Eat it back or not?

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Shinwasha
Shinwasha Posts: 32 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm sure this has been mentioned often but here goes.
Really fighting over the idea of eating back burned calories. Part of me is like I increased my calorie burn I need to eat more not to hit starvation mode. The other part of me is like if I eat it back what was the point of doing of the exercise to burn calories if I just eat it back.

Replies

  • JoJoTheModern
    JoJoTheModern Posts: 20 Member
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    I know this won't be popular, but I did *not* eat back my exercise calories while losing. I felt the same way you do; I burned off those calories, let them stay gone! As long as someone has a healthy total number of calories consumed at the end of the day, all should be well.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,394 Member
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    Exercising is beneficial wether you eat back the calories or not. If you're hungry, try eating back half of them (I'm always hungry....), if you're satiated without eating them back, then don't!
  • Cchioles
    Cchioles Posts: 276 Member
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    I Wouldn't Eat The Calories Back, If Trying To Lose Weight
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
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    MFP's calculator is based on NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), therefore calculates your deficit without accounting for exercise. That is way you get to eat those calories back, to maintain the desired deficit. If you don't eat them back you are creating a larger deficit.

    BTW, "starvation mode" is a dieting myth. Adaptive Themogenesis is not.

    Exercise for cardiovascular health.
    Lift weights to sustain and build strength and muscle.
    Eat less to lose weight.
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
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    Both forms of exercise will result in burned calories, and yeah if you're looking to create a deficit avoid eating back the calories depending on your weight loss goals, generally 500cal deficit a day is equal too 1lb loss per week, but that also depends on your current body fat % and exercise experience. Higher fat % plus lower fitness level will result in greater fat losses than its counterpart. Don't be surprised if it becomes increasingly difficult to get rid of those last few pounds, just stay determined and keep moving forward!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    It has nothing to do with starvation mode and everything to do with learning to properly fuel your activities, including exercise. If exercise isn't accounted for in your activity level, then doesn't it seem like common sense that you would have to account for it somewhere?

    exercise is good for you...it can also be a major stress on the body and it breaks the body down...to recover and repair, you require energy (calories) and nutrients...you should be accounting for your exercise activity in some manner. MFP is designed to account for it after the fact when you log it...other calculators include an estimate in your activity level and thus those calories are already included in your target...but one way or another you should be accounting for that activity.

    Also, once you wrap your head around fitness for the sake of fitness and not just losing weight or whatever...it starts to make a whole lot more sense to fuel your fitness...that's how you make fitness improvements and recover. You will notice that most fit people actually eat a fair bit.
  • Shinwasha
    Shinwasha Posts: 32 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    It has nothing to do with starvation mode and everything to do with learning to properly fuel your activities, including exercise. If exercise isn't accounted for in your activity level, then doesn't it seem like common sense that you would have to account for it somewhere?

    exercise is good for you...it can also be a major stress on the body and it breaks the body down...to recover and repair, you require energy (calories) and nutrients...you should be accounting for your exercise activity in some manner. MFP is designed to account for it after the fact when you log it...other calculators include an estimate in your activity level and thus those calories are already included in your target...but one way or another you should be accounting for that activity.

    Also, once you wrap your head around fitness for the sake of fitness and not just losing weight or whatever...it starts to make a whole lot more sense to fuel your fitness...that's how you make fitness improvements and recover. You will notice that most fit people actually eat a fair bit.

    I'm exercising to get fit, and actually run a 10k in 10 months. I'm losing weight to be more attractive for a mate and to just get it off my bones. The issue I have is I want to lose fat and maintain the muscle I have. I'm losing inches, but weight is staying around the same. That's what the whole eat it back mentality comes from.

