exercise calories

CathyComics
CathyComics Posts: 9
in Health and Weight Loss
hey, who here eats back their exercise calories? just wondering if there is greater success not doing so, or if youre supposed to eat them for greater success.

i know the theory is that youre supposed to eat them. but from actual experience, not theory, what has made you lose more weight and keep it off?
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Replies

  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    I try to eat most of mine back while at maintenance. I even ate most (or all) of them back while losing, I just had my calorie goal set lower.
  • cookiealbright
    cookiealbright Posts: 605 Member
    I eat mine back sometimes and sometimes I drink them back. :drinker:
  • DTreas
    DTreas Posts: 14 Member
    I am not losing since I am eating my exercise calories???
  • JessieNeutronGirlGenius
    JessieNeutronGirlGenius Posts: 268
    By reaching your calorie goal then exercising you are taking those calories and minusing from what you've eaten thereofre you should eat them back but obviously still eating healthy choices is essential. To maintain your weight you are supposed to eat 2000 calories so by having a limit lower than that you are already losing weight and by sweating and burning fat you are losing weight so yes, you should eat them back but make it healthy choices! Hope that helped.
  • blleadon
    blleadon Posts: 187 Member
    I eat mine back. The trick is for me to make sure all calorie counts are accurate and not guessed
  • goggyhigginson
    goggyhigginson Posts: 3
    I have very low excercise calories as both of my knees are shot from being a dancer years ago. Most of mine ( excercise calories)are light walking etc but I find if you take the excericse the weight drops much more quickly than just dieting alone, even when the total calories for the day /week are the same.
  • RobP1192
    RobP1192 Posts: 310 Member
    I don't eat mine back at all.
  • brc912
    brc912 Posts: 43 Member
    I only partially eat them back because I find that their estimates for calories burned from activities are high...
  • Anthonydaman
    Anthonydaman Posts: 854 Member
    The weight comes off faster if you don't eat them back. I eat them back sometimes, but i always try to finish the day with at least a 200 cal surplus.
  • michellechawner
    michellechawner Posts: 892
    MFP already sets you at a deficit so if you don't eat them back you are in a double deficit and probably starving.

    Eat your calories. You should be breaking even at zero.
  • bf43005
    bf43005 Posts: 287
    I eat some but not all back. Mostly I don't eat them all back because I don't want to. I work out at night and if I have a big burn I just can't stomach that much food in a few short hours before bed.
  • pugsleyjean
    pugsleyjean Posts: 135 Member
    I eat mine back sometimes and sometimes I drink them back. :drinker:


    Same here :)
  • jmadams111
    jmadams111 Posts: 145 Member
    If you don't eat them back, you are effectively going for a larger calorie deficit (or covering for inaccuracies in your input/output calorie counts). Obviously, if accurate a greater deficit will result in more weight loss, assuming you are not going below your BMR.
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
    I am using the MFP calculator so I am eating most of them back. The key though is what are you using to calculate the calories burned. The most accurate way is with a HRM and even that isn't 100% so that is why I still don't eat/ or drink :drinker: them all back.

    If you are using the MFP calculator for calories burned I would suggest only eating half back to play it safe. When I compare my HRM to the machines my HRM usually gives me 20 to 35% less than the machine.
  • chelstakencharge
    chelstakencharge Posts: 1,021 Member
    I never eat my exercise calories back. Every BODY is different and responds different to weight loss. You just have to figure out what works best for you. My numbers speak for themselves
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
    Oh, this thread again.

