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MyFitnessPal Community

How many of you eat back your exercise calories?

lpshizza

My weight loss has been very slow although I know I'm building muscle. I'm curious to see how many people eat back their exercise calories. MFP tells me to eat 1200 with no activity and I mostly stay on track

I know some people say to eat back your exercise calories or your body will starve and store fat but I'm not sure if that' working for me. I wanted to lose 20 lbs by May. I started 2 months ago and have only lost a few

Replies

Azurite27

Since I started eating back my calories (70% of net calories according to HRM), I've actually been losing faster than expected and have been slowing uping my base calories week to week. Of course to eat back exercise calories you need a fairly accurate estimate, many of theestimates on the site are a good bit off, so if you don't have a HRM or other activity tracker, you may need to experiment with percentages to find what works for you.

sloth3toes

My weight loss has been very slow although I know I'm building muscle. I'm curious to see how many people eat back their exercise calories. MFP tells me to eat 1200 with no activity and I mostly stay on track I know some people say to eat back your exercise calories or your body will starve and store fat but I'm not sure if that' working for me. I wanted to lose 20 lbs by May. I started 2 months ago and have only lost a few

Starvation mode does not apply the way 'some people' refer to it here.

Without seeing your stats... I'd hazard a guess that you don't want to be netting anything less than 1200 calories per day. Unless you're not logging accurately, I'd try to eat pretty much all your exercise calories back.

To answer your original question. I try to eat my exercise calories back. I have gotten to the point where if I don't exercise enough in a day, I feel like I can't eat as much as I'd like. In other words, I rely on those exercise calories.

Ninkyou

To answer your question, yes, I eat most, if not all of my exercise calories back. Eating those calories is not going to hinder your weight loss, since your deficit is already built into the goal MFP has given you. Do your body some favors and eat the calories. Indulge in some chocolate. Eat the foods you love. You don't have to be restrictive or miserable, or you may never make it to your goal.

Good luck.

meshashesha2012

i dont but that's because im doing the TDEE method so my workouts are already factored in. It doesn't make a difference because if I did it the MFP way, I'd still be eating around the same amount of calories.

my goal is to net 1000 calories below my daily needs in order to lose 2 pounds a week

ScottH_200

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If I'm hungry, I will. If not, I don't.

MildredBarhopper

I do, although through the week I usually eat under to make up for going over on Sunday or to save up some calories for the next weekend. At the end of the week though, I have eaten it all back. I'm guessing that I overestimate some things and underestimate others because I don't have a HRM, and I don't weigh my food. When I work out, though, I don't include the warmup or cooldown into my exercise time, so I guess that helps.

CyberEd312

Yes I eat mine back, I fuel my body for the workouts I demand of it...... Best of Luck

weightedfootsteps

I usually eat mine back. It really helps me cause I'm hungrier on days I've worked out usually. But sometimes I feel like I can't get enough cals in on days I work out to cover the exercise..so I space em out and eat over a little through the week or let myself have a splurge day later in the week.

I would definitely suggest eating back most of your cals if you only eat 1200 cals a day.

LaurenAOK

I don't technically "eat back" my exercise calories, because they're already factored into my daily calorie goal (1800 a day). But for purposes of the meaning of this post, yes, I eat them back.

It's really important to do so, especially if you're on 1200 calories a day. I hate the term "starvation mode" but it IS true that your metabolism can slow down if you're consistently not feeding your body enough. I would definitely eat back your exercise calories and maybe even increase your calorie goal. In fact a big part of why you havnen't lost much yet might be that you need to be eating more for your body.

See this thread for an awesome guide on how much to eat and such: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

MickeyCastello

I eat mine back. I find I can still maintain if I do.

unknown

This content has been removed.

jamicroslow

I usually don't eat back all of my calories because I listen to my body. If I am hungry and I have exercise calories left, I will eat a healthy snack. If I'm not and feel satisfied, then I won't.

peaceenharmonyy

i didn't know i was suppose to eat them back.
so i had 193 for breakfast
174 for lunch
a horrible snack that was 160
then i exercised..... leaving me with 889 calories.... there's no way i'm gonna eat that much for dinner

AmyRhubarb

My weight loss has been very slow although I know I'm building muscle. I'm curious to see how many people eat back their exercise calories. MFP tells me to eat 1200 with no activity and I mostly stay on track I know some people say to eat back your exercise calories or your body will starve and store fat but I'm not sure if that' working for me. I wanted to lose 20 lbs by May. I started 2 months ago and have only lost a few

Honestly, I doubt you're building any muscle on 1200 cals a day (unless you are a very tiny person!), especially if you're not eating back exercise cals.

MFP is designed that you are SUPPOSED to eat back your exercise cals. The daily goal you're given already has a deficit built in - meaning eat TO GOAL every day, do zero exercise and you'll lose weight. Burn off more cals through exercise and now you're creating a HUGE deficit, which is no bueno. Especially if your goal is to actually build, or even retain your muscle and lean body mass while dropping fat.

