To Eat or not Eat extra calories

i DO NOT eat my exercise calories back

Actually, reading your profile, it looks like in a roundabout way you DO eat at least some of them back, on your cheat Saturdays. Every 2 weeks you state that you go over your calorie goal of 1200 by about 3300 calories. You say that you work out 4-5 days a week, so that is a total of 8-10 days over those 2 weeks.

3300 divided by 8 workouts = 412 calories
3300 divided by 10 workouts = 330 calories

Of course I don't know what your actual workouts are, so I have no idea what your real burns are. But, those seem to be about right for moderate intensity exercise for 45-60 minutes per workout.

So yes, you eat at least some of your exercise calories back, but just the entire 2 weeks worth all at one time.


To OP: I also eat mine back, but I eat them spread out instead of in one chunk like that. Using the MFP database, I eat back roughly 75% of what it says (the MFP estimates can be a bit high). Another way to figure out your calories is to find out your TDEE, which includes your workouts, and minus about 20% from that number. That will give you your daily goal, with the exercise calories already figured in. The poster who eats around 1800 a day and is putting her burns in as 1 calorie is probably using this method.

yeah, you could look at it like that, except for exercise calories are usually expended in weight loss sooner than once every 2 weeks, so, im more than likely eating back half of my work outs, if that.

It's not so linear. It's not like you exercise for 60 minutes, burn 500 calories, and BOOM, you've lost 1/7 of a pound. Weight loss is more about averages over the longer term.

My point was that you said that you eat 1200 calories a day, and don't eat back any of your exercise calories, when in fact you do eat at least some of them back (3300 over 2 weeks is not a small number) and it's misleading to claim otherwise, especially for newbies just figuring it out. I know that it wasn't intentional, and I'm sure that you consider the cheat day separate from your exercise cals, but it does factor in.

i know its not linear, im saying, i dont believe that after 2 weeks, i still have all those extra calories just sitting around to be used, as im sure they have been expended through other means such as fat loss.

Actually, I just read your edit.

According to a calorie burned calc, a woman weighing 150 lbs (I probably guessed high) running for 3 miles at a pace of 10 min. mile would burn 340. Do that 10 times over 2 weeks and it equals out to 3400 calories. That's pretty darned close to your overage of 3300. So yes, you are eating back your exercise calories.

and im not 150, im 167, and my burn averages about 500-600 per day depending on mph and incline on the tread.

Whatever you consider it, binge or no, you are eating those calories. They aren't going into a separate "binge" bank. They become part of your average intake.

Treadmills are notorious for giving high numbers, so it's generally recommended to eat 50 - 75% of what they say (unless you are using another method to figure out you burn? but those burn numbers seem pretty high for a few mile run), which would come pretty close to my number.

Why is this getting so personal and not about the OP - Move along Move along

i DO NOT eat my exercise calories back

Actually, reading your profile, it looks like in a roundabout way you DO eat at least some of them back, on your cheat Saturdays. Every 2 weeks you state that you go over your calorie goal of 1200 by about 3300 calories. You say that you work out 4-5 days a week, so that is a total of 8-10 days over those 2 weeks.

3300 divided by 8 workouts = 412 calories
3300 divided by 10 workouts = 330 calories

Of course I don't know what your actual workouts are, so I have no idea what your real burns are. But, those seem to be about right for moderate intensity exercise for 45-60 minutes per workout.

So yes, you eat at least some of your exercise calories back, but just the entire 2 weeks worth all at one time.


To OP: I also eat mine back, but I eat them spread out instead of in one chunk like that. Using the MFP database, I eat back roughly 75% of what it says (the MFP estimates can be a bit high). Another way to figure out your calories is to find out your TDEE, which includes your workouts, and minus about 20% from that number. That will give you your daily goal, with the exercise calories already figured in. The poster who eats around 1800 a day and is putting her burns in as 1 calorie is probably using this method.

yeah, you could look at it like that, except for exercise calories are usually expended in weight loss sooner than once every 2 weeks, so, im more than likely eating back half of my work outs, if that.

It's not so linear. It's not like you exercise for 60 minutes, burn 500 calories, and BOOM, you've lost 1/7 of a pound. Weight loss is more about averages over the longer term.

My point was that you said that you eat 1200 calories a day, and don't eat back any of your exercise calories, when in fact you do eat at least some of them back (3300 over 2 weeks is not a small number) and it's misleading to claim otherwise, especially for newbies just figuring it out. I know that it wasn't intentional, and I'm sure that you consider the cheat day separate from your exercise cals, but it does factor in.

i know its not linear, im saying, i dont believe that after 2 weeks, i still have all those extra calories just sitting around to be used, as im sure they have been expended through other means such as fat loss.

