Eating back calories you burn from exercise?

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brittaneycrider
brittaneycrider Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have been entering in my workouts and I can see that MFP adds whatever I burnt back to my daily calorie goals. Do I really need to eat back those calories I just burnt off.... seems like defeating the purpose, doesn't it? I was wondering what everyone else does....

Replies

  • Nelneusa
    Nelneusa Posts: 13
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    I try not to eat all of it back, but its consoling to know that I have some extra calories left which were not consumed. Plus it makes me feel less bad when I go above the calorie goal...cos i know that the exercise has given me some extra. Try to maintain within your calorie goal if you are serious about losing weight. Good luck
  • Brady_
    Brady_ Posts: 108 Member
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    i do not like to eat my calories burned either :)
  • sbilyeu75
    sbilyeu75 Posts: 567 Member
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    There are several posts about this. Some say yes, some say no, some say split the difference. You can try whichever works for you and when you quit seeing results switch it.
  • 1horsetown
    1horsetown Posts: 247 Member
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    I try to eat only half of my exercise calories.

    Working against you? Not really. Exercise raises your metabolism, so you burn more calories in general.

    The daily limit of calories should be about 70% of your daily use. If you go below that your body starts to panic and it's harder to lose weight.

    I've had family in town for a couple of weeks and my calorie intake has been HUGE. (There's a reason that Aunt is built like a gray haired bowling ball with legs!!:tongue: ) I've been exercising like crazy to keep my burn over my intake. I'm glad that I can 'earn' more calories because I'd be really discouraged by now.

    Anyway, the aunt is back home and I can get my diet under control again.

    That's my 2 cents. 1horsetown
  • darkrider42
    darkrider42 Posts: 5,326 Member
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    The "plan" you created has a built in daily deficit of calories. When you exercise, you raise the number of calories you may eat during the day and still acheive that calorie deficit that will help to make your weight loss goal for the week. I personally try not to eat extra just because I exercised, but if I do, I don't stress out about it. If I don't eat, I'll just lose more weight for the week. The trick is to balance things out so that I don't get so hungry that I go overboard and overeat the next meal because I'm so hungry. Hope this helps answer your question. Good luck on your journey!

    In case you happen to notice that I'm brand new on this website as of today, don't discount the my comments, plz. :-) I was previously using the BodyBugg which uses the same principles, but I finally got fed up with the *many* difficulties I was having with syncing the device with my MacBook and the miserable, miserable website and lack of response from their Customer Support. In spite of all that, I still managed to lose about 50 pounds in six months so I know the basic process works! I'm hoping for a MUCH better experience using this software and web site. :-)
  • watkinsc
    watkinsc Posts: 177 Member
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    I thought your question was really interesting, so I looked up my nutrition reports to see how many days I ate back the calories I burned. I have only been here two weeks, so it may not be enough info for an accurate answer. But it seems that I do eat back, on average, about half the calories I burn. Over these two weeks I am down 4 lbs. I suppose if I didn't eat any back, I would have lost more. Maybe? But, I've found in the past, if I try to diet too strictly, I fail miserably.
  • SuzanneRogers
    SuzanneRogers Posts: 250 Member
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    Don't go below 1200 calories it is key.. If you go below 1200 with or without exercise you body will think it is starving and will store it as fat. In the beginning I follow the 1200 calories and ate back my exercise calories with 100 deficit. The closer I get to my goal the more calories I need so I'm eating 1500-1800 calories after gaining muscle and I only have 9 lbs to go. Everyone's body is difference so try it one way for a week or tow, if that doesn't work try added more calories just stay above 1200 for the day.
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Your question is one that can't be answered for everyone because there is a lot of different conditions that make this question one that is tough to answer. So I will be as generic as I can.

    It depends....generic enough...LOL Just kidding.

    Here the thing you have to keep in mind. If you consume less than 50% of your maintenance calories for a extended time you will go into starvation mode and start storing fat. So, you need to know that number. My maintenance calories is about 2400 calories.
    If I eat 1600 calories and burn 600 during my P90X workout I will go into starvation mode because my net calories will be 1000 and below my 50% maintenance calories of 1200. Are you following.me? Most people think that eating less and less will help them to lose more weight...not necessarly the truth.
    Ok, so why can anorexics get so skinny. Well because they have a sickness and go for many many days without eating and their bodies have no choice but to use the stored fat for survival. We, without this sickness cannot go as long without eating.
    Hope this helps
  • AmandaR910
    AmandaR910 Posts: 991
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    I try not to eat my calories back, but if I'm hungry, I do.

    In my 10 days of logging, I ate my exercise calories about 3 times.
  • sara_xo
    sara_xo Posts: 195 Member
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    will not eat the calories i work off...


    weight loss = calories burned - calories eaten...

    you always want to burn off more calories than you consume...
  • brittaneycrider
    brittaneycrider Posts: 10 Member
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    Thanks for all the information. I think what I have gleaned is that I really just need to listen to my body. If I workout, I'm still hungry, and I have calories..... then eat. If I'm not hungry, I don't have to hit that number everyday. I don't think I have been at this long enough to know exactly what to expect. I do notice that on the days that I do not workout, I am usually starving at the end of the day and make ridiculous choices.

    It does make sense that the program already has me at a deficit, so eating back the calories isn't really counterproductive.

    Another thing..... I had NO idea how much sugar I was eating. I never eat chocolate or anything like that..... but I was getting tons of sugar from "light peaches". Seriously? What an exhaustive battle of what to eat!!!
  • PlatinumPiggy
    PlatinumPiggy Posts: 90
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    I wasn't eating back my exercise calories and only started doing this in the last 10days or so and it works!! I have lost 1kg. I don't have a lot to lose and my last 3kg's are taking ages to come off but MFP takes into account your deficit already after eating exercise cals so if you don't eat them you are forcing your body into starvation mode. There's actually a sticky on this I think.....
  • runner915
    runner915 Posts: 106
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    When I wasn't eating any of my exercise calories I wasn't losing much. But now I eat some of them and the weight has been coming off quicker than it ever did before! It is true that weight loss depends on how many calories you are consuming vs. how many calories you are burning, but if you are going to be doing tough workouts your body needs good recovery foods, and foods that are going to fuel you through your next workout.
  • keith0373
    keith0373 Posts: 2,154 Member
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    I always vary what I do and lost 2-4 lbs + a week from March thru August. Some days I would run huge negative numbers, exercising a ton (1000-2000 calories worth) and not eating back more than half of the calories. Other times I would eat to within a few hundred calories of my goal. Any time that my weight was holding steady for a few days, I would switch it up and it seemed to help.
  • bhonniered
    bhonniered Posts: 228
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    I like having the flexibility to eat back some of my calories. It allows me to treat myself without going overboard.
  • Mangoaddict
    Mangoaddict Posts: 1,236 Member
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    I stay flexible most days and eat many of the calories within limits. I still end up losing weight. Do what works for you.
  • Charlie001
    Charlie001 Posts: 354
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    I first started out with maintaining 1000 cal deficit at 1400 cals a day. Now I am at 2200 cal a day but burn about 1400 from exercise. I eat when hungry, but am very careful of caloric intake. My dream is to get shredded. It has never happened, but now I am here and no longer feel isolated, I will not stop until I succeed.

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