Extra calories earned - My fitness pal - do you eat yours?

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  • flynnfinn
    flynnfinn Posts: 209 Member
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    Read this, It should be required reading for anyone new to MFP. Great information that tells you what works and WHY

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    i agree...the above should be required reading and everyone should do their own calculations. with that said, based on the IPOARM method, i was set to eat a straight 1800 calories without eating any exercise calories back. i tried that method for a good 4 months and gained a considerable amount of weight (8lbs!!!). i don't blame IPOARM because a lot of things could've contributed to that weight gain. the main reason could've been i wasn't as accurate with my food weighing when i was eating 1800. so easily i could've been eating more.

    so now i've cut down to 1400-1500 calories per day and i religiously weigh and log and weigh again every bite of food i put into my mouth. NOTHING and i mean NOTHING goes into my mouth without being logged and weighed. since i've been doing this, i've lost those 8lbs i gained and am well on my way to losing more. and to answer your question, i do NOT eat back any exercise calories i've burned.
  • beeblebrox82
    beeblebrox82 Posts: 578 Member
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    if you aren't doing TDEE and you've set up MFP to run you at a calorie deficit then eat your exercise calories. It's just that simple. For the record, I haven't considered TDEE myself because I burn a widely variable amount of calories through exercise in a given week... between 2800 and 5000 or more depending on how much running I do. That means my food intake is somewhat reactionary to the exercise and the scale bounces a bit through the week... thats why you dont weigh in every day. :drinker:

    If you have a fairly egular fitness regimen, (or none) TDEE is awesome.
  • never124get
    never124get Posts: 163
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    I usually end up eating some of them about a third to or sometimes half of them and some days I don't touch them at all because I just wasn't hungry! Why eat when you aren't hungry? (<--- That was a bad habit of mine I am successfully breaking at the moment.) I love working out then putting my efforts in my fitness tracker and watching the calories go up :smile: haha...it's silly yes but it makes me happy. I haven't gone over yet (though I know it wouldn't be the end of the world if I did) but my recommended calorie goal plus working out 6 times a week for an hour gives me anywhere from 500-700 extra calories a day. I'm not trying to lose as much as possible as fast as I can because I've done that before, I was miserable!! I was quite the yo-yo dieter in high school :embarassed: Yeah bad right? But just don't deprive yourself! If you are hungry and you have the extra calories I say go for it! But don't force yourself to eat them if you aren't, just listen to your body! :wink:
  • majope
    majope Posts: 1,325 Member
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    Don't understand the question--calories burned through exercise are not "extra," they're necessary to fuel your workouts. Of course I eat the calories I burn, leaving roughly the deficit I've got MFP set to. That's how it works, unless you're doing TDEE -20 or some other method that already accounts for your exercise.
  • stacw1987
    stacw1987 Posts: 206 Member
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    Hi all,

    Thank you for all of your replies and advise!

    I am going to have to look up all these different things...TDEE etc as I have no idea what that is! haha. I will click on the link.

    It would probably help if you knew my height, my goal etc.

    Well my current weight is 123lbs! I am 5ft 2" and I guess I am loosing vanity pounds! I want to weigh between 115lbs to 119lbs! (I am same height as Jillian Micheals, love her figure and aiming for something like that.....eventually lol)

    I do cardio and weights most days. Focusing alot on weights at the moment to get nice and toned up with days where I blast cardio.

    So that's where I am at :)
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
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    Yes and no.. I am on maitenance now and it just depends.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    I usually end up eating some of them about a third to or sometimes half of them and some days I don't touch them at all because I just wasn't hungry! Why eat when you aren't hungry? (<--- That was a bad habit of mine I am successfully breaking at the moment.) I love working out then putting my efforts in my fitness tracker and watching the calories go up :smile: haha...it's silly yes but it makes me happy. I haven't gone over yet (though I know it wouldn't be the end of the world if I did) but my recommended calorie goal plus working out 6 times a week for an hour gives me anywhere from 500-700 extra calories a day. I'm not trying to lose as much as possible as fast as I can because I've done that before, I was miserable!! I was quite the yo-yo dieter in high school :embarassed: Yeah bad right? But just don't deprive yourself! If you are hungry and you have the extra calories I say go for it! But don't force yourself to eat them if you aren't, just listen to your body! :wink:
    Trouble is, often when people aren't eating enough, they lose their appetite and no longer feel hungry. That doesn't mean their body doesn't need feeding though. It has more to do with hormonal response. Equally, often when people are over-eating, they still feel hungry. "Listening to your body" is not always the best thing when trying to regulate intake.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    Hi all,

    Thank you for all of your replies and advise!

