Eat your "calories burned" ?

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geminijo04
geminijo04 Posts: 31
in Food and Nutrition
Quesion: my husband and I are doing Insaity everyday after work, around 6pm, and then again Saturday mornings around 10am. Is it OK to eat some of the calories we burned doing Insanity? Let's say I have 500 calories left of my daily count. But I burn 630 during Insanity. Should I or should I not eat the 1130 calories for the day?
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Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Eat the extra calories.

    Doesn't Insanity come with a nutrition guide. How many calories does it recommend you eat?
  • Alphastate
    Alphastate Posts: 295 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.
  • smesche
    smesche Posts: 234 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.
  • babsie11
    babsie11 Posts: 21 Member
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    I do not eat mine back.. sometimes i might eat say 100 of them or something but normally i stick with my 1200 and thats it regardless of my activities
  • autumnpath
    autumnpath Posts: 72 Member
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    I never eat all my calories back, but I do some.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    I do not eat mine back.. sometimes i might eat say 100 of them or something but normally i stick with my 1200 and thats it regardless of my activities

    ^ This is what not to do.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
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    Alpha has a good point. Inaccuracies can be large. Between people thinking is cool to have huge burns, and the sometimes large inaccuracies, it's no wonder why a lot of people are boggled why they arent losing weight. They probably ate back a ton of calories they never actually burned.

    And then you have Babsie here, who already eats fewer calories than most people should. On top of that shes exercising and not eating it back. That just sounds unhealthy and damaging.

    If you're eating them back and you're not losing weight than something is wrong (Your TDEE, your activity level, your perceived calories burned, your calorie logging, etc.... something)
  • Alphastate
    Alphastate Posts: 295 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.

    I would say that is going to be more accurate than just plugging in your numbers and letting the treadmill count for you. A lot will depend on the quality/age of the machine, too. I would always assume worst case scenario and round down. At least you won't overestimate!
  • xinit0
    xinit0 Posts: 310 Member
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    Quesion: my husband and I are doing Insaity everyday after work, around 6pm, and then again Saturday mornings around 10am. Is it OK to eat some of the calories we burned doing Insanity? Let's say I have 500 calories left of my daily count. But I burn 630 during Insanity. Should I or should I not eat the 1130 calories for the day?

    Yes, especially if the exercise puts you under your BMR when you net the exercise in.
  • KlaJWolf
    KlaJWolf Posts: 27 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.

    The treadmill goes off an "average" If you're keeping your hands on the treadmill the entire workout (sounds complicated to do!) then you should get a fairly accurate read. Try seeing what your average heartrate is for a minute and how many calories you burned in that minute. if you did a half hour on the treadmill, you should be able to figure it out without having to hold the heartrate monitors on the handles.
  • smesche
    smesche Posts: 234 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.

    I would say that is going to be more accurate than just plugging in your numbers and letting the treadmill count for you. A lot will depend on the quality/age of the machine, too. I would always assume worst case scenario and round down. At least you won't overestimate!

    Thanks! I tend to round down just to ensure that I am not giving myself more of a loss than I really earned.
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.
    The treadmills are accurate if you actually use a chest strap heart rate monitor that links up to them. I have found the difference can be up 50% off if you just put your hands on the bars.

    Also, you're not getting as good a workout putting your hands on anything. Your posture and your core muscles need the free-swinging of your arms to do the best work.

    That said, I set my calories to my BMR and let my FitBit tell me what else I get to eat depending on the exercise that I've done for the day. It's set for 1275 and I typically eat around 1450 - 1500 calories per day and I've been losing a steady .5 pound per week.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.

    The reason you are supposed to eat back your exercise calories (at least half as some MFP burn calculations are a bit high) is because when you set up your diet/fitness profile, MFP already incorporates a calorie deficit based on your personal data, your activity level and how many pounds per week you said you wanted to lose. When you exercise you create an even higher deficit. Too high of a calorie deficit can be detrimental to your health as not enough calories means you're not getting enough nutrients to support basic function. This may be ok for a short time especially for obese people (higher body fat %), but in the long run your health will suffer.