Food is fuel - don't sell yourself short by underfueling & thinking that eating soooo much less is going to result in quicker weight loss. It may cause some loss, but you risk losing muscle along with fat, running out of energy, stalling weight loss, and eventual burn out and exhaustion.

There's a reason MFP adds those cals back into your daily goal. 1200 is the very minimum recommended for women (and it really too low for most of us!), so your daily NET cals should be 1200, especially if you are exercising.

Good luck!

carrieous

yes. That is the point. Net calories matter

LaurenAOK

Now onto the question of "Eating your exercise calories"

As I have hinted to throughout this summary of metabolic process, the body has a "range" in which it feels it is receiving the right amount of fuel. The range (as most doctors and research scientists agree) is somewhere between 500 calories above your maintenance calories and 1000 calories below your maintenance calories. This means that the metabolism won't drastically change it's functionality in this range, with that said, this is not exact, it is a range based on averages, you may have a larger or smaller range based on the 3 factors of metabolism stated at the top.
On our website (MyFitnessPal), when you enter your goals, there is a prebuilt deficit designed to keep you in the "normal" metabolic functionality while still burning more calories then you take in. This goal DOES NOT INCLUDE exercise until you enter it. If you enter exercise into your daily plan, the site automatically adjusts your total caloric needs to stay within that normal range (in other words, just put your exercise in, don't worry about doing any additional calculations). Not eating exercise calories can bring you outside that range and (if done over an extended period of days or weeks) will gradually send your body into survival mode, making it harder (but not impossible) to continue to lose weight. The important thing to understand is (and this is REALLY important) the closer you are to your overall healthy weight (again, your metabolism views this a a range, not a specific number) the more prominent the survival mode becomes (remember, we talked about efficiency). This is because as fat becomes scarce, muscle is easier to break down and transport. And thus, the reason why it's harder to lose that "Last 10 pounds".

Your whole post was great, and I think this part is really important to read and understand. Have you posted this as a main topic somewhere? I'd love to have it to be able to link people to for reference.

carrieous

i didn't know i was suppose to eat them back.
so i had 193 for breakfast
174 for lunch
a horrible snack that was 160
then i exercised..... leaving me with 889 calories.... there's no way i'm gonna eat that much for dinner

aint no way. Youd be fainting.

Linda09189

never eat them

LaurenAOK

i didn't know i was suppose to eat them back.
so i had 193 for breakfast
174 for lunch
a horrible snack that was 160
then i exercised..... leaving me with 889 calories.... there's no way i'm gonna eat that much for dinner

First of all, 889 calories for dinner is not much at all... especially if you allow yourself a dessert

I also have a question, and I do not mean this to be rude AT ALL, and I am not trying to single you out. I wonder this a lot because it seems to be a common problem on MFP and I don't really understand it. My question is, how did you not know you were supposed to eat them back? When you log your workouts here on MFP, it automatically adds the calories back into your goal. In my opinion, that makes it pretty obvious that part of the "program" here on MFP includes eating your exercise calories. So I'm a little confused why so many people never seem to even realize they are supposed to do that. Again, I apologize if this sounds rude, I'm just genuinely curious!

sloth3toes

i didn't know i was suppose to eat them back.
so i had 193 for breakfast
174 for lunch
a horrible snack that was 160
then i exercised..... leaving me with 889 calories.... there's no way i'm gonna eat that much for dinner

Check this

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

and consider this

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1161976-adopt-a-noob-official-mfp-thread

AmyRhubarb

i didn't know i was suppose to eat them back.
so i had 193 for breakfast
174 for lunch
a horrible snack that was 160
then i exercised..... leaving me with 889 calories.... there's no way i'm gonna eat that much for dinner

I could easily eat that much for dinner! :bigsmile:

Seriously - those of you eating miniscule calories, low cal, low fat, "diet-y" type foods - eat your cals! If you have a hard time reaching your goal every day, either cut back on the exercise so you don't burn as much (assuming your burns are accurate), and/or eat more calorie dense foods! Add nuts, nuts butters, seeds, avocado, cheese, full fat dairy (do not be afraid of fat - fat doesn't make us fat, too many calories do), use olive and coconut oils in cooking, but some butter on that toast or those steamed veggies! You can get a good dose of healthy cals in small portions with those foods, getting you closer to goal without eating a ton of food.

Cindyinpg

i didn't know i was suppose to eat them back.
so i had 193 for breakfast
174 for lunch
a horrible snack that was 160
then i exercised..... leaving me with 889 calories.... there's no way i'm gonna eat that much for dinner

That doesn't seem like that much. 1450ish all told. On a rest day, I have more than that.

spaingirl2011

I have my baseline calorie goal set at 1230.... but I end up eating substantially more than that to account for my exercise (I like doing it this way so that I can see how much I have to eat and can account for unusual days) calories. There is no way I could run and lift if I only ate 1230 calories a day (I also wear a fitbit, so even when I'm not doing traditional workouts, it's linked to account for more walking than usual. Again, I rarely eat only 1230 calories.

