HELP! Should I eat back my calories???

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JordanK7593
JordanK7593 Posts: 47
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi All!

I have been looking around the main forums but still am totally confused!

I'm 20 years old, 220lb (or 100Kg) 6"4' and Moderately exercise 40 minutes cardio 5 days a week. I aim to eat 2080 calories a day.

My question is should I be eating back the calories I have burned through exercise??? I feel bad that I go for a run and burn 600 calories and then have to eat them back to meet my calorie numbers on MFP.

Yesterdays example,

My goal was 2080 calories. I ate 2485 and exercised running 40 minutres and burned 600 calories, which bought my net down to 1885 so I had to eat another 400 calories to meet my goal.

Should I be eating back?? I want to lose as much as possible and am totally confused. I think my TDEE was 3500.


PLEASE HELP!!!!

Replies

  • roseydo1
    roseydo1 Posts: 4 Member
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    I'm also confused on this. A fellow MFP and I were just discussing it today. Any answers to this question would be so helpful.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    It depends on how you set up your profile to begin with. If you set your activity level to sedentary or lightly active, then you need to eat them back. If you set it to active or highly active, then you probably don't need to.

    MFP takes the information you input and figures out how many calories your body is burning before exercise. Let's assume this is 2000 calories a day you'd need to maintain your current weight. It then subtracts 500 from this for you to lose 1 pound/week. When you add exercise on top of this (let's say you burn 500 calories in exercise) you'd now need to eat 2500 calories a day to maintain. At 2000 calories a day you'd now be losing about 1 pound a week.

    MFP is designed for you to log that exercise and eat the calories so that you lose weight as safely as possible. We lose weight by creating a deficit between what our bodies need to maintain and what we're actually eating. When you eat slightly less than you need your body breaks down your fat stores in order to get the energy it needs. When you eat at too large a deficit, though, your body also breaks down your muscle mass to get that energy. Not only will that slow down your metabolism and make you look less toned, but you also risk a host of health problems (remember, the heart is a muscle too) if you eat very little for a prolonged period of time.
  • Beezil
    Beezil Posts: 1,677 Member
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    Yes.
  • JordanK7593
    JordanK7593 Posts: 47
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    It depends on how you set up your profile to begin with. If you set your activity level to sedentary or lightly active, then you need to eat them back. If you set it to active or highly active, then you probably don't need to.

    MFP takes the information you input and figures out how many calories your body is burning before exercise. Let's assume this is 2000 calories a day you'd need to maintain your current weight. It then subtracts 500 from this for you to lose 1 pound/week. When you add exercise on top of this (let's say you burn 500 calories in exercise) you'd now need to eat 2500 calories a day to maintain. At 2000 calories a day you'd now be losing about 1 pound a week.

    MFP is designed for you to log that exercise and eat the calories so that you lose weight as safely as possible. We lose weight by creating a deficit between what our bodies need to maintain and what we're actually eating. When you eat slightly less than you need your body breaks down your fat stores in order to get the energy it needs. When you eat at too large a deficit, though, your body also breaks down your muscle mass to get that energy. Not only will that slow down your metabolism and make you look less toned, but you also risk a host of health problems (remember, the heart is a muscle too) if you eat very little for a prolonged period of time.

    So are you saying I should be eating them back?? I just want to lose as fat as I can??
  • toddx318
    toddx318 Posts: 51 Member
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    At the level you are eating at (2000+) I would say you do not need to.

    People who are eating closer to the 1200 mark should eat their calories back.

    For your height and size, anything over 1600 should be fine/safe for you.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    MFP is set up that you are supposed to eat them back. The daily goal has a deficit in it already - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. That's why they add the exercise cals back in, not eating them creates a larger deficit, which isn't good, and can lead to problems over time.

    Yes, there are variables with acitivty level, weekly weight loss goal, those who are set to 1200 vs those eating more, but the basic MFP set up is designed that exercise cals are to be eaten.

    Meanwhile, you're a dude, by your profile photo a bit younger than me, and I lose eating 1800+ cals a day, probably with less exercise. Food is fuel!

    If you really want to have some fun, read this topic and figure out your TDEE & BMR: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974889-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet Great info there, and I've had my best success with fat loss since following the plan there.
  • Donald_Dozier_50
    Donald_Dozier_50 Posts: 395 Member
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    No confusion here. I stick to my plan and that is to lose weight. I exercise to increase weight loss not to increase eating. My calories that I set are low and again, the purpose is lose weight and so far so good with 56 lbs. in 6 weeks BUT you are far from in the same situation with your height and weight as I am. I am just over 1/2 way to my goal of 107 lbs. to lose to reach my 180 lb. goal from the original 287 lbs. It sounds like you are mainly looking to build muscle instead.
    "diannethegeek" gave a good explanation.
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    No confusion here. I stick to my plan and that is to lose weight. I exercise to increase weight loss not to increase eating. My calories that I set are low and again, the purpose is lose weight and so far so good with 56 lbs. in 6 weeks BUT you are far from in the same situation with your height and weight as I am. I am just over 1/2 way to my goal of 107 lbs. to lose to reach my 180 lb. goal from the original 287 lbs. It sounds like you are mainly looking to build muscle instead.
    "diannethegeek" gave a good explanation.

