Who eats back exercise calories and who doesn't?

1235

Replies

  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
    Phoebeg1723 wrote: »
    just curious at the ratios. I personally don't eat back exercise calories. It seems very backwards to me as the idea of working out is too increase the calorie deficit so you lose weight more, but eating back those calories is basically the equivalent of not having worked out.

    Anyone else?

    MFP uses a method that requires you to try and calculate what you expend in calories during an exercise session and eat those back to ensure you're at a healthy deficit. It works, although I think their protein targets are a bit low and I think that it overly complicates things by requiring a piece of equipment that isn't entirely accurate in the first place depending on your form of exercise. Using something like TDEE is a bit simpler in that you only have to worry about what you eat for the day, keep it simple.
  • flabassmcgee
    flabassmcgee Posts: 659 Member
    I follow TDEE, so no, I don't eat a logged burn. I eat a set amount to account for them though.
  • Phoebeg1723
    Phoebeg1723 Posts: 88 Member
    Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »
    Phoebeg1723 wrote: »
    just curious at the ratios. I personally don't eat back exercise calories. It seems very backwards to me as the idea of working out is too increase the calorie deficit so you lose weight more, but eating back those calories is basically the equivalent of not having worked out.

    Anyone else?

    MFP uses a method that requires you to try and calculate what you expend in calories during an exercise session and eat those back to ensure you're at a healthy deficit. It works, although I think their protein targets are a bit low and I think that it overly complicates things by requiring a piece of equipment that isn't entirely accurate in the first place depending on your form of exercise. Using something like TDEE is a bit simpler in that you only have to worry about what you eat for the day, keep it simple.

    You can change the protein targets in goals though?
  • Phoebeg1723
    Phoebeg1723 Posts: 88 Member
    Am I missing something as well? :s I don't know what TDEE. Tbh I just use mine to make sure I'm eating an allowance of calories as my biggest downfall with food is portion size.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    I eat about a 1/4 back of what my HRM gives me as burned calories. This because of overestimate.
    And i do eat them back because when you exercise your not only burning calories but you also need more nutrition.
    So what i do is trying to hit those goals to provide my body with the fuel/nutrition it worked so hard for.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    At 0.5 lb/ a week setting, eating back all the calories left me eating too much, I thought. I played around with intake until I hit a sweet spot of not feeling deprived and having enough energy on exercise days (a totally subjective feeling, no reference to the scale at all).

    For me the number I ended up with was the same as eating back 50% of the exercise calories for the 0.5/week setting. So, I changed my target to reflect the new number.
  • Morgaen73
    Morgaen73 Posts: 2,817 Member
    I do sometimes, but just a portion. Sometimes I will exercise more just so I can eat pizza lol

    Bit me in the *kitten* this morning after I had chocolate last night though :(
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
    snowflake930 wrote: »
    adowe wrote: »
    snowflake930 wrote: »
    adowe wrote: »
    snowflake930 wrote: »
    GiveMeCoffee wrote: »
    I lost over 120 lbs eating back my exercise calories, worked pretty damn well

    ^I lost 160+ NOT eating back my exercise calories, worked pretty damn well for me. I have been maintaining for 14 months.

    We all ARE snowflakes! Do what works for you in all facets of this new way of living. :)

    Sorry but we aren't snowflakes

    I am. I am not the same as you or anyone else.

    You are more alike all of us than you think. Biology proves that.

    Really? How so? Prove that I am the same as you in my nutrition needs. I am truly interested in how you can say this not knowing anything about me.


    Might be time for you to take a Biology class.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    You're supposed to if you're using MFP.

    But yeah, if you don't weigh your food or don't log everything, you're probably better off not eating them back.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Phoebeg1723 wrote: »
    Am I missing something as well? :s I don't know what TDEE. Tbh I just use mine to make sure I'm eating an allowance of calories as my biggest downfall with food is portion size.

    Total Daily Energy Expenditure - the amount of calories needed to maintain your current weight.
    People following the TDEE method calculate this and then take a percentage cut from that to create their chosen calorie deficit to lose weight.

