Eat your exercise cals?

DO you eat them or not :) thanks Love Cara xxx
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Replies

  • Alissakae
    Alissakae Posts: 317 Member
    I do not.
  • dg09
    dg09 Posts: 754
    Yes.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Yes.

    But now I include them in my daily calorie goal and eat a very small percentage below my TDEE instead. But overall... yes.
  • Kristie18
    Kristie18 Posts: 332 Member
    For a year I did not, I stuck to 1200 calories a day. Now I eat them back all of them :)
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    When I have a craving, physical hunger, or feel like I need an energy or mood boost. For me, they are a akin to a financial fun allowance: nice to have when something I need or want strikes, but I'm not going to spend the money just because it's there.
  • sh4690
    sh4690 Posts: 169 Member
    straight up answer...

    Unless drinking them back with vodka every once in a while counts..

    then no, because I am never hungry enough to eat them back.

    Some people do, some people don't. Personal choice :happy:

    Do what you feel your body is telling you, if you're hungry, eat.
  • SomeoneSomeplace
    SomeoneSomeplace Posts: 1,094 Member
    Sometimes yes, sometimes no. 98 percent of the time I eat some of them

    For example today I burned 800 calories because I went out to lunch & am not going out to dinner with my family. So I will probably eat them back today. Plus my BMR is 1350sh and my TDEE is 1560ish and most of the time 1350 calories is NOT enough on an exercise day...I think it's different for people who weigh more than I do or who are overweight because they are already allowed 1800 calorie a day since their TDEE and BMR are higher then mine...so long story short I think the lower your TDEE or BMR is the more important it is to at least eat back some because your body can't really function on such a low net intake .
  • Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.
  • I'm trying not to eat mine until I see some progress, once I'm focusing more on toning than trimming I'll probably eat them.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Yep enjoying every last one of them...... I use a Polar FT60 heart rate monitor to track my calorie burns and only eat back 85% of them leaving 15% for error.... Best of Luck
  • Some of them, I try not to eat all of them back because i'm trying to lose two pounds a week. However, I would caution using MFP's automatic calorie counts because they are oftentimes grossly overestimated and you could be doing yourself more harm then good, eating back more than you've burned.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    Yep enjoying every last one of them...... I use a Polar FT60 heart rate monitor to track my calorie burns and only eat back 85% of them leaving 15% for error.... Best of Luck

    good approach....I sometimes go even higher with the margin for error and eat back about 70% or so
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
    Yes, I usually eat most of my exercise calories, if not all.
  • chez_b
    chez_b Posts: 14 Member
    When I have a craving, physical hunger, or feel like I need an energy or mood boost. For me, they are a akin to a financial fun allowance: nice to have when something I need or want strikes, but I'm not going to spend the money just because it's there.

    This - except that I try very hard not to eat for a 'mood boost.' But I only eat exercise calories if I'm truly hungry.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    Ah by mood boost I should clarify that I mean for true moodiness (overly fatigued or irritable) not to indulge an emotional eating impulse. (I try not to do that because I'm not good at managing that once I get started.)
  • njgirl50
    njgirl50 Posts: 62 Member
    Sometimes I do, depending on the day & what is going on - such as a birthday & I want a small piece of cake. Right now I am concentrating on losing weight & trying to stick to my allotted allowance.
  • katamus
    katamus Posts: 2,363 Member
    My first month here I didn't know what I was doing. I was eating 1200 and exercising and not eating back those exercise calories. I stalled for weeks until I started eating my exercise calories. Then I kept upping my calories. It's been steady since then. A member here took a poll a while back and found that the people who ate their exercise calories or <20% under TDEE lost less lean body mass than those who didn't eat back their exercise calories.
  • nz_deevaa
    nz_deevaa Posts: 12,209 Member
    Sometimes I do, depending on the day & what is going on - such as a birthday & I want a small piece of cake. Right now I am concentrating on losing weight & trying to stick to my allotted allowance.

    If you are using MFP the way it's meant to be used, then exercise cals are part of your allotted allowance.
  • rwalston86
    rwalston86 Posts: 50 Member
    I don't while I'm trying to lose weight =)
  • misskariw
    misskariw Posts: 171 Member
    I eat back a pretty good amount of mine. I take a water fitness class in the mornings and usually add on at least 15 minutes of lap swimming, more if we have more available time or if I wake up and can get to the pool before my class starts. If I don't eat back at least some of the exercise calories, I'm hungry to the point of irritability. I also eat about every two hours. Good luck!
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    A member here took a poll a while back and found that the people who ate their exercise calories or <20% under TDEE lost less lean body mass than those who didn't eat back their exercise calories.

    I always ate back most if not all of my exercise calories because, as a reforming couch potato in my late 50s, I knew I didn't have any lean body mass to spare. It worked out well for me. I lost 58 pounds without ever stalling out, which put me at 12 pounds below my original "realistic" goal weight and 2 pounds below my "fantasy" goal weight. And I've successfully maintained for over a year. One advantage of eating back your exercise calories, other than keeping your metabolic rate relatively high, is that the larger calorie budget makes it easier to condition yourself to the way you'll need to eat for the rest of your life to keep the weight off. You don't learn much of anything from starving yourself.
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
    I eat them back if I can. Its better in the long run and makes the process fun instead of a chore

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • I think you can eat them back by healthy food not fast food and other snacks.
  • BelindaDuvessa
    BelindaDuvessa Posts: 1,014 Member
    I usually eat half of them back. Not because I don't want to, but like another poster said, the estimated calorie burns on here can sometimes be way off. If had a heart rate monitor, I would probably eat more of them back. While HRM isn't 100% accurate either, it's still more accurate that alot of what's on here.
  • nadiarrxo
    nadiarrxo Posts: 4 Member
    i like to do exercise and have the calories there just in case. sometimes i do eat them (particularly if i go out for a meal) and sometimes i don't need too. i just eat what i want, in moderation, if i dip into them then i do. if i don't i don't :)
  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
    I do TDEE - 20%.
    Exercise accounted for in my tdee, so yep I sure do! :)
  • Its important to eat them in order to lose only your recommended weight loss. If you don't you may lose weight quicker, but run the risk of gaining it again quickly
  • Heather_Rider
    Heather_Rider Posts: 1,159 Member
    Here is my answer...


    most of us got here eating when we weren hungry....

    So why eat your calories back.. IF YOU ARENT HUNGRY.

    Why shove food into your throat, just because you can?

    If you are hungry, eat.

    If you arent, dont.

    Its really THAT simple.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member

    If you are hungry, eat.

    If you arent, dont.

    Its really THAT simple.

    actually, it is not that simple. To cut weight I had to learn how to deal with hunger on occasions. If I ate whenever I was hungry, I wouldn't have lost weight.