Eating back exercise calories?

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2

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  • JEG2012
    JEG2012 Posts: 158
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    I try not to. What was the point of burning them in the first place.
  • Peg_M
    Peg_M Posts: 34
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    Well it sounds like most of us do eat back some but not all of the exercise calories. I do what a few have said and listen to my body If I am hungery then yes I eat some back but not all.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I try not to. What was the point of burning them in the first place.

    Huh?

    MFP as designed gives you a calorie deficit up front; when you exercise you increase that deficit even more. The problem with a calorie deficit that is too large .....MUSCLE loss.

    One of the reasons people on a diet "start" exercise in the first place is to "reduce muscle loss" while dieting .....well eating too few calories (regularly) negates that. You're basically back to dieting alone .......(why?).
  • nitrogen_widget
    nitrogen_widget Posts: 92 Member
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    I try not to. What was the point of burning them in the first place.

    This.
    What's the point of killing yourself if you are going to eat those cals back?

    Calories burned from regular daily cardio & exercise really isn't going to amount to all that much.
    Use them as a bonus fat burn.

    Also the problem with eating back calories is, are you REALLY burning THAT many from exercise?

    I seriously doubt you are.

    I don't eat back cals.
  • lessofme43
    lessofme43 Posts: 139 Member
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    I just started this lifestyle change last week. It is a real eye-opener for me, who for the last 20+ years, most of my adult life, I've been enjoying food, knowing I was eating too much, but not caring how much or enough to hold back. The calorie 'budget' given me when I set up my profile is probably 2/3 of what I have consumed on a regular basis, so needless to say I'm feeling quite challenged to stay under my limit every day! At this point, I'm feeling like the burning off of calories from exercise is an incentive to be allowed just a few more food calories for the day. I don't know if that's 'right or wrong' but I just need a little something to look forward to a this point.
  • AngieM76
    AngieM76 Posts: 622 Member
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    I have my calories set at my TDEE - 20% so I dont eat back my calories. I think MFP is defaulted to set your calories to where you eat them back.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I try not to. What was the point of burning them in the first place.

    This.
    What's the point of killing yourself if you are going to eat those cals back?

    Calories burned from regular daily cardio & exercise really isn't going to amount to all that much.
    Use them as a bonus fat burn.

    Also the problem with eating back calories is, are you REALLY burning THAT many from exercise?

    I seriously doubt you are.

    I don't eat back cals.

    The problem with this ..... for some of us .... the "Bonus fat burn" is also a "bonus muscle burn." 100% of daily nutrients are not stored as fat.

    I eat back my exercise calories but am "conservative" ......... I have a pretty good idea what I burn (HRM) ..... and no I don't burn huge numbers ..... but an extra 200-300 calories is my "incentive" to exercise. I was never a regular exerciser .... now I know the "value" of exercise.

    Besides .... if I lose fat at the same rate I lose muscle .... does my body fat % go down ... or stay the same? I would rather have "healthy" weight loss ..... than quick weight loss (but that's just me).
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I have my calories set at my TDEE - 20% so I dont eat back my calories. I think MFP is defaulted to set your calories to where you eat them back.

    You have included exercise in your TDEE ..... so yes you "technically" do eat your exercise calories back.
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
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    I normally don't but if I'm truly hungry, I eat.
  • kennie2
    kennie2 Posts: 1,171 Member
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    i normally dont on the day i exercise as im not hungry but i may go over the next day and not worry about it
  • boy576
    boy576 Posts: 2
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    I think you can eat back the calories, but go by how your body feels. If you feel hungry, eat them back, if not don't. It's important not to starve yourself as that will lower your metabolism anyway.
  • Nicolecopperboom
    Nicolecopperboom Posts: 11
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    I am going to say what others have said, and that is, I am sure MFP intends for you to eat them. My main reason for stating this is because when I logged everything for the day and click the finish log, if I am under, it tells me so and that it is not healthy, I should eat the allotted calories. I have my profile set to sed. and that means I am allotted 1300 cals to sit on my *kitten*, if I burn 300 cals and dont eat those back, I will only be getting 1000 cals and the I am sure the body goes into starvation mode because you are not getting enough to sustain daily function so to speak, and in essence you are starving yourself. I hope what I have said makes sense. I mean, don't force yourself to eat them all back, but if you are hungry, do not hold yourself from eating them either.
  • duichaser
    duichaser Posts: 172 Member
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    I eat some, if not many, of them back. I think your body needs it. MFP is set up for you to do so. I lost 34 pounds in about 4 months, so say what you want, but it is working for me. As long as you are being honest about your calorie burns. Some of the calorie burns that are programmed into here (i.e. Elliptical) are inflated. Be true to what you are burning and eat some of those calories back with good healthy foods, especially things that are high in protein to assist in muscle recovery. If nothing else, it is a reward for yourself for working hard. Here is another trick, if you are estimating calories burned always go with the lower number. If you are estimating calories in something you are eating, always go with the higher number.
  • Txracy
    Txracy Posts: 78
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    I eat back at least part of my exercise calories, because my goal isn't weight loss necessarily, as it is that I want to gain muscle definition. My daily calorie intake is about 1500 without exercise, and about 1900-2000 on days I exercise. (I am 5'3"). I would not be able to build more muscle and get stronger if I ate at a severe deficit (though most days, I usually have a small deficit, because I don't want to "force" myself to eat if I am not hungry... I listen to my body). Also, if I got a teensy bit over, or just have a day where I ate too much food, I just make sure to get in a few more workouts that week to balance it out.

