Eating Back Burnt Calories

thatfitgeek
thatfitgeek Posts: 54 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Do you eat back the calories you burnt exercising? Why or why not? What has been you success with this?
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Replies

  • clairelizzy1972
    clairelizzy1972 Posts: 54 Member
    I try not to, but of course there are sometimes those days. Mainly because I don't trust the accuracy. For example, two days in a row I did 5 mins on the elliptical trainer and got two different calorie amounts in my tracker. And this is an exercise where it doesn't ask level or speed when you enter it.

    --Claire
  • epido
    epido Posts: 353 Member
    I don't. I have been working with a trainer, and the amount of calories I eat each day was determined by him, and takes into consideration the workouts with him twice a week, plus my "homework" the other days that I am on my own. It has been working well for me to this point. Although I am loosing at a slower rate than when I first started, it is a more "normal" rate than in the beginning as well.
  • craftywitch_63
    craftywitch_63 Posts: 829 Member
    I don't. The amount that I was given on the days that I don't workout was so low that I had trouble sticking to it, triggering eating binges and hypoglycemic episodes and on the days I did exercise, the number of calories I was supposed to consume was outrageous. I even tried to use a weekly value to even them all out but that red ink on the days in which I didn't work out was too disturbing! :ohwell: I used another calculator, got a set number of calories to consume per day and I stick to that whether I workout or not.
  • ywalchle
    ywalchle Posts: 101 Member
    I try not too, but sometimes that little extra comes in handy for days when I'm feeling snacky. I just make sure to try to work out extra on days that I am not at work. :)
  • happilysingle69
    happilysingle69 Posts: 27 Member
    Nope I don't.....
  • Lifelink
    Lifelink Posts: 193 Member
    Sometimes I do... sometimes I don't...

    Being mindful of my intake throughout the day goes a long way.
  • airangel59
    airangel59 Posts: 1,887 Member
    If I do, I will eat back 200 of them or less (usually less) as I don't trust the calories burned numbers I see (I use a HRM, wear a Fitbit and use RunKeeper). I will eat back IF I'm hungry of course. I set MFP as sedentary & no exercise. I walk 3-5 miles daily.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Yep, I eat most or all back, I often go over too.
    Does not seem to have done me any harm. I guess it varies from person to person, but I have always eaten them back.
    <<<
  • chezjuan
    chezjuan Posts: 747 Member
    I ate them back when I was losing. Always. It worked for me. Not that I am maintaining, I am using the TDEE method where I eat the same amount every day no matter what, so I do not eat them back. I find that easier for maintenance.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
    MFP is designed for you to eat your exercise calories back. So yes, I always ate them back, and I lost 45 pounds that way.
    I now use the TDEE method, which already accounts for my exercise. So in a way, I'm still eating them back. I just account for them differently.

    If you're unsure about the accuracy of your calorie burns, you can round down or eat a portion of them.
  • Le_Joy
    Le_Joy Posts: 593 Member
    It depends. I generally ate back most of them when I was losing weight because I had a hrm and felt it was rather accurate. Also I was losing so I didn't see any reason to not eat them back. My calories were set at like 1400 and I would exercise around 600 cals a day. If I didn't eat any of them back I would have been netting under 1000, which doesn't work well for me for weight loss.
  • tgsoe
    tgsoe Posts: 17 Member
    I eat some of them back. As long as at the end of the day, there is no red number on my screen, I am a happy camper.

    I am currently on 1200 cals a day, and exercise anywhere between 600 - 1100 cals per day, so if I didn't eat my calories back, I'd probably be in hospital right now!
  • easjer
    easjer Posts: 219 Member
    Absolutely, but with the qualifier that I don't eat them all back. There is too much estimation in both calories and burn to eat them all.

    That said, I calculate TDEE via fitbit and try to eat to TDEE - 1000. If I rely in MPG, I am too low on calorie intake. I did not lose weight when I didn't eat exercise calories.
  • bobbiejof33
    bobbiejof33 Posts: 55
    i am burning around 1000 extra calories 3x a week. By the end of the week I was REALLY hungry. I am trying eating back some of my calories or else (for example) I would have technically only taken in 43 calories LOL. So For me, It works, I am not hungry, I don't binge anymore, and I still am losing :)
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
    I eat back half. I've been losing pretty steadily doing that. Mostly because I've heard the numbers MFP gives you are not very accurate.
  • AlwaysInMotion
    AlwaysInMotion Posts: 409 Member
    Sadly, I saw the topic heading and thought "uh, why would you eat something burnt? Don't waste those calories!"... I get stupid when I'm hungry!

    I use the TDEE method, so I don't eat back exercise calories because it's already factored into my daily calorie allotment. I *may* eat a small portion of my exercise calories back (like maybe 200-300 cals) on days where I do an "epic" workout (I'm talking like a 5 hr bike ride or something equally exhausting.) I'm not saying I do that often!
  • Llamapants86
    Llamapants86 Posts: 1,221 Member
    I eat back my exercise calories. Half of them if I use an app like runtastic or 3/4 if it is interval Cardio and use my hrm and all of of what my hrm says I burn when I do steady state Cardio. Seems to be working well for me.
  • celesteflenory
    celesteflenory Posts: 22 Member
    I do and I don't:
    For the most part, I try to leave a 500 calorie deficit. My doctor is the one who set my calorie goal at 1900...shoot I was happy with the flexibility of the 2150, but i wasn't loosing much. With the adjustment 1900 I loose about a pound a week, however, I have a dress I need to fit into for a wedding, so I am cutting 500 out of the 1900 if it is possible. When I spend a whole day eating veggies and dairy, the 1400 or even 1900 is easy to stick to, that way whatever I worked out and burned that day, I sometimes don't even put it into MFP so I don't eat back those calories. But on days when the office is having a potluck or I am going out on date night, I do work out very hard those days to allow for that and account for those calories so I can "see" the damage done.
  • celesteflenory
    celesteflenory Posts: 22 Member
    I set mine to the sedentary lifestyle too.
  • CardiC333
    CardiC333 Posts: 68 Member
    I used to eat them all back when I first started 7 months ago and it was slow.
    Than I binged my face off on the weekends as my "treat" and gained everything back anyway. It was actually bad. I thought my workouts couldn't possibly go to waste and I had to come to terms with the fact that it was!
    I was on vacation and only worked out twice while I was there than was like screw it and stuck to guessing my foods and keeping it at 1200-1300 cals everyday.
    By the end I actually LOST weight. Cuba's food isn't very good lol and everything is natural so that's what I haaad to eat. But I really realized that keeping at it 12-1300 cals with no exercise and around 14-1500 with good exercise keeps the pounds shedding you know.
    I choose to keep it around 12-1300 cals other than one or two days a week on my days off and it works best for me! :)
    Ohh and I also learned that most people burn 2000 cals per day and that what I keep it at when I splurge so I dont gain or lose for that day.
    Took me a loooooong time!

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