Should I eat back my exercise calories? (Flex + HRM user)

BooAndKitty
BooAndKitty Posts: 49
in Fitness and Exercise
I tried using the search bar, didn't understand most of it lol.

I'm currently 265 lbs, 5'7 in hight and lost 10 lbs while on MFP (42 Days) . :drinker:

I'm using a FitBit Flex, only had it for a week or two but already addicted to it and the dashboard lol

(www.fitbit.com/user/2VTR4S)

I also use a HRM for non-walking exercises, like my exercise bike. My HRM is a Polar FT7.

I was wondering should I eat back my exercise calories, if so how much?


MFP Sets me at 1490 cals to lose 2lb a week. My fitbit adjusts it if I'm lazy and at the start of the day its 1,300 until I get some steps in.

I did my bike today and burned 104 calories, so I just want to no how much I should be eating back. Should it just be the HRM and not the flex? :sad: :sad:

Replies

  • lilmiss_sunshine29
    lilmiss_sunshine29 Posts: 136 Member
    don't eat for the sake of eating them back.
    if you're hungry i imagine yes you can.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Eat them.
  • cinds77
    cinds77 Posts: 18
    While I was losing weight, I didn't eat back my exercise calories but I wasn't burning a really high amount either. There's alot of varying opinions on this though and I don't think there's a definite right or wrong answer.

    I wouldn't be too concerned about it if you're burning 100 calories exercising, maybe at around 300-400 you may feel like your calorie intake isn't high enough.
  • BooAndKitty
    BooAndKitty Posts: 49
    don't eat for the sake of eating them back.
    if you're hungry i imagine yes you can.

    I'm not? I was hungry yesterday lol. Doing 15 mins on my bike earned me them 100odd calories :P
    Eat them.

    I think I may eat some, not sure :grumble:
    While I was losing weight, I didn't eat back my exercise calories but I wasn't burning a really high amount either. There's alot of varying opinions on this though and I don't think there's a definite right or wrong answer.

    I wouldn't be too concerned about it if you're burning 100 calories exercising, maybe at around 300-400 you may feel like your calorie intake isn't high enough.

    The 100 calories are form a 15 min workout, not MFP over estimate cause I'd have earned 250 according to MFP :noway:
  • handyandy9x
    handyandy9x Posts: 93 Member
    I eat back a percentage of exercise cals, but consider the Fitbit calories as a safety buffer to take into account any error I have in my logging of the food I eat, as I have to make some rough approximations as I eat a lot of cafeteria food on the camp where I work.
  • mtlprs
    mtlprs Posts: 40 Member
    if your hungry, eat them, if not, don't. I sometimes burn is excess of 1500 cals on a long bike ride, there is no way i'm eating a extra 1500cals in a day. burned cals are just that: burn cals. Consider them an bonus gift from your efforts, you can return them if you want, but you dont have too. good luck!
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
    Before I went to the TDEE method (which I love, by the way), I would always eat back 1/2 of the calories. Otherwise you can have too deep of a deficit.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    MFP uses the NEAT (NON EXERCISE Activity Thermogenesis) method of calorie tracking. It calculates a deficit based on your activity level throughout the day and eating back calories is required to maintain that net deficit. TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) includes exercise in it's tracking and deficit calculations and no eating back of exercise calories is required.

    Accurate tracking is required for success with either.
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
    Short answer: Yes. Longer answer: You need to be accurate (with both intake and output) in order for it to work, but it sounds like you are equipped to be accurate. I use a FitBit and eat back all the calories it gives me (I have my activity level set to lightly active, but I'm really somewhere between active and very active, so I start the day with calories subtracted but almost always end with calories added) plus my exercise calories and I lose at exactly the stated rate using the MFP method. I don't have an HRM.
  • kvansanity
    kvansanity Posts: 108 Member
    You're going to maintain weight (possibly even gain because monitors aren't totally accurate) if you eat back your TDEE (more simply the number of calories your fitbit says you burn in a day).
  • thebillmo
    thebillmo Posts: 11 Member
    The reason I joined MFP is that I inadvertently wasn't eating enough calories in a day to sustain my exercise and non-exercise needs. My body was showing signs of stress so I started tracking the calories with MFP and confirmed that yes, my deficit was out of bounds. So now I eat more. The moral: yes, do eat back your exercise calories *if* your deficit is at risk of being unhealthy. That's why you track this data.

    Here's my plan. I'm trying hard to track calories in and out as accurately as I can, and I'm trying hard to eat exactly what MFP recommends for losing 1 lb per week, i.e. eating back all my exercise calories. If after a few weeks on this plan I gain more weight than predicted, I'll eat less. If I lose more weight than predicted, then I'll eat more. In other words I'll use actual results (body weight) to calibrate MFP and adjust diet accordingly.

    I do exercise a lot so eating back all those calories is hard because frankly it's a lot of food and it feels like overeating. But it's all in the interest of using these tools to learn about my body and be in control.

    It's still early but the results so far are that after two weeks, I'm supposed to lose 1 lb per week but my weight is unchanged. If this trend holds, then I'll reduce my caloric intake to about 500 cal less than MFP recommends per day and I should be golden.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    You're going to maintain weight (possibly even gain because monitors aren't totally accurate) if you eat back your TDEE (more simply the number of calories your fitbit says you burn in a day).

    Incorrect
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    You're going to maintain weight (possibly even gain because monitors aren't totally accurate) if you eat back your TDEE (more simply the number of calories your fitbit says you burn in a day).

    Please explain the math that led you to your conclusion because I'm not seeing it.
  • Geloza
    Geloza Posts: 315 Member
    You're going to maintain weight (possibly even gain because monitors aren't totally accurate) if you eat back your TDEE (more simply the number of calories your fitbit says you burn in a day).