    With TDEE method your exercise estimate is factored in already and you eat an average amount of these "exercise calories" every day and have same calorie goal every day.
    With MFP method your exercise calorie estimate is made after the event rather than before - so you get a variable calorie goal depending if you exercise or not.

    Six of one and half a dozen of the other. They both work. If your exercise is very variable in terms of duration, intensity or calorie burn then in my opinion MFP method is better but it's very much personal preference.

    In effect you are doing the TDEE method but instead of calculating your numbers you have found the number that works for you by trial and error. Nothing wrong with that - any method should be adjusted based on real results over time.

  • Phoebeg1723
    Phoebeg1723 Posts: 88 Member
    Ah I see :)
  • SwankyTomato
    SwankyTomato Posts: 442 Member
    My head is spinning after reading all of this, lol. My exercise is sporadic right now and I am trying to lose weight. However I do want to build muscle as well.
    I will look into the TDEE method.

    Really good thread for those of us that are noobs to all of this.
  • joolsmd
    joolsmd Posts: 375 Member
    I'd eat them back if I was hungry, but I rarely am. At this moment in my weightloss (just started - again!) i doubt very much that any lean muscle is in danger of me sticking to my daily cals, and although I walk briskly, I also doubt that my 70 min walk a day is likely to burn as many calories as 70 mins HIIT.
    -
    Obviously, when the lard starts reducing and my exercise minutes increase then I will certainly consider eating some back. but, as someone says above, using MFP means I have no idea how many caloies I burn doing strength exercises, so until they start calculating my calories for that I'll just have to assume I haven't earned any exercise calories doing them.
  • kateangel2312
    kateangel2312 Posts: 242 Member
    I don't eat them back i just eat 1500 each day
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    SwankyTomato wrote: »
    My head is spinning after reading all of this, lol. My exercise is sporadic right now and I am trying to lose weight. However I do want to build muscle as well.
    I will look into the TDEE method.

    Really good thread for those of us that are noobs to all of this.

    If your exercise is sporadic why would you choose the TDEE method? Calculating TDEE will involve estimating the frequency/duration of your exercise so if it's sporadic your estmate is going to be flawed.
  • Revcminor
    Revcminor Posts: 42
    I try to keep between 1000 and 1200 no matter what while losing, but occasionally I go above - but only on days I do a heavy workout. I work out about four days a week.
  • votick
    votick Posts: 77 Member
    The way I see it I'm shooting for a 400-500 calorie deficit daily regardless of exercise or not. If I go and burn 700 calories working out, I'm sure as heck going to make sure I eat them back otherwise I'd be at a 1100-1200 deficit for the day.
  • jpaulie
    jpaulie Posts: 917 Member
    have to otherwise my net cals are around 800, did that one day and didn't work out so well
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    joolsmd wrote: »
    I'd eat them back if I was hungry, but I rarely am. At this moment in my weightloss (just started - again!) i doubt very much that any lean muscle is in danger of me sticking to my daily cals, and although I walk briskly, I also doubt that my 70 min walk a day is likely to burn as many calories as 70 mins HIIT.
    -
    Obviously, when the lard starts reducing and my exercise minutes increase then I will certainly consider eating some back. but, as someone says above, using MFP means I have no idea how many caloies I burn doing strength exercises, so until they start calculating my calories for that I'll just have to assume I haven't earned any exercise calories doing them.

    FYI - Strength training can be selected under the cardio exercises section. It's just a stab in the dark as it's impossible to really measure.
    By the way "70mins of HIIT" would say to me that is 70mins of interval training not HIIT.
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
    I follow TDEE, so my exercise calories are accounted for in my daily goal. I guess you could say I do eat mine, but I don't eat the ones that are logged in MFP by my FitBit (so some days it looks like I ate 1800 calories, burned over 500, and only netted 1300 which isn't the whole truth).
  • lmr0528
    lmr0528 Posts: 427 Member
    My calories are set at my BMR. If I'm still hungry at night after exercise, then I eat. I don't make it a point to eat or not eat my exercise calories.
  • joolsmd
    joolsmd Posts: 375 Member
    edited January 2015
    sijomial wrote: »
    joolsmd wrote: »
    By the way "70mins of HIIT" would say to me that is 70mins of interval training not HIIT.
    I am aware that no-one would be able to do 70 mins of HIIT, I was using it as an example that some exercise burns mopre cals/min than others, and that I doubt that not eating back MY exercise calories would make any difference to my weightloss at the moment.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited January 2015
    I definitely eat them. I wouldn't be able to do my workouts if I didn't.