    I am going to have to look up all these different things...TDEE etc as I have no idea what that is! haha. I will click on the link.

    It would probably help if you knew my height, my goal etc.

    Well my current weight is 123lbs! I am 5ft 2" and I guess I am loosing vanity pounds! I want to weigh between 115lbs to 119lbs! (I am same height as Jillian Micheals, love her figure and aiming for something like that.....eventually lol)

    I do cardio and weights most days. Focusing alot on weights at the moment to get nice and toned up with days where I blast cardio.

    So that's where I am at :)
    I can almost guarantee Jillian Michaels eats a lot more than 1200 calories for that physique.
  • SRH7
    SRH7 Posts: 2,037 Member
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    I eat back every single one of mine as I want to keep lean tissue and just lose fat.

    * I eat to TDEE-20%
    * Eat back calories based on my HRM, not the ones estimated by MFP, which are far too high for me
    * End result: steady weight loss, retaining lean tissue, not feeling deprived and grumpy

    Follow the Roadmap from an earlier post on this thread - it works!
  • mlogantra76
    mlogantra76 Posts: 334 Member
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    When I started MFP, I ate 1200 calories and was sooooo hungry. I went to bed hungry, I woke up hungry, I dreamed about food.I was doing this while exercising daily but not eating back my calories. Now, I am eating closer to 1500 calories and I am losing weight and not hungry. I too think MFP way over estimates the calories burned in exercise. With eating 1500 calories, I'm eating 1/3 to 1/2 of my exercise calories. I am thinking of going up to 1600 some days as I am doing quite a bit of exercise. I'm also trying to eat more protein and fat and it makes me so much more satisfied. I am not weighing myself right now and just going by how my clothes fit.
  • rfsatar
    rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
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    I eat back every single one of mine as I want to keep lean tissue and just lose fat.

    * I eat to TDEE-20%
    * Eat back calories based on my HRM, not the ones estimated by MFP, which are far too high for me
    * End result: steady weight loss, retaining lean tissue, not feeling deprived and grumpy

    Follow the Roadmap from an earlier post on this thread - it works!

    Gotta say... this.
    I re-set my MFP goal to my BMR and adjusted my activity to lightly active and now the numbers are pretty damn close to the calculator I use (Scooby's workshop Accurate Calorie Calculator).
    Now this means I can exercise, log it in full (and I too use an HRM) plus I wear a fitbit to capture any additional activity linked to MFP.
    This means I typically eat back my exercise cals and I stick to a pretty good deficit over the whole day - and weight is coming off nice and slowly, as are the inches.
    I eat what I want, the weight comes off... everybody wins!
  • amandapye78
    amandapye78 Posts: 820 Member
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    I have been been working out a lot lately and burning a ton of calories sometimes over a 1,000 a day. I eat 1500 on a regular day and can't physically eat 2500 anymore so if I have a really big workout I just relax a little and have a glass of wine or eat more protein.
  • SRH7
    SRH7 Posts: 2,037 Member
    Options
    I eat back every single one of mine as I want to keep lean tissue and just lose fat.

    * I eat to TDEE-20%
    * Eat back calories based on my HRM, not the ones estimated by MFP, which are far too high for me
    * End result: steady weight loss, retaining lean tissue, not feeling deprived and grumpy

    Follow the Roadmap from an earlier post on this thread - it works!

    Gotta say... this.
    I re-set my MFP goal to my BMR and adjusted my activity to lightly active and now the numbers are pretty damn close to the calculator I use (Scooby's workshop Accurate Calorie Calculator).
    Now this means I can exercise, log it in full (and I too use an HRM) plus I wear a fitbit to capture any additional activity linked to MFP.
    This means I typically eat back my exercise cals and I stick to a pretty good deficit over the whole day - and weight is coming off nice and slowly, as are the inches.
    I eat what I want, the weight comes off... everybody wins!

    :flowerforyou:

    I only wish I knew this years ago. It really is that simple. Forget diet plans, slimming groups, eat this food, don't eat that food. I could write a book and make a stack of money but it really would consist of just one page with those three lines.
  • tamarapeart
    tamarapeart Posts: 14
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    This has been an issue for me. I hear it's best to eat them back, because not eating them can be unhealthy. However, I have a lot of weight I need to lose. So right now, I try not eating them back. I know this is not good in the long term, so the closer I get to my goal, the more I planned to allow myself to start eating them back.

    What about people who are trying to lose closer to a lot of weight like myself? Should we really be eating them back? Should we wait till we are closer to our goal and learning to maintain the loss? This really confuses me.

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