Those who eat back exercise calories?

I usually burn between 300-700 cals during exercise. If I am on the high end I DO NOT eat all of them back. More like half. I try to always get over the 1200 cal goal (sometimes I fail that when I work my two jobs and have no time to work out and only an hour to eat). I always try to end the day with a defecit of 100-300 cals (unless I don't work out sometimes I got over the 1200 but only by a little bit and sometimes I stay under but only by a tiny bit). I have lost 70 lbs, have crazy amounts of energy and feel amazing.

If you are exercising you want to eat to ensure that you have energy. Listen to your body. If you try to start not eating those cals back, you will most likely realize you are going to be fatigued. Food is fuel.

I've always eaten back most of my exercise calories, the whole time I've been losing. Now if you feel full and still have extra calories at the end of the day, then don't eat them back. However, there's no reason to starve yourself if you had a great workout and your stomach is growling. Your deficit is built in, even without exercise, so you'll still lose weight.

The concept of eating calories back is confusing. The goal is not to eat back or not eat back the calories. The goal is to eat the right amount of calories for your body’s needs.
If you eat more than you need your body will store the extra. That becomes fat. If you eat less and your body needs more it will use what it has stored. What I found difficult was figuring how many calories my body uses each day. That should consider all activities including sleep. After a little effort I concluded that my body burns about 1660 calories a day. That is if I do nothing but normal activity with no exercise. That means that I need to eat at least 1660 just to maintain my weight and normal function of my internal organs. If you do not eat enough your body does not have enough energy to power all of your internal organs. It has to decide which organs get priority. That is why under eating is not a good thing over long periods of time.
Now if I add exercise and continue to eat 1660 calories each day I lose weight. I lose because my body uses stored energy. Now the concern is what kind of weight am I losing? If you are exercising and losing weight are you losing muscle or fat? We wish it would be just fat. It is usually fat and muscle. The goal here is to lose fat and gain muscle. This is the very difficult part. It is very difficult to just lose fat and adding muscle takes lots of effort. This is what makes it so difficult as you get closer to your goal weight. You don’t want to be, as some call it, skinny fat.
Now with exercise I set my goal at burning a minimum of 2800 calories a day. That means as long as I hit my goal of burning 2800 calories each day I can eat up 2800 calories and not gain weight. If I want to lose I just need to stay below the 2800. Depending on how fast I want to lose I decide how much below the 2800 I should be. I originally I was 500 – 800 below. My goal was 1.5 to 2 pounds a week.
When you are stuck don’t just look at weight. Look also at body measurements. Your body will change shape as fat goes away and muscle develops. You have to take into account the none scale victories. They are just as important.

MFP sets a "net" calorie amount at a deficit for you to lose X per week. For some of us whose activity level is sedentary, it is very easy to eat back your calories and still lose weight. Most of my weight came off in the summer when I was eating back all my calories, but exercising every single day. I think I may have even gone over most days, to be honest, but I was changing my lifestyle from sedentary to active.

Remembering that the goal is net is big, IMO.

I eat back most if not all of my exercise calories. I think I average around 1,500 calories today, but I usually burn 300, making my net almost exactly 1,200. I've been doing it this way since starting MFP in April and I've lost 33 pounds on MFP, 40 total since January.

Hello
I'm just kind of confused and I know this is a touchy subject on here. I would like to actually see results from people who eat back the calories burned from exercise. The reason being because I feel like I am sabotaging myself on the days that I do it but then if I don't I feel like I'm eating too little and that may be why I'm not losing weight... Idk... I've lost 50lbs and I wish I kept a diary back when I lost most of it so I would know exactly how because now that the scale isn't moving it's driving me crazy not knowing what I did so differently back then...


Anyone who eats back your calories and lost weight please tell me how much you eat and how much you lost.

I'm 6 ft tall
Sw 250
Cw 202 (the last 2lbs before 200 keep fluctuating!! Grr)
Gw 175
And the scale just won't move! !

Any help here!?!

Using this tool as designed...



to...



I'm 35 Lbs difference in these two pictures...

The biggest thing people have issues with is underestimating intake and overestimating burn. If you're getting your burn from a database, it is likely very inflated...you need to account for estimation error. I always ate back about 80% of what my HRM said I burned for an aerobic event. I also compared my estimates to other databases and formulas out there to see if I was getting a pretty good estimate give or take.

Also, you need to weigh and measure out your foods and be consistent in logging...just guestimating portions and whatnot has shown to be about 20 - 30% error..most people vastly overestimate their consumption. You also have to remember that all of these calculators are just good starting points...you have to make real world adjustments based on real world results. You may also want to have some blood work done to see if you have any medical conditions or vitamin deficiencies that can hinder weight loss.