    My MFP goal is 1340 before exercise. I generally eat a total of 1600-2000 calories (sometimes more sometimes less) and I lose over 1lb per week doing so.
    q62kwsq17n9g.jpg
    awx92lq48f82.jpg


    I'm pretty sure, for me at least, just eating 1340 would probably not be healthy at all.

    edit: I should add that I don't use MFP estimates for calories burned.
  • spicy618
    spicy618 Posts: 2,114 Member
    When I was actually losing weight, I was set at 1400 and ate every calorie earned with exercise . However, I started slacking and begain eating my exercise calories and more, therefore, I gained. If you're acurate with your calories in/out, eating your exercise calories makes losing wieght more enjoyable. In my opinion. Do what keeps you consistent.
  • kissa714
    kissa714 Posts: 65 Member
    Eating back the calories you burn working out is NOT the equivalent to not having worked out. You are still consuming more calories for the day if you eat those calories back. If you don't eat them back then you might not be getting enough calories for the day and that isn't good.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited January 2015
    Serah87 wrote: »
    I do the TDEE method, which includes exercise, so yes I do, I like to keep my muscles. :D

    I like the way you put this.

    The deal with eating back exercise is that the deficit you choose should not be too high (aim at 2 lbs or less or about 1% of body weight as a max). MFP gives you a deficit based on the assumption that you don't exercise (and that you will add it if you do). So if you take the max deficit from MFP for someone not exercising and then exercise on top of that, without eating back some reasonable estimate of the calories, that's a higher deficit than MFP (or the usual advice) says is appropriate, safe, or reasonable. Under a doctor's advice it would be different, but in general it isn't a good idea.

    I think it matters more if you are exercising hard than if we are talking quite light exercise that doesn't add up to many calories, and of course it isn't such an issue if you think you might be underestimating calories anyway (results will give some insight into that).

    With something like the TDEE method or, instead, choosing a lower deficit on MFP to start, you aren't at the max deficit PLUS exercise, but making up your deficit through a combination of increasing activity and cutting calories more moderately.

    The TDEE approach makes sense to me, since I don't want to mess with trying to estimate exercise calories and I like eating the same most days, but of course my calorie goal isn't anywhere near as low as what it would be if I asked MFP to let me lose 2 lbs (or even 1.5) without exercise.

    This is important to me (I'm actually thinking of kicking up my calorie goal more now that I'm closer to maintenance), since I'm concerned about losing muscle mass. No sense losing more if a good bit of it is muscle.
  • iwantabs1
    iwantabs1 Posts: 7
    I'm so eating them but I'm new to this lol - next week I will not eat them
  • Sinistrous
    Sinistrous Posts: 5,589 Member
    I eat half+ of them.
  • ashleycde
    ashleycde Posts: 622 Member
    edited January 2015
    I have a low BMR and my lifestyle lately (in the winter, plus additional personal factors) is very sedentary, but when I work out I do so aggressively, so the discrepancy in calories burned on days I workout and days I don't are so different that it makes more sense for me to have a low daily calorie allowance and eat back calories on the days I work out so that I net low, but can still consume up to 2000 calories on some days. I am also much more hungry on the days I workout than the days I don't, and if I didn't eat more on the days I did work out, I imagine I wouldn't have the energy to make it through the day because my net would be much, much too low. Additionally, working out, for me, is part of being healthy and having energy, and it's not really about losing weight. What I eat, though also of course about being healthy, for me, is about losing weight, hence why I count calories and eat at a deficit.
  • ajnb88
    ajnb88 Posts: 339 Member
    I stopped trying to calculate in vs. out as the figures were never precise enough to make it accurate. If I worked out, I ate slightly more than usual, that was about it. I found actively trying to eat back 'earned' calories just made me binge, thinking it was justified.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories