Eating you exercise calories?

If you do a search, you will find millions of posts like this. Be prepared to be confused though. Some say yes, some say no and some say they eat back some of them- half is quite common.

It does get confusing, but I think this is the main takeaway (at least, it's what I've picked up):

The "calories remaining" MFP gives you when you first log in and have not put in ANY food or exercise is designed to provide you the desired weight loss. it is designed to provide you with the proper defecit on its own and without exercise. However, you must consider if the exercises you are doing are included in the "activity level" you put into your profile.

- If the activity level you used is related to your daily activity WITHOUT exercise, then all of your exercise calories are added to the pre-planned defecit. You will likely want to "eat them back" in order to return your total defecit to the original planned amount.

- If, like me, the activity level you put in includes the exercise program you're doing then you don't need to eat them back. Those calories you "earned from exercise today" on the food log that are used to increase the number of calories you can eat are ALREADY factored in. Because your daily allowance was already increased, you don't need to eat them back.


For example (I'm just pulling the numbers out of thin air):

Jim's BMR is 2000 calories. The "activity" level he used does NOT factor in dedicated exercise, only his daily activity. He needs a 500 calorie defecit each day to meet his goals. His daily goal is now 1500 calories. However, he goes to the gym and burns 200 calories on top of his daily activity. He now has the planned defecit of 500 calories plus the 200 calorie defecit created by exercise, giving him a total defecit of 700 and, if he consumed 1500 calories of food, altering his daily net intake to 1300 calories. If Jim wants to stick to the original plan, he must "eat back" the 200 additional calories in order to return his net intake to 1500.


Then we have me (this is largely autobiographical, but the numbers are slightly off for the sake of simplicity). My BMR is 2000 calories. My exercise regimen comes with the direction to use an activity multiplier of 1.5 for the duration of the program. By including exercise calories in this way, my daily goal is now 3000 calories. I do NOT "eat back" the calories burned in this exercise regimen. The additional 1000 "burned" calories were given to me ahead of time as part of my "daily activity level". Because my goal is to maintain, I need to keep my net calories at 3000 and I only "eat back" calories burned in exercise beyond my regimen.



Clear as mud?

So, do what you want, but be aware of when and how your exercise may affect your intended defecit. If your defecit becomes too large and your net intake becomes too small, you could be heading for a problem.

if i am hungry, i eat them. if not, i do not. i try to listen to my body.

i am not going to force myself to eat if i am not hungry, but i am sure i am in the minority in saying that.

Basically it comes down to what is right for your body and your energy levels. You need to eat a certain amount to fuel workouts and daily life. Some days it may be fine to not eat them back creating a slightly higher calorie deficit. I think that if you start burning more than around 250 calories you should consider at least eating part of them back.

1380 is still a qute low calorie aim. Remember you don't want to consistenly eat below your BMR

This is assuming that your calorie burns are calculated fairly accurately