Eating back exercise done

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Merkavar
Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
so maybe I just haven't notice before but today I have seen 4-6 mentions of eating back the calories you have burned exercising.

Can someone explain this idea to me?

To me it makes sense if you were trying to gain or maintain weight but not if your losing weight.

Say for example you eat x y and z to reach your energy limit to reach your weight loss goal. The next day you eat the same but also exercise. Is it recommend that you eat some of the exercised energy back. So now you have eaten x y z and t.

If x y and z was sufficient energy, nutrients, vitimins etc wouldn't not eating back the energy just help you lose weight a little faster with no ill effects.

Seems to me their are two ways to increase weight loss, increasing exercise(good) or increasing your energy deficit by decreasing food(bad)

So what all this about eating back exercise burnt energy?

Thanks.

Learn something new every day.

Replies

  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    edited February 2015
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    when you follow the MFP method your total goal calories is set to what your daily activity is WITHOUT exercise.

    So MFP gives you the calories and the macros/nutrition's you need for the activity you chose.
    Now you are going to exercise ...so your body will need more protein/sugar etc
    You give in here that you exercised and MFP calculate your "new" total.

    The reason why people dont eat them all back but a part is because of over estimating "burned calories
    And for under estimating logged calories.

    In my humble opinion it is very logical when i am set to sedentary ( so not doing much all day) and i suddenly start to train 90 minutes a day. That my body needs more fuel. This is the reason why i eat back 1/4 of my burned calories to hit my macro goals
    That is the MFP method

    Now you can do TDEE too than you exercise is in your calculation. For me i like the MFP method :)

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I aim to lose 1lb a week.

    I burn approx 1820 without exercise per day (according to MFP).
    To lose 1lb per week that means without exercise I eat 1320.

    If I exercise and say burn 500 calories, my total calorie burn for the day is now 2320.
    To lose 1lb per week that means with exercise I should eat around 1820.

    When I did a 3 month average earlier this month, based on my loss rate and how much I ate, my average burn per day was closer to 2600. So, I eat my exercise calories back because if I didn't I would have to large of a deficit which would make me feel like crap (tried it...didn't go well) thus lowering my overall calorie burn because I would have to workout at a lower intensity.
  • triciab79
    triciab79 Posts: 1,713 Member
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    Everyone is different. If you have a lot to lose and are hitting the nutrition you need to be healthy and are not hungry then I see no reason to eat calories you do not need. Some say this is unsustainable but I did it and I have kept the weight off for 2+ years with no struggle. Being a guy I would think gaining muscle would be a priority in your weight loss goals. As such I personally wouldn't recommend you forgo all of those calories but if you have a lot to lose then it might still make sense. Just be sure you are being very conservative in your calorie burn estimates if you eat them back.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    I guess that makes sense. Just never heard it before. Like most times I exercise I do eat a bit back anyway. But that was more because I was hungry or wanted something nice to eat.

    Not because I was eating back the exercise done.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    Merkavar wrote: »
    I guess that makes sense. Just never heard it before. Like most times I exercise I do eat a bit back anyway. But that was more because I was hungry or wanted something nice to eat.

    Not because I was eating back the exercise done.

    Well yes good reason your body needs and asks for more :)

  • AFitJamie
    AFitJamie Posts: 172 Member
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    OwlHouse pretty much nailed it.

    The idea is that MFP creates a calorie goal for you that creates the necessary deficit for you to lose at the pace you entered assuming you will not exercise. If you do, it suggest you want to eat those calories back so the deficit is stable... if you didn't, the deficit would be larger and you may be in a position of creating and maintaining larger deficits than is advisable for retaining as much muscle mass as possible..

    Take the extreme example.... Assume I eat 1500 calories because I want to lose 1 Lb a week and regularly I would burn 2000 calories in a day.... If I do eat at 1500 calories... I'm good. If I work out for a LOOOONG time and burn 1000 calories... my body has pulled from fat stores and muscle to fuel this workout... if I did this every day, I will have created a 1500 deficit every day (500 from MFP's created gap and the 1000 extra I burn) ... If this were sustained over a longer period, e.g. I did this every day - this would be a large deficit that is causing your body to require energy faster than it can replenish it or support it from fat stores - so it *will* consume muscle to get the energy... Keep that up for a long time, and as you lose, you are losing more muscle tissue than you should.

    The idea behind "eating back" is just to keep your deficit from becoming consistently too large...

    Hope this is helpful


  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    Yeah I do actually try to keep my deficit stable. It's just I never put exercise and eating more together. So say I exercise a bit on Monday and Tuesday my deficit will be higher but then on Friday I'll eat something that more or less cancels out the extra deficit. So over a week it evens out.

    Is there a problem with this method or should it be more of a day to day thing? Eat more on the days I exercise?

  • AFitJamie
    AFitJamie Posts: 172 Member
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    Meh... I personally wouldn't stress it much...

    Yes it might be marginally *better* to be more consistent day-to-day, but truly it isn't going to be a problem for you unless you really go over the top. You know what I mean - a 3000 cal over-the-top day or two and then a few days of eating at 0 net.... otherwise, personally, I wouldn't stress over it.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
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    Exercise should be for improvement of overall fitness and health. The reason MFP has you eat these back is to maintain a constant deficit but also to fuel the additional activity.
    Merkavar wrote: »
    So say I exercise a bit on Monday and Tuesday my deficit will be higher but then on Friday I'll eat something that more or less cancels out the extra deficit. So over a week it evens out.

    Is there a problem with this method or should it be more of a day to day thing? Eat more on the days I exercise?

    No problem with this method at all. I often do this if I know I'll be eating more on a certain day of the week. My focus is to maintain the appropriate caloric level over the week.

  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    edited February 2015
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    No not really a problem at all I look at a weekly overall too.
    But i like and need some more on days i exercise i noticed. But everybody is different in that way too.

    Also there is no man overboard when you eat sometimes more than you burned Your deficit will be a bit smaller. But it is all about portion control and getting in the habit to not always over eat.

    I ate over the last 4 months, 3 buffets ( try to count those calories lol) had 3 times a celebration were i consumed champagne ( about 4 glasses each occasion) i had 2 times a Starbucks.
    It just comes down at doing things sometimes and next day back to normal again.
    And i lost 62 pounds.

    Control is the key.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    Yeah I had a Christmas party where I had a few drinks, about 10-12. Scotch and coke so a lot of kj.

    The weekly graph of energy looked like a giant middle finger each time I saw it for the next week :pensive:

    I was curious about this eating back thing because it was like everyone started talking about it out if the blue but I don't think it's anything I need to worry about too much

    Thanks
  • kolive888
    kolive888 Posts: 2
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    I've also been confused about how all that works. Though I have noticed a decrease in late night cravings when I do eat those calories back, which was always a struggle for me, so there must be some merit to it. :D
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Merkavar wrote: »
    I was curious about this eating back thing because it was like everyone started talking about it out if the blue but I don't think it's anything I need to worry about too much

    I think this is because the "diet" industry has conditioned us to think that in order to lose weight we have to drastically reduce our calories and exercise like madmen. The concept of a moderate deficit and properly fueling our activity is a bit foreign to us.

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