We are pleased to announce that on March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor will be introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the upcoming changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Eating Back Burnt Calories

thatfitgeek
thatfitgeek Posts: 54 Member
edited February 16 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?

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: 549 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!
  • chelstakencharge
    chelstakencharge Posts: 1,021 Member
    Nope never....works for me
  • NianMaya
    NianMaya Posts: 108
    I try not too. I just find that I am more sucessful, if I stay around the same amount of calories everyday.
  • NicholePotato
    NicholePotato Posts: 113 Member
    I do, but I also subtract calories from what the machine says I burned in case it was overestimating.
  • wnbrice
    wnbrice Posts: 244 Member
    I eat back a portion but not typically all of them.

    I have a HRM so I assume it is more accurate than any machine. But I try and give it a 20% or so window.
  • SenseiCole
    SenseiCole Posts: 429 Member
    same days i eat back my burnt cals some days i eat some, depends on my day
This discussion has been closed.

Categories