Eating back exercise calories

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Wildfire916
Wildfire916 Posts: 19
in Getting Started
Ok, so I have been dieting/logging my calories for the past little over 3 weeks now and so far so good! I have lost 16 lbs but still have a very long way to go.

I have read on here that MFP estimates exercise calories high but when I try calculating on other sites, based on my current weight, they come out to about the same. Anyway, my question is this, do people eat the calories back that they exercise so they have a net intake of around what their daily goal is? For example, if your daily goal is 1300 and you exercise 400 calories worth, do you then eat 1700 calories so you break "even" or do you just eat your daily calories and have the deficit? What has been working for people????

Currently I am walking anywhere from 3-5 miles a day and I usually eat some but not all of my calories back. I am still working on a deficit of anywhere from 100-300 calories a day depending on how much I have walked that day. I am concerned if I consume too little calories that I will put my body into starvation mode and will stop losing and conversely I am worried that I am consuming TOO much back and I will stop losing!!

I don't mind losing at a rate of 1.5-2 lbs a week but I want to make sure that I am at least losing!

HELP PLEASE!!!
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Replies

  • DeboraW_55
    DeboraW_55 Posts: 95 Member
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    Hello, I eat some say 20 or 30 calories back. Not half or more. But that is up to you. Your body will tell you if you need to eat. When I work hard and do not eat 1200, then the next day I'll be starving and I know I need to eat more.
  • bizgirl26
    bizgirl26 Posts: 1,808 Member
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    I eat no more than 50 % of my exercise calories back because I dont trust the input of calories burned . This is working for me
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    Ok, so I have been dieting/logging my calories for the past little over 3 weeks now and so far so good! I have lost 16 lbs but still have a very long way to go.

    I have read on here that MFP estimates exercise calories high but when I try calculating on other sites, based on my current weight, they come out to about the same. Anyway, my question is this, do people eat the calories back that they exercise so they have a net intake of around what their daily goal is? For example, if your daily goal is 1300 and you exercise 400 calories worth, do you then eat 1700 calories so you break "even" or do you just eat your daily calories and have the deficit? What has been working for people????

    Currently I am walking anywhere from 3-5 miles a day and I usually eat some but not all of my calories back. I am still working on a deficit of anywhere from 100-300 calories a day depending on how much I have walked that day. I am concerned if I consume too little calories that I will put my body into starvation mode and will stop losing and conversely I am worried that I am consuming TOO much back and I will stop losing!!

    I don't mind losing at a rate of 1.5-2 lbs a week but I want to make sure that I am at least losing!

    HELP PLEASE!!!

    The theory behind MFP is that yes, your NET calories should equal your daily calorie goal (eating back all exercise calories). Sometimes I eat them all back, but I usually eat half to two-thirds of them.
  • chriscrosse
    chriscrosse Posts: 39 Member
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    I think the calorie burn estimates for physical activity are WAY off so I don't eat my calories back rather thikn of it as an extra bonus. That being said, if I worked out super hard, say 60 minutes hardcore cardio, 60 minutes with trainer and a bike ride, I may eat an additional 150-300 calories, as days I'm that active I am actually hungrier and usually need it.

    Also, if I know I will likely be over my calorie total(party, dinner out with friends), I'll try to add some extra physical activity to the day to help offset the added calories. This makes me feel better and makes me feel like there is some consequence for going over, not to shame me but to keep me from doing it mindlessly.
  • Tanie98
    Tanie98 Posts: 675 Member
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    Ok, so I have been dieting/logging my calories for the past little over 3 weeks now and so far so good! I have lost 16 lbs but still have a very long way to go.

    I have read on here that MFP estimates exercise calories high but when I try calculating on other sites, based on my current weight, they come out to about the same. Anyway, my question is this, do people eat the calories back that they exercise so they have a net intake of around what their daily goal is? For example, if your daily goal is 1300 and you exercise 400 calories worth, do you then eat 1700 calories so you break "even" or do you just eat your daily calories and have the deficit? What has been working for people????

    Currently I am walking anywhere from 3-5 miles a day and I usually eat some but not all of my calories back. I am still working on a deficit of anywhere from 100-300 calories a day depending on how much I have walked that day. I am concerned if I consume too little calories that I will put my body into starvation mode and will stop losing and conversely I am worried that I am consuming TOO much back and I will stop losing!!

    I don't mind losing at a rate of 1.5-2 lbs a week but I want to make sure that I am at least losing!

    HELP PLEASE!!!



    everything is an estimate, even if you have an your HRM so you may not be consuming/burning what you think you are. Also, if you are little and logging larger burns which can have an effect on hormones which can affect weight loss.