    :huh:
  • gangstagirl625
    gangstagirl625 Posts: 187 Member
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    for me it depends on the day. and how hungry i am
  • madrose0715
    madrose0715 Posts: 463 Member
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    No confusion here. I stick to my plan and that is to lose weight. I exercise to increase weight loss not to increase eating. My calories that I set are low and again, the purpose is lose weight and so far so good with 56 lbs. in 6 weeks BUT you are far from in the same situation with your height and weight as I am. I am just over 1/2 way to my goal of 107 lbs. to lose to reach my 180 lb. goal from the original 287 lbs. It sounds like you are mainly looking to build muscle instead.
    "diannethegeek" gave a good explanation.

    56 pounds in 6 weeks????
  • sourtruffle
    sourtruffle Posts: 9
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    I wouldn't. MFP isn't a reliable source for calories burned. 600 calories for 40 min of moderate exercise (doing what?) seems excessive. If you put anything other than sedentary when you signed up, you don't need to eat back calories gained from exercise because your lifestyle is already included in that number. I'd only suggest eating back more calories if you exercise more than usual. Say you normally go to the gym 3 times a week but you start going 5 and also bike 20 miles a few times a week. I see people logging things like "dog walking" and "driving" and then eating those calories back. That's no way to lose weight.
  • Csoldano
    Csoldano Posts: 34 Member
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    for me it depends on the day. and how hungry i am

    ^This
  • Donald_Dozier_50
    Donald_Dozier_50 Posts: 395 Member
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    No confusion here. I stick to my plan and that is to lose weight. I exercise to increase weight loss not to increase eating. My calories that I set are low and again, the purpose is lose weight and so far so good with 56 lbs. in 6 weeks BUT you are far from in the same situation with your height and weight as I am. I am just over 1/2 way to my goal of 107 lbs. to lose to reach my 180 lb. goal from the original 287 lbs. It sounds like you are mainly looking to build muscle instead.
    "diannethegeek" gave a good explanation.

    56 pounds in 6 weeks????

    madrose0715 - As shocking as it may sound that is correct. After having gone to the doctor last month then going for an unrelated issue last week they had the nurse re-weigh me thinking it had to be a mistake. I am on a very low calorie level and exercise within my physical limits with many serious physical disabilities (which leaves short walks many times a day) so my exercise level and calories burned is very high with 9 to 18 miles total per day 7 days a week.
  • larryc0923
    larryc0923 Posts: 557 Member
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    Depends on your objectives and how you feel on a given day. If your objective is to lose weight as quickly as possible and you do not feel hungry on a given day then I would not. That has been my approach for the past year and have lost almost 80 lbs at a ~1.5lb a week rate. BTW - I, too, am almost 6'4" and started at about 2080 calorie daily target but determined that my ultimate weight was to be a healthy 200lbs so I knew that ultimately I needed to be around 1800 calories a day so that is what I strive to be. Hope that helps.
  • Beezil
    Beezil Posts: 1,677 Member
    Options
    It depends on how you set up your profile to begin with. If you set your activity level to sedentary or lightly active, then you need to eat them back. If you set it to active or highly active, then you probably don't need to.

    MFP takes the information you input and figures out how many calories your body is burning before exercise. Let's assume this is 2000 calories a day you'd need to maintain your current weight. It then subtracts 500 from this for you to lose 1 pound/week. When you add exercise on top of this (let's say you burn 500 calories in exercise) you'd now need to eat 2500 calories a day to maintain. At 2000 calories a day you'd now be losing about 1 pound a week.

    MFP is designed for you to log that exercise and eat the calories so that you lose weight as safely as possible. We lose weight by creating a deficit between what our bodies need to maintain and what we're actually eating. When you eat slightly less than you need your body breaks down your fat stores in order to get the energy it needs. When you eat at too large a deficit, though, your body also breaks down your muscle mass to get that energy. Not only will that slow down your metabolism and make you look less toned, but you also risk a host of health problems (remember, the heart is a muscle too) if you eat very little for a prolonged period of time.

    So are you saying I should be eating them back?? I just want to lose as fat as I can??

    Losing fast isn't necessarily best... Eat the calories you have been given by MFP and the calories you burn (or at least as much as you can) and do strength training to preserve muscle mass, thus maximizing fat loss as you lose weight. Eating enough is extremely important when it comes to losing weight AND keeping it off. Eating too little not only kills your metabolism, making it harder to keep weight off when you go back to eating a normal amount of food, but can cause your body to metabolize muscle instead of fat - especially if you're not using your muscles well.

    If you create too big of a deficit by not eating back exercise calories, then either stop doing so much cardio or eat more. It's important.

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