Do you eat back your calories burned?

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kegabriele1993
kegabriele1993 Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
So, I'm trying to lose weight. I'm following Chris Powell's carb-cycling plan. I've been eating 1,200 calories per day, and I go to the gym 5x a week and burn around 750 calories each time...leaving my net calories around 450. Am I supposed to eat those extra 750 calories and keep my net calories at 1,200? Or do I just not worry about it?

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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    eat them back.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    if you got your calories goals through MFP then you are supposed to eat back exercise calories. Your burns sound pretty high though, you might have really intense workout but remember MFP tends to overestimate burns so if thats where you get your numbers from consider only eating back 3/4.
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
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    I usually eat at least some of my exercise calories back, depending on the intensity of my swim(s) that day.
  • rustyguy
    rustyguy Posts: 51 Member
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    Yeah, be careful on the MFP rates for calories burned. I regularly do a recumbent bike for an hour and MFP wants to log it as 800 caolries burned, which is nonsense. I cut that by 75% and give myself credit for 200.
  • fairygirlpie9
    fairygirlpie9 Posts: 288 Member
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    It varies for me. I only do if I'm hungry. The whole point of weight loss is to create a deficit so you'd lose weight quicker if you don't eat them back but if you find your hungry its best to eat some but not all of your exercise cals back especially as MFP tends to inflate your calorie burn.
    x
  • Erikalynne18
    Erikalynne18 Posts: 557 Member
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    with that much of a burn, yes! Think of food as fuel for your body :)

    1200 is already a huge deficit so if you have another 750 cal deficit on top of that you may end up with other issues! (fatigue, dizziness, etc). 1200 is the recommended minimum without exercise.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    It varies for me. I only do if I'm hungry. The whole point of weight loss is to create a deficit so you'd lose weight quicker if you don't eat them back but if you find your hungry its best to eat some but not all of your exercise cals back especially as MFP tends to inflate your calorie burn.
    x

    losing faster isn't necessary a good thing. The faster you lose the more lean muscle you tend to lose along with the fat. Slower loss means you maintain more lean muscle, and you end up a lower BF% at your goal weight, even if it takes longer to get there.
  • Erikalynne18
    Erikalynne18 Posts: 557 Member
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    It varies for me. I only do if I'm hungry. The whole point of weight loss is to create a deficit so you'd lose weight quicker if you don't eat them back but if you find your hungry its best to eat some but not all of your exercise cals back especially as MFP tends to inflate your calorie burn.
    x

    note: 1200 is already a huge deficit! creating another deficit on top of that could lead to unhealthy weight loss :(
  • baileyang33
    baileyang33 Posts: 131 Member
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    I didn't realize how off MFP is with exercise until I got my HR monitor. :) Depends on the day & how hungry I am. I usually have 1 higher calorie day when I splurge for things I didn't eat all week!
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    With 50 pounds to lose, you could get away with a larger deficit for a while. So if you are ok with not eating them all back at this point, then don't worry too much about it. If you are hungry, then eat some of them back.
    I agree that MFP overinflates the numbers for many people, so cut that number by 25-50%.

    Depending on your height and your activity level outside of intentional exercise, 1200 may or may not be the right amount for you.
    A lot of this is trial and error. If you are losing at a healthy rate, are not having intense cravings or binging, are not feeling weak or fatigued, etc, then you are fine. If you do start to lose too quickly, or are having any of these symptoms, then don't be afraid to up your cals a bit.

    If you can eat more calories and still lose 1-2 pounds a week, then that is the best way to go.
    As you get closer to goal, your loss will slow down, and you will have fewer fat stores to use for energy. Don't get discouraged when this happens.
  • jodi41086
    jodi41086 Posts: 240
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    I go by my own routine. I do not eat my calories back but I do have a high carb day. If you are simply trying to lose weight eating your exercise calories may not be accurate! If your hungry eat! My coach says it I have reached my daily calorie goal and am still hungry eat veggies and guzzle water!
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    If you're following the MFP plan...then yes, do eat them back. (Make sure your numbers are accurate though). If you're following some other plan, then follow that plan.
  • nilbogger
    nilbogger Posts: 870 Member
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    If you are confident the estimates your calories burned are correct then, yes, eat them all back. If not eat about half.
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
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    Eat them back or go to your profile and change your activity level to accurately reflect you workout regimen.
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
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    I think it depends on the amount of activity you do. If you're really burning 750 calories, and only eating 1200/day, then yes. Eat them back. Just be really mindful and log the info as accurately as you can.

