some of them back or all of them back. Toy with it until you get to something that is successful for you.
THIS.
I am actually very interested in knowing how you all suggest to cope with the inaccuracy of both calories present in food and calories used when exercising.
I do understand that the number of calories you eat doesn't have to be exactly the suggested amount (so, on a 1600 calories diet, having 1650 or 1580 wouldn't really change much), but what is the margin of error after which we are not following our plan properly any more?0 -
Thanks so much for your time and info :flowerforyou:0
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So i am still a bit confused (never takes much to confuse me, i am only new to MFP too), if my Daily Goal is 1830 according to age weight etc etc, and like today i earned and burnt 400 calories in a spin class ( i have a polar fitness watch) so then that takes my daily total up to 2230 calories for the day .... how many calories should i stick to and eat daily ???? 1830 or 2230?? I have only just noticed the NET calorie on the home page the other day and it confused the crap out of me lol !! I work out every day most days i burn a min of 300 calories a day in a cardio workout. Love MFP but would love to be using it correctly.
You eat 1830 if you do not exercise. If you do exercise, you eat 1830 + the amount you got from exercise.
If you are not losing weight after about 3 weeks, then you may have miscalculated how active you are when you told it to calculate. Or, you may not be estimating your calories you are eating correctly, or your calories burned estimate is off.0 -
I do understand that the number of calories you eat doesn't have to be exactly the suggested amount (so, on a 1600 calories diet, having 1650 or 1580 wouldn't really change much), but what is the margin of error after which we are not following our plan properly any more?
The margin of error is going to depend. A deficit of 1,000 a day creates a 2 pound per week weight loss. 500 calories a day creates a 1 pound per week weight loss. People who do not have as much to lose cannot create a 1,000 a day deficit. If you are very close to goal, you may have to be on a half a pound a week loss, and so your margin of error in that case is much smaller.0 -
Yes, you need to make sure you eat back your exercise calories. Although it seems counter-intuitive, your body willlet go of fat easier. There's a whole slew of posts in the community about people who lost more weight once they started to eat more. Of course, go for nutrient dense foods, not empty calories. You'd be surprised that it can be hard to eat all the calories we need. Sometimes I fall short because healthy food doesn't cause me to eat as much (I feel satiated faster). Hang in there!0
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Although I don't trust my HRM in terms of calories burned, I think it is a useful tool. Losing weight for me is a struggle but for now, I'm not eating back my calories. My intake is around 1500-1600. I am trying to exercise every day. I have a sedentary life otherwise so my exercise is really my main activity in the day.
I plan to try some days of exercising twice/day but once I get to do that, I know I'll need to increase my caloric intake.0
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