I should also imagine that when you get to maintenance, eating more (or at least, eating back your exercise calories) will help prevent the 5lb "bump" that many (but not all) maintainers get since you're not all of the sudden adding in a lot more calories to your daily calorie allotment.

All best to you!

peaceenharmonyy

aint no way. Youd be fainting.

im alive and typing :laugh:

i did have 80 oz of water.... idk if that makes a diffrence

peaceenharmonyy

I could easily eat that much for dinner! :bigsmile:

Seriously - those of you eating miniscule calories, low cal, low fat, "diet-y" type foods - eat your cals! If you have a hard time reaching your goal every day, either cut back on the exercise so you don't burn as much (assuming your burns are accurate), and/or eat more calorie dense foods! Add nuts, nuts butters, seeds, avocado, cheese, full fat dairy (do not be afraid of fat - fat doesn't make us fat, too many calories do), use olive and coconut oils in cooking, but some butter on that toast or those steamed veggies! You can get a good dose of healthy cals in small portions with those foods, getting you closer to goal without eating a ton of food.

Thank you.. but i dont think 2 fried eggs strawberries and Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup with sour cream and cheese is diety

lpshizza

My weight loss has been very slow although I know I'm building muscle. I'm curious to see how many people eat back their exercise calories. MFP tells me to eat 1200 with no activity and I mostly stay on track I know some people say to eat back your exercise calories or your body will starve and store fat but I'm not sure if that' working for me. I wanted to lose 20 lbs by May. I started 2 months ago and have only lost a few

Honestly, I doubt you're building any muscle on 1200 cals a day (unless you are a very tiny person!), especially if you're not eating back exercise cals.

MFP is designed that you are SUPPOSED to eat back your exercise cals. The daily goal you're given already has a deficit built in - meaning eat TO GOAL every day, do zero exercise and you'll lose weight. Burn off more cals through exercise and now you're creating a HUGE deficit, which is no bueno. Especially if your goal is to actually build, or even retain your muscle and lean body mass while dropping fat.

Food is fuel - don't sell yourself short by underfueling & thinking that eating soooo much less is going to result in quicker weight loss. It may cause some loss, but you risk losing muscle along with fat, running out of energy, stalling weight loss, and eventual burn out and exhaustion.

There's a reason MFP adds those cals back into your daily goal. 1200 is the very minimum recommended for women (and it really too low for most of us!), so your daily NET cals should be 1200, especially if you are exercising.

Good luck!

I know I'm building muscle because I can do things now that 2 months ago were impossible....not to mention I can feel certain muscles (abs, glutes and biceps) and they are harder than before. I have been eating my exercise calories back and I use a heart rate monitor for accuracy. I was just curious as to what other people do. I read a few posts from some people that looked like they had very successful weight loss and some mentioned they did not eat back their exercise calories. I do want to keep the muscle and build more so I will keep going

Thanks Everyone!

AmyRhubarb

I could easily eat that much for dinner! :bigsmile:

Seriously - those of you eating miniscule calories, low cal, low fat, "diet-y" type foods - eat your cals! If you have a hard time reaching your goal every day, either cut back on the exercise so you don't burn as much (assuming your burns are accurate), and/or eat more calorie dense foods! Add nuts, nuts butters, seeds, avocado, cheese, full fat dairy (do not be afraid of fat - fat doesn't make us fat, too many calories do), use olive and coconut oils in cooking, but some butter on that toast or those steamed veggies! You can get a good dose of healthy cals in small portions with those foods, getting you closer to goal without eating a ton of food.

Thank you.. but i dont think 2 fried eggs strawberries and Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup with sour cream and cheese is diety

Your diary is closed so I had no idea what you had eaten today.

Was just a guess.

parkscs

I usually eat them back on lifting days and I oftentimes go under on cardio day(s) while still hitting my protein macro. Assuming they aren't factored into your caloric target, you should be eating them back. The trick is to calculate them as accurately as possible, and I'd recommend logging things like "cleaning the house" and eating those calories back. I'm skeptical about many of MFP's estimates on caloric burn.

dixoncrew

Yep. My calorie goal has my exercise calories already built in so I eat around 2000 calories every day. And I'm losing on that and don't feel deprived and I'm less prone to binge, which was a struggle for me.

czechwolf52

I normally do. On days where I have huge burns I like to net around 1300 just in case the machine or my measurements were off. I haven't for the past 3 weeks because of the holidays, but once school starts again I plan to eat almost all of my exercise calories back. If I earned it, I'm gonna eat it.