Exercise calories

hotmomma1day
hotmomma1day Posts: 10 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. I'm new here so please bare with me as I get used to everything. Lol! I have my iPhone step counter synced with MFP. I've set a goal to walk 10,000 steps each day. About half of those steps I've done at the track by walking 2-3 miles. I've not been logging my miles as exercise since it's already getting my steps (atleast when I have my phone with me. Lol). But I'm afraid I will still end up eating to much if I eat the calories it is telling me to eat, once my activity is added. Does everyone else eat the activity calories? I'm on a 1500 calorie diet now but yesterday for example, MFP told me I could eat around 1800.

Replies

  • Amanda_Tate28
    Amanda_Tate28 Posts: 168 Member
    I don't eat any of my activity calories because my nutritionist told me not to. She said to think of exercise as a boost to my weight loss. In fact I dont log my exercise anywhere other than putting a gold star on my calendar for working out that day.
  • ajnb88
    ajnb88 Posts: 339 Member
    I gave up trying to accurately eat back calories, as I just couldn't get a concrete answer as to how many were burned (all apps and machines said different things). What I do instead is just eat what mfp suggests, but on workout days I'll eat more if I'm hungry (without going to the extreme and binging). I find it works out, as some days I'll be less active than others etc.

    Hopefully someone else will have a more helpful suggestion :)
  • sweetpea03b
    sweetpea03b Posts: 1,123 Member
    ajnb88 wrote: »
    I gave up trying to accurately eat back calories, as I just couldn't get a concrete answer as to how many were burned (all apps and machines said different things). What I do instead is just eat what mfp suggests, but on workout days I'll eat more if I'm hungry (without going to the extreme and binging). I find it works out, as some days I'll be less active than others etc.

    Hopefully someone else will have a more helpful suggestion :)

    Totally agree. Not everything works well for everyone. If you're hungry after your workout, eat more (though control your portions). The hard thing with eating back your calories as all of this is entirely estimation so you could always be under or over estimating. Listen to your body.

  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
    hotmomma1day wrote: »
    Hi. I'm new here so please bare with me as I get used to everything. Lol! I have my iPhone step counter synced with MFP. I've set a goal to walk 10,000 steps each day. About half of those steps I've done at the track by walking 2-3 miles. I've not been logging my miles as exercise since it's already getting my steps (atleast when I have my phone with me. Lol). But I'm afraid I will still end up eating to much if I eat the calories it is telling me to eat, once my activity is added. Does everyone else eat the activity calories? I'm on a 1500 calorie diet now but yesterday for example, MFP told me I could eat around 1800.

    No thanks, I'll stay clothed but you go ahead and bare if you like. B)

    Most recommend that you only eat back half of the exercise calories to prevent overestimating and then over eating.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    I do eat mine back for one reason. When I lose the weight and I want to maintain I'll have to. I'd rather get in the habit now as MFP already has my deficit calculated in.
  • hotmomma1day
    hotmomma1day Posts: 10 Member
    Thanks everyone!
    thankyou4thevenom wrote: »
    I do eat mine back for one reason. When I lose the weight and I want to maintain I'll have to. I'd rather get in the habit now as MFP already has my deficit calculated in.

    That's a very good point. I've not really thought about it that way.


  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited July 2015
    sweetpea03b wrote: »
    ajnb88 wrote: »
    I gave up trying to accurately eat back calories, as I just couldn't get a concrete answer as to how many were burned (all apps and machines said different things). What I do instead is just eat what mfp suggests, but on workout days I'll eat more if I'm hungry (without going to the extreme and binging). I find it works out, as some days I'll be less active than others etc.

    Hopefully someone else will have a more helpful suggestion :)

    Totally agree. Not everything works well for everyone. If you're hungry after your workout, eat more (though control your portions). The hard thing with eating back your calories as all of this is entirely estimation so you could always be under or over estimating. Listen to your body.

    Here's why eating back exercise calories "doesn't work" for everyone.......

    Some people weigh food, some people measure, and others just eye ball it

    Some people chose an activity level that was higher than their actual (this is a range). An activity tracker helps here.

    Some people log way too many things as exercise (even sedentary people take steps).

    Some people use conservative numbers for calorie burns, others take MFP's estimate without question

    Hunger is not a good indicator of adequate nutrition. I eat back exercise calories because I want to lose fat....and not lean muscle. MFP gave me a deficit with zero exercise. So ideally eating back exercise calories just gets me back to my original deficit. A moderate deficit helps my body fuel existing lean muscle better.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    Right, MFP already has calculated the deficit to lose weight at the rate you chose. It gives extra calories for exercise to maintain that deficit. Eating too little can cause excess muscle loss and that's something you don't want to have happen. I think the answer is just to be sensible. If you are exercising a lot, you should be eating some of those calories back every day. Try not to net (calories eaten - calories burned in exercise) under 1200 calories very often and if you're hungry, eat more.
  • vivmom2014
    vivmom2014 Posts: 1,649 Member
    I eat almost all of the exercise calories back. So far, so good.
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