Eat your exercise calories/Dont eat your exercise calories?

i eat some of the calories back or i feel i'm getting too hungry!

hit the search link ritght above this box and ask your question...you'll get all kinds of input. once you reach your goal weight you will be eating less calories so you will really need your exercise calories to fee comfortable.

I try not to eat mine back. I want to stay on a 1300 calorie diet. If I eat back any calories burned I won't lose as easily.

i've done both, and they've both worked.

you have to experiment. see what works for you, and when it works for you. for a while you'll see losses if you don't eat them back, but then if you stop seeing results for a while, you have to try something new.

Same experience, I agree!

When I stopped eating them back I stopped losing. So now I eat at least half back.

I've been wondering the same thing. Some people are believers in NEVER eating them back, but since the calorie equation IS input vs. output, if you're outputting more you can afford to input more and still lose. That being said, like others, I judge by how hungry I am or if I feel like treating myself to a little extra, but I don't always eat them back. So far so good! Also like others said, do what works for you. Burning lots of cals can make you hungrier, and if your body is TRULY hungry, you should eat.

Also, WHAT you eat makes a difference, too. Protein is good for muscle growth and repair, and you can never go wrong with fruit and veggies!

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

If you aren't losing eating your exercise calories you are possibly overestimating them! Or your TDEE is lower than the site suggests or you are underestimating food

I actually think that you should not eat your calories until you get to your goal weight. As long as you are trying to lose weight, the exercise you do will help you burn more cals and shift the weight. If you keep eating the additional cals, you are simply going to stay the same or lose the little bit that you would have done without the exercise and just sticking to a healthy calorie amount.

For this reason, it is a good idea to remind yourself why you do the exercise - it is to get healthier, not just to eat more Eating too much is what got most of us on this bl..dy website in the first place!

I actually think that you should not eat your calories until you get to your goal weight. As long as you are trying to lose weight, the exercise you do will help you burn more cals and shift the weight. If you keep eating the additional cals, you are simply going to stay the same or lose the little bit that you would have done without the exercise and just sticking to a healthy calorie amount.

For this reason, it is a good idea to remind yourself why you do the exercise - it is to get healthier, not just to eat more Eating too much is what got most of us on this bl..dy website in the first place!

MFP calorie goal already sets a defict so that people can lose weight woithout exercise. It is unique as it bases the calorie goal on your weight/age/height/daily job, and ignores your exercise.

so 2 people of the same age, height, weight, job will be given the same calorie goal by MFP if they both chose the same weekly goal of 1lb per week.

If one then sits on her couch every night watching TV, but the other one is doing 3 hrs of exercise a day, does it still make sense to you that they both eat the same amount of calories?

Person 2 would need extra calories to fuel their workout, extra protein to help repair/build their muscles etc. They can eat the food to get those extra calories, protein, iron, vitamins etc and still lose the lb per week they selected.

I don't worry about it too much. If I'm hungry, then I'll eat extra. Most of the time though I struggle just to get to the 1200 calories BEFORE exercise.

Makes a lot of sense thanks

I actually think that you should not eat your calories until you get to your goal weight. As long as you are trying to lose weight, the exercise you do will help you burn more cals and shift the weight. If you keep eating the additional cals, you are simply going to stay the same or lose the little bit that you would have done without the exercise and just sticking to a healthy calorie amount.

For this reason, it is a good idea to remind yourself why you do the exercise - it is to get healthier, not just to eat more Eating too much is what got most of us on this bl..dy website in the first place!

MFP calorie goal already sets a defict so that people can lose weight woithout exercise. It is unique as it bases the calorie goal on your weight/age/height/daily job, and ignores your exercise.

so 2 people of the same age, height, weight, job will be given the same calorie goal by MFP if they both chose the same weekly goal of 1lb per week.

If one then sits on her couch every night watching TV, but the other one is doing 3 hrs of exercise a day, does it still make sense to you that they both eat the same amount of calories?

Person 2 would need extra calories to fuel their workout, extra protein to help repair/build their muscles etc. They can eat the food to get those extra calories, protein, iron, vitamins etc and still lose the lb per week they selected.

I eat them all. 820 today- GET IN MAH BELLEH!

I actually think that you should not eat your calories until you get to your goal weight. As long as you are trying to lose weight, the exercise you do will help you burn more cals and shift the weight. If you keep eating the additional cals, you are simply going to stay the same or lose the little bit that you would have done without the exercise and just sticking to a healthy calorie amount.

For this reason, it is a good idea to remind yourself why you do the exercise - it is to get healthier, not just to eat more Eating too much is what got most of us on this bl..dy website in the first place!

What's so special about reaching goal weight that all of a sudden you could/should start eating more? Hmm...

I eat every yummy exercise calorie. If I'm craving some sort of crap (bacon cheeseburgers are a weakness), I'll exercise longer just to "earn" the crap. Eating more calories than we use is what got most of this to this website. If I'm using the calories, I can eat them and not gain. As long as I maintain a deficit beyond what I use, I will continue to lose. Mfp gives you a calorie goal that assumes you're not going to do any exercise. Mfp does NOT assume I should be netting less than 0 calories for the day when I burn 1200+ on a long run.

It depends on the day for me. Some days I eat some of my calories but never all

If you're accurately tracking your exercise calories AND caloric intake, eating exercise calories will work for everyone. Use a good HRM, properly calibrated, & good food scale.

Agreed!! and to add to that another reason to eat your exercise calories back is to fuel those workouts!! Your caloric deficit is built in to your MFP (unless you are using TDEE) so you do not need to make a bigger deficit, I eat back 85% of my exercise calories leaving 15% for error in logging or my HRM and have managed to lose some weight in the process. Best of Luck.....