    I'm pretty sedentary, so I don't.
  • lamb_fitness
    lamb_fitness Posts: 8 Member
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    If you are set to lose 50lbs and you are eating a net of 450 cals a day. Then what are you going to do when your body gets used to just 450 a day and your weight plateus? You can't cut back another 500 cals or you will be in the minuses and wont survive.
    On a similar note, once you lose your 50lbs on 450 - 1200 cals you will find it difficult to maintain.

    Have another look at losing weight by counting calories. The best way (the slow way) is to lose weight one dress size at a time. Eat the amount of calories that a person one dress size smaller than you eats and once you get to that dress size then drop your calories to the next dress size.
  • Kiwi94544
    Kiwi94544 Posts: 23
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    I don't eat my calories back - but then, I'm in a totally different boat than you.

    Eating 1200 a day and burning 750 a day at the gym - in addition to how many calories your body is burning the other hours in the day, just by keeping you going - that doesn't leave you with much "fuel" left, food-wise. Plus, as someone else said, as you get closer to your ideal weight, what will you do, if you're already only consuming 450 calories right now?

    But I'm sorry - you didn't ask me for advice, you just asked if I ate my calories back.

    My answer is no. I don't eat back the calories I burn off at the gym.

    Mostly because I feel like I don't REALLY know how many calories I'm burning in a workout, despite what the treadmill, or fitbit, or HRM is telling me (all give different numbers, so I never feel I'd ACCURATELY be able to gauge how many I am burning during a workout)... So eating them back just feels like I could be setting myself up to over-eat, thinking I burned 800 when in reality, maybe I only burned 500..?? I don't pay attention to how many calories I'm burning at the gym - I focus on getting my heart-rate up, challenging myself for a good 45-60 minutes 6 days a week, and figure whatever I'm burning off calorie-wise is just whatever...

    Mind you, I'm not eating 1200 calories a day..... I'm at about 1500 - 1700 a day. I imagine if I were only consuming 1200, it would probably be REALLY hard not eat back some of those calories!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    When I did MFP I did...here's what the math looks like and I will use my numbers to illustrate.

    With MFP, you do NOT include exercise in your activity level...just your work and day to day stuff. To maintain my weight with NO exercise I needed around 2,350 calories. To lose about 1 Lb per week, MFP cut that number by 500 calories giving me a goal of 1,850 net calories.

    2350 - 500 = 1,850.

    Now...when I exercise, this increases my body's calorie requirements to maintain...and thus I could sustain the same calorie deficit but eat more food. Let's say I burn on average 400 calories per workout. My new maintenance calories would be 2,750 calories (2,350 + 400 = 2,750)...and my gross calories would be 2,250 calories (1,850 + 400 = 2,250)...and my deficit of 500 calories remains the same (2,750 - 2,250 = 500) to lose 1 Lb per week.

    The difference between MFP and other calculators is that other calculators assume some level of exercise in your activity level...so a typical TDEE calculator would just include an estimate of my exercise calories in the number from which it would take my cut.

    The bottom line is that you have to account for your exercise activity somewhere...with MFP, you account for those calories after the fact when you log your activity...with other calculators, you assume some estimate of those in your activity level.

    The biggest issue people have with MFP's method is grossly exaggerating exercise burn. People just don't burn as much as they think they do and data bases are notoriously inaccurate given the variables involved. Machines are somewhat more accurate and HRM's are more accurate still...but it's all an estimate. I ate back about 80% of what my HRM told me I burned for an aerobic event. Since HRM's are worthless for anaerobic activity, I just estimated about 250 calories or so for 45 - 60 minute workout and had a protein shake and an apple.

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