    As far as the treadmill calorie question goes, it depends on the machine. If you're inputting your age and weight it's probably fairly accurate especially since you hold on. However, holding on all the time is taking away from your effort. You'll burn a lot more calories if you use your full body, swinging your arms. You're better off to make an investment in an heart rate monitor that calculates calories. You can search the forums for suggestions on which one to get if interested.

    P.S. I have always eaten back all of my exercise calories and as you can see from my ticker, it hasn't caused any problems. :)
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
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    I would never eat them back unless you feel famished or unwell.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.

    Still not accurate .......do you enter your height, weight, age, gender, and resting heart rate into the machine before you start? Just because your hands are on the monitor doesn't mean it's a constant measure ..... HRMs (with a chest strap) measure electrical signals from your heart, not your pulse.... this is why many wrist only HRMs are inaccurate as well (too much movement).


    Anyway .... back to the topic at hand ..... I eat ALL my exercise calories back. The reason I do this is because I'm old..... as we age we tend to lose muscle. I'm also menopausal .... again not great for muscle mass. Too large a deficit promotes muscle loss.

    It's much easier to KEEP the muscle than it is to build it back up.
  • smesche
    smesche Posts: 234 Member
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    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.

    As far as the treadmill calorie question goes, it depends on the machine. If you're inputting your age and weight it's probably fairly accurate especially since you hold on. However, holding on all the time is taking away from your effort. You'll burn a lot more calories if you use your full body, swinging your arms. You're better off to make an investment in an heart rate monitor that calculates calories. You can search the forums for suggestions on which one to get if interested.

    I've been looking into getting one. I know I need to do stuff with my arms to get more out of my workout, so the heart rate monitor seems like a good idea. Thanks for the tips! Much appreciated :smile:
  • tonytoo
    tonytoo Posts: 307
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    I do not eat mine back.. sometimes i might eat say 100 of them or something but normally i stick with my 1200 and thats it regardless of my activities

    ^ This is what not to do.

    Rubbish. This has worked perfectly well for me. I've lost 8% body fat and 16lbs in 6 weeks.
  • snowblind50999
    snowblind50999 Posts: 8 Member
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    Be careful eating the calories back... A great example I have is biking... MFP typically calculates almost twice as many calories burned as the app on my phone, Strava, does for the same ride duration and speed. Because calculation of calories burned can be so erratic, I try to not eat back any more than half to be on the safe side.
  • fannyfrost
    fannyfrost Posts: 756 Member
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    I eat the calories burned as my body needs it. 1200 calories for the most part is not enough for me to begin with. I normally eat around 1400-1500 a day or I am starving. Some days when I do a really hard workout, I need just a little more. Usually its just a little extra protein, some nuts, an ounce of meat, or a spoon of peanut or sesame butter. The key is to listen to your body, if are starving and have burned an extra 650 calories, eaten your normal calories already, you may just need to eat a little more. However, if you are completely full and hit your calories, then your good. Obviously don't go nuts, but if you need it eat it.

    Never ever eat less than 1200 calories, especially if you exercise, you will lose muscle, go into starvation mode, etc. But mostly you won't be getting enough nutrition to feed your body what it really needs to be healthy.
  • smesche
    smesche Posts: 234 Member
    Options
    Big debate here. I personally pick a calorie goal and stick to it. Burning calories is my bonus. I don't log my workouts into here. MFP takes into account eating back calories. If you want to eat them back, try not to eat them all back, since calories burned can be largely inaccurate unless you are using a heart rate monitor or something similar.

    How accurate do you think the treadmills are in the gym? I keep my hands on the heart rate monitor bars the entire workout.

    Still not accurate .......do you enter your height, weight, age, gender, and resting heart rate into the machine before you start? Just because your hands are on the monitor doesn't mean it's a constant measure ..... HRMs (with a chest strap) measure electrical signals from your heart, not your pulse.... this is why many wrist only HRMs are inaccurate as well (too much movement).

    I enter as much information as the machine will let me. I understand it's only an estimate. Looks like the HRM suggestion is quite popular and something I am definitely going to look in to.

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