Conflicting data about eating back exercise kcals.

joshualandin
joshualandin Posts: 20
in Fitness and Exercise
Current stats: 276lbs, 39yrs, 6'1"

Note: I am currently in school, so I am very sedentary except for my hour of cardio or strength training each day.

I have been researching a few things about eating back exercise calories and I have been finding conflicting information. Here are the things I am struggling with:

1. Do I eat back my exercise calories? Especially if I am eating over 1600 calories a day (which seems to be the minimum for males to avoid starvation mode).

2. Some people say to eat back only half your exercise calories because of overestimating how much is burned.

3. Should I calculate my net calories burned instead of gross (is this what MyFitnessPal does?)


To offer a scenario of my concerns, if I jog five mph for one hour I am allegedly burning 1185 kcals. If I am supposed to be eating 2300 calories a day (80% of my Harris Benedict formula at sedentary lifestyle), that means I would need to eat 3534 calories a day. This is ridiculous and I do not seem to lose weight.

Should I just ignore my exercise calories? Where am I tripping up in my calculations?

Replies

  • jocelyne2
    jocelyne2 Posts: 271 Member
    I just calculated your BMR and it is 2937 cals/day and that was set as if u were sitting on u butt all day lol ....so just to survive u need almost 3000 cals so I would try to stay close to that and eat half ur exercise calories for a couple weeks and see what happens .......I had the same issue in the beginning I was sticking as close to possible to minimum and not eating exercise cals and barely lost anything ( my body was saying screw u or better known as starvation mode :laugh: )...then I bump it up and boom they starting coming off ...also it helps to take u r measurement hahahha I know ( its a girl thing ) but maybe u will see inches coming off instead of pounds ..... :smile: Good luck
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Current stats: 276lbs, 39yrs, 6'1"

    1. Do I eat back my exercise calories?

    In your case, I would say no. The reality is that until you drop a bunch of weight and increase your fitness level significantly, you aren't going to be burning much anyway. And especially at lower fitness levels, it is very common to grossly over-estimate calorie burn, and people end up eating away their planned deficits.

    IMO, don't worry about tracking or eating exercise calories until you're at the point where (as one example) you can (and do!) run 5km at a time.
  • joshualandin
    joshualandin Posts: 20
    Thanks for the feedback. Right now I am averaging 1800-2000 calories a day and I am hoping that, because of my size, it is not too aggressive until I get down to a healthier weight . I just don't want to overdo it.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    I think your 1800-2000 is fine. If you are doing an extended workout, you might do a small-moderate refeeding after exercise (200-300 cals) to keep the muscles fueled for your workouts, but you do not need to eat back exercise calories per se. At this pt, you can handle a 1500 kcal/day deficit. You are probably burning 10%-15% fewer calories than estimated during your runs.

    Also you don't have to worry about "net" vs "gross" calories. For you at this time, all that stuff is just extraneous baggage that can keep you from staying focused on your routine and your goal. Keep it simple--as you progress, there may come a time when you need to be more careful, but it's not necessary now.

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