Should you eat back the calories burned?

megdet
megdet Posts: 18 Member
edited January 16 in Food and Nutrition
So on your food diary throughout the day as you are recording your excercise, it adds back the calories that you burned to the "available calories left to consume" portion of your food log. I've heard of contraversial topics on this. Is it wise to eat back the calories you burn throughout the day, or not? Or maybe find a happy middle?

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    I don't and I've survived quite nicely, others do and swear it's the way to go. I think that most of us underestimate our food and overestimate our exercise so IMHO if you are going to eat them back I'd take a modest approach of eating half or so.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
    if youre using the site as it was intended, yes you should eat them back.
    personally i did much better once i figured that out. i ate all of them, and had even better results when i invested in a HRM to be more accurate with my calorie burns
  • DoriGaga
    DoriGaga Posts: 96
    If I have extra calories and I am hungry I eat them back, especially if I workout earlier in the day (hence more time to eat them back)... if I work out later, and I end up not being hungry, I don't. I try to eat something after a workout, but if I'm not really hungry I'll have like an apple... I'm not gonna force myself to eat calories back when I don't feel hungry, but if I am I take full advantage of the extra ones available!
  • petitegreek
    petitegreek Posts: 144 Member
    I always try to eat the extra calories I get after working out because of my BMR. It seems like when I don't eat all of the calories back, MFP tells me that I am eating too few calories. I've heard if you don't eat enough calories, it's harder to lose weight. I know, sounds weird. My goal is 1200 calories, and I try to eat 1200 a day, or about 100 calories more (my BMR is 1,366).
  • cnewlin86
    cnewlin86 Posts: 87
    I use a HRM and I never eat all of them back. Usually I end up typically consuming about 1600 calories a day. If I'm hungry I'll eat more, if not I don't worry about it too much. Sometimes I'll drink a glass of milk or something to help jump up my calories too. Or I'll have a piece of toast with PB and Nutella as a snack. That adds some calories in a hurry :-) But when I workout for over and hour in the evening and it tells me I've burned 800 calories I just can't eat it all back. If I stop losing weight I'll re-evaulate but for now things are working out for me.
  • Flowers4Julia
    Flowers4Julia Posts: 521 Member
    See, what you have to remember is that if you aren't eating them back and you are netting lower than your BMR, you will eventually stall out your weight loss. It's not a good way to go in the long run, it slows metabolism and it sets you up for a regain the moment you eat higher.

    So, I suggest getting the best estimation of calories burned and then eating them back.

    Everyone really needs to know both their BMR and TDEE and eat somewhere between the two numbers as a general rule.

    Hope this could help clarify some.
  • brian1383
    brian1383 Posts: 39 Member
    I don't and I've survived quite nicely, others do and swear it's the way to go. I think that most of us underestimate our food and overestimate our exercise so IMHO if you are going to eat them back I'd take a modest approach of eating half or so.

    Agreed. It makes sense to eat some back to stoke your metabolism but, depending on overall intake, you may not need to eat them ALL back.

    I workout in the afternoon and eat lighter early in the day while I'm at work. I normally have 1500 cals left at dinnertime, once the workout is added back. No way I could eat all of them.
  • petitegreek
    petitegreek Posts: 144 Member
    How does TDEE relate to BMR and your net calories for the day? Or, how many calories do I need to eat and burn per week in order to lose 1.5-2 pounds per week?
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Read this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • moonsforeyes
    moonsforeyes Posts: 228
    are you hungry? Really listen to your body and decide if you are or not. Some days I find myself feeling that hungry feeling a bit after working out so i eat a majority if not all of mine back. It depends on your net and how you feel honestly. If your net calories is super low, eat more! If you're hungry after you burn a bunch, eat more!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    How does TDEE relate to BMR and your net calories for the day? Or, how many calories do I need to eat and burn per week in order to lose 1.5-2 pounds per week?

    BMR is what your body would need to survive in a coma. You should not be eating below your BMR unless you are outside the realm of norm where the calculators get a bit screwy.

    TDEE is the number of calories your body burns in a day taking into account your activity for the day. To lose weight you need to take your TDEE less a deficit.

    It takes approximately 3500 calories to equal a pound of fat so if you take that over 7 days it's a deficit of 500 calories a day less than your TDEE.

    What you have to balance is knowing what both numbers are so when you take a deficit from the TDEE you don't want the number to be less than your BMR. If you don't have a lot to lose and aren't very active you may need to take a smaller deficit to make it all work out.
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