Do you eat back calories you burned from exercising?

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agal129
agal129 Posts: 215 Member
edited October 2014 in Fitness and Exercise
I would like to know what kind of success people have had losing weight with exercise. Do you eat back calories you've burned while exercising or leave them alone? I have my daily activities set as sedentary, but I feel guilty consuming all the calories I burned from exercising. I have heard conflicting advice on if these calories should be completely consumed, some consumed, or left alone. Any advice out there?
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  • bbastin55
    bbastin55 Posts: 34 Member
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    After I get don playing a basketball game or working out, if I am hungry I will eat some back if I'm not (which is typical) I don't. My thought process is, I have it set it at 2 lbs/week if I stay at my calorie goal whether I eat my exercise calories or not I am still on track.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    When you set up MFP, it does not add exercise into the equation. It takes what you enter your activity level on a normal day and calculates your calorie goal to eat in order to lose the amount of weight per week you entered (your deficit). Food is fuel...MFP give back exercise calories so you know how much more fuel you can take in to hold the modest deficit that MFP gave you. Keep in mind that MFP exercise calculators vastly over estimate, so many start by eating back 50% of their calories and adjusting from there. In a cut I enter my exercise at 60%.
  • agal129
    agal129 Posts: 215 Member
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    RGv2, I have noticed that MFP overestimates. I use a fitbit to calculate calories burned, but I am still a little skeptical of it too. I typically eat back all of the calories I have burned one day on the weekends.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    What RGv2 said.....MFP doesn't assume anyone will exercise. Some people can't exercise.

    Eating back calories is not about hunger. If you have a moderate deficit and then add to it thru exercise (too much deficit) makes it hard to maintain lean muscle mass. Eating more helps you lose a larger percentage of fat (instead of muscle).
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    agal129 wrote: »
    I would like to know what kind of success people have had losing weight with exercise. Do you eat back calories you've burned while exercising or leave them alone? I have my daily activities set as sedentary, but I feel guilty consuming all the calories I burned from exercising. I have heard conflicting advice on if these calories should be completely consumed, some consumed, or left alone. Any advice out there?

    When I was using the MFP method, yes...that is how this program is designed. Your calorie goals (provided you have established your activity level correctly) do not include any estimate of exercise activity....basically you just being alive coupled with your daily hum drum...so you have to account for exercise somewhere as exercise increases your energy (calorie) requisites. With the MFP method you account for exercise after the fact when you log it and get those calories to "eat back".

    Other calculators, in fact, most calculators are going to include some estimate of your exercise up front in the equation and thus eating back calories would be "double dipping."

    Estimating calorie burn can be tricky...you should just be taking the data bases word for it...there are numerous formulas out there for various activities that you can check burn estimates against what the database tells you and what your fitbit tells you. It's all an estimate, but as you work through things, you can get a pretty good idea of what your calorie burns are for a given exercise.

    I lost 40 Lbs following MFP's method. I use the TDEE (exercise included in my activity level) method in maintenance. Done properly, they are 6 of 1...generally, the method isn't the issue...the issue is usually user error.

  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    I do eat them back. For example after a tough workout of burning around 500 calories that would mean I only fueled my body with 700 calories that day (if I did not eat them back). You have to fuel the machine.

    Here's a helpful post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sophia-herbst/1200-calories_b_4816597.html
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
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    Yes, and most of the weight came off doing that, too.
  • Paul_Collyer
    Paul_Collyer Posts: 160 Member
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    Yes I do, but as said above be wary of MFP database calorie burn especially walking. I have a Vivofit for walking and gym work now which is more conservative and IMO more accurate.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    It's very rare I eat them back. Occasionally if I have a 'treat day' I might eat some of them. I honestly think I wouldn't lose weight if I ate my exercise calories back, it defeats the whole point of exercising.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    Not really but they are a good reserve of calories to have a go at if I feel like it.
    Some of MFP estimates are inflated because they dont have all the relevant details. People also often overestimate the level of intensity they are exercising.

