Hi there,
From what i have read on these forums, some people say eat them and some peope say you don't have to. I some times don't use mine then sometimes after exercise i feel hungry i will eat them. Seing as you are exercising late and you don't feel hungry after i wouldn't think it matters too much. Otherwise you would be going to bed with a fuller stomach. Perhaps try eating a banana when you have finished or perhaps a bowl of cereal incase you get hungry in the night.

Sorry i couldn't be of more help.

Will be interested in the responses to this, I never eat back my calories as surely to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit ?

As for starve mode I think that kicks in when you're not getting the correct nutrients, its not based on amount eaten its based on what is eaten, I went on cambridge diet for a month at 400 cals a day and lost weight as i was getting all the nutrients required.

sorry to go a bit off topic but the topics always seem to go hand in hand.

I would save them for a hungry day and not worry if you don't eat them by your next weigh in. I would wipe them once I'd weighed in though.

Look at it this way - If it's just once or twice a week that you work out and given that MFP over-estimates anyway, you are probably looking at maybe 1000kcal under goal a week which is less than 130kcal a day. So don't worry about it, unless you are stalling/plateauing and need to make some changes

I eat mine. I find that if I don't I am hungry, and on days when I dont exercise I really struggle to stay under 1200!

hardly ever eat into mine, dont see the point unless i am going on a very long distance run which I aint up to yet.

Same here, except for the running, not into running.

I just bank them. There seems to be a lot of "rules" around on mfp, a lot by Google "experts" just do what works for you

I'm new to this "my fitness plan" and I seem to be under calorieing because I'm exercising most days. At the moment I'm not eating up to my calorie limit, then feel bad because it's says I'll be starving myself if I carry on at this rate. I suppose it's going to take some adjusting to...never done a calorie controlled diet like this before...it's always been other methods. So to the original post...I'd say don't eat the spare calories if you're not hungry. Listen to your stomach.

Yes, bit worrying isn't it? You will die soon if you do not eat your calories, or go into "starvation mode", and then hair will fall out etc etc

As you rightly say, listen to your stomach & common sense

Eat them - it's the way the site is designed to be used!
Too big a deficit (i.e. the deficit you selected by your X lbs per week selection plus exercise calories as well) is counter-productive.

Just makes you feel very restricted, doesn't teach you healthy habits, makes it harder to get adequate nutrition, is a good way to lose a high proportion of lean muscle mass along with your fat loss.

I'm an expert.

The point in using a calorie calculator is keep track of your calories.

I missed the question at the end.

No you shouldn't go out of your way, but you might benefit from eating something rather than nothing. It depends on the volume and intensity of your training. Be aware of any symptoms of over training.

You may find it easier to 'bank' these calories, and spread them out during the following day. It might suit you very well if you don't exercise daily.

I'd look at your weekly calorie intake (on the phone app there is a 'weekly' tab), and see how you average out. Obsessing over 25 calories here or 200 calories there isn't going to make a lot of difference in the long run.

I'm not using MFP in quite that way any more (I did for the first nearly 2 years), as I'm now lifting heavy things and putting them down again.. so I've set my calories to 2000 a day and don't eat any exercise calories back (as they are supposed to be included in that 2000). I am new to lifting, so will see what this is like in a few weeks! if I turn into a complete heifer, I'll review it...

Saw this today though which was interesting - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/caleo2006/view/why-am-i-losing-weight-513754

I'd look at your weekly calorie intake (on the phone app there is a 'weekly' tab),

I'd never noticed that before. Thanks.

My approach? Don't force on any one day but hit a sensible deficit over the whole week. The way I exercise I hit crazy negatives on bike days and then am ravenous for the next few days. Seems to work if I go over on a couple of days and under for the week.

May aswel throw my hat in the ring too,

I dont eat mine and wouldn't because if i dont 'need' them then why would i take on extra cal's. And what i mean by need is if i was feeling faint, dizzy etc from not haven eaten enough then of course i would eat back something i earnt so over all i would stay at my target calorie intake. However with the exercises i currently do this has not been an issue for me so i dont eat them back.

One thing i can say is dont for the love of god eat extra (over your target a day) coz you know you'll go to the gym later... all it takes is one of lifes normal little distractions to get in the way and then that workout dosnt happen. Then a few days later it happens again and boom, it all gets a bit messy. If you find you really need an energy boost before working out try re-planning when you do work out and when you eat

I had another thought about this. If you exercise after you have finished eating for the day, then why not log them on tomorrow's exercise? You would eat them back at a normal pace throughout the day and you may be feeling more hungry then anyway after you exercised. Might be worth giving it a go, if you are worried about not eating them

Ok gonna throw this out there. MFP states it works on NET calories so it's what you are netting each day that counts so if you are not exercising then your goal you have set using the settings will give you a minimum of 3,500 calories deficit meaning you will lose a pound a week (unless you've chosen 2lbs a week).

Alternatively you can work to your TDEE -10/-15/-20% (you choose) & don't log your exercise on here. - http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Basically choose one method & stick with it 4-6weeks to see what works for you.

At first you will always lose weight regardless of what method you use as you're changing your lifestyle & your body responds, but then after a while you will need to figure out what works best for your body.

So basically either work to TDEE & don't log exercise (as this is already included) or use MFP's Net Calories setting for healthy weightloss that you can maintain.

I think people panic too much about not haivng enough of a deficit, but MFP will always give you that providing you complete the settings correctly.

I found that after 4 weeks upping my calories & eating back exercise calories helped me continue to lose weight, rather than bounce around the same pound back & forth.

That's just my knowledge & experience though.

Good luck finding what works for you