Question about "eating back" calories burned..

Eating them back is a good idea. MFP gives you a calorie goal with a built-in calorie deficit, with the expectation that you log any exercise and eat those calories back. Otherwise it would have given you a higher goal to start with, if exercise was already factored in. Having too large of a calorie deficit is not a great idea, especially if you are already close to a healthy weight. 1200 calories is really not much to eat if you are exercising.

It's fine to save them for the next day if that suits you better. It would also be ok not to eat them, if it was just one time, but I would definitely recommend not getting into the habit of not eating them back at all.

One last thing to bear in mind is that if you are using the MFP database to estimate calorie burn, it can be inaccurate, and for that reason, some people prefer to only eat back a portion of their exercise calories. I have a heart rate monitor and have found MFP to be quite accurate for my burns.

i dont eat them all back. I tend to eat about at the most 100 extra.

Grabbing my popcorn for this one.......here we go......

There's a LOT of variables into this question.

First, are you eating over your BMR? If it's close, you need to eat back calories in order for your body to be healthy.

Second, is your goal to lose more than 1 pound a week? If you have your MFP goal set for more than 1 pound a week, then you should basically eat right to that goal and not be far under it. I set mine for 1 pound, exercise and don't eat back all those calories. So some weeks I lose more than 1 pound a week.

Third, how far are you from your ideal weight? If you have a lot to lose, I think it's ok to lose more than 1 pound a week. So if you have your MFP goal set for 1 pound per week and you exercise hard, I think it's fine not to eat those calories back. Your body has plenty of fat stores to draw on. However, if you're 5-10 pounds away from your ideal weight, that's where you need to be more careful. Eat back some of those calories so your metabolism doesn't slow down.

I was more than 40 pounds overweight... I have NOT eaten back calories and lost 35 pounds. But now I'm eating some of the calories back and being a little more careful about it.

Please read this:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

^^yep.

But, you can roll them over to the next day if you want.

I may sound silly but what is TDEE?

I have a hard time with eating back my calories. Today for instance... I ate 1,108 calories but I went on a super hike that Endomondo calculated to be 1833 calories. Endomondo may be a little low because it was just using time and mileage. It wasn't factoring in the snow, mud, and swamps we hiked through. There is NO WAY I can eat that many calories. I will admit I feel wiped and I am sure the calories has something to do with it. Today is just an extreme but I am usually getting yelled at by this app for eating to few calories.

Are you supposed to "eat back" your calories burned on the same day? Example, say I have eaten 800 calories during breakfast and lunch and 1200 is my goal. Then I run 3 miles and burn 300 calories. Now I have 700 more calories to eat for supper or snack. Do I have to eat them back for supper and evening snack or can I save them for the next day?

Thanks!

MFP calculates your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) based on the number of calories your body would burn in a day (including both your BMR and activities burned through going about your daily business). It doesn't factor your exercise into this calculation. When it sets up your caloric target, it takes your weight loss goal (of say, 1lb a week) and subtracts the number of calories from your TDEE to give you the number of calories your body needs to lose your goal.

When you exercise, you add more calories to your TDEE (you are effectively burning more calories than you normally would on a typically day). So you then have a larger deficit, if you do not eat back the calories you burned. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing really depends on where you are at with your weight loss. You may be creating too large a deficit, and your body will become worn down as a result.

To find out more about your TDEE - visit this URL http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/680246-tdee-bmr-what-they-are-and-what-to-do-with-them

I may sound silly but what is TDEE?

I have a hard time with eating back my calories. Today for instance... I ate 1,108 calories but I went on a super hike that Endomondo calculated to be 1833 calories. Endomondo may be a little low because it was just using time and mileage. It wasn't factoring in the snow, mud, and swamps we hiked through. There is NO WAY I can eat that many calories. I will admit I feel wiped and I am sure the calories has something to do with it. Today is just an extreme but I am usually getting yelled at by this app for eating to few calories.

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Basically, how many calories you burn in a day in total.