eating back burned calories

kersercar
kersercar Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Curious if you eat back calories burned during a workout or stick to your daily number and ignore the ones earned? Not really sure how to phrase it...but hopefully someone out there will understand...lol.
thanks for the help
(I need it :smile: )

Replies

  • 30Purple
    30Purple Posts: 252 Member
    I usually eat about half back, because I figure the burn calculators are probably overestimating a bit.
  • kersercar
    kersercar Posts: 27 Member
    Thank-you for responding....I have no clue and could use all the help I can get :)
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited October 2014
    Depends..........

    MFP as designed gives you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. That way people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight. So yes you eat a portion* of your calories back. That gets you back to your original starting position.

    *A portion of exercise calories because estimates are hard to pin down.


    TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) less a percent.....includes exercise. So no, you don't eat back exercise calories. The numbers are all inclusive. If your exercise is pretty regular this is a great method.

    Also if you are closer to goal a moderate deficit is more important to help retain lean muscle while dieting. This is why you only see obese people go on very low calorie diets (Dr. supervised).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    If you use MFP to come up with your calorie goal you are intended to eat back exercise calories, since the MFP goal assumes that you do no exercise, even if you say you plan to. However, if you use MFP to determine the calories burned from exercise you might want to cut the total amount some (many people eat back half or two-thirds), as it often estimates high.

    When I used MFP to come up with my goal and was aiming for the highest possible MFP goal (i.e., 2 lb loss/week or 1200 calories/day), I ate back exercise calories and consistently lost at least what I was supposed to.

    I no longer use MFP to come up with my goal, but my TDEE (estimated burn from all activities, including exercise), so now I don't eat back exercise, but the amount I eat is about the same as if I did, since my base goal is higher.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I think most people eat back half.

    If I'm hungry, I eat them. If I'm not, I don't. :)
  • kersercar
    kersercar Posts: 27 Member
    thanks everyone for taking time to answer...really appreciate all the help I can get :)
  • prettigirl01
    prettigirl01 Posts: 548 Member
    most days I eat them all back. I really shouldn't but I always seem to be hungry. maybe im not eating the right things to stay full but im still learning
  • Cortneyrenee04
    Cortneyrenee04 Posts: 1,117 Member
    I eat a portion of mine back but only from things like running, biking or something strenuous (not walking the dog for 15 minutes). I also sometimes save them for later in the week for a drink or extra food!
  • m2921
    m2921 Posts: 15 Member
    I try not to if I can help it. But if I need the calories for something (dinner out etc) or if I'm just particularly hungry then I do!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    MFP overestimates calories burned, so to be safe, eat half.
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    I never bother to eat mine back, but I never want to. I'm never sitting around hungry refusing to eat back my workout calories or anything. I'm just not hungry enough to want to eat them.
  • Boccellin
    Boccellin Posts: 137 Member
    I only eat them back if not eating them back would put my net below 1200. Sometimes I eat over 2000 calories a day because I'm exercising over 800 calories off a day, and I don't feel safe letting my net drop below 1200. However, I use a heart rate monitor, I never just estimate my burns.
  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
    Eating your exercise calories is important to maintaining your weight. You're not going to be losing weight forever ... in fact, you'll be hopefully maintaining for a lot longer than you are reducing. So eat your target calories -- it's a skill you'll appreciate later.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    I eat all of mine back, personally. I think it's better to start off eating as much as you can, monitor for a month or two, and then figure out if you've reached you 0.5-1lb/week loss goal. If not then you can lower your exercise cal intake, or net if you would prefer.
  • ReignOerMe
    ReignOerMe Posts: 24 Member
    I eat all of my calories back if I want them. If I'm not hungry, I don't force myself to eat, but I usually take advantage of most of the extra calories. I've been losing at nearly exactly what MFP predicts for about several months. I don't think MFP overestimates calorie burn nearly as much as some people think, but the only exercise I ever do is running or walking so I'm not familiar with the accuracy of the rest of the database.

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