Exercise Calories - Do you use them? advice please!

Swallows_And_Stars
Swallows_And_Stars Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all. Iv been trying to not use the calories i earn through exercise - unless its for a special reason eg my partner wants to go out for tea ill make sure i get a nice long dog walk and some other cardio in to earn a 'naughty' tea ...

But the rest of the time im trying to ignore them - is this a good thing to do? or are you supposed to use them up?

Replies

  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    If you set your goal through MFP you're expected to eat them back. Your weight loss deficit is already built into your daily goal so when we don't eat at least a portion of those calories back the deficit can get too big.
  • carmentownes
    carmentownes Posts: 46 Member
    I do most of the time. The way it's set up with your calories you will still lose. I guess if you dont use them you will lose quicker. If you do use them, you will still lose. It's just a choice. I dont mind losing slowly.
  • missshyeviolett
    missshyeviolett Posts: 310 Member
    TEA is naughty? Well I'm screwed.

    YES, you're supposed to eat them back otherwise you're at too much of a deficit to maintain health. This is assuming that you're using the MFP method and not subtracting from TDEE.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    If you are using MFP as designed ..... YES you should eat them back. The deficit is built in BEFORE exercise .... so when you do exercise, the deficit increases. Too large a deficit promotes muscle loss.

    It's ok to save them for a "cheat day" of sorts .... ie: Birthday party on Saturday .....but try to be consistant.

    The tricky part ....... MFP and many machines overstate exercise calories .... so people either eat back a percentage of calories (and use as a guage of sorts ..... or they use a heart rate monitor ..... or FitBit device.
  • drojen
    drojen Posts: 203 Member
    Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Depends how hungry I am that day and what my net calories are. If my net calories are too low, then I will try to eat something . Find what works for you. I still have a lot of weight to lose, so for now, I'm exercising, staying within my calorie range, staying within my macros and eating in a way that I know i can live with for the rest of my life. Because whatever I'm doing now, it's not temporary, I have to be able to maintain it forever.

    I rarely eat all of them back - mostly because I'm leaving a margin for error - ie. I don't have a heart rate monitor and suspect that MFP over estimates calories burned. So, if calories burned are over estimated, and I eat them all back, I've now eaten too much.
  • Kettle_Belle14
    Kettle_Belle14 Posts: 246 Member
    I usually dip into them slightly, but for the most part I don't eat them back. I don't do as well on the weekends, so I think it balances it out though.

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