Do you eat your calories back that you burn

If you understood the way this system is set up, you'd realize that eating back calories burned through exercise doesn't "defeat the purpose."

MFP already gives you a deficit without exercise. So exercising is basically just a bonus of more calories being burned and a larger deficit being created. But you're already eating at a deficit and shouldn't extend that deficit to an unhealthy and potentially dangerous number.

That being said, cals burned numbers aren't accurate so I would take that into consideration when eating them back. Maybe eating back 75% of them, to adjust for inaccuracies.

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

I been wondering the same thing as well.
My daily intake limit is 1300.
I burn on average 2000.
This is how I did my formula.
2000 - 1300 = 700
So I actually only count 700 as burned cause I consumed 1300.

Correct me if I'm wrong please.

I also want to be clear on this too.
My daily set goal is 1350 calories
I'm 272lbs at 5'5 and normally walk 4 miles at least five days a week, this shows around 540 additonal calories.
While I make sure to eat at least 1,200, I normally only have a net in the 800's with around 500 calories remaining.
Since I know it can be a difference in food calorie count, I would like to leave some wiggle room. But am I leaving too much with a net under 1,000?
My goal is to lose two miles a week.
I don't eat no fried food
steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon for breakfast daily,except four times a month, plain greek yougart with blueberries and granola
Red meat only twice a month
Steam 95% or bake 5% of all veggies with Kale with every lunch and dinner (motto half must be green on plate!)
baked fish (salmon mostly) or chicken
also alot of beans
apple and 16 raw almonds for snacks
dark 86% chocolate every other day (but sometimes not even this often)
hummus once in a while 2tablespoons
Only water
and green tea
Am I doing right? Lost 19lbs so far
I do a cheat meal monthly,but find myself not into it as much. A cheat is two slices of whole grain bread with a little butter, once in a while

nope i'm not following MFP guidelines though. i'm doing TDEE - 1000 to get 2 pound fat loss a week. my TDEE numbers are based on the assumption that i'll be working out 3-5 hours a week. If i work out more than that then i might end up eating those calories back anyway because i'll be hungrier.

If you are using MFP as designed and your calorie goal is from MFP then that is the way this tool is designed...there is no debate and it's not some kind of theory...it's actually the way the tool is designed.

Other calculators include an estimate of exercise up front in your activity level...so technically, you're eating them back with other calculators too, just not deliberately as they are already included in your calorie goal.

Just make sure you're not overestimating your burn, that's the biggest issue. You really don't burn as much as you think you burn. I'd question a 700+ calorie burn running....that's a lot of running. Where are you getting that burn?

I been wondering the same thing as well.
My daily intake limit is 1300.
I burn on average 2000.
This is how I did my formula.
2000 - 1300 = 700
So I actually only count 700 as burned cause I consumed 1300.

Correct me if I'm wrong please.

Are you saying that your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is 2000? These are total (24 hr) calories for everything including exercise.

If your TDEE is 2000 & you eat 1300 ....then your daily deficit is 700 ....which is 1.4 pounds a week

If 2000 is all actual exercise (sounds super high?!).............then 1300 is in no way enough food (ie: fuel) to keep from losing muscle mass. A modest calorie deficit helps you lose fat and NOT muscle.

I do TDEE, so my exercise is already accounted for. But if I were to be doing it the way MFP sets it up, then yes I would be eatting back my exercise calories.

If you are using MFP as designed and your calorie goal is from MFP then that is the way this tool is designed...there is no debate and it's not some kind of theory...it's actually the way the tool is designed.

It's the way the MFP goals are designed but I think there is room for debate because if you hit the floor of 1200, that means you are not allowed by MFP to pursue the deficit you'd prefer. To say that in that case you can't get to the deficit you prefer by exercising more is a bit odd. You can put your activity level in as active and then take a straight (say) 750 calorie deficit from that with no 'eating back'. But if you instead put in sedentary with logged workouts, under that scenario you now can't get to a 750 calorie deficit because you have to 'eat back' because you described your activity as 'exercise' instead of 'activity'. Your body doesn't differentiate. You can create a deficit of 750 under either scenario. The only 'net calories' your body recognizes is your total activity minus your total intake.

I been wondering the same thing as well.
My daily intake limit is 1300.
I burn on average 2000.
This is how I did my formula.
2000 - 1300 = 700
So I actually only count 700 as burned cause I consumed 1300.

Correct me if I'm wrong please.

Are you saying that your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is 2000? These are total (24 hr) calories for everything including exercise.

If your TDEE is 2000 & you eat 1300 ....then your daily deficit is 700 ....which is 1.4 pounds a week

If 2000 is all actual exercise (sounds super high?!).............then 1300 is in no way enough food (ie: fuel) to keep from losing muscle mass. A modest calorie deficit helps you lose fat and NOT muscle.

So is my formula right? Am I burning too much?
My daily goal is 2lbs.

I was just reading up on the TDEE and have found out some inforamtion and was hoping someone might be able to confirm this for me?

MFP had me eating 1410 a day (and I rarely ate my activity calories back) but now I have realized that I wasn't even eating enough to cover my BMR.

Correct me if I am wrong, but my BMR that I calculate on Fat2Fit website is 1815 calories.
I workout at least 3 times a week, and hopefully more like 5. I also run a home daycare, so am on my feet, up and the stairs quite a bit.
So when i look at the MODERATE ACTIVITY it says I should eat 2361 calories.

My current weight is 232 lbs and my GOAL weight is 165lbs. So i take 20% away from the 2361 calories giving me a DAILY CALORIC INTAKE of 1889.

I eat this amount of calories regardless of whether I worked out that day or not ( as that number reflects the 3-5 times I said I was going to workout).
My workouts are around 30-60 mins each time (including strength and cardio) so does that still fit in the moderate activity, or should i go based on light activity??

Am I on the right track??

This sounds about right. Of course there might be slight errors given with any online calculators, so the best thing to do would be eat at around 1890 for like a month, and then reevaluate based on what you lost and if that was on point with what you were aiming for in that time period. I would definitely say you do moderate activity though given that you are running around chasing kids all day and you hit the gym at least three times a week.

I do TDEE, so my exercise is already accounted for. But if I were to be doing it the way MFP sets it up, then yes I would be eating back my exercise calories.

^^^ pretty much this. (I use a tdee based approach too so when I log exercise I force the calories expended to 1)

I'm not sure I completely trust my HRM so I don't enter all the calories that it says I burned.....for instance, if it says 460, i'll enter about 300....and of that "300", I rarely eat them all back.....maybe about half.....probably not the best way to do things......but it seems to work for me....

Burning 720 and eating back is perfectly fine in my opinion. Your allowing for errors in judgement, either by yourself, food labels or gym machines while still re-fuelling your body which is crucial.

I eat back 300 calories with each workout and the machine says 500-800 depending on how far I run.

Good luck.

Yes, I eat almost all of my exercise calories back. I typically am close to 3000 calories a day to maintain my weight. I run 3-4 times a week and do strength training 3x a week so I burn a lot.

Depends on how hungry I am. Some days I do eat some of it back, others I don't. I have a hard time hitting my 3k limits normally, but add in a ton of cardio and strength training and I am hitting 4.5k for a day and at that point I may add some more calorie or protein dense foods, but I don't force myself to eat if I'm not hungry.