For those that "eat your exercise calories" back...

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ndhr3d
ndhr3d Posts: 45 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I recently purchased a heart rate monitor and I LOVE IT!! But I have a question...

My HRM tells me what percentage of my calories burned were from fat based on the zone I was in, V02 tests, my HR, etc, etc... whatever it does...

When you guys say you eat your calories back... are you eating ALL of your calories back?? Or the calories burned minus calories from fat burned??

Example:
Say I work out for 40min and burn 500 calories... my HRM says 18% are from fat. So technically I've burned 90 fat calories and 410 calories that my body used as energy.

Would you just plug it in MFP as 500 or would you subtract it and say that you only need to eat 410 of those back since 90 of them were fat calories and you don't need to eat fat calories back... cause... that's why were here, to burn fat, right?

I know 90 calories isn't a big number... especially for a guy my size who eats 1800+ a day to start with... but it's something to think about and something I would like to know how a nutritionist or personal trainer would attack the question.
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Replies

  • curlyloca
    curlyloca Posts: 81 Member
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    awesome question! i wanna know the same thing!!!
  • KendraElmendorf
    KendraElmendorf Posts: 837 Member
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    *bump*
  • dracobaby82
    dracobaby82 Posts: 380 Member
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    bump! Don't think my HRM does that where it tells me all that cool stuff, who knows maybe it does lol Love to know the answer to that!
  • SunLove8
    SunLove8 Posts: 693 Member
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    Interesting question! I would like to know this too. I don't have a HRM yet (plan on getting one), but I do eat back my exercise calories.
  • iamhealingmyself
    iamhealingmyself Posts: 579 Member
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    I enter them all but depending on the burn might not have the appetite to eat it all back. I never considered the fat vs carbs or protein burn. At some point, you won't have the "fat" stores to burn from so I would think at least then you'd need to eat it all back (or before your workout actually) to keep your body fueled. I've lost 20lbs and have not stalled or gained by logging and eating as much of it all back as possible.

    Remember that MFP gives you a deficit so even if you ate back everything your burned, you still have (depending on your goal settings) 500-1000 calories less than maintenance so you will still lose according to planned goals. If you don't eat it all back, you will be creating a larger deficit than that required to meet your 1-2lb loss per week.

    I'm a fan of the theory "don't eat if you're not hungry" so I'd suggest listening to your body. If you eat it back for a few days and you notice a stall or slight gain, you can always stop eating as much or any of it back, but I doubt that would happen until you get closer to your goal weight and loss slows down.
  • WomanofWorth
    WomanofWorth Posts: 395 Member
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    bump
  • Edestiny7
    Edestiny7 Posts: 730 Member
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    I eat them all back. If I do not, I continue to drop weight, when I am trying to maintain.
  • chazspk
    chazspk Posts: 159 Member
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    Great question.. But sorry im no help wanna know this 2..haha
  • shumatet1982
    shumatet1982 Posts: 93
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    I don't eat any of them back. I keep ot totally at my given calorie goal. (besides the days i eat way too much, birthdays, holydays ond so on)
  • pooksMS
    pooksMS Posts: 25
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    T:smile: hat's a great question and I would love to know that too. I don't eat back my exercis calories and that keeps it easy.
  • aanddplusoanda
    aanddplusoanda Posts: 189 Member
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    I personally just make sure that my net calories are close to 1200 and I try to burn between 500-1000 calories
  • donicagalek
    donicagalek Posts: 526
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    Another biggie - is the HRM subtracting the calories you would have burned if you did absolutely NOTHING for the X number of minutes you exercised? In other words does it give you the net or the gross calories? That's a HUGE downfall if you do steady state for very long periods.

    Actually, does MFP give you net or gross? I'm guessing net, but...?
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    If we were in an ideal world where we can measure every calorie we eat and burn with 100% accuracy, then I would say eat every single calorie back. In the real world we have a margin of error. Our HRM (or other means of estimating) are not 100% accurate for calorie burn. Our food logging is not always quite correct due to human error or bad info in the database.

    I think everyone has to find their own system based on some trial & error. If you suspect you're over-reporting your calorie burn, then don't eat them all back. If you suspect you're under-reporting, then do eat them all back.

    I actually go ahead and eat them all back. Am I over-reporting my calories burned? Maybe / probably. I'm also probably under-reporting the calories I consume. But I know that my "daily calorie goal" according to MFP is a bit on the low side, so I have that as a buffer.

    Just try to stay as consistent as possible with with whatever you're doing and make changes gradually and give each change some time, so you can observe what difference it made.

    The key is to honor your intended calorie deficit as closely as possible. We want enough deficit to lose weight, but not so much as to slow our metabolisms too much.
  • FabiolaEnvy♥
    FabiolaEnvy♥ Posts: 730
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    bump this
  • shimmergal
    shimmergal Posts: 380 Member
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    bump :-)
  • Kirsty_UK
    Kirsty_UK Posts: 964 Member
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    I've been trying to eat back almost all my exercise calories (I saw almost because I'm sure it over estimates what I burn in my lazy jogging!), and I lost 4lb last week (though it was week 2).

    See what works for you. But this "system" is designed so that you eat them back, or you have to big a deficit for a healthy weight loss speed.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    I go by what the machines at the gym or MFP say I burned and I do my best to eat all my exercise calories. If my calorie deficit is too large I stop burning fat. Yes, starvation mode is real!
  • BakingGranny
    BakingGranny Posts: 112 Member
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    Check it out here:: http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com This should answer our questions.
  • infosynth
    infosynth Posts: 81 Member
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    I eat some or all of them back depending on how much exercise I do, but I set the calories burned lower than suggested by MFP.

    For example, the calories burned for 60 mins of "casual racquetball" is something like 720 cal/hour ( and > 1000 for "competitive" racquetball). I don't believe that for a second. So, instead I give myself 300 cal/hour, which seems to be about right for me. (I'm a pretty efficient player.) That rate is too low if I play for more than an hour, which is usual, so I eat back about 500 calories if I've played for 2 hours.

    So far, that seems to be working for me. At 1400 cal/day goal, I'm losing about 1 lb/wk, which is what I want.
  • ndhr3d
    ndhr3d Posts: 45 Member
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    Check it out here:: http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com This should answer our questions.

    That's not quite scientific enough for me... :-) but I like that someone bought a domain name just to place one word in my face!

    Thanks to everyone that has attempted to give an answer and given their own personal experiences! I'm a fan of eating back my calories due to the built in deficit in my diet... it can be rather difficult when I burn nearly 1000 calories in the gym in one setting (like just today I hit 860)... I know I'm supposed to rejuvinate with lean proteins and low fat foods to replace the burned calories, but MAN IS THAT TOUGH... unless I keep a stock of cooked chicken and fish, I rarely eat all of my calories back!

    I am trying as we all are! Thanks for the support!

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