Eat back your exercise calories? Yes or No? Why?
Options
Replies
-
If your trying to lose weight, then why eat back all your exercise calories? It seems pointless to exercise if your just going to eat them all back, unless you just want to eat more food then what you can eat normally without exercise. I always eat a healthy amount of calories for my body to function and if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back and i continue to shed pounds.0
-
If your trying to lose weight, then why eat back all your exercise calories? It seems pointless to exercise if your just going to eat them all back, unless you just want to eat more food then what you can eat normally without exercise. I always eat a healthy amount of calories for my body to function and if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back and i continue to shed pounds.
Because if your daily goal is already in a deficit and then you burn 500 calories for exercise, that puts you way below what your daily goal is and you may not be getting the nutrition your body needs to function properly. Doing that once in a while is one thing, doing it continually can be harmful in the long term.0 -
If your trying to lose weight, then why eat back all your exercise calories? It seems pointless to exercise if your just going to eat them all back, unless you just want to eat more food then what you can eat normally without exercise. I always eat a healthy amount of calories for my body to function and if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back and i continue to shed pounds.
Depends on how you're calculating your calorie goal initially.
The method MFP uses (called the NEAT method) builds in a calorie deficit, but assumes zero intentional exercise outside of whatever you choose as your daily activity level. So your goal already has the deficit built in. By exercising you're widening the gap (creating a bigger deficit). That sounds good in theory, but can lead to exhaustion and may leave your body lacking in proper fueling and nutrition.
If you use a TDEE method (what many other sites use), then that method takes your 'average' daily exercise into account. In that case, no you would not eat exercise calories back, unless you have a day where you drastically exceed your assumed 'average' exercise.0 -
If your trying to lose weight, then why eat back all your exercise calories? It seems pointless to exercise if your just going to eat them all back, unless you just want to eat more food then what you can eat normally without exercise. I always eat a healthy amount of calories for my body to function and if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back and i continue to shed pounds.
Um....because that's how the program is designed and why you fill out your personal information and goal. MFP assumes you do ZERO exercise when it spits out your goal.
Hypothetical Person. To lose 1lb per week, a 500 calorie deficit per day is needed.
2000cal maintenance - 500cal deficit = 1500 cals in to lose 1lb per week.
2000cal maintenance + 500cal from workout = 2500 cal maintenance
New 2500 cal maintenance - 500 cal deficit= 2000 cals to lose 1lb per week
You can see that by eating back your exercise cals keeps you at the goal you entered while properly fueling your body.if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back
For those new to the app, this is not advisable. If you're really burring off 500 to 1000 calories per day you should be eating back at least some of your exercise calories. Start with 60% or so and adjust from there. Adjusting is mainly due to inaccuracies in calorie burn estimates and potential inaccuracies in calorie in logging.
Exercise calories become more and more important the closer you get to goal weight. If I burned off 1000 exercise cals and didn't eat them back, I'd only be netting between 1000 and 1200 cals.0 -
I just make small changes every 30 days either with my exercise routine, calorie target or the foods that I eat. Just that one small change each month keeps my body guessing, and working. This isn't a scientific answer and there's no research behind it, just what works for me. Sometimes the simple answer is the right one.0
-
Alot of you might not agree with my methods, but they have always worked for me with no problems. Granted i end up putting the weight back on every 2-3 years but thats because i have trouble maintaining. Losing weight is easy.0
-
Alot of you might not agree with my methods, but they have always worked for me with no problems. Granted i end up gaining weight every 2-3 years but thats because i have trouble maintaining. Losing weight is easy.
It's one thing to disagree with your methods, but rather here, people are pointing out why you are incorrect about the pointlessness of eating back exercise calories and why they become more and more important.
0 -
Alot of you might not agree with my methods, but they have always worked for me with no problems. Granted i end up putting the weight back on every 2-3 years but thats because i have trouble maintaining. Losing weight is easy.
No one has disagreed that not eating them back won't make you lose weight...it's the sustainability and detriments to health factors other than weight that's the issue. The fact you have trouble maintaining seems to confirm this.0 -
It's one thing to disagree with your methods, but rather here, people are pointing out why you are incorrect about the pointlessness of eating back exercise calories and why they become more and more important.
It seems pointless to exercise just to eat them back if you are in a sense forcing yourself to eat them back.
