Do yall eat back the calories you burn during exercise?

cwolfman13 · June 2013

Actually, that's stupid and meal timing is irrelevant. I eat my full dinner at 8:30/9:00 PM every night and am in bed by 10...I've lost 40 Lbs. Meal timing is irrelevant...calories in/calories out period.

LadyIntrepid · June 2013

Yep. I eat 'em. When I was in weight loss mode, I focused more on netting than actual calories eating. So as long as I was netting 1200-1400 a day, i was losing. And losing more quickly when it was closer to 1400 than 1200. But everyone has to find what works for them.

trud72 · June 2013

only if I am hungry! :bigsmile:

crowlg94 · June 2013

No, do not eat back what you burn. It's OK if you need a small snack but if you want to lose the weight don't over do it. Without the exercise the program allow you to lose about 2 pounds a week plus or minus. If you are exercising that is extra and you will lose more faster.

MaydayParadeGirl · June 2013

Your body goes into recovery mode when you go to bed, it naturally slows down, if you're eating a ton of calories before bed it's goign to slow down the calorie burning rate.

cindy5761 · June 2013

I wouldn't eat them all back.....just remember you need a 500 calorie deficit a day to lose 1 lb a week.....either through cutting calories or with exercise.

pastryari · June 2013

bajoyba · June 2013

Your body is not going to store calories just because you're asleep. You burn calories 24/7, because calories are fuel, and they are what your body uses to do anything and everything. Whether you eat food 3 hours before you go to sleep or right before you sleep, that food is still in your system being digested. According to the Mayo Clinic, it takes 6 to 8 hours for food to pass through your stomach and small intestine, and around 40 for food to pass through your large intestine. It varies depending on a variety of factors, but on average, your meal spends 50 hours inside your body before it is completely digested and the waste is excreted.

So no, it doesn't matter when you eat.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/digestive-system/an00896

A deficit is a deficit. A small to moderate calorie deficit plus regular exercise is optimal to lose fat and retain muscle mass. Use the website as it was designed and eat back your exercise calories, or use the TDEE method.

bethheyyy · June 2013

oh.. good to know. Thanks!

kgraves3 · June 2013

Right there with ya...

cwolfman13 · June 2013

I burn roughly 2700 calories per 24 hours period...again...irrelevant. Also, you will note that I've lost all my weight doing exactly what you say would sabotage weight loss...hmmm....how could that be? Again, calories in/calories out. If you are catabolic you cannot be anabolic just because you went to bed. In other words, if you're at a calorie deficit...your'e not going to store extra calories...because you are at a deficit from maintenance period. Laws of thermodynamics...science and what not, not old wives tales and mythology.

Mavrick_RN · June 2013

Thank you !! (Quite the collection)

kgraves3 · June 2013

Please read the forum post I linked before regarding it. It is definitely sound, tried-and-true advice with a good non-technical explanation of why this is so important. Creating too large of a calorie deficit could cause you to plateau very quickly, or to burn a lot of your muscle mass.

Here it is again, just in case:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

Katina3333 · June 2013

I eat about half of my burned calories back just because you can get so many different readings on how many calories are burned doing a specific exercise. So to be on the safe side I just eat back half. Its working for me.

wtw0n · June 2013

Yes, I eat back my exercise calories 'cause I follow MFP system. My net calorie goal is 1700 and that's the number I try to hit. I've lost 21.9kg in about ten months so obviously I'm doing something right.

endoftheside · June 2013

Sometimes I exercise just so I can eat more. :laugh: I eat back usually around half of my exercise calories because I use MFP values and I assume they are a bit high. I have my calories set to my sedentary TDEE at my goal weight, so heck yeah I log things like mowing the lawn (which I never used to do and falls outside the range of sedentary activities). I also don't like to go under my current weight BMR because that starts veering into the "too large a deficit" zone for my preference.

bethheyyy · June 2013

THANK YOU!

It may have been a stupid question but Im new to all of this and it seems on the internet everyone has a different answer. I appreciate all of the feed back. MFP is so awesome!

Hexahedra · June 2013

If I use the treadmill's calorie count, I would eat back pretty much all of it. If it's based on MFP's calculator, I would eat back about 75% of it because it's less accurate.

fdphiri · June 2013

Never, it would defeat the purpose.

pastryari · June 2013

Sigh. You're wrong. You obviously don't know how the system that you are using works. PLEASE PLEASE, EDUCATE YOURSELF. Did you read ANY of the info in this thread? Or when you signed up?

You know what? I don't care. In fact, you should just stop eating, eating defeats the purpose right?

diannethegeek · June 2013

MFP has already built in the deficit for you before exercise. When you exercise you make the deficit bigger, sometimes bigger than the body can manage safely. Even if you were to eat every single calorie you burn (assuming you use an accurate measurement) the 500 calorie deficit is still there with MFP.

BeachIron · June 2013

^ This.

<< Or I'm doing it all wrong.

We need another cat gif here.

magerum · June 2013

That's a horrible myth, meal timing is irrelevant. I eat 1200-2000 calories within an hour of going to bed. Typically finishing within minutes of bed time.

ZoeLifts · June 2013

I'm on it!!

magerum · June 2013

stephaniemejia1671 · June 2013

I like having the choice of eating extra. I eat them back, why not? I earned them.

Otterluv · June 2013

I do, seems to be working for me. My goal is set to 1450 calories a day, on my rest days I usually end up going over by a couple of hundred calories. Today I will burn around 150 calories lifting, and 350 on cardio. That will take my new goal up to 1950, a much more reasonable number for me. I may not lose weight as quickly as some, but it's been consistent progress and my other fitness goals have been moving along at a great pace. I am a big fan of eating as much as you can while still progressing.

My0WNinspiration · June 2013

Nope.

zyxst · June 2013

No. Never saw the point, but what do I know? I use MFP wrong.

HealthWoke0ish · June 2013

I eat most or all so I can "net" the number of calories suggested by MFP. I also eat most of my calories before going to bed. For the last seven months, I've averaged 8 lbs lost per month.

Works for me.

Do yall eat back the calories you burn during exercise?

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