This tool gives you a calorie goal that already includes a weight loss deficit from an estimated maintenance level of calories. When you do your activity level, you do NOT include any exercise...just your day to day stuff. You don't get credit for any exercise with MFP until you actually do it which is why you are then allotted more calories to eat. Other calculators include an estimate of your exercise up front in the weight loss formula...they include an estimate of those calories in your activity level...thus, with other calculators that activity is accounted for already and you wouldn't eat them back...but as I said, with MFP they are accounted for after the fact. This is to encourage people who are otherwise sedentary to not only get their diets in order, but get off their *kitten* and get their fitness on.

It really depends on how hungry I am that day. Sometimes I won't eat any, sometimes maybe half and sometimes almost all of them.

This is the exact way I am thinking of it. Some days I am hungrier than others, and I don't want to eat too little. I have been on a mission for just three weeks and have lost 11lbs. I will do my weigh in tomorrow morning and see what I have dropped this week. All in all, it's important to find out what works for you. Do NOT starve yourself, and if you have ate enough, you have ate enough. If one day you don't eat back those calories, fine. I am finding that that way of doing things is working great for me! We are all different though!

With your weight not dropping anymore, maybe change up your exercise. Or do an extra walk in the evenings. . . Anything in addition to what you normally do might be the extra push your body needs! You have got this in the bag! Congrats on your loss so far!

The calorie goal MFP set for you already has a deficit built in. If you eat back your exercise calories that deficit is still there. The exercise you do is not to promote weight loss but other health benefits. The deficit alone is what handles the weight loss.

I am not doing TDEE. My exercise is inconsistent, so I cannot include it in my activity level. Therefore, my activity level is set to sedentary and I eat back most of my exercise calories.

Had I included my exercise in my activity level or if I was doing TDEE then I would not be eating them back.

On the other hand, you have lost more weight so far than I have, so you must be doing something right.:happy:

The calorie goal MFP set for you already has a deficit built in. If you eat back your exercise calories that deficit is still there. The exercise you do is not to promote weight loss but other health benefits. The deficit alone is what handles the weight loss.

never thought about it that way! it does have a deficit so may as well eat them back. I guess it could work by eating maintenance cals and exercising but not eating those back right

every last one, its the only reason I exercise.

And there are times when I'll a little more.

I usually don't eat them back...the reason being is that I can be an angel all week and then a proper demon at the weekends, so I like to 'save' them to cushion my weekends - and also to account for the above, inaccuracy in intake and burn. Also the reasons I aim for 200 calories short of my TDEE-20% each day.

If you're doing TDEE - 20% you wouldn't eat back exercise calories because an estimate of them is included in your TDEE upfront when you set your activity level. With MFP, exercise is accounted for on the back end after you do it and log it...this is why you get extra calories and eat them back with MFP...you have to understand what method you're using. Failure to understand your method will result in it "not working"

It really depends on how hungry I am that day. Sometimes I won't eat any, sometimes maybe half and sometimes almost all of them.

^^This^^

I not only try to eat back my exercise calories but any calories I burn nursing my 6 month old as well. I run (10K training app) three nights a week, do strength training 3 nights a week and use the 7th day as a complete rest day. I might take a walk with the dog, but nothing more strenuous. I'm losing steadily and noticing the decline when I weigh in about every other week. I am not seeing big losses, but I attribute that to the strength training.

I eat back any that I feel the need to, I refuse to eat anything just for the sake of eating it, (along with the steroids thats how I got here) most days I eat between 50-60% back sometimes more depending how much cardio I do.

I have lost 27 lbs in 9 weeks and am far fitter and healthier.

I have been on MFP for about 2 months now. I have lost 27 pounds to date. I have my setting at sedentary because I have an office job where I basically sit most of the day. However I did purchase a "Fit Bit Flex" Calorie counter. It works great. I do eat most of my exercise calories back on most days but usually leave some in the bank. I find that the Fitbit makes me want to exercise more because it does allow me to eat a little more. Without burning the additional calories my daily allowance typically isn't enough for me to not feel hungry. So I enjoy the fact that I get to eat a little more from exercising it feels almost like a reward for getting a little extra work in. On those days (rare) that I completely miss exercise, I find it a little tougher to stay in the calorie budget. But like I said, I like to keep at least an extra 100-200 calories in the bank for anything that may be slightly off in my calorie count. So far it has worked great and I am making this a life plan. Good luck!