0 -
CarolineLeclair wrote: »I have not been eating back my exercise calories and have hit a plateau.... A long and frusterating plateau!
I have heard that by eating back my exercise calories I will start to lose weight again. Is this too good to be true? (I would love to eat a little more!!!)
you have to understand how the tool is used...it's all just math. this tool is designed to give you a calorie goal to lose weight as per your activity level without any exercise...so when you do exercise, you get more calories to account for an otherwise unaccounted for activity. if you exercise, you increase your body's calorie (energy) requirements which is why you're supposed to account for that activity.
the purpose of exercise isn't to burn calories...that's a nice bi-product...but the purpose of exercise is fitness and it is very important to overall health and well being. it is important though to learn how to properly fuel that activity. what do you think happens when you don't properly fuel, lets say a 1/2 century ride? you bonk and you have recovery issues, that's what.
the problem most people have with this though is that 1) they're underestimating their intake to begin with...this is largely due to selecting generic and just generally *kitten* entries from the database rather than actually trying to be accurate; 2) eyeballing portions or miss-measuring portions; 3) overestimating exercise burn.
0 -
Alot of you might not agree with my methods, but they have always worked for me with no problems. Granted i end up putting the weight back on every 2-3 years but thats because i have trouble maintaining. Losing weight is easy.
you have problems maintaining because you don't actually know how to properly fuel yourself and your activities...0 -
My personal experience--for about 7 months I was eating max 1430 calories a day (logging very accurately with a food scale) and exercising. Calories burned normally are 500-600 a day, so MFP recommended around 1900-2000. I thought that was too much and just ignored it for 6 months until I felt so exhausted, run down, burned out and miserable that I finally decided I didn't care if I gained weight, I just needed some FOOD! I started eating more and now I eat 1800-1900 calories a day maintaining exactly what I weighed at 1430 calories--even about 1-2 pounds less. I am a big believer in calories in/calories out for maintaining weight, but I think your body tries to protect you if you aren't eating enough by just not burning anything extra. I gradually increased 100 calories at a time so I could monitor my weight. It has been over 2 months at 1800-1900 calories with no weight gain. So to answer your question, I do think sometimes eating more is the answer. But I also think that isn't the norm and if you're going to try it, just do it gradually--wait and see what happens after a couple weeks and then adjust how much you eat based on what your weight is doing. Definitely be very accurate with your logging so that you're certain of your intake.0
-
It's one thing to disagree with your methods, but rather here, people are pointing out why you are incorrect about the pointlessness of eating back exercise calories and why they become more and more important.
It seems pointless to exercise just to eat them back if you are in a sense forcing yourself to eat them back.
That to me would sound like someone who's calorie out estimation is off, or calorie in logging needs some attention, especially if they have less than 25-30lbs to lose.
Hence the reason I said that most start with eating back 60% and adjust from there due to estimations/inaccuracies. It's very possible this person could be eating back exercise calories and not realize it.0 -
I would not if I could live without the extra calories.0
-
cwolfman13 wrote: »Alot of you might not agree with my methods, but they have always worked for me with no problems. Granted i end up putting the weight back on every 2-3 years but thats because i have trouble maintaining. Losing weight is easy.
you have problems maintaining because you don't actually know how to properly fuel yourself and your activities...
I have problems maintaining because I choose to either lose or gain. I also choose to not be a part of the "lifestyle" club.
0 -
The difficulty in eating back your exercise calories is that our measurements of what we expend really are not very good. MOst execrize equipment seems to over estimate. Kinda of like vanity sizing in clothing, I guess......0
-
I have problems maintaining because I choose to either lose or gain. I also choose to not be a part of the "lifestyle" club.
I'm sorry, I don't mean any disrespect, but I think this is a very sad and weak excuse.
Why would anyone consciously "choose" a yo-yo "lifestyle"? Anyway, that was a rhetorical question, I don't mean to sidetrack OP's thread, no answer needed, but I wish you success.0 -
I don't eat mine back but my activity level is not constant and I rarely do cardio.
That being said, if you're not losing-look to your intake/logging.0 -
The plateau you have hit may also be because of the need to change up your exercise routine. If you are doing the same thing every day, your body may be getting used to it. Check out fitnessblender.com. They have tons of free workout videos and weight loss advice. They have really helped me!0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.8K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 396 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.3K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 967 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions