Eating your Calories Burned?
pepper456
Posts: 7 Member
Do any of you eat your calories burned?
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Replies
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Depends. If you use the MFP values, eat back a maximum of 50% as they are often inflated. If you use a hrm, you could eat back a few percent more. I usually don't eat back my exercise calories, or maybe 100 calories max if I feel hungry before bed. Personal preference on that one.1
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I do not. I am currently eating about 20-25% less than my TDEE figured at lightly active and ignore my calories burned.0
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Here's a really good post about this:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p10 -
Both my dietician & doctor (endocrinologist specializing in weight issues) say not to.
1 - most people underestimate what they eat
2 - most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned
If you're really hungry at the end of the day once in a while, have 1/3 - 1/2 of them as a snack.
Or if you're consistently doing excessive exercise (marathon, iron man, century rides, etc.) have about half and
see what your weight does.
With only 20 lb to lose, you'd be doing well if you manage 0.5 lb per week. In fact, that's a bit high for a goal.
And if you're already at or close to a healthy weight (BMI) it's going to be even more slow.1 -
Thanks for the reply, I know it's best not to eat them back, just wanting a general idea of what others are doing.
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I eat back some, not all. I have a low daily target of 1300 calories per day, this is to give me 1lb a week weight loss. I use my fitbit and usually eat approx. 1500-1600 a day.0
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With only 20 lb to lose, you'd be doing well if you manage 0.5 lb per week. In fact, that's a bit high for a goal.
And if you're already at or close to a healthy weight (BMI) it's going to be even more slow.
This. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with going slow. I never would have lost 24 lbs. if I had set my calories too low to begin with because I never would have stuck with it. Lots of weeks I did not lose, but over time it kept coming off even though I had a relatively small deficit.
Be sure to tell MFP how active you really are. A lot of people will say they are sedentary because they think it will speed things up, but it's only going to make it harder to adhere to it if you feel constantly deprived.
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Both my dietician & doctor (endocrinologist specializing in weight issues) say not to.
1 - most people underestimate what they eat
2 - most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned
I buy into this logic so I try not to eat calories burned during exercise. That being said, if I go over my base calories slightly I don't worry about it too much. Just depends on the day and if I am hungry, I eat!0 -
well if your exercise is not an accounted for activity, wouldn't it be common sense to account for them somewhere? Like if my 50 mile ride isn't accounted for in my activity level, how does that activity get fueled properly for performance and recovery?
It's just a math equation...MFP doesn't account for exercise activity in your activity level...it only counts exercise activity when you log it and then get those calories to fuel that activity. Other calculators (most) do account for some estimate of exercise in your activity level...thus your calorie targets using other calculators would include those calories.
MFP equation: BMR + Daily Humdrum - deficit to lose weight = net calorie target + exercise = gross calories
TDEE: BMR + Daily Humdrum + Exercise - deficit to lose weight = gross calorie target
it's just math0 -
I do. On MFP you are given a deficit so that you lose weight without exercise. Exercise increases that deficit, so you should eat some back to maintain your deficit. Having too large of a deficit can mean losing more LBM (muscles) than you would have otherwise.
MFP gives me a goal of 1399 for 1 lb per week loss on a Lightly Active setting. My Fitbit however estimates my TDEE to be somewhere in the 2400-2500 range. So far, my fitbit has proved to be fairly accurate with my calorie burn. For this reason, I eat my Fitbit adjustments (extra activity calorie burns + exercise calories) and still lose 1lb per week on average. Not eating them back would make my deficit way to large for the 2-10 lbs I have left (can't decide if I want to stop in 2 lbs and start recomp or go for another 10 lbs before recomp). This makes my average intake calories right around 2000 currently.
If I wanted to do TDEE, then I would eat approximately:
20% cut - 1920 to 2000
15% cut - 2040 to 2125
10% cut - 2160 to 2250
^ I would pick one of these to eat everyday no matter what my activity was like for the day and then adjust it every 5lbs lost or so.
The difference is with TDEE, you are expected to exercise and you are given a portion of the calories to eat everyday. MFP on the other hand doesn't trust that you will exercise, so you aren't give the calories to account for it until you actually do it.
MFP + Exercise calories = approx 2000 calories on average
2000 calories a day = approximately my TDEE - 15 or 20%0 -
I do. I try to eat about half0
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Really enjoy reading all the replies with different opinions and findings on to eat them or not. I think I will try not to, but if I go over I won't panic about it. I guess it's trial and error just seeing what works best with our own bodies.0
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Both my dietician & doctor (endocrinologist specializing in weight issues) say not to.
1 - most people underestimate what they eat
2 - most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned
If you're really hungry at the end of the day once in a while, have 1/3 - 1/2 of them as a snack.
Or if you're consistently doing excessive exercise (marathon, iron man, century rides, etc.) have about half and
see what your weight does.
With only 20 lb to lose, you'd be doing well if you manage 0.5 lb per week. In fact, that's a bit high for a goal.
And if you're already at or close to a healthy weight (BMI) it's going to be even more slow.
Most likely they have no idea how MFP works and are thinking of TDEE, where exercise is factored in your total cals/day.
As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.
So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.
What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.