    The Search button is up to the right. :flowerforyou:
  • sarajeanelles
    sarajeanelles Posts: 55 Member
    I usually burn about 700 calories during the weekdays at the gym based on my HRM doing spin class and weight lifting. I eat back only 100 of those calories and I have lost 15 pounds since mid April and I am 4 pounds from my goal weight, so that it what works for me!
  • thesupremeforce
    thesupremeforce Posts: 1,206 Member
    I would imagine that the more calories you burn exercising the more important it becomes to eat at least some of them back. If you're burning a thousand calories exercising per day, you're probably going to run into trouble if you add that deficit to whatever your initial deficit had been. On the other hand, if you're burning two hundred calories exercising in a day, it's not as likely to be an issue (unless your calorie intake is already really low, I guess).
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    MFP is set up for you to eat your calories back so if you are following the MFP method you should eat those back. People who claim that eating back their calories makes them gain/stall are A. Over estimating burns B. Underestimating calories or C. Both

    Which basically results in: Eating Too Damn Much.
  • alasin1derland
    alasin1derland Posts: 575 Member
    I have been successful eating them all back. I use an hrm with a chest strap to calculate my calories burned during exercise.
  • bacitracin
    bacitracin Posts: 921 Member
    I only partially eat them back because I find that their estimates for calories burned from activities are high...

    I find they're low.

    And I eat them back because I'm not an idiot and know that MFP is designed with a deficit calculated in place before measuring exercise calories and if you burn 500 on a treadmill, and even if you just enter 400, and you ate 1200 today which was your goal before exercising, your net is now 800. You burned at least 400 of those 1200, meaning you need more to hit your goal. If you overeat by 500 and then go lift some heavy things and go running, then you'll be on track.

    Too many people don't know what "net" and "gross" are.
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
    Think of it this way.

    You have your calorie goal for the day. You exercise and burn 200 calories. You are now 200 calories under you daily goal so yes, you need to eat them back.

    Many people who claim to have success with this are 'netting' much lower than their body needs. You may see rapid weight loss for a bit but prepare for plateaus and rapid weight gain after.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I ate them back while I was losing and lost the weight I wanted to lose as predicted in about 6 months.

    I currently go by a TDEE method, but it works out just about the same. It's just easier for me to aim for 2000 every day than, for example, 1700 one day and 2300 the next.
  • bevtyndall
    bevtyndall Posts: 72 Member
    bump
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
    I usually burn about 700 calories during the weekdays at the gym based on my HRM doing spin class and weight lifting. I eat back only 100 of those calories and I have lost 15 pounds since mid April and I am 4 pounds from my goal weight, so that it what works for me!

    Good luck gaining back the weight you've lost.

    If you are following the MFP calorie recommendation of 1200-1300 calories and burning 700 in exercise, do you realize you are actually consuming 500-600 calories a day total? No healthy and not going to give you lasting results.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    I eat all of mine but use fitbit to calculate my burns because it's more conservative. I'm on this for the long haul and just wouldn't have the energy to exercise if I never ate them back.
  • antonjanik
    antonjanik Posts: 12
    I don't eat much back. I generally stay around 1700-2000 calories eaten a day, even if I burn 2-3,000 calories exercising that day (long runs (7-13 miles), long bike rides (30-40 miles)--I use an HRM to track calories...).

    In the end, there's just no reason for me to consume all 2,000 calories MFP says I can eat before bed. It is often just too many calories to eat back.

    Say its early evening and before dinner I run 8 miles--that's about 1,000 calories for me at my weight. I already have 1,000 calories left for dinner, and I don't need that many for dinner itself (say 750 or so). So I'll eat maybe 200 more, so I eat a total of 950 calories at dinner (and dessert! For me, that's usually a greek yogurt).

    Having eaten that, I'm not hungry at all, and sleep fine, etc. I still lose plenty of weight, look good, and am happy with progress.

    A.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
    I always eat most or all of my exercise calories, because that's how the MFP program is set up. And it works!
    Leaving exercise calories uneaten can create too large of a deficit, which puts the body at greater risk for losing more lean body mass than necessary.
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    I eat mine back, but I've often wondered why people who don't aren't just setting their profiles to maintain and exercising to create their deficit instead.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    I eat mine back, but I've often wondered why people who don't aren't just setting their profiles to maintain and exercising to create their deficit instead.

    Cause inaccurate burns are inaccurate. I eat at 1700, which I know is already a 300+ calorie deficit for me, and don't think about anything else. Setting for maintenance still requires me to trust burn numbers to create a big enough cut.

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