    I find that running, for whatever reason, suppresses my appetite. On days I do weight lifting, I am ravenous and could eat an entire cow (though MFP sucks for determining how much I should eat on lifting days, so for now, I'm just listening to my body's hunger cues)

    I think if you have a lot of weight to lose, you can get away with not eating back your workout calories. But, the closer you get to your goal, I think you'll be setting yourself up for a long frustrating plateau or even weight gain if you don't eat it back. (This is just purely anecdotal, but this seems to be something a lot of MFPers complain about, that they plateaued or even gained back, and then they up their calorie intake and start losing again)
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
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    This whole starvation mode kind of cracks me up. I highly doubt anybody on MFP is starving... far from it. For all the poor people in the world who are truly starving, even a 1000 calories a day would be like heaven on earth.

    Saying that, I agree that eating too few calories will slow you down in the long run, especially if you excersise. However, starving...no way.
  • HotrodsGirl0107
    HotrodsGirl0107 Posts: 243 Member
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    When I joined mfp the first time I was here to lose weight and yes I ate my exercise calories back. I had already been through the whole netting 800 to 1000 net calories a day thing and have permanent heart damage to prove it. Mfp calculates a healthy deficit into your daily goals. This is usually set to sedentary (meaning NO EXERCISE). When you do exercise you increase the deficit that mfp has already created for you. Eat you exercise calories and your deficit will still be the same.

    This time I am here to focus on fitness and maintaining my weightloss. I lost a lot of LBM from starving myself so I am trying to work on building strength again and hopefully rebuild some of what I lost. I know this will be a long process but I did it to myself so... I eat 2500 to 3000 to maintain based on TDEE.
  • BaconMD
    BaconMD Posts: 1,165 Member
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    You don't need to exercise to lose weight. You can lose weight by sitting on your *kitten* all day and eating less calories than your body burns while doing so. Tada, thinner you.

    The point of exercise, which I'm frankly shocked needs to be pointed out to people on a website called My FITNESS Pal, is to increase your overall fitness level, and that means preserving your muscle mass, strengthening your heart, expanding flexibility and mobility... Do you get it? Or do you REALLY think it's "pointless" to exercise?

    In the end, I don't care what you do or what you think, but spewing nonsense like "what's the point?" every time this subject gets posted over and over and over and over is getting really old now.
  • ellskiNZ
    ellskiNZ Posts: 32 Member
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    I generally don't eat back my exercise calories, but reading this thread has made me feel like I should.
  • Sonjalalala
    Sonjalalala Posts: 101 Member
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    listen to your body. some days i don't eat back exercise calories, and some days i'm feeling extra hungry and so i do! listen to your body!!!

    best of luck!

    I agree with this :)
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    My understanding: When we fill out the information section you put height, weight, age, activity level and .5, 1, 1.5, or 2 lbs a week loss and MFP gives us a number that is minus the calories required for a loss. So if it gives you 1500 calories a day and you want to lose 2 lbs a week your actual number was 2500 -1000 for the calories needed to burn the 2 lbs. So you have a 1000 calorie deficit already. If you burn 700 calories and don't eat them back your deficit becomes 1700 instead of 1000.

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