Don't Eat back your exercise Calories !!???/

it depends on your calorie goal. MFP builds in a deficit when it calculates your goal, so if you're using MFP's numbers then you need to eat them back. however some people enter their own calorie goal by calculating their TDEE and then subtracting 20%, in which case they do not eat back their exercise calories, because the TDEE calculation already includes calories burned through exercise.

It depends on how you setup your daily calorie goal. If your goal includes exercise, then no you don't as they are already accounted for. If it doesn't, then yes you do.

Read these for more:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/383956-exercise-calories-explained
and
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

I eat back the majority of mine - I would be too hungry otherwise and I have still been losing weight.

I try and net 1200 a day - if I did 800 calories of exercise and didn't eat them back, I would only net 400 which is far too low!

I don't trust the eating back your calories theory, just because the fact that people usually over estimate the amount of calories burned through exercise, then people tend to "reward" themselves with food and find themselves over indulging.

But I also think that no one does themselves a favour by eating only 1200 cals.

I don't trust the eating back your calories theory, just because the fact that people usually over estimate the amount of calories burned through exercise, then people tend to "reward" themselves with food and find themselves over indulging.

But I also think that no one does themselves a favour by eating only 1200 cals.

So the issue isn't the theory, it's the people who are doing the estimating.

I'll give you that, I believe human error is more often the fault.

Go here and read all these posts. Should clear up a lot.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-

bump

I don't trust the eating back your calories theory, just because the fact that people usually over estimate the amount of calories burned through exercise, then people tend to "reward" themselves with food and find themselves over indulging.

But I also think that no one does themselves a favour by eating only 1200 cals.

Eating back exercise calories "theory"?

"Theory" as in musings of calorie counting/weight loss beginners amongst themselves?

I lose, gain, and maintain with precision, precision that requires knowing how many exercise cals I burn each and every day. Likewise I'm pretty much convinced that plateaus are a myth, pretty much a side effect of sucking at estimating your calorie needs (either way, too much or too little).

I'm certianly not alone, there are plenty of us long past our initial goal weight that see estimating exercise calories well to be absolutely vital, every bit as important as estimating food calories well.

I don't trust the eating back your calories theory, just because the fact that people usually over estimate the amount of calories burned through exercise, then people tend to "reward" themselves with food and find themselves over indulging.

But I also think that no one does themselves a favour by eating only 1200 cals.

Unless they use a HRM, in which case, over-estimating doesn't happen.

Unless used for strength training, in which case a dartboard is about as effective as a HRM.

How much I eat back depends on the day for me. Some days more than others. I've been more successful looking at the week as a whole to see how much I've NOT eaten back and my goal is to have 3600 left over each week. My hunger level is different every day and it also depends on how bored I am during the day. I love super busy days then I'm not as tempted to snack and mindlessly eat.

Sounds like a great approach... you balance what you can do and how hungry you are on a day to day basis in a way that your weekly numbers work out in a way that still meets your goals. PERFECT!

I don't trust the eating back your calories theory, just because the fact that people usually over estimate the amount of calories burned through exercise, then people tend to "reward" themselves with food and find themselves over indulging.

But I also think that no one does themselves a favour by eating only 1200 cals.

Eating back exercise calories "theory"?

"Theory" as in musings of calorie counting/weight loss beginners amongst themselves?



I lose, gain, and maintain with precision, precision that requires knowing how many exercise cals I burn each and every day. Likewise I'm pretty much convinced that plateaus are a myth, pretty much a side effect of sucking at estimating your calorie needs (either way, too much or too little).

I'm certianly not alone, there are plenty of us long past our initial goal weight that see estimating exercise calories well to be absolutely vital, every bit as important as estimating food calories well.

LOL, love this!!

I don't trust the eating back your calories theory, just because the fact that people usually over estimate the amount of calories burned through exercise, then people tend to "reward" themselves with food and find themselves over indulging.

But I also think that no one does themselves a favour by eating only 1200 cals.

Unless they use a HRM, in which case, over-estimating doesn't happen.

HRMs don't guarantee anything... they are still just an estimate, and can be horribly inaccurate depending on how they are used.

I use one with a chest strap and I find it to be pretty accurate, I don't use the mfp built in calories burns, because they are very inaccurate. I would say using a good HRM is the best way to calculate calorie burn, if you have it set up w/ your weight, age, etc....just my opinion. Better than just trying to guess or using the built ins on mfp.

I don't trust the eating back your calories theory, just because the fact that people usually over estimate the amount of calories burned through exercise, then people tend to "reward" themselves with food and find themselves over indulging.

But I also think that no one does themselves a favour by eating only 1200 cals.

So that's why you wear your heart rate monitor and measure your food. It's still an estimate, but it gets you within a reasonable percentage of error. If you don't want to eat them back then you need to calculate you TDEE and BMR and then eat according to the weight loss goals associated with that.

I don't trust the eating back your calories theory, just because the fact that people usually over estimate the amount of calories burned through exercise, then people tend to "reward" themselves with food and find themselves over indulging.

But I also think that no one does themselves a favour by eating only 1200 cals.

Unless they use a HRM, in which case, over-estimating doesn't happen.

HRMs don't guarantee anything... they are still just an estimate, and can be horribly inaccurate depending on how they are used.

I use one with a chest strap and I find it to be pretty accurate, I don't use the mfp built in calories burns, because they are very inaccurate. I would say using a good HRM is the best way to calculate calorie burn, if you have it set up w/ your weight, age, etc....just my opinion. Better than just trying to guess or using the built ins on mfp.

It's not accurate at all really - if you're stressed, if you didn't sleep, too much coffee, coming down with a bug... tons of things affect your heart rate other than the effort you're exerting. Use it as a guide, but don't trust the burn figures as being exact purely because you know your average heartrate for the effort.

I just eat some of mine back if I REALLY GET HUNGRY, as in... my stomach is growling, not because I'm bored or that cake looks good, blah blah. There is a difference between eating exercise calories because you can, and eating them because you NEED them. If I work out with a 'walk' and have 2-300 cals left, I'm less likely to eat them because I'm not really hungry. If I work out like yesterday and burn nearly 1,000 cals, I end up starving by the time I go to bed so I eat something! I just try to stick with healthy stuff like nuts, protein packed food, fruit, etc. I won't go and eat a huge piece of cake just because I have the calories. Not that I never fit in treats, because I do! Just try to eat something that will nourish and repair your body most of the time.