Question about Exercise Calories...

Metamorphasis555
Metamorphasis555 Posts: 224
edited September 27 in Health and Weight Loss
For those of you who eat back your exercise calories, I have a quick question for you.

Do you normally eat back just a portion of the calories you burned through exercise (like say just half of them) or do you normally eat all of your exercise calories back?

I'm sure everyone handles this differently but just wanted to take a quick little poll on this, just out of curiosity. lol

Replies

  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    I always eat at least half back. There are days when I'm more hungry than others, so sometimes I eat all of them. I would guess it's around a 50/50 split.
  • britachu
    britachu Posts: 157
    I typically eat most of mine. it just depends on how much I exercised -- and I'll admit sometimes I exercise more just so I can eat something horrible for me...
  • juliapurpletoes
    juliapurpletoes Posts: 951 Member
    I eat them all back...at this point in my 'journey' I have to build muscle and that takes calories... I am only set up to lose 1/2 per week but in reality I lose probably 1 pound every three or so.

    It is different for each person....... and I know I can eat all of mine back because I have no wiggle room....

    I also am scrupulous about recording and logging both food and exercise calories.

    Best of Luck!
  • melindaw1977
    melindaw1977 Posts: 15
    i usually eat about 1/2 of them back. I generally record my exercise as it is listed on here and the machines I use often say fewer calories, so I just feel like it's on the safe side to eat some, but not all of them back.
  • funinthesun05
    funinthesun05 Posts: 4
    At the end of the day, I try to have 200 calories or more left on my goal- exercise or no exercise.
  • hellokatee
    hellokatee Posts: 211 Member
    At the end of the day, when you hit MY HOME, and you see where it says Goal: 1200 (Food 1200) -( Exercise 200) = Net 1000, that net of 1000 calories is the FUEL your body received for the day. Since MY goal is to have a deficit of 1000 calories per day (7000 calories per week, theoretically losing 2 pounds per week), I need to eat those last 200 calories. If I don't, my deficit becomes higher and I run the risk of giving my body too little fuel. I'm no a professional, but this is just my personal understanding of how MFP is supposed to work!

    In short, I eat them all! Unless I do some crazy work out and literally CANNOT eat them! :laugh: :laugh:
  • neesono
    neesono Posts: 61
    I do my best to eat them all back but some days after P90X and my day job there is no way I'm eating all those calories back. What I focus on is getting back AT LEAST half and making sure I'm getting my protein. Usually if I get my target protein for the day (which is always very hard for me to do even though I am very much a carnivore) everything else falls into line.

    I think the best thing to do is...to do what's best for you. I'm not expert either and there seems to be conflicting advice on all things fitness related. But there is advice that is universal no matter what the source: make sure you're getting enough calories no matter what!

    Eventually your body will kind of tell you if what you're doing is right or wrong.
  • suzycreamcheese
    suzycreamcheese Posts: 1,766 Member
    i eat them if i feel like it, and not if i dont feel like it. I definitely dont force myself to make up calories in the day if im not hungry, as i think thats a bit weird, but normally i eat a fair proportion of them
  • tami315
    tami315 Posts: 12
    I have been Calorie counting at home alone for about 18 months or so, I went from 218 pounds to 152 pounds. I have put on about 9 or 10 pounds of what I lost, which is why I have joined this site to give me support, It does not sound a lot but it means my favourite skinny clothes are to tight

    I read through a lot of peoples views on eating my calories from exercise, which I never had before. I have been eating mine for a couple of weeks but have not shifted a pound. I have tried to stick with it hoping that it will start to drop off but in reality i think eating them is not working for me. I have never eaten them all maybe just over half.

    I weigh 163 pounds it says to lose a pound a week I should eat 1300 calories, I excercise daily which averages at 500 cals a day burned. which tells me that I should be able to eat 1800 a day and still lose a pound a week, I have on avaerage eaten 1450 over the last week but have still stayed the same. I am happy to not have gained but need to lose a few pounds.

    Any idead how I move forward
  • Shaunna23
    Shaunna23 Posts: 2
    I only eat them back if I need to. I try to listen to my body.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    I eat back all of mine. Some days I burn up to 750, and I'd starve otherwise! In my experience I lose more, and more consistently, when I eat as close to my daily limit including exercise calories as possible.
  • maillekelly
    maillekelly Posts: 132
    I never eat mine back, but at the same time I listen to my body, and it is never hungry after my food, if you take a look at my diary I eat a lot for little calories but it keeps me always full and satisfied! It may be because I have a high intake of protein, but I feel strong on my diet, and i exercise a lot.
  • hellokatee
    hellokatee Posts: 211 Member
    I have been Calorie counting at home alone for about 18 months or so, I went from 218 pounds to 152 pounds. I have put on about 9 or 10 pounds of what I lost, which is why I have joined this site to give me support, It does not sound a lot but it means my favourite skinny clothes are to tight

    I read through a lot of peoples views on eating my calories from exercise, which I never had before. I have been eating mine for a couple of weeks but have not shifted a pound. I have tried to stick with it hoping that it will start to drop off but in reality i think eating them is not working for me. I have never eaten them all maybe just over half.