Actually, I just read your edit.

According to a calorie burned calc, a woman weighing 150 lbs (I probably guessed high) running for 3 miles at a pace of 10 min. mile would burn 340. Do that 10 times over 2 weeks and it equals out to 3400 calories. That's pretty darned close to your overage of 3300. So yes, you are eating back your exercise calories.

and im not 150, im 167, and my burn averages about 500-600 per day depending on mph and incline on the tread.

Whatever you consider it, binge or no, you are eating those calories. They aren't going into a separate "binge" bank. They become part of your average intake.

Treadmills are notorious for giving high numbers, so it's generally recommended to eat 50 - 75% of what they say (unless you are using another method to figure out you burn? but those burn numbers seem pretty high for a few mile run), which would come pretty close to my number.

i realize that you really want me to tell you that your right, unfortunately, its my deal, its my plan, and im telling the op, that I DO NOT EAT BACK MY EXERCISE CALORIES. you can believe what you want, however, i do not believe that we can store excercise calories for weeks at a time, and have them all available. i believe that they diminish over time with the weight loss. on weeks that i do not binge, i lose 3 pounds, which tells me, my exercise calories are lending a hand that week in my loss.

op, my advice is to do what works for you. if your hungry, and you know you have an excess of calories earned from exercise, then go for it. however, if your not hungry, why force food down your throat when you could chalk it up to a larger deficit and greater loss? just pay attention to how you feel, hungry? sluggish? tired? no energy? you may need the extra calories, but if not... dont force feed yourself!

i DO NOT eat my exercise calories back

Actually, reading your profile, it looks like in a roundabout way you DO eat at least some of them back, on your cheat Saturdays. Every 2 weeks you state that you go over your calorie goal of 1200 by about 3300 calories. You say that you work out 4-5 days a week, so that is a total of 8-10 days over those 2 weeks.

3300 divided by 8 workouts = 412 calories
3300 divided by 10 workouts = 330 calories

Of course I don't know what your actual workouts are, so I have no idea what your real burns are. But, those seem to be about right for moderate intensity exercise for 45-60 minutes per workout.

So yes, you eat at least some of your exercise calories back, but just the entire 2 weeks worth all at one time.


To OP: I also eat mine back, but I eat them spread out instead of in one chunk like that. Using the MFP database, I eat back roughly 75% of what it says (the MFP estimates can be a bit high). Another way to figure out your calories is to find out your TDEE, which includes your workouts, and minus about 20% from that number. That will give you your daily goal, with the exercise calories already figured in. The poster who eats around 1800 a day and is putting her burns in as 1 calorie is probably using this method.

yeah, you could look at it like that, except for exercise calories are usually expended in weight loss sooner than once every 2 weeks, so, im more than likely eating back half of my work outs, if that. i run a few miles a day, 5 days a week.

Sure, but whether you realize it or not, you're replenishing your glycogen stores on your 3300 calorie days. In the lifting community it's sometimes referred to as a refeed day. It's what we do so we can continue hard exercise without hitting a wall. So you are, in fact, eating your exercise calories back. In full.

And whether you call them 'exercise calories' or not doesn't make the blindest bit of difference to your body, but should maybe be mentioned when advising someone whether or not to eat their exercise calories.

If I am hungry, I will eat them back. If not, I try to at least eat half back.

I USUALLY eat most of mine back. My lifestyle is set at sedentary, so I do try to eat them back. BUT, I don't always trust all the calculations made by Runtastic (fitness app) and MFP, and I don't always trust my measuring of food, so I don't eat back ALL my extra calories. I try to leave a buffer of about 200 calories everyday.Seems to be working for me.

i DO NOT eat my exercise calories back

Actually, reading your profile, it looks like in a roundabout way you DO eat at least some of them back, on your cheat Saturdays. Every 2 weeks you state that you go over your calorie goal of 1200 by about 3300 calories. You say that you work out 4-5 days a week, so that is a total of 8-10 days over those 2 weeks.

3300 divided by 8 workouts = 412 calories
3300 divided by 10 workouts = 330 calories

Of course I don't know what your actual workouts are, so I have no idea what your real burns are. But, those seem to be about right for moderate intensity exercise for 45-60 minutes per workout.

So yes, you eat at least some of your exercise calories back, but just the entire 2 weeks worth all at one time.


