Adding back exercise calories on hard workout days?

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avenleah
avenleah Posts: 4
in Food and Nutrition
Hello everyone. I have recently been researching the debate concerning "eating back your exercise calories" and was hoping for some insight. I am currently trying to cut fat, and I often read that eating back calories in this case would essentially be meaningless. However, 3 out of 6 of my workouts per week are at least two hours long and include an intense combination of strength training and cardio. Obviously on those days I need more energy but its difficult trying to avoid the common mistake of overestimating how many calories I actually burned. Do any of you add back a certain amount of calories on really taxing workout days and if so, how much? (I know everybody is different, I need to listen to my body blah blah... Just looking for some other experiences.) Thanks!

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    If you are following MFP's caloric intake suggestions, and you are pretty sure your calorie burns are good estimates than you should be eating them all back. If you don't want to eat them back change your activity level to active, or very active and eat more everyday.

    So yes, eat them back, or change the method you use to calculate your caloric intake to TDEE method.

    As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
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    you won't find a definitive answer on mfp either.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    The system was designed for you to eat them back. That's not a matter of opinion; it's a fact. Why do people think that the program adds them to your goal if it would wash out your deficit? Do people really believe that this website is that poorly designed?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    There is not really a debate when you understand the NEAT method of calorie counting and the MFP tool (which just happens to be a NEAT method calculator).

    What people tend to be ignorant of is that MFP works differently than the vast majority of calorie counting calculators out there and differently than what most nutritionists, etc would do...most would include some estimate of your exercise burn up front in the equation to determine overall calorie requirements and then take a cut...essentially, you're "eating back" exercise calories, just not deliberately...they have already been configured into your total requirements and thus your cut.

    With MFP, your activity level only includes your NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)...there is NO estimation of your exercise activity in your activity level...thus it is unaccounted for...thus it must be accounted for somewhere...thus it is accounted for on the *kitten* end of the formula when you log it...thus you get those calories to "eat back" and you do so deliberately rather than doing it "behind the scenes" as it were.

    It is the way this tool is designed...you just have to be as precise as possible...it is more difficult to be precise in estimating burn than it is intake which is why most of us ate back some % of our burn...for me, that was about 80% of whatever my HRM told me for an aerobic event...I usually compared that number to a few other sources to make sure I was in the ball park
  • avenleah
    avenleah Posts: 4
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    Thanks for the long replies! Yeah, I like that idea of eating back a percentage of exercise calories to make sure I am not overestimating what I actually burned. Answers like that are exactly what I am looking for... what methods YOU guys have used and implemented successfully.
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
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    If you dont know how many calories you are actually burning, may I suggest to you to try out the TDEE approach. This method includes your workout already so that you dont have to eat back excersie calories, and you just eat the same amount everyday. Many people have had success with this method. Here is a link if you are interested.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • avenleah
    avenleah Posts: 4
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    @j6o4 Thanks, I will check it out. Is that what you use?
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    I have eaten back most/all of my exercise calories throughout this whole process. Even when I was on WW, where it's not widely known to do this, I ate earned "points". To get a more accurate calorie burn, I've used Polar HRMs. My first one was a Polar F6 and I now use a Polar FT4.

    My current calorie goal is 1450 (goal BMR) per day and then I eat back most/all exercise calories.
  • chantels1
    chantels1 Posts: 391 Member
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    I eat back part of my calories too. It has worked well for me. My goal is to lose 1/2-1 lb per week and so far I have been consistent at 1lb per week with the exception of a plateau, an a month long hiatus I took where I gained 2 lbs back. My diary is open to my friends if you want yo add me.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Do any of you add back a certain amount of calories on really taxing workout days and if so, how much?

    Yes, for sure. If I didn't refuel after a 10k run, I'd very quickly lose my ability to run 10k.

    Rule of thumb for "circuit" type training for me is to figure out how far I could run in that same amount of time, figure out the burn for that (miles run * body weight in pounds * 0.63), and then cut it in half. It's just an estimate, but will be much closer than some of the incredible over-estimates being used out there.

    The reason I base it off of running-calories is that those are very well understood and easily calculated to a significant degree of accuracy.
  • dalguard
    dalguard Posts: 36
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    I ate back all my exercise calories except on really heavy exercise days where it wasn't feasible, but I also feel like I had a good sense of how many calories I was burning. Running is really easy to estimate and then I just compare anything else I do to running. Like if it says that a half hour on a stationary bike is burning the same calories as running 4 miles, I think no and adjust.
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
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    @j6o4 Thanks, I will check it out. Is that what you use?

    Yes, I use this method for both cutting and bulking.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    @j6o4 Thanks, I will check it out. Is that what you use?

    I also use the TDEE method. I used MFP's NEAT method for a long time but once I became really consistent in my exercise regimen I found it pointless to be adding back in the same calories every day. I had to play with my TDEE numbers a little to get it, but I like it a lot better than trying to get my "eat back" calories just right.

    I'm basically an average of light to moderate with TDEE. Keep in mind that unlike MFP, you'll have to take a bit of a bigger picture approach...it's not so much about how much you burned or took in on a given day so much as it is over the course of a week or so...with the TDEE method you'll have days with bigger deficits and days with smaller or even no deficit...but over the course of a week it should net out to your requisite calorie deficit to lose whatever Lbs per week you're trying to lose.
  • Morgaath
    Morgaath Posts: 679 Member
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    Are you real consistent with your workouts, or do you find yourself like me, sometimes getting in 1 a week, other times 4?

    If you are real consistent, TDEE is great, as it takes the thinking out of the equation.

    If you get your workout in when you can, then go with recording your workouts, and eating back the cals

    Or, the other version which I am using, get a Bodymedia, and let it tell you just how much you did each day and eat by that. Sat I spent hours cleaning the house for a party. Burnt more cals then I do I days I hit the gym. May not have built muscle, but I was sweating most the time, and made quite a few runs from the basement to the 2nd floor.

    Of course, I then ate a lot of fondue....
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    MFP is set up to eat your exercise calories. If you don't want to bother with figuring out how much you burn, use the TDEE-20% method.
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
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    I don't eat back all of my exercise calories, but I do eat back some of them, I don't follow the MFP plan exactly, I follow a plan that is based on my TDEE from my bodymedia device. You will get many different answers, but I think it is good to eat back at least some of the exercise calories. I think the burn estimates on MFP are a little exaggerated, so if I was depending on those I would probably only eat back about 70% of the exercise calories.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    @j6o4 Thanks, I will check it out. Is that what you use?

    I also use the TDEE method. I used MFP's NEAT method for a long time but once I became really consistent in my exercise regimen I found it pointless to be adding back in the same calories every day. I had to play with my TDEE numbers a little to get it, but I like it a lot better than trying to get my "eat back" calories just right.

    That's basically how I went about it as well. Did the NEAT method for the first 70lbs and did TDEE to get the rest and maintain.

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