Should you eat your burned calories?

lol cooked 'em too long

Eat them. Creating too large of a deficit will cause you to lose more muscle than you normally will while trying to lose weight.

I use the extra for the mistake that day - or my wine....usually do not eat all back...I use as my buffer....22 down and 16 to go!

i eat my calories back,always

I realize that the OP has long since deactivated her account, but to the new person asking this question, it depends. There isn't a set answer for everyone.

Do you know your actual TDEE?
Online calculators can be quite off for some people. Your own history is the best way to get the most accurate number, outside medical testing

How large is your deficit set?
Do you enter 1 or 2 pounds a week as your weight loss goal? If you chose 2 pounds, and that put your calorie goal below 1200, then MFP will raise it up to the minimum of 1200 cals per day. So you may think you are losing 2 lbs a week, but instead it may only be 1 pound or even less. In that case, exercise cals can be use to supplement your deficit.
If you are indeed eating at a 1000 calorie deficit, then you probably need to eat back at least some of your calories to not create an unhealthy deficit.

How much extra fat do you have to lose?
If you are considerably overweight, you can safely exercise moderately without eating back your calories. If you are close to goal weight, you need to be careful to not create too large of a deficit.

What type of exercise or you doing? Intensity? length of time?
If you are an extreme exerciser, and are burning tons of calories every day, then yes, you will need to refuel your body and eat at least part of them back or else you will burn your body out. A moderate exercise, 3-4 days a week, will not make a huge difference in your calorie level, unless you are close to goal weight.

How are you figuring your exercise calories burned?
If you are using the MFP database, your calories reported may be up to twice as many as you are actually burning. For athletic, fit people, the charts are more accurate, especially for men, but for a lot of overweight women, the numbers are way off. The same thing can be said for machines at the gym. So if you were to eat back all those calories, you could easily negate your calorie deficit and not lose weight, or even possibly gain.
Using a heart rate monitor with a chest strap, will give you a more accurate number, but even then, you may not be actually burning the total number stated. You will also need to subtract your TDEE from that number to get the 'net' calories burned.

I personally use my exercise to help supplement my deficit, and have found that over the past 6 months, the moderate exercise I do, doesn't make a big difference in the scale. So I eat healthy and at a deficit for weight loss, and do moderate exercise for fitness. I also eat the same number of calories every day, whether I exercise or not, altho if I happen to go over a few cals on workout days, I don't feel bad about it.

For others, they eat every calorie they burn and it works fine for them. You just have to figure out what works best for you.

ETA I started with 80 pounds to lose 6 months ago, and am over halfway to goal weight now. (38 pounds lost since Aug). I have yet to hit a plateau. I have kept my calories around the same level the whole time, (except for holidays). But again, I don't do crazy amounts of exercise. I am also very sedentary outside of my bike rides.

I hate the tasted of burned calories. Cajun style my *kitten*.

Blasphemy!

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

Yes, ^^THIS

Reply to eating then less then 1000 calories a day.

Allot of people say the exact same thing as you, but I dont' know how true it really is.
If you look at the lap band, Gastro - bypas and the HCG diets, they all say that if someobdy is truly obeses they should eat 500- 1000 calories. the reasoning is, carbs that are not used are turned into fat, and if your entire body is filled with stored energy, why would somebody, if they can live off of their fat.

I am just starting on this again and have decided to eat my cals back. My best friend lost 45 pounds eating her calories back. That's good enough for me. :bigsmile: I think it's more appealing too, because I can eat all day long and still lose weight. Just need to stay within my calorie goals. :happy: And if you notice, when you work out, it gives you more calories that you can eat for the day. Gotta love MFP!

eat it only if you want to maintain your weight, not if you want to lose weight.