To OP: I also eat mine back, but I eat them spread out instead of in one chunk like that. Using the MFP database, I eat back roughly 75% of what it says (the MFP estimates can be a bit high). Another way to figure out your calories is to find out your TDEE, which includes your workouts, and minus about 20% from that number. That will give you your daily goal, with the exercise calories already figured in. The poster who eats around 1800 a day and is putting her burns in as 1 calorie is probably using this method.

yeah, you could look at it like that, except for exercise calories are usually expended in weight loss sooner than once every 2 weeks, so, im more than likely eating back half of my work outs, if that. i run a few miles a day, 5 days a week.

Sure, but whether you realize it or not, you're replenishing your glycogen stores on your 3300 calorie days. In the lifting community it's sometimes referred to as a refeed day. It's what we do so we can continue hard exercise without hitting a wall. So you are, in fact, eating your exercise calories back. In full.

And whether you call them 'exercise calories' or not doesn't make the blindest bit of difference to your body, but should maybe be mentioned when advising someone whether or not to eat their exercise calories.

i wasnt advising anyone to not eat back exercise calories. i made a statement, as many people have. some say they do. some say they dont. some say they do half. i said i dont eat back my exercise calories, and i dont. i didnt advise the op to do as i do, i stated what i do. i advised the op to do what works best for her, and stated if shes hungry, eat them back, if not, then dont. my statement was just that. a statement on myself. i dont eat back my exercise calories. i dont keep track of my burn after cardio AND lifting. i do not eat back my calories, because i dont keep track of my calorie burn. just as everyone else has a day here or there that they eat over their calories, so do i, only difference is, mine is planned. but i stick by my idea, that i do not eat back my exercise calories. this is all semantics. i dont eat back my calories. i eat over my calories 2 days a month, but you know what, i also eat UNDER the other 28 days a month... so if we are going to play semantics, then maybe im eating back my calories from the days where i came under my calorie goal, right? so, whos to say that im eating my exercise calories back? so, why you are telling me what i do, makes no sense, at all.

so if we are going to play semantics, then maybe im eating back my calories from the days where i came under my calorie goal, right?

Maybe you are. You should know by looking your diary, right?

I'm not sure why it bothers you so much that someone might think your 3000+ cal days are actually eating your exercise calories back, but I agree it's sort of irrelevant to the the OP.

I eat mine back if I"m hungry, but I don't usually trust burn counts on MFP so I leave a little room (I also like to leave wiggle room for the random cals that don't end up getting added).

so if we are going to play semantics, then maybe im eating back my calories from the days where i came under my calorie goal, right?

That would mean that you are eating around 900 calories a day (gross), which is way below what is considered safe, and MFP is clear in its guidelines that it does not condone VLC diets (and I've seen thread after thread pulled for sanctioning them by saying "this is what worked for me!"), I hope that you aren't doing that.

The math for you:

3300 calories over, divided by 14 days = 235 calories
1200 calorie goal - 235 = 965 calories, gross intake

That low intake, combined with you also not eating supposed 500-600 calorie burns on your run days, means that if you are doing things the way you insist that you are, five days out of the week you are netting 365 - 465 calories. Personally, that's not something I would advertise, which is why I assumed that you were not undereating that much on a daily basis.

Maybe you are. You should know by looking your diary, right?

I'm not sure why it bothers you so much that someone might think your 3000+ cal days are actually eating your exercise calories back, but I agree it's sort of irrelevant to the the OP.

I eat mine back if I"m hungry, but I don't usually trust burn counts on MFP so I leave a little room (I also like to leave wiggle room for the random cals that don't end up getting added).

She's eating closer to 4500 on those days, 3300 over her calorie goal of 1200.

McGraw: I am completely flummoxed on why this is such a huge thing, TBO. Unless you have been handing out the advice to not eat back exercise calories and stick to 1200 calories for a long time now, and it's upsetting to have it pointed out that that is not actually your strategy? I'm not even knocking your choice to eat those calories, even in a refeed format like you are, I think it's the right thing to do and follows MFP guidelines. You stated that when you don't eat them back, your loss goes up to 3lbs a week, which is not considered safe, so eating them back (like you are) is a very good idea. So, your taking offense at it being pointed out to you that you are, in fact, doing as MFP was designed and the method it sanctions, has left me confused.

As to whether your "statement" was advice, of course it was. It's insincere to state otherwise. You are a bright woman, you have to know that if someone looks at your ticker, and sees what you state your method to be to get that impressive loss, they will take it to heart.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

At the end of the day, whichever method you use, look at your actual results over a decent period, say 4 weeks, and tweak accordingly.