Exercise calories - how many to eat back

Lola2248 wrote: »

I understand the site overestimates calories burned. When you exercise and log it, do you eat back a percentage of what you burned?

I used to and did for the majority of my loss on MFP. For me, it depended on the exercise. I ate back all running calories up to 500 and whatever I felt like after that (this only affected my one long run of the week). I ate about half my biking calories, and same with cardio-based exercise classes or the elliptical. I have no clue how to measure strength, so would usually do about 100 for an hour.

I used Fitbit for straight walking calories or included them in my activity setting (lightly active instead of sedentary), but I walk a pretty consistent amount and for errands and commuting, not specifically for exercise.

Doing this I generally lost more than MFP predicted, so it seemed to be an undercount, not an overcount.

I got tired of this especially when I started being unable to stand the super low calorie off days and unable to eat the extra on big running or biking days, so I switched to TDEE where you include exercise you typically do in the calorie estimate. That worked really well for me for the remainder of my loss. (I've either been taking a diet break or in maintenance for a bit, but TDEE method is also what I plan to do for maintenance.)

I think you should include exercise in your calorie estimate in some way, especially if you are doing hard exercise, have fitness-related goals (I was training for a 10K and then half marathon and continue to train for races, and am now trying to make strength goals as well), or have an aggressive deficit and are not extremely obese/under a doctor's care. The basic idea is that 1% of total weight or 1-2 lb/week is the maximum that most people should aim for with their deficit (made up of diet and exercise) and MFP at -2 lb/week + lots of exercise is going to be overkill for many, at least if you log accurately. (Some simply don't count exercise to make up for poor logging.)

Bigger guys may have so many calories and such a high weight or maintenance that this is less of an issue, as even with the deficit plus exercise it's not that aggressive in a relative sense, but it is an issue for most women.

brianpperkins wrote: »

ljcolasanto wrote: »

My understanding is that chest-based HRMs are the best, with wrist-based trackers being decent, and MFP being all over the place on these? But yes, even HRMs are not completely accurate, though they are said to be the best from what I've read. For the record, I do not eat back my exercise calories and I have been losing weight. I also use a fitbit flex. For me, the value is that it is repeatable and I can easily compare my alleged calorie burn over time. You can then adjust it if you think it's too high or low, but at least using one device to track it will give you consistency.

Best for what?

Chest straps and some arm mounted optical HRMs are great at counting heart beats at rest and during activity. The wrist mounted ones tend to become inaccurate during activity. All HRM caloric estimates are based on formulas built around steady state cardio ... none do lifting, intervals (to include HIIT), Zumba, yoga, etc accurately.

This gets repeated as a mantra, however any HRM monitor using first beat technology is based on non-steady state activity with accuracy in the 90%+.

lmr0528 wrote: »

I don't focus on eating back or not eating back a certain amount. If I'm hungry and I have calories left, I eat.

^^ this.

i wear an HRM during my workouts and enter that as cals burned instead of relying on what this app tells me. also, i eat when i'm hungry, i don't eat when i'm not...the way it's supposed to be. i use this app to make sure that i'm within my target caloric range. yesterday i was short 500cals but wasn't hugry at all so 500cals short it was.

use this app for reference only ie. to make sure you're eating within your range but also LISTEN to your body! that's more important

My uncle has given me advice when i asked him about that regarding walking. He has a masters in nutrition and a martial artist so i trust his advice.

"You should eat unprocessed foods, eat when your hungry and eat till your full. Healthy fats are very good for you and being healthy on the inside is more important then being skinny."

Makes sense to me, i don't have access to fresh food since Im not home a lot and fresh food goes bad and then it becomes wasteful. I think its possible to lose weight and be healthy i think its also healthier to take his advice. I will try it soon as possible but i need to be more active. But then again gorging on veges and rice and some fruit more and meat less (but still included) makes it possible for one to be more healthy. My aunt issnt skinny but she isn't even pudgy-just curvy and a little thick but not very thick so they do follow there advice.