Eating back exercise calories

Buddogmom
Buddogmom Posts: 15
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, so I've got the whole BMR/TDEE thing down pat, and I know where to set my calorie goal for the day. But I'm getting conflicting advice on exercise calories. Some folks say you have to eat them all back, some say eat back half, and a few suggest eating back none of them to optimize weight loss. Can anyone help me make sense of what to do on my exercise days? I work full time and go to graduate school full time (plus hubby, house, dogs and all the usual "stuff" of life), so cramming exercise in is both important to me and a bit tricky -- so I really want to do the right thing on those 3-5 days/week that I can make it happen. Thanks to this MFP community for all the good help and support...you guys ROCK!!

Replies

  • Shnarffles
    Shnarffles Posts: 13
    think it really depends on your goals and how much exercise your doing. I personally don't eat mine back at all and for that reason i don't log any exercise on this site now as I know I will be too tempted.
    Like I said its all down to personal choice and what works for you. For instance if your workouts consisted of burning 1000 cals+ it would just be ridiculous not to eat them back. try it out each way and see how you get on and how your body reacts.:ohwell:
  • hairsprayhon
    hairsprayhon Posts: 334 Member
    I don't eat the calories back, I think Mfp is way off on the calories burned. I am relearning what it means to be hungry and now if I am hungry before or after a workout I will eat something. Nuts are my frequent snack. Chocolate milk is also a good reenergizer.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Does your TDEE include exercise? If so, then don't eat them back. If not change your TDEE to include exercise and then cut 20%.. this way you don't have to track. They way MFP is designed you should eat back exercise calories. Many of us say 50% because MFP can over estimate for many people.

    It's not weight people want to lose, it's fat. If you don't eat enough calories, you will lose a lot of muscle along with their fat (as demonstrated by the below link). Either your fuel your body or it has to fuel itself. IDK, but I rather keep my muscle so I have a tighter and leaner body and weigh an extra 20 lbs, then need to lose another 20 lbs extra to make up for all the muscle I lost.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/729141-exercise-calories-to-eat-or-not-to-eat-results
  • nanainkent
    nanainkent Posts: 350 Member
    I asked the same question and the majoity response was if you use the TDEE method to customize your calorie goal then you do not eat back because the TDEE has already accounted for your exercise when you answered the question about your lifestyle. But if you are using the MFP method then they say to eat back 1/2 your calories and try to keep your Net calories up by doing this. I can tell you for me using the MFP method and usually not eating back my exercise calories (that leaves my net so low) that it is not working out very well.
  • MrsJonSamuels
    MrsJonSamuels Posts: 53 Member
    I try hard not to eat mine back, I'm not sure if it's the reason I've lost 17lbs in 3 weeks or not.
  • vickij2
    vickij2 Posts: 66
    I don't eat them back.
  • hiker359
    hiker359 Posts: 577 Member
    If you're going solely based off of a 10-15% off of TDEE, that includes your exercise, so (in this case) I would say not to worry about eating your calories back. The whole idea is to figure out a rough estimate of how many calories you need each day, see how much you lose or don't loose and then tweak things up if you're not where you want to be. As long as you're losing between 0.5-2 pounds / week, then things are where they should be.

    Besides weight, also make sure you're tracking your body fat percentage, so you know whether you're losing fat or LBM. Bear in mind that any time you're on a deficit, you will most likely see a decrease in LBM. The idea is to minimize those losses and maximize fat loss.

    Remember to include a good regimen of strength training along with whatever else you might be doing to encourage maximum LBM retention.
  • Jessamyfrm
    Jessamyfrm Posts: 89
    I don't eat mine back solely because I believe it's defeating the whole point behind me exercising :)
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    no,,, i do not eat them back,,, BUT i may booze them back.
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
    Yes...I eat all my exercise calories and those of others sometimes.
  • benandgillsmom
    benandgillsmom Posts: 15 Member
    I don't eat the calories back, I think Mfp is way off on the calories burned. I am relearning what it means to be hungry and now if I am hungry before or after a workout I will eat something. Nuts are my frequent snack. Chocolate milk is also a good reenergizer.

    This ^ I don't want to consume them back if I did not absolutely burn that amount of calories! To risky for me :)
  • Scott_Chaput
    Scott_Chaput Posts: 114
    I don't eat them back at all but may cut into them a little bit for a protein shake after a workout.

    Just to make sure that MFP wasn't over or under estimating my calories burned in a workout I bought a heart rate monitor. Best money I ever spent The Polar FT7 is on Amazon for like $65

    You can know just how many calories you burn and can see a concrete reading showing what you gained from your workout. If I'm going to measure every calorie I consume I want to measure every calorie I expend through exercise.
  • Buddogmom
    Buddogmom Posts: 15
    I don't eat them back at all but may cut into them a little bit for a protein shake after a workout.

    Just to make sure that MFP wasn't over or under estimating my calories burned in a workout I bought a heart rate monitor. Best money I ever spent The Polar FT7 is on Amazon for like $65

    You can know just how many calories you burn and can see a concrete reading showing what you gained from your workout. If I'm going to measure every calorie I consume I want to measure every calorie I expend through exercise.


    Thanks for that tip! I'll look for that monitor. Appreciate your help.

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