Eating back burnt calories,defeating the object?

When it comes to calorie deficits, bigger isn't necessarily better. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, your calorie deficit gets larger. You're already starting with a 26% deficit, which is way too high, and then you're adding more of a deficit on top of that.

Muscle tissue is calorically expensive so if you're not eating enough your body will get rid of muscle tissue before it gets rid of fat to conserve energy. Someone with your BF% shouldn't go lower than a 15% deficit if they want to maintain their lean tissue. Extreme deficits also have a tendency to mess with your hormones and metabolism, too. It's just not a good idea.

So good luck with that 26-30% deficit.

15%? no the understood percent to lose roughly a pound a week is 20% deficit while holding on to lean muscle tissue

If your maitenance is 2700 and you are cutting at 2000 you are more than 20%..you are at 25%...

Hard to believe your maintenace is 350 higher than mine tho...interesting...

I was at 500 deficit but stalling so dropped to 700.How much do you weigh?

If your weight loss stalled then you were not in a 500 cal/day deficit, either your are under estimating how much you eat, or over estimating how much you burn.

I log my exercise but set it manually to 1 calorie burned.

If I'm hungry I eat back a little of it (half a banana, say), but then I'm sedentary apart from a 1hr walk every day, I'm short (5'2") and I'm 40, so my TDEE -20% gives me 1300 - ultimately I don't have a lot to play with in the first place. Also, I just don't believe for one second that my brisk 1 hour (4.5 mile) walk burns 630 calories, which is what MFP calculates.

I eat them. That's like the whole reason I exercise. LOL

i dont eat them back, after all they do not count as your daily calorie intake goal. if you have a goal of say 1200 for example, and you workout and burn 300 calories, and then you eat 1500 calories, what was the point of the workout? to me i think it would be hard to lose the weight you wanted, you might even gain weight if you did that.!

When it comes to calorie deficits, bigger isn't necessarily better. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, your calorie deficit gets larger. You're already starting with a 26% deficit, which is way too high, and then you're adding more of a deficit on top of that.

Muscle tissue is calorically expensive so if you're not eating enough your body will get rid of muscle tissue before it gets rid of fat to conserve energy. Someone with your BF% shouldn't go lower than a 15% deficit if they want to maintain their lean tissue. Extreme deficits also have a tendency to mess with your hormones and metabolism, too. It's just not a good idea.

So good luck with that 26-30% deficit.

15%? no the understood percent to lose roughly a pound a week is 20% deficit while holding on to lean muscle tissue

A pound of fat loss per week is 3,500 calories, or 500 calories per day. That's 20% of a 2500 calorie/day diet. If your TDEE is more than 2500 you will be losing more than a pound per week if you eat a 20% deficit.

Secondly, the recommended deficit changes with your body fat percentage. I'm going by your profile picture, where you have visible abdominal definition, and therefore probably have a low BF%. The recommendation for lean tissue retention is no higher than a 25% deficit for obese people. As your BF% gets lower, your body is more likely to scavenge muscle tissue for energy because it wants to retain a certain amount of fat storage, so the deficit you eat at should be smaller to avoid this.

I happily eat them!! Usually about 75% on average. I exercise so I can have treats....may not be the best reason to exercise, but everyone starts somewhere! I'm losing steadily, so it's working for me.



*goes back to eating her Cadbury Creme egg*

I'm in a 700 calorie deficit a day.My maintenance is 2700.I do 5 days a week of high volume intense weightlifting and never eat back my calories

If you figured your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) at 2700.....then you don't eat calories back. If you want to log...then over ride to 1 calorie.

TDEE includes exercise up front.............MFP does not. 2 different methods. MFP is great for people who exercise sporadically, or need to see the numbers for motivation.

I think setting your goal calories without exercise and eating back exercise calories is better for 3 reasons.

1. It's better to eat when you exercise to fuel your exercise. I don't like having to shovel in extra calories on rest days when I'm not hungry for them, and I don't like being hungry on days I exercise a lot because I ate those calories yesterday.
2. It's good to know what your sedentary TDEE is so you know what to eat not only on rest days, but if you happen to get sick or injured.
3. Not every time you exercise will you burn the same number of calories, especially if you change your workouts as your body adapts. For example, if you start a couch to 5k program, you're going to be burning more calories in week 9 than you are at week 1. This stops you from having to recalculate your TDEE every time your workout changes.

I do sometimes but for most part I try not to if I can

Just want to say thanks to everyone who commented on this topic.Today on the way to the gym the left side of my face and my left hand went numb and tingly.I went to the gym but when I came back phoned the Dr who sent paramedics out because I thought I'd had a mini stroke.Told the paramedic how many calories I've been eating and she said it wasn't enough.Rechecked my maintenance calories etc and after exercise I have been taking in 1400 calories which for a 183lb male who works out hard 5 x a week is way too low.I've been getting dizzy lately as well.The person who commented saying my calories seemed to low was right and I'm now eating 2900 after exercise,so I got it wrong.Thanks

Glad you are OK and have gotten some advise that you would listen to. Good luck.

Just want to say thanks to everyone who commented on this topic.Today on the way to the gym the left side of my face and my left hand went numb and tingly.I went to the gym but when I came back phoned the Dr who sent paramedics out because I thought I'd had a mini stroke.Told the paramedic how many calories I've been eating and she said it wasn't enough.Rechecked my maintenance calories etc and after exercise I have been taking in 1400 calories which for a 183lb male who works out hard 5 x a week is way too low.I've been getting dizzy lately as well.The person who commented saying my calories seemed to low was right and I'm now eating 2900 after exercise,so I got it wrong.Thanks

Yikes! So sorry you had to go through that! Eat up and feel better.