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I eat back half of them and lose more when I do that than when I don't.0
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I'm trying to only eat when I'm hungry, while still logging calories. Sometimes, I don't eat any of my exercise calories back because I'm not hungry. Sometimes I'm ravenous, so I eat back some/most of them. I'm listening to my body while also keeping an eye on it, if that makes sense?0
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If I am hungry I will eat back about half at most, but most days I don't need to use them. I try to make sure that my net is always at least 1,200, but that's my own personal goal and may not be for all.0
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Doing 30 min on the elliptical and then going
"Oh, now I can eat this delicious white bread with nutella!" is not gonna get you to where you want to go.
It's all in your head, you aren't dying just because you did a little exercise, your body is not gonna collapse if you don't eat 'em back.
You have a goal to lose weight, then set a realistic daily calorie plan, and stick with it, everything burned is just something to get you to where you want to be, faster.
Don't look for excuses to eat more.. Stick to the plan.0 -
Do any of you eat your calories burned?
Depends. Given that most of my sessions are in the 800-1600 calorie range, I'd be stupid not to replenish my fuel.
Eating back exercise calories is how MFP is designed to work, but people find lots of ways to mitigate for lack of accuracy in both intake and output.0 -
Both my dietician & doctor (endocrinologist specializing in weight issues) say not to.
1 - most people underestimate what they eat
2 - most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned
If you're really hungry at the end of the day once in a while, have 1/3 - 1/2 of them as a snack.
Or if you're consistently doing excessive exercise (marathon, iron man, century rides, etc.) have about half and
see what your weight does.
With only 20 lb to lose, you'd be doing well if you manage 0.5 lb per week. In fact, that's a bit high for a goal.
And if you're already at or close to a healthy weight (BMI) it's going to be even more slow.
If you are weighing all of your solid foods, and measuring all of your liquids, you are not underestimating what you eat. If you are using a heart rate monitor with a chest strap during cardio exercise, you are pretty close to accurate calorie burns.
MFP calorie deficits are calculated for TDEE, so any calorie burns add to that deficit and need to be eaten back. If they aren't eaten back, the calorie deficit will be too low, and this will be detrimental to the body, as total calorie intake will be too low. Lean muscle mass will be lost along with fat.
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staticsplit wrote: »I'm trying to only eat when I'm hungry, while still logging calories. Sometimes, I don't eat any of my exercise calories back because I'm not hungry. Sometimes I'm ravenous, so I eat back some/most of them. I'm listening to my body while also keeping an eye on it, if that makes sense?
Hunger is not a good indication of whether you need to eat.0 -
I use a heart rate monitor, eat back most of my exercise calories, but only if hungry, and make monthly adjustments to my daily calorie goals, based on results.0
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I never do unless I'm feeling light headed. Even then I usually only eat back about half of them, so a snack size amount.0
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Exactly.
If I didn't eat any of them back at all, I wouldn't be able to run for s&&t. When I was eating 1200 calories/day, I was crapping out after mile 1.
But I think the greater point here is that I'm eating enough to sustain my activity while losing weight and not paying any attention whatsoever to the amount of calories MFP says I burned exercising.0 -
If you are doing a vigorous exercise routine it would be wise to eat some of them back. MFP is already calculating for your deficit. If you are doing a vigorous workout routine where you're burning an extra 400-600 calories a day you're going to have too large of a deficit. You won't notice it at first but after 30-45 days you'll start to feel fatigued. It may be harder to get up in the morning or you're leg muscles may just give out or weaken just during normal walking. These are signs that you might be overdoing it. Eat a little back and it will help with muscle repair and recovery.0
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If I did wimpy workouts that really didn't account for many calories - probably not.
Or I couldn't log them accurately because I didn't pay attention to time or pace or speed.
But I do hard workouts - and I want to keep doing them.
I eat them all back.0 -
Not eating some of your exercise calories back is the same as eating less than your daily calorie amount without exercise. Example, if you normal goal is 1200 calories, you do a work out that assumes 400 calories burned, you eat only 1200, you net for the day would be 800-1000 calories, assuming some error in the method of measuring burned calories and accurate measurement of food calories.
This is not healthy. If a some one came on here and asked "Is it okay to only eat 800 calories, or a 1000, BTW i'm 5'6"" everyone would be screaming.0 -
I eat mine back because it motivates me to exercise so I can eat more. In the past I've been too harsh on myself and I can't stick with it. So far it seems to be working. I don't feel deprived and I'm excited because I'm enjoying my exercise now. Also it's still teaching me portion control because I could never exercise enough to burn what I used to eat. I lost almost 3 lbs this week. Granted im in the beginning stages, so I will continue to adapt as needed.0
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Thanks for the reply, I know it's best not to eat them back, just wanting a general idea of what others are doing.
I wouldn't say that....It's dependent upon the individual, their goals, and how much they work out. Say if I didn't, there would be days where I would net less than 1K calories per day. I wouldn't say that's optimal or "best".
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Thanks for the reply, I know it's best not to eat them back, just wanting a general idea of what others are doing.
I wouldn't say that....It's dependent upon the individual, their goals, and how much they work out. Say if I didn't, there would be days where I would net less than 1K calories per day. I wouldn't say that's optimal or "best".
You are correct......it's dependent upon the individual....and for me I don't need to eat them back at this point. Not yet at least. Until my workouts get longer and stronger, I PERSONALLY don't need to eat them.
Thanks for you reply.0
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