Do I or don't I eat back exercise calories?

You clearly dont get it yet...

I dont add my exercise on to MFP as i think you shouldnt get extra calories to be able to eat more for doing something to help you loose weight, so my advise is to carry on withe exercise but dont add it to MFP

I dont as I struggle to eat my calorie allowance anyway .. but I have to say after a week or so my loss slows down .. it discourages me .. I go off the diet , .. then I restart at a later date and start the process again
from this and the above replies I would say that we should eat at least half of our excercise calories . Not sure how I am going to do that personally

ITS EASY! add high calorie healthy foods, like nuts, avacado, cheese.

I always eat my calories from Exercise back. I hear that if you don't then your body goes into starvation mode and stores fat. I have been losing about a pound a week eating my exercise calories back. If I want to cheat on food, I exercise to make up the calories. It works for me.

I was told the same thing, when I first started this journey I wasn't eating enough making me light headed and tired by 8 o'clock at night. My husband told me to start eating more snacks during the day. Since then I've been loosing what I been wanting.

Okay I think I have it now!

Eat back 50% and don't worry about anything else XD

This way you will find what works for you and your body. you can always adjust it, up or down

I just realized my last post may have seemed mean and snarky towards Medilia. Sorry Medilia, it was just a joke aimed towards the split opinion of the MFP population regarding whether or not to eat the exercise calories. Some will say yes, some will say no. You'll get a lot of varying opinions, you just have to experiment and find what works for you. I know it's confusing at first. Personally for me, it helped to eat most of my exercise cals back. when I ate too little, my weight loss really slowed. If I ate enough to fuel my body, it was a lot easier to lose weight. Some people swear that if they "eat back" their exercise cals, they don't lose weight or even gain *shrug* So it's different for everybody.

If you are hungry EAT, if you are not DONT! Listen to your body, its smarter than the website.

who are you and how did you get so wise in the ways of science?

The fat loss comes from a calorie deficit.

So you, in the course of the day, use say 2000 calories. If you then eat 1500 per day you will be under by 500 cals per day.

So then if you work out you might use 3000 cals that day. You would then be 1500 cals under.

That is just the same as if, on a 2000 cal day, you ate 500 cals.

There is a reason why you can't just stop eating and lose weight, there's a whole body mechanics that would mess up so basically, exercise doesn't speed up your weight loss, it just keeps you healthy while you do it and, if you are lifting weights, will help preserve your lean body mass, because you are aiming for fat loss, not weight loss after all. Weight loss is indiscriminate. Fat is specifically what you are aiming to lose. Exercise can also be used as a tool for those who struggle to only eat their calorie goal and want to eat more. Do some exercise and you can eat some more.

To repeat though, it is not a tool to lose weight faster in most circumstances.

Okay I get it now XD

But then after I "Earn" these new calories MFP tells me that I haven't consumed enough if I don't eat them back.

Because it's just maths really.

At the end of the day you should have a calorie deficit of (say) 500 calories. You burn calories when exercising so if you did not eat these back then the deficit would be more than 500 calories.

So as a mathematic equation, intake - expenditure = -500
If your normal daily activity uses 2000 cals and you exercise for 500 then your expenditure would be 2500
So......... intake - 2500 = -500

For that to work your intake needs to be 2000.

The fat loss comes from a calorie deficit.

So you, in the course of the day, use say 2000 calories. If you then eat 1500 per day you will be under by 500 cals per day.

So then if you work out you might use 3000 cals that day. You would then be 1500 cals under.

That is just the same as if, on a 2000 cal day, you ate 500 cals.

There is a reason why you can't just stop eating and lose weight, there's a whole body mechanics that would mess up so basically, exercise doesn't speed up your weight loss, it just keeps you healthy while you do it and, if you are lifting weights, will help preserve your lean body mass, because you are aiming for fat loss, not weight loss after all. Weight loss is indiscriminate. Fat is specifically what you are aiming to lose. Exercise can also be used as a tool for those who struggle to only eat their calorie goal and want to eat more. Do some exercise and you can eat some more.

To repeat though, it is not a tool to lose weight faster in most circumstances.

Okay I get it now XD

But then after I "Earn" these new calories MFP tells me that I haven't consumed enough if I don't eat them back.

think of it this way.

every day, your body does things that require calories to be burned. these are internal processes and external processes. everything from breathing to walking to your car to digesting your food. these are normal everyday calorie expenditures that we all have. the amount is dependent on the person, but in essence this is your maintenance level of calories. if you eat this many, no more and no less, in theory you will stay at the same weight forever. just to pick an example, let's say for a random person, that number is 2000.

now, if you add exercise to your daily activity, you will burn MORE calories, so you have to increase that number accordingly. if the random person is jumping around like a fool at an aerobics class for a couple of hours every day and burns an extra 500 calories as a result of this activity, then the new number for them is 2500 (i.e., 2000 + 500). they have to eat that many calories per day to maintain their weight.

if they eat fewer, they will start to burn fat (mostly) and lose weight. if they eat more, they will store the excess calories as fat and gain weight.

that's the basics.

so, if you let MFP calculate your daily calorie needs for you, and you assign yourself to do a certain amount of exercise per day in those calculations, then MFP assumes that extra calorie burden is part of the calculation and adjusts your numbers accordingly. so MFP expects you to eat back those calories.

for example, the random person who jumps around at an aerobics class in the above example who wants to lose 1lb per week will get a number from MFP of 2000 + 500 - 500 = 2000. that's the 2000 for their normal everyday calorie burn, plus the 500 they need for the exercise, minus the 500 they need to lose 1lb per week (500 x 7 = 3500 = # of calories in a lb). so MFP will tell that person to EAT 2000 calories per day. so long as that person does the exercise and limits themselves to 2000 calories per day, they will lose that 1lb per week - because they will be running a 500 calorie per day deficit.

eating back your exercise calories is simple algebra. if you don't, then you run a larger deficit. that's fine for alot of people. some people will have a problem because they will feel tired/hungry without those extra calories. however, since MFP calculations are designed to promote slow, steady weight loss, eating back the calories is assumed. you don't have to. but if you feel tired/hungry without those extra calories, then do eat them back. or some of them. your body will tell you what's best for you.

You are not supposed to eat back your exercise calories. You will lose more if you don't. If you are going to eat back your calories, get a high calorie burn on a day you know you are going out to eat that way you can eat what you want to.

I usually try to eat back about half of my excercise calories. Somedays, I excercise so that I can have more calories! If I want that brownie, I work for it.

I would say yes but mfp can over estimate the exercise calories. This is why i suggest eating 50% of them. If you get a hrm, then eat at least 80% of them.

I would also suggest getting a heart rate monitor because that will give you a more appropriate account of your calories burned. I started eating them back and now I have more energy, and am losing at a steady pace. All the best with things and friend me if you wish, I log every day and love sharing ideas.

I dont as I struggle to eat my calorie allowance anyway .. but I have to say after a week or so my loss slows down .. it discourages me .. I go off the diet , .. then I restart at a later date and start the process again
from this and the above replies I would say that we should eat at least half of our excercise calories . Not sure how I am going to do that personally

Find higher calorie, but healthier foods to eat...you still wont eat at much but, you'll get your intake in.

The question from me to you is do you want to lose fat or weigh less?

I ate all of mine back and I used a HRM, I've lost 79 lbs since January doing it like that...