    Whether you choose to eat them back is up to you. They are calories you have earned, but people choose a % of them unless they know they have an accurate number, because this allows for the inflation by MFP.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    It's very rare I eat them back. Occasionally if I have a 'treat day' I might eat some of them. I honestly think I wouldn't lose weight if I ate my exercise calories back, it defeats the whole point of exercising.

    If you think the only point of exercising is to burn calories to lose weight, then you are really missing the boat...big time. Also, you obviously don't understand how this tool is designed to work...i.e. your calorie goal with MFP is your weight loss deficit WITHOUT any exercise whatsoever...i.e. if you set everything up in your profile correctly and you are as accurate as possible with your intake, you can lose weight with MFP's calorie goal without lifting a finger in exercise.

    I've been her for two years and I'm still always shocked that so many people have no clue how this tool actually works.
  • Cheyenne_K_
    Cheyenne_K_ Posts: 31 Member
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    I totally agree with RGv2! If you dont want to eat your calories back, then raise the lifestyle level from sedentary to maybe light active, and dont log your fitness.
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    This seems to be accurate in calculating the approximate calorie burn of various exercises: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calories_burned_list.asp
    You can add your own custom workouts to your fitness logging in MFP and that way they are always on your list to choose from (this works well if you use an HRM)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    It's very rare I eat them back. Occasionally if I have a 'treat day' I might eat some of them. I honestly think I wouldn't lose weight if I ate my exercise calories back, it defeats the whole point of exercising.

    If you think the only point of exercising is to burn calories to lose weight, then you are really missing the boat...big time. Also, you obviously don't understand how this tool is designed to work...i.e. your calorie goal with MFP is your weight loss deficit WITHOUT any exercise whatsoever...i.e. if you set everything up in your profile correctly and you are as accurate as possible with your intake, you can lose weight with MFP's calorie goal without lifting a finger in exercise.

    I've been her for two years and I'm still always shocked that so many people have no clue how this tool actually works.

    This
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    DawnieB1977 wrote: »
    It's very rare I eat them back. Occasionally if I have a 'treat day' I might eat some of them. I honestly think I wouldn't lose weight if I ate my exercise calories back, it defeats the whole point of exercising.

    It depends. How low do you fall in total calorie intake after a workout? Are you falling below 1,200?

  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    It's very rare I eat them back. Occasionally if I have a 'treat day' I might eat some of them. I honestly think I wouldn't lose weight if I ate my exercise calories back, it defeats the whole point of exercising.

    If you think the only point of exercising is to burn calories to lose weight, then you are really missing the boat...big time. Also, you obviously don't understand how this tool is designed to work...i.e. your calorie goal with MFP is your weight loss deficit WITHOUT any exercise whatsoever...i.e. if you set everything up in your profile correctly and you are as accurate as possible with your intake, you can lose weight with MFP's calorie goal without lifting a finger in exercise.

    I've been her for two years and I'm still always shocked that so many people have no clue how this tool actually works.

    This

    YES! :D

  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    HotMamaInWorks wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    It's very rare I eat them back. Occasionally if I have a 'treat day' I might eat some of them. I honestly think I wouldn't lose weight if I ate my exercise calories back, it defeats the whole point of exercising.

    If you think the only point of exercising is to burn calories to lose weight, then you are really missing the boat...big time. Also, you obviously don't understand how this tool is designed to work...i.e. your calorie goal with MFP is your weight loss deficit WITHOUT any exercise whatsoever...i.e. if you set everything up in your profile correctly and you are as accurate as possible with your intake, you can lose weight with MFP's calorie goal without lifting a finger in exercise.

    I've been her for two years and I'm still always shocked that so many people have no clue how this tool actually works.

    so condescending...why?

    I read it as more frustration than anything else. There's been thousands of posts on this topic over the years and it does not seem to be helping.

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