Don't Have to Eat the "Earned" Calories

For some this would not be sound advice.

MFP does normally over estimate calories burned, but not eating them back could put some people in much too large of a deficient. Yes it would attribute to faster weight loss, but that is not always what is best or healthiest. Unless of course losing hair, fatigue, mental mood swings and loose skin are your goals.....if so then go for it.


For many this could work simply because they do not weigh their food, if that is the case most likely they eat more than they think and the burn just evens it out.

TDEE method your exercise is already accounted for and it takes a factor out of the equation and can simply weight loss.

Every day we earn a certain amount of calories from doing exercise, like walking or running or whatever, and that gives us an extra ten to hundreds of calories in our budget. I'm finding that when I allow myself to eat those extra calories, my body gets used to it, even in the short term and on the days I have a smaller budget because I didn't do exercise it's much harder to stay in the budget.

If you have the same problem, on the days you have "earned" calories, just ignore that and try to stay as close to your original number of calories to consume per day. Any extra burn will help you lose weight anyway and it'll be much easier to stick to your original budget on your rest days or days you don't get any exercise.

Our body needs fuel to work properly so if we do a heavier workout we should eat another apple or small bowl of Greek yogurt or small handful of almonds. But that's honestly it.

How much are you eating and what is your calorie deficit? Context is important here - the reason you could be having trouble staying within your calories is because you aren't eating enough to fuel your activity level, and on rest days when your body is recovering it's telling you it needs more.

Depending on where someone is in terms of weight loss and their training goals, not eating back exercise calories is bad advice. I'm less than 10 lbs from goal and am just trying to drop body fat - "extra burn" at this point is going to mean extra muscle being burned, and that's exactly what I don't want to happen. Again, context is important.

I'm not sure what workouts you are doing, but on heavier workout days for me, an apple or small bowl of greek yogurt or handful of almonds isn't going to do jack for me. Saying that people "should" eat one of those things and "that's honestly it" is wrong - it may work for you and what you are doing, but that doesn't mean it's appropriate for anyone else. Once again, context.

Like everything else under the fitness sun, everyone is different. I don't eat back my burned calories, but then again I don't do intense cardio.

I usually don't eat my "earned" calories, but i mainly use it as a buffer to account for my innacurate logging. I measured everything religiously for a few months, and I learned about portion sizes and how to eyeball measurements. I think i do a pretty good job, but i use the exercise to make up for any underestimates. Still losing weight, still feeling healthy.

I think her suggestion is fine, unless you are one of those people already eating at 1200 calories or less, and already feeling tired and hangry all the time. For most of us (not everyone, i know), not eating our exercise calories would not result in any serious health consequences, and would not put us in "too large" of a deficit.

I don't see them as "earned" calories, but rather calories that need to be replaced or restocked - especially if following the MFP plan, which has you at a deficit sufficient for weight loss without any exercise at all. Burning off more cals through exercise and then not eating those back to bring your net cals back up to the original deficit leaves you, as others have said, with too large a deficit.

Possible to lose faster this way? Perhaps, but say goodbye to lean muscle right along with any fat that is lost. There's also potential for hair loss, brittle nails, screwed up hormones, grouchiness, lack of energy, binges, yoyo dieting and so on.....

So many times I have read posts from members who have slashed cals really low, or skipped the part about eating back exercise cals in order to lose faster, and yeah, they lost the weight, but they're back asking why they are now weigh less but still look flabby, or didn't really change clothing sizes at all, and wonder what went wrong because the scale says they lost X number of pounds.

Slow and steady, fuel that body, lose the fat, keep the muscle, and do it for life! My body needs a certain number of cals per day, and I make sure that it gets them! In doing so I've managed to hit goal weight, lost fat and inches, dropped several sizes, and have kept it off for over two years now.

If it bothers you to eat different amounts per day, definitely do something like the TDEE method. I'm halfway to the TDEE method myself, but I actually do like being able to eat more on some days, even if that means less on others. I'm trying to create a middle ground by doing a base goal based on being "active" and pushing myself to make it most days (I have negative adjustments enabled, so if I don't I eat somewhat less), but then on those days I have huge workouts (like running 10+ miles) I eat back at least a significant portion of the calories that exceed "active."

I tend to think that as long as you are eating enough, you don't have to eat anymore just to match your calories that you burned. I mean why would you want to negate all that time and effort that you put forth in the gym?

I think it's wrong to think of it as "negating" the calories. It's just an oddity of MFP's method.

For example, if you started and decided that it's sensible to only cut calories by about 500, but that you could lose 2 lbs a week if you also exercised for an average of 500/day, you might set yourself up with, say, 2200-500=1700 calories and then also plan on the exercise.

MFP creates the same result by ignoring your exercise plans and saying that if you want to lose 2 lbs a week you do 2200-1000=1200. So the only way you get to the (IMO more sensible) plan above is by adding on the 500/day average exercise and eating back the calories. Deciding that because MFP started you on 1200 that you should not eat back exercise, as that would somehow "negate" it would be like the first person planning to eat 1700 and exercise for 500 and then deciding that she could really lose even more by eating less and that eating the amount planned would be somehow a negation. As you can see that makes no sense.

The real reason some people don't lose unless they don't eat back is that they either don't have as significant a deficit as they thought (because they are eating more than they think) or because they are overestimating their burns. Or, in some cases, because their deficit at the number MFP gives them is pretty narrow (if you are smaller or near goal, often). It's not because eating back negates anything, unless you set it up to do only part of your intended deficit (.5 or 1 lb) through calorie cutting from the beginning.