Calorie allowances from exercise - To Use or Not To Use?!

I wouldn't eat them back unless you are ravenous all the time, weak, or losing weight at a rate you consider undesirable. The calculations are frequently too high, while people usually calculate their calorie intake too low. If you want to eat more, be conservative: If you're allotted 200 extra calories, try eating 100 more, and so forth.

I include my aerobic treadmill points but not my points from weight lifting or if I also walk outside that day. I would probably gain also if I ate all my points all the time.

I was eating back my calories from exercise (also on 1,200) and didn't really notice weight loss so now I am not going to eat them back and see what happens!

I don't eat mine back as I'm working gom TDEE my excersises are included in my allowance this way so it much less confusing lol. If i am starving though i will have a little snack and work out for an extra 10 mi s or so. Personally i nt see the point in excersising if you going to eat all the calories back again :-/ that been said 1200 calories is low i would probably aim to net at 1200 at least because thats what ur body needs to function correctly at rest

I eat some of them back, and try to leave some alone. BUT I also have my settings fairly conservatively (lose 1/2 lb a week) so I figure not eating them back puts me closer to the 1 lb/week mark.

I only eat back my exercise calories if I am hungry. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat them back.

I do this too. Some days I'm so starving that I do eat them back, or some of them, but mostly I don't. I don't think I burn enough calories through exercise to justify eating them all back all the time.

My current Calorie allowance is 1400 calories. I then add to that allowance with exercise specifically to eat most of them back. I do wear a heart rate monitor so I trust my calorie burns.

That being said I try to leave some calories "on the table" to account for measurement/estimation errors. I would say between 120 and 250 calories a day. On occasion it's been less than 25 calories but I would say that's one day in 10 that I cut it that close.

MFP is already giving you a calorie deficit based on your weight, and your typical level of activity. If you exercise and not consume calories to offset the extra calories burnt, you have a bigger deficit than you are supposedly planning for. That may or may not be a bad thing. Since I'm so close to goal, attempting to lose a pound a week is just fine for me (except these last 5 pounds WONT come off). Someone will tell me if I don't eat my exercise calories back I could take those last 5 pounds off but I lost 95 pounds eating my exercise calories back so I'm not changing gears now.

I'm at 146 pounds which is 14 pounds under the over/normal line so I'm happy where I am. Especially since all this extra exercise has allowed me to take stairs without effort, run, and basically not be limited in what I want to do by my lack of fitness.

Besides, I don't alwyas EAT my exercise calories back. I will have a beer or a glass of wine with dinner and most of my road races have a beer tent and I'm very fond of saying after a race "Where's the beer tent? What? Do you think I run FOR MY HEALTH?

I always eat them back, I lose faster if I do and have more energy. Plus I am not going to be successful if I am damaging my metabolism. Do more research, you should never net less than 1200.

You SHOULD eat them back so your net is 1200. Or you're not eating enough, your metabolism is going to slow down, and you'll either stop losing or gain very easily when you switch to maintenance (which will have to be VERY low). I'm guessing at some point you'll have to increase or you'll stop losing.

It depends on how much you exercise, but even if you burn 200 calories, you're feeding your body on 1000 calories. That's just not enough.

I can't figure out what to eat though to get all those calories back.
For example, last night I went out for a walk/run/stagger and came back and found i needed to eat about 900 calories to 'catch up' and get near 1200 net for the day. And that's after eating about 1200 for the day before the walk.

My SO is concerned I'm eating so much and I haven't lost any weight. (I've gained another 3 lbs since Sat. --- grrr...)

I walked past a subway, Dominos, and grocery store last night. I was glad i didn't have any money with because I didn't know if I was going to get a large pizza (deep dish with 2x pepperoni), a 12" sub, or just pick up a small roasted chicken and devour that to make up my calories.

So, what do I eat?

Do you have a heart rate monitor?

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I just poked through your diary, I don't know how the fitbit works but wouldn't it track your exercise so you don't also have to log it thus double dipping... also, if it doesn't and you need to also log your exercise, a lot of what you've logged in the last few days looks rather high to me so I suspect you aren't burning as much as you think.

If the fit bit won't report your exercise calories, I strongly suggest getting a heart rate monitor. Also, maybe have some fruit with breakfast rather than the juice so you get some fiber and feel fuller longer...

I can't figure out what to eat though to get all those calories back.
For example, last night I went out for a walk/run/stagger and came back and found i needed to eat about 900 calories to 'catch up' and get near 1200 net for the day. And that's after eating about 1200 for the day before the walk.

My SO is concerned I'm eating so much and I haven't lost any weight. (I've gained another 3 lbs since Sat. --- grrr...)

I walked past a subway, Dominos, and grocery store last night. I was glad i didn't have any money with because I didn't know if I was going to get a large pizza (deep dish with 2x pepperoni), a 12" sub, or just pick up a small roasted chicken and devour that to make up my calories.

So, what do I eat?

If I have 900 left over, I eat whatever I want that is 900 calories. I worked hard and I deserve it. Your body needs to refuel or it will freak out.

i eat most of mine back just because 1200 isnt enough for me. however if i was really stuffed and did a lot of exercise that day i wouldnt sweat about not eating all of them back

and i use a food scale and html for work outs

No, I don't eat the extra calories. I agree with a previous post and think it is counter-productive. The point of exercise, for me at this time, is to create a calorie deficit to help me lose.

As Faye_Anderson already said, MFP builds a deficit into your allowance , so if you don't eat back your exercise calories you are creating too large a deficit.

I agree - It's surprising the number of people who have no idea how MFP works .....

I eat 100% of my calories back because I am trying to reduce body FAT. Yes, I could lose "weight" faster by not eating calories back because I would be losing a fair amount of MUSCLE mass in the process.

NOT eating exercise calories makes exercise "counter-productive" ...... why burn more calories..... just to burn additional muscle mass. I thought a main point of exercise while dieting was to keep muscle.

For a long time I was eating 1200-1500 calories a day and did not eat back exercise calories - and it did me in. My metabolism slowed down - I went to doctors telling them my metabolism was broken and I was starving all the time. I lost tons of muscle. No one could understand why or tell me what was wrong. And all the weight I lost came back.

Moral to the story - listen to the people that say don't net less than 1200 calories a day - eat back your exercise calories. The idea here is to make this a LASTING change, something you can continue for the rest of your life. Would you rather be able to eat maintenance at 2,000+ calories a day or at 1200 calories a day? By the way - if you eat back your exercise calories, you can have pizza when you want to