Do you eat your exercise calorie?

MFP builds into our daily goals a steady calorie deficit, so YES I always eat them back.
We're all supposed to if we are using this site as directed.
I like this, because I can exercise more to eat more, or if I goof, then I can exercise more to offset the mistake.
I like that.
You do what you want.
Good Luck!

Sometimes I do. Sometimes I exercise more just because there is something I want to eat and I couldn't have it unless I exercise. Other times I won't use them and they help me get past a plateau.

Yes I do, most of the time. Mainly because I don't wanna leave myself hungry, hate that. But if I don't I usually feel kinda tired as well and have no motivation to work out, just sit... out of energy. No wonder, cos it's like over 1k caloirie deficit for me in total because I ate 500 cals under my maintenance already and plus 500, or more, form exercises.

If you don't feel tired or don't have so much deficit I guess it's fine. But personally, I think 1k calorie deficit is little overboard anyways...

If you understand why MFP advises that you eat your calories back then you can choose not to. Simply not doing so because you think you'll lose weight faster is going to have you starting a thread "Why has my weight loss stalled? ". This thread will have lots of people rightfully abusing you for eating 1 calorie a day.

I would aim for a reasonable daily target that is 10% less than your TDEE or do what MFP tells you to.

Caveat: I don't believe the estimated calories burnt are correct.

I usually try to eat back about half, which keeps me on track with my weight loss goals pretty well.

Sometimes I'll eat them all back, sometimes none and sometimes some. Just depends how I feel on the day.

The biggest concern wih NOT eating them back...don't go below 1200 NET a day. It defeats the purpose as then you begin to put your body into starvation mode. It is not healthy. Plus that is when you feel weak and lathargic!

Hope this helps!

Just to explain for anyone who doesnt know. Apologies to those who do.

First you have your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the amount to calories you need to eat and breathe, even sit and watch tv. Your body burns cals just to operate. I assume MFP uses one of the calculations to calculate this for you based on your stats. If you sat still all day and done nothing, that is this number. Lets say it was 1500 cals for someone.

Now, that person wants to lose weight so do to do, one way or another they need to be in a calories deficit. So lets say they eat 1300 cals per day. Now they are -200 per day and they will slowly see that weight drop off.

But, now you go to the gym and burn a further 500 cals perhaps so you add that to your total and now you need 2000 cals to operate. Then maybe you go walking one day and so on.

If you eat 1300 cals every day then days you went to the gym you might be 700 cals under and so on.

So, should you or not?

Personal preference. If you are trying to add muscle, you need to feed that growth so you dont want to drop too many cals and you are likely drinking or eating things like BCAA.

If its purely weight loss you might not want to.

Personally I use it. When I have trained I refuel (cleanly) and that uses some of that. I know I can eat 1750 without training and around 2250 with. Typically though 2000 is enough so I likely use "some" of it.

The most important thing (in my opinion) is you find your own way of doing it that suits. You need something you can stick to. You dont want to feel over hungry every day as you are not eating enough. You danger of burning out and stopping. Equally you dont want to overeat and not see results. Find what is best for you.

You have to try a few different things to see what works.

If I eat over 1500-ish, no matter how much/little exercise I do, I maintain or gain.

Funnily enough, my measurements are smaller now eating 1200-1500 and not working out a whole lot (walk my dog and occasionally use my kettlebell when I remember/can be bothered) than when I was running 3-6 times a week and eating those calories back.

Different strokes for different folks...

If you are using this site as prescribed and have properly set yourself up in MFP you should be eating exercise calories back. If you're properly set up, the deficit is built into the plan...you don't have to do exercise to lose weight in other words...the deficit is already there. Exercise will create an even bigger deficit, which might sound nice, but this can actually be very bad depending on what kind of deficit you have built in. Too big a deficit and you will be eating below your BMR; you need to always net to at least your BMR which is the bare bones calories your body needs for internal organ function...getting your *kitten* out of bed, etc.

If you are at 1,200 calories you should most definitely be eating those exercise calories back. For many, 1,200 calories is below BMR and personally I think MFP should have a warning in this RE as eating that little for an extended period of time can wreak havoc on the body.

I'm 5'5 and 40 years old. I lost my weight eating a total of about 1700-2000+ calories... about 1350-1700 plus exercise calories. I'm currently maintaining on 2300, and which already includes my exercise so I don't add extra.

When I tried just eating low cal, weight loss was painfully slow. I felt like a failure, because by the math, I should have been losing 2 pounds a week, but in reality, I was losing a half pound every other week. What I know now is that I had too large of a calorie deficit and was making things entirely too hard. And when I stopped eating that way, the weight came right back on.

Eating exercise calories was like discovering the holy grail for me. It made weight loss effortless. I was losing at the predicted rate, which I since learned was one pound, then a half pound a week... I didn't have enough to lose to aim for 2 pounds a week. I've been at my goal for over a year and a half... maintenance is a piece of cake. And I can eat cake, too. :happy:

What she said. Upping the calories helped me lose faster and made me a happier person. I'm 10 years older so my maintenance calories are a bit lower, but still very satisfying. Others have different experiences and don't eat exercise calories back but I'd rather eat cake.

It s important that if you are eating them back, you are accurately estimating how much you are burning. Most people feel that MFP ove vestimates. For cardio exercise a HRM is more accurate but people say its not accurate for weight training. I've read a Bodymediafit is not too bad for that bits all estimation though which is why lots of people seem to eat back half of their exercise calories.

Me too. When I first started on MFP, I was at 1200 calories and barely losing a half pound every two weeks. It was so frustrating!!
Then I upped my calories to 1500-1600 calories and finally started losing the weight! I do not normally eat my exercise calories back, I just try to stay around 1600 calories unless I have a really great exercise session then I will if I want to especially on the weekends!!

I use to eat 1200, I'm now netting 1700. When I was eating 1200 I was over 150lbs and I seemed to be losing a lot of hair down the drain. I got to 120lbs netting 1700...you chose.

YES!!!! You might be able to lose weight fast for the first 2 weeks but after that NO!! I would eat 1300 cals & workout burning at least 300 cals and eventually my body went n2 STARVATION MODE. IMO body refused to lose weight. It was bad!!! I workout, drank tons of water, ate right & nothing. I actually even got bulkier. I was at a complete STALL. I'll never do that again. Now I eat 1500 cals. Workout 5 days a week burning about 300 cals. In the last week I loss 3 pounds. I'm a happy camper now. Pls don't do it to yourself. I promise it will backfire. Slow weight loss is ALWAYS better then fast! Good luck!