    I weigh 163 pounds it says to lose a pound a week I should eat 1300 calories, I excercise daily which averages at 500 cals a day burned. which tells me that I should be able to eat 1800 a day and still lose a pound a week, I have on avaerage eaten 1450 over the last week but have still stayed the same. I am happy to not have gained but need to lose a few pounds.

    Any idead how I move forward

    Are you sure that you are burning as many calories as you think you are? Are you using a Hear Rate Monitor? Maybe you aren't burning as many calories as you think, and eating them back is actually cutting into your deficit?
  • swebb1103
    swebb1103 Posts: 200 Member
    I listen to my body. There are days, close to my TOM, that I deliberately exercise a lot more to have a good cushion because I am so hungry (not to mention, have such cravings!) but other times, I don't touch my exercise calories.
  • tryinghard2012
    tryinghard2012 Posts: 419 Member
    I listen to my body. I never had to eat them back.

    I don't know how accurate the machine's are. Don't want to risk slowing down my weight loss. However if I happen to be hungry, I'll eat.

    Calories= fuel.
  • djhavoc
    djhavoc Posts: 43
    I try to eat most of my exercise calories back but I always wind up 100-200 calories short.
  • Metamorphasis555
    Metamorphasis555 Posts: 224
    Thank you very much for your input on this everyone!

    If anyone else would you like to share with us whether or not they choose to eat all (or part) of their exercise calories, that would be great! Thanks! :)
  • marianne_s
    marianne_s Posts: 983 Member
    I eat mine back...

    I currently have an exercise schedule, and roughly know how much calories I will burn on each exercise.

    So, I typically have a larger lunch & late afternoon snack to increase my calorie intake.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    I usually eat back about half. Today I burned over 1000 cals but there's no way on Earth I can eat more than 2000 calories, so I was 550 short today.
  • dj_stevie_c
    dj_stevie_c Posts: 270
    The way I do it.

    If I don't exercise I stick to what MFP tells me, not rigidly but I try to be sensible.
    If I exercise then I tend not to look as hard, the way I work there's no way I should be anywhere near going over or catching up on my cals.

    Take today for example, spent an hour in the gym, at the moment I'm 1000 cals under my daily total, which is fine, I may have a little more when I get home from work but I'm not 'stressing' about it and as long as I don't go crazy I'll be fine.

    In comparison on Tuesday I did a 20km+ 'power' walk. Tell me it's possible to eat back those 3000 odd calories without having 3 pizza's :D

    The answer to me is, don't force yourself to eat if you don't want or feel the need to, but do eat if you feel a bit hungrier than normal, just have sensible stuff, no matter what kind of day you're having. :)
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
    I eat all of mine... but I'll add the caveat that I don't rely on MFP's exercise counter; I use a BodyBugg for actual calories burned. Some folks use HRMs for a more accurate number.

    If you are using MFPs exercise database for calories burned, you'll need to experiment. Some people find it's too high, others find it's spot on, and yet others find it's too low.
  • neesono
    neesono Posts: 61
    Because I'm an overweight non-expert I try to do as much research as I can. I've never heard of eating back exercise calories until I started looking into fitness plans.

    From what I have read it seems to come down to two factors

    1) The facts. A higher metabolic rate promotes fat burning. That seems to be universal. Processing food boosts your metabolism. eating several meals throughout the day helps to keep the engine running which means your metabolism doesn't dip too much. So if the engine is running you're burning fuel. But where is that fuel coming from? You've gotta eat. Yes the whole point of working our big *kitten* is to burn calories to lose weight. But the simple fact is that if you don't eat enough then your body will store the fuel rather than burn it. Again, I am no expert. These are just things I have learned from reading articles written by experts and based on what works for me. Which brings me to factor two...

    2) Listen to your machine. I am nowhere near my goal weight but over the last few months of changing my fitness lifestyle I feel that I've become more in tune with my bod. It lets me know what I need and when I need it. I am convinced that the more you work out and eat right the more your body will communicate with you. It will start to enjoy being treated right. So when you slip or take a cheat day your body will go into "WTF?!" mode and let you know.

    Personally I say give any lifestyle change 90 days. Throw out your scale and just log what you do. If there isn't any significant movement in 90 days then review your logs and make the appropriate changes. It's really just that simple. Checking your weight daily is BAD. Hell, checking it weekly isn't all that helpful either.

    Sorry...I talk too much....so anyway....for me...I eat some of my work out cals back. All if I can. I feel that when I work out I deplete my fuel so it only makes sense to replace it. And don't forget...there are good calories and bad calories. So no need to eat 3 pizzas. Just half of one :-)
  • CARNAT22
    CARNAT22 Posts: 764 Member
    I eat most of them back!
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