    If you are having trouble eating enough, then cut back on the exercise. Large calorie burns and low food intake is a recipe for disaster. It will be difficult to maintain your weigh loss
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    Eating back calories is the point of the site. It figures out the calorie goal you need to have a big enough deficit to meet your loss goal you entered. It does all of this assuming you will do no exercise on top of that. When you eat the calories back, you end the day with the exact same deficit if you would not have done exercise at all.

    With that said, this is an estimation. You're really estimating your intake on your diary, and really estimating your burn by using this site. The burns on this site are usually pretty high, so the stance is to eat back 50-75% of your calories and tweak your system from there.
  • Wildfire916
    Wildfire916 Posts: 19
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    Thanks very much for your replies! I think I will eat back some of the calories but not all of them as some of you are suggesting. I do think that perhaps the exercise calories are at least a bit high....
  • tillycrooke
    tillycrooke Posts: 15 Member
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    I don't consistently, I swim a hundred lengths three times a week and hill walk 5-7 miles 5 days a week, I consider them banked and it enables me to have guilt free days where I can "treat" myself.
  • newlooknewme2014
    newlooknewme2014 Posts: 42 Member
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    This Site explains it REALLY well! ---> http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/eating-back-calories-burned/
  • Wildfire916
    Wildfire916 Posts: 19
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    Thanks for the website link. That makes a lot of sense.
  • jlynnm70
    jlynnm70 Posts: 460 Member
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    If I see the number in my total - I tend to eat them all back - therefore - I log about 1/2-3/4 of the value MFP gives - so if I do cardio for 30 minute - I only log 15-20 (depending on how hard I actually worked out). This way I can 'eat all that I see' on MFP - but know that I probably have a cushion in there.

    Sadly I haven't been working out as much (or logging anything as much) as I was with the craziness of my summer. But that is how I was doing it and it was working for me!
  • dgoupil66
    dgoupil66 Posts: 17
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    I eat the calories burned otherwise I feel like I'm STARVING.

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  • Momjogger
    Momjogger Posts: 750 Member
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    This Site explains it REALLY well! ---> http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/eating-back-calories-burned/

    Great article. Thanks!
  • Eselte
    Eselte Posts: 49
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    Even though I'm new here, I've been eating my calories back...and not regretting it one bit :)
  • kimberlyblindsey
    kimberlyblindsey Posts: 266 Member
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    I use the fitbit deficit and eat most, since it tends to be more accurate for me.
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
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    I'm generally not eating back my calories, but then I'm not weighing my food entries either so I consider it an additional safeguard against my calorie entries being too low. I also estimate higher amounts of food than I am actually eating and I average about 200 calories a day less than the 2020 MFP is suggesting, to add to the safeguard. I'm a big guy though with a high BMR, so it's a little less of a risk for me. The chances of me eating too little or too much at this point without knowing it are fairly small. I'm choosing to err on the side of additional weight loss so that on the occasions where I do go over the MFP recommendation, I'm not shooting myself in the foot.

    I don't think my way of doing it is recommended though, especially if you weigh your food. It sounds to me like you're doing just what you should be. You can always tweak it a little bit if you find that you're not losing weight.
  • chelleb1974
    chelleb1974 Posts: 69 Member
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    I have been eating them all back and have had great success so far.
  • marissanik
    marissanik Posts: 344 Member
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    I wear a HRM with chest strap during all my workouts and eat back 100% of exercise calories. No problems
  • LadyArchangel
    LadyArchangel Posts: 124 Member
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    I use a HRM and if anything I eat back maybe 30-50% of them. I like to leave a good amount in case I didn't log something correctly. Just to be safe.
  • litchfieldd
    litchfieldd Posts: 43 Member
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    Everything is an estimate. You can't know precisely how many calories your body actually takes out of the food or how much a given exercise burns. MFP makes a prediction, but if you are consistent with whatever you do, you should be able observe exactly what does happen and tweak things to sustain the loss you want.

    I log as accurately as possible everything I eat. I use an HRM for cardio, log and eat back 100% of my calories. I don't log my couple of weekly weight/resistance sessions as burns would be a total guess. That plus perhaps an underestimate of my basic metabolism (I use sedentary but maybe I'm not!) means I actually lose MORE quickly than MFP would predict. So eating half my exercise back would not help at all! So I don't bother with the MFP goals, but set my calories a little higher to achieve my weight loss target.

    EDIT: Oh and I eat to a weekly goal rather than a daily one. It means if I have a really high burn one day I don't have to eat it all then but spread the love across the week!

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