    I'm hoping like hell my Polar FT7 is giving me an accurate number of cals burned!!!

    I shoot for 400 cals between 2 separate workouts per day. I was feeling like I wasn't eating enough (when I wasn't eating back any of my exercise cals). I upped it to be 1200 NET every day so if I work out and burn 1000 cals in that day, I would be eating 2200 cals. I f I don't exercise at all, I would eat the normal 1200 for the day.

    I'm on day 4 of perfect 100% food measuring/logging. Also at a plateau so I'm hoping by kicking it up some, I can break through. 20-30lbs to go!

    Hope I am doing this right!! It gets harder towards the end! Any tips welcomed here too. :smile:
  • SimaN2014
    SimaN2014 Posts: 23 Member
    Here's my take... (And I have MFP set to "sendentary".)

    Most people under-log calories and over-log exercise. So, I try to log my calories very conservatively and figure that my day-to-day activity (i.e. the steps, in your case fitbit) cancels out the calorie logging error. So, if I get 50 extra calories from walking around, I tend to ignore them.

    But, if I really exercise (on the bike, hiking, AMT machine or whatever), then I do eat those back (again, logging conservatively, like it sounds you are doing), for 2 reasons. First, I don't have a big margin... I'm small and not too young, so my deficit puts me at 1265... if I seriously under eat at that point, it's not pretty. Second, eating my exercise calories back motivates me to.... **exercise more!!** That motivation really goes a long way. Plus, it gives me an option during the day if I want an extra snack, then I either put in some serious fast-paced walking or I hit the gym. All that is good stuff.

    I also don't count any calories for strength training time, even though I assume I am burning more than in couch-potato mode.

    Hope that helps.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    I was wondering should I eat back my exercise calories, if so how much?
    My doctor & dietician told me not to. It's working for me.
    If you're really hungry at the end of the day, have 1/3 to 1/2 of your exercise calories, but don't make it a habit.

    As someone else already said, most people (& machines, including MFP) overestimate calories burned and underestimate calories eaten.
    I'm currently 265 lbs, 5'7 in hight and lost 10 lbs while on MFP (42 Days)
    YAY on your success so far!!! :flowerforyou: :happy:
    Going by BMI, you should be between 120 - 155.
    http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf
    I started out with 110 to lose. It's doable. Focus on the next 5 lb.

    There are 2 easy ways to figure goal calories.
    1 - multiply your healthy goal weight by 10 = 1550 (this is what my doctor uses)
    2 - multiply your current weight by 10 (2650) and subtract 500 to lose 1 lb per week. You are starting off with lots to lose, so 2 lb a week will be possible for a while = 1650. Recalculate when you lose 10 lb or hit a plateau.
    Don't go below 1200 cal unless you're monitored by a doctor.
    When you get closer to your goal (say maybe 60 lb) weight loss will slow, so aim for maybe 1 lb per week.
    Closer, 30 lb, aim for 0.5 lb per week.

    This is TOTAL calories. Ignore net, ignore exercise.
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
    There's an even easier way: input your information into MFP, set it to lose the amount per week you'd like to lose, eat your calorie goal, track input and output fairly accurately, and eat back exercise calories. In other words, why complicate things? Use the site the way it's designed to be used, at least to start.
  • kvansanity
    kvansanity Posts: 108 Member
    You're going to maintain weight (possibly even gain because monitors aren't totally accurate) if you eat back your TDEE (more simply the number of calories your fitbit says you burn in a day).

    Incorrect

    Actually correct. TDEE = total daily energy expenditure. In simple terms, the number of calories you burn in a day.

    A fitbit tracks your TDEE. It then syncs with MFP if you so choose.

    MFP suggests I eat 2,050 calories a day to maintain weight with my lifestyle. I'm a waitress, so I move a lot. Some days I walk north of 10 miles.

    My fitbit still tracks all of my movement and will then ADD to my recommended calories saying "oh you moved for 7 hours and burnt 800 calories, you need to eat 2,850 calories now to maintain weight" This is NOT accurate because MFP is already taking into consideration my active lifestyle when it recommends how many calories I eat.

    Basically, yeah you can eat back your exercise calories but you still need to have a deficit of 500 every day (or spread out over the week, really however you want to do it) to lose one pound a week. Just make sure that you're only eating back your exercise and not things that you do on a normal daily basis.

    Also, yes a HRM is helpful but is not 100% accurate because a lot more goes into how many calories you burn besides your heart rate (or in the instance of a fitbit, the number of steps you took).
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member

    A fitbit tracks your TDEE. It then syncs with MFP if you so choose.

    MFP suggests I eat 2,050 calories a day to maintain weight with my lifestyle. I'm a waitress, so I move a lot. Some days I walk north of 10 miles.

    My fitbit still tracks all of my movement and will then ADD to my recommended calories saying "oh you moved for 7 hours and burnt 800 calories, you need to eat 2,850 calories now to maintain weight" This is NOT accurate because MFP is already taking into consideration my active lifestyle when it recommends how many calories I eat.

    This is actually not true. If you have MFP and FitBit linked, your predicted TDEE (on MFP, based on your activity level) is compared to your actual TDEE (based on FitBit) and then calories are added, if FitBit is higher than MFP predicted, or subtracted, if FitBit is lower than MFP predicted. (Or nothing happens if MFP's prediction was exactly right.) There shouldn't be any double-counting.So if FitBit is adding 800 calories to your MFP calorie allowance, it's because it believes you burned 2,850 calories that day, based on your actual activity rather than MFP's estimate.

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