Eating back exercise calories

Whenever I eat back my exercise calories I don't lose-- even if I cut from my bmr too.

Are you not supposed to eat back those calories? Or do I overestimate my calories burned? Is there something I'm missing here?

If you're going by MFP burns, then you may be eating back too many. MFP overestimates calorie burns by a lot. I generally don't eat all of them back, since learning that tidbit here on the site.
Try eating half back, and make sure you are logging everything accurately. If you don't have one, invest in a food scale and weigh everything.

I don't eat back my exercise calories. I set my calorie goal by how my progress is going. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

Allan

If you don't want the hassle of worying about exercise calories, you could try using the TDEE method. I used this site: http://www.thefitgirls.com/weight-loss-calculator.aspx

With this you have a daily allowance based on your weekly workout aims, so you eat to your calorie goal and then don't even think about the exercise calories. I often workout 5-6 times per week but chose the 3-5 times option to be on the safe side.

I have been losing an average of 1.5lb per week since starting to use this method around 2 months ago.

Whenever I eat back my exercise calories I don't lose-- even if I cut from my bmr too.

Are you not supposed to eat back those calories? Or do I overestimate my calories burned? Is there something I'm missing here?

The way MFP is set up, yes you are supposed to eat back exercise cals. Your daily goal already has you at a deficit - meaning you could eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight because you are eating less than you burn all day long. When you exercise and burn off more calories, you're creating a much larger deficit, too large, which can do you far more harm than good in the long run. Eating them back brings you back to the original set deficit, and you still lose. Your daily NET cals should be at or near goal at the end of the day.

That being said, as others have posted, MFP's calorie burn estimates are notoriously high, so many users eat only a portion of them back, maybe 50-75%. If you have a good heart rate monitor or other daily tracker, like a Fitbit, you can get a better idea of calories burned.

You say you don't lose when you eat them back, and you don't lose when you cut from your BMR (which isn't a good idea unless you are obese) - how long did you give either of these before deciding you were gaining? It takes a good 4-6 weeks to see good, overall progress - it takes the body time to adjust to a new calorie intake, new exercise, plus you've got added factors like hormone fluctuations, water retention, etc, etc. Any of these things can show a gain on the scale, but it's temporary, and over time you see the overall trend go down.

Make sure you are also weighing and measuring all foods properly - accurate logging is key, and often people find that they are eating more than they think they are once they start getting more meticulous with logging.

Other than that - patience. MFP works great when used properly. Good luck!

When I was set to lose 2 lbs a week, I ate back my exercise calories or else I didn't have enough energy to make it through the day. Once I;m set to lose only 1 lb a week I probably won't eat them back. My fitness pal can link to a lot of apps that more accurately measure how many calories you burn, like mapmyrun. Also, try changing your activity level to lower.