    For the whole eat some back if you are hungry. I'm very rarely hungry now, as I'm eating more vegetables (which I'm starting to like)
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
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    How much are you eating and how long has your weight stayed the same?
  • M30834134
    M30834134 Posts: 411 Member
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    I'm using NEAT for my calorie budgeting and eat portion of my exercise calories (about 50%, or so). Today I'm 0.4lb away from my goal - lost about 30 since end of February. My loss was steady and without any plateaus. If you are not using TDEE, I would recommend to eat back some of the exercise calories to give your body enough fuel
  • alathIN
    alathIN Posts: 142 Member
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    The scale/tape will tell you whether eating back works for you.
    Personally if I eat back 100% of what MFP tells me to I maintain weight but do not lose.
    If I do not eat back at all, I faint (slight exaggeration).
    Eating back about 50% of my exercise kCal works for me and I lose weight when I do that consistently.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    alathIN wrote: »
    The scale/tape will tell you whether eating back works for you.
    Personally if I eat back 100% of what MFP tells me to I maintain weight but do not lose.
    If I do not eat back at all, I faint (slight exaggeration).
    Eating back about 50% of my exercise kCal works for me and I lose weight when I do that consistently.

    And if I eat mine back I still lose more than I choose in the gial setting area. I am a big believer in fueling your body properly for exercise. All of these calorie goal and expenditure numbers are estimates based on averages. Start out eating a certain percentage of your exercise calories, track your measurements for several (I suggest 4) weeks and then adjust up/down accordingly.
  • Shinwasha
    Shinwasha Posts: 32 Member
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    loulamb7 wrote: »
    How much are you eating and how long has your weight stayed the same?

    Daily I'm eating 1900 calories as what I've calculated out to would be a deficient of ~5,000 calories a week from my BMR. If I eat anymore I gain.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Shinwasha wrote: »
    loulamb7 wrote: »
    How much are you eating and how long has your weight stayed the same?

    Daily I'm eating 1900 calories as what I've calculated out to would be a deficient of ~5,000 calories a week from my BMR. If I eat anymore I gain.

    If you're taking 5000 off your BMR (or do you mean TDEE?) for the week and not losing, you're eating more than you think. And really, if you're following TDEE, then you should not be eating your calories back anyway, as they're already accounted for in your calculations.
  • KatieLK14
    KatieLK14 Posts: 90 Member
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    Depends on the day. If i am hungry, i'll typically eat back 1/2. If i'm not hungry, i just leave em
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    I make sure I fuel my exercise so dont run overly large deficits, but sometimes eat them all and then sometimes a portion of them back, depending on whether im hungry or what ive already eaten. Its intuitive for me and i just keep an eye on it.

    Even if you eat them all back there are other benefits (which ive just put in another thread), whichare:

    1. You get the fitness.
    2. You get a temporary rise in your metabolism.
    3. You get to retain more lbm if you aredoing resistance.
    4. You get the cardio vascular pluses as well as strength plisses.
    5. You get the benefit of eating more food, which cna enhance your ability to sustain your original deficit.
    6. More food is nice.
  • Shinwasha
    Shinwasha Posts: 32 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Shinwasha wrote: »
    loulamb7 wrote: »
    How much are you eating and how long has your weight stayed the same?

    Daily I'm eating 1900 calories as what I've calculated out to would be a deficient of ~5,000 calories a week from my BMR. If I eat anymore I gain.

    If you're taking 5000 off your BMR (or do you mean TDEE?) for the week and not losing, you're eating more than you think. And really, if you're following TDEE, then you should not be eating your calories back anyway, as they're already accounted for in your calculations.


    BMR is 2567, goal is 1900 a day. That's 667 a day off * 7 = 4669. I weigh everything out, and enter as precise as the scale allows which is 2 decimal places. I use a measuring cup for things that are in fractions of cups. I'm very precise about what I'm eating. I don't drink coffee with sugar or drinks with calories in them except for Friday and Saturday and I logged those. But I think I'm not going to eat back calories anymore as it plateaus me.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    edited June 2015
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    I think you mean your TDEE is 2567. Your BMR is the calories you need if you did nothing but rest all day. If you are using TDEE then you should not be eating your calories back.

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