Eating Your Calories Back

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MegTuck17
MegTuck17 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Should I eat back the calories I burn in order to meet my daily calorie requirement?
Example my goal is set at 1,300 but I burned 496 calories yesterday, should I of eaten the 496 back?

Replies

  • TechOutside
    TechOutside Posts: 101 Member
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    I wasn't eating them back for a long time, and just plateaued, never losing any weight, and only slowly getting stronger. I have recently begun to eat them back and am doing pretty good.

    I think each person will vary, it took a long time for me to really find the right calories for me. Trial and error unfortunately is the way of the path.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Most health care professionals recommend women do not NET below 1200 calories. That is the minimum your body needs to function correctly. Netting below this for an extended period of time can result in harm to your body.

    So I would recommend at least eating enough to net at 1200. MFP IS designed for you to eat back your calories and still lose weight at your desired set rate.

    If you aren't losing weight on eating them back you are either eating more than you think or are over estimating your burns. A lot of people recommend eating some of your exercise calories back. My personal recommendations/experience shows that it depends on your level of activity. Generally I do 8-10 hours of intense exercise a week. If I don't eat 75% of what I burn back I start getting tired and hungry all the time. If you are just doing the treadmill a few times a week, it's probably not as big of a deal. But again, try to net at 1200 as often as possible.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    Yes, that is how MFP is designed. You put in your stats and your per week goal and it spits out a calorie number, assuming you do no exercise. So you're in the deficit to meet your goal if you only went about your normal day. When you exercise MFP gives you those calories back in order to get you back to the calorie deficit of your goal. Unless extremely overweight, your body needs fuel for workouts, that's what MFP is giving you back. Think of it this way. When you ate 1300 cals, and exercised off 500 that would have been much like fueling a normal day, without the gym, on 800 calories. MFP normally gives inflated exercise calories, so most start at eating back 50% - 75%, and adjust from there.

    Another way to look at it. Maintenance = 2000 cals, MFP calculates 250 cal defict to lose 1lb per week.

    2000 cals - 250 = 1750; 250 cal deficit for 1lb per week.

    2000 cals + 400 exercise cals = 2400 is now maintenance.

    1750 (MFP Goal) + 400 exercise cals = 2150

    2400 - 2150 = 250 cal deficit for 1lb loss per week.
  • svirds
    svirds Posts: 57 Member
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    Depends on what your overall goal is. I do not eat mine back. I average around 1200 cals per day with food intake. This way I am able to lose 1-2 lbs weekly. I had to play around with it. If I up it to 1400, I do not lose. I eat very healthy and exercise 6 days a week (running, walking, biking, etc). My coach said 1200 cals a day and not eating exercise cals back is a good goal to continue to lose weight.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    svirds wrote: »
    Depends on what your overall goal is. I do not eat mine back. I average around 1200 cals per day with food intake. This way I am able to lose 1-2 lbs weekly. I had to play around with it. If I up it to 1400, I do not lose. I eat very healthy and exercise 6 days a week (running, walking, biking, etc). My coach said 1200 cals a day and not eating exercise cals back is a good goal to continue to lose weight.

    And the OPs goal is weightloss, so eating back exercise cals still applies (if they're using MFP as designed).
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
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    That is what I thought too that we eat the calories we gained w the exercise
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    MegTuck17 wrote: »
    Should I eat back the calories I burn in order to meet my daily calorie requirement?
    Example my goal is set at 1,300 but I burned 496 calories yesterday, should I of eaten the 496 back?

    More like 248 calories back (496 / 2).

    MFP as designed expects you to eat calories back because they gave you a deficit before exercise. That way people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight. However, calorie burns are tough to estimate. Many people eat back half....then adjust as needed.

    Too large a deficit makes it hard for your body to support lean muscle. You might lose a larger portion of lean muscle than you like.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    Ask yourself this...why would MFP add those calories to your GOAL calories? Hmmmmm....

    Also, there are stickies that explain why you would do this and explains the methodology MFP uses.
  • MegTuck17
    MegTuck17 Posts: 4 Member
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    thanks everyone
  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
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    Yes...sorta.

    As others have pointed out, the numbers listed on MFP for calorie expenditure for exercise tend to overestimate.

    A good rule of thumb, unless you are using a heart rate monitor to get your calorie burns, is to take the calories listed on MFP and multiply by anywhere from .666 to .5 to get a more accurate representation.

    Then, yes...eat whatever that number is back..

    For example, if MFP says I burn 600 calories, I multiply by .666 to get a burn of approximately 400 calories. I will eat back 400 calories and let those other 200 be a "buffer".
  • MegTuck17
    MegTuck17 Posts: 4 Member
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    I am using a polar watch so I feel like my caloric burn is pretty accurate
  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
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    I didn't bother eating back my calories while I was losing, but I was only doing an hour walk every day. I started eating them back as I got closer to maintenance or if I did something which burned a lot.
  • itsjosiebitch
    itsjosiebitch Posts: 68 Member
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    Eat like half :) win win
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    SpartanChild88 wrote: »
    i eaat 800-1200 and i burn 700. does this mean i net little??

    If your logging and calorie burns are accurate, it means you're netting 100-500 calories a day, not enough to sustain your life.
  • Terpnista84
    Terpnista84 Posts: 517 Member
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    I'm going to start. I think that is the reason my weight loss has been slow. I eat my BMR and burn a minimum of 800 calories a day.

    I think a good rule of thumb is to not net any less than 1,200 calories which is the minimum you need for your body to function. That means I can eat my exercise calories- yay! But since MFP may overestimate your workout burn it's best to eat about 60% of them.

  • Terpnista84
    Terpnista84 Posts: 517 Member
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    esjones12 wrote: »
    Most health care professionals recommend women do not NET below 1200 calories. That is the minimum your body needs to function correctly. Netting below this for an extended period of time can result in harm to your body.

    So I would recommend at least eating enough to net at 1200. MFP IS designed for you to eat back your calories and still lose weight at your desired set rate.

    If you aren't losing weight on eating them back you are either eating more than you think or are over estimating your burns. A lot of people recommend eating some of your exercise calories back. My personal recommendations/experience shows that it depends on your level of activity. Generally I do 8-10 hours of intense exercise a week. If I don't eat 75% of what I burn back I start getting tired and hungry all the time. If you are just doing the treadmill a few times a week, it's probably not as big of a deal. But again, try to net at 1200 as often as possible.

    Thank you for reminding me of this!

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