Do you eat your exercise calories gained according to MFP?

kmab1985
kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi All

Just wondered if people ate all their exercise calories that they gain according to MFP? I used to eat all of them but read that its only an estimate (which I understand) and to only eat 50% so now I try not to eat them all.

Did you find you still lost weight if you ate them all or was your weight loss better if you didn't eat them all or ate none at all...

I do a gym class everyday (mon-fri) and my calorie allowance is 1200 but some days I am to hungry to stick to 1200 so I tend to eat some of my exercise calories back.

Replies

  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
    If I'm hungry, yes, i absolutely eat them. If I'm not, then I don't.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    when i first began, I would eat all of them and lost weight. But the more weight I lost, I had to adjust my deficit and calorie intake. I now eat only about half of my exercise calories- and then, only if I'm hungry (but I only get 1300 some odd calories so... yeah. always hungry LOL). Towards the end of the week, I try to bank more of them for weekend deck drinking... ;)
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    1200 is MFPs lowest minimum default. So you could eat most of your exercise calories back & still lose weight. You hit the default because a) you have an aggressive weekly goal OR b) you are a petite senior lady.

    Here's why you eat calories back - a moderate calorie deficit helps your body retain existing lean muscle mass better. MFP doesn't assume anyone will exercise. You get credit only after you log it.

    I'm trying to lower my body fat percentage, so I eat calories back.
  • subversive99
    subversive99 Posts: 273 Member
    quiltlovinlisa wrote: »
    If I'm hungry, yes, i absolutely eat them. If I'm not, then I don't.

    This is what I do as well.

  • kmab1985
    kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
    That's really helpful, thank you for replying! I used to eat them all but that was when I first started doing MFP and was still getting used to macros but over the last month or two I find if I eat more protein then I'm not as hungry throughout the day so I try and eat high protein foods for breakfast, lunch and tea which then gives me some calories left over....

    I'm too trying to get into the habit of "banking" the extra for the weekends as this is the time I like to drink wine or go out for nice meals etc...
  • kmab1985
    kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
    @TeaBea...Thanks for that, that's helpful, I'm defo not a petite senior lady and think I set my goal at losing 1lb or 2lb per week but also added that I workout 5 days for 30 minutes...
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited September 2015
    quiltlovinlisa wrote: »
    If I'm hungry, yes, i absolutely eat them. If I'm not, then I don't.

    Wrong...........hunger is not a good indicator of adequate nutrition. MFP gave you a deficit BEFORE exercise. So exercise makes that deficit larger. Your body uses calories 24/7 (heart, lungs, kidneys). If you don't fuel your workouts, your body may catabolize lean muscle....to fuel your heart muscle (example).

    50% is a popular percentage to eat back because there are so many estimations: Calorie burns are estimates, logging food....people who weigh portions are more accurate, activity level is a range...not one number.

    Start with a percentage. Live with that awhile. If you are losing fast (feeling drained and worn out).....eat more. If weight loss is slower than anticipated.....eat less.
  • noclady1995
    noclady1995 Posts: 452 Member
    It depends on how hungry I feel and how hard I worked. I'd say 50% of the time I don't. And when I do, I don't eat all of it back. I don't always log my exercise either so I definitely don't eat the calories back on those days.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited September 2015
    when i did mfp i did (with an allowance for estimation error) it's important to learn to fuel your fitness....the purpose of fitness and exercise isn't to burn calories...that's just a nice bi-product...the purpose of fitness and exercise is fitness and properly fueling that fitness is what leads to fitness gains and proper recovery.

    I regularly go out and ride 30 - 50 miles or more for my fitness...if i didn't know how to properly fuel that, I'd be in a world of hurt and have some major recovery issues...
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    TeaBea wrote: »
    1200 is MFPs lowest minimum default. So you could eat most of your exercise calories back & still lose weight. You hit the default because a) you have an aggressive weekly goal OR b) you are a petite senior lady.

    Here's why you eat calories back - a moderate calorie deficit helps your body retain existing lean muscle mass better. MFP doesn't assume anyone will exercise. You get credit only after you log it.

    I'm trying to lower my body fat percentage, so I eat calories back.

    I am one of those " petite ( just under 4' 11 "), senior ( almost 70) " ladies and have discovered that if I eat my exercise calories I eat almost at maintenance and my weight loss will be even slower yet, if not non-existent. I eat 1200 calories of whole, home prepared foods and do fine on that.
    Every once in a while I eat a few of my exercise calories ( 76 of them yesterday and more often maybe 10-20, because my meal planning just turns out that way ), but as a rule I don't...at least not in a planned way.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    edited September 2015
    After a trial and error period to determine my calorie burns, I ate 100% of mine back during my deficit and still do that in maintenance; I lost at the rate I had set in MFP and I maintain just fine. I got to eat more which is awesome plus it greatly helped my lifting. If I don't eat them back, I have a hard time moving heavy things.
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
    TeaBea wrote: »
    quiltlovinlisa wrote: »
    If I'm hungry, yes, i absolutely eat them. If I'm not, then I don't.

    Wrong...........hunger is not a good indicator of adequate nutrition. MFP gave you a deficit BEFORE exercise. So exercise makes that deficit larger. Your body uses calories 24/7 (heart, lungs, kidneys). If you don't fuel your workouts, your body may catabolize lean muscle....to fuel your heart muscle (example).

    50% is a popular percentage to eat back because there are so many estimations: Calorie burns are estimates, logging food....people who weigh portions are more accurate, activity level is a range...not one number.

    Start with a percentage. Live with that awhile. If you are losing fast (feeling drained and worn out).....eat more. If weight loss is slower than anticipated.....eat less.

    With my goals set to lose only a pound a week and at 5'3'' and 224 pounds, I'm losing on average between 1.5 and 2 pounds a week.

    I'm eating enough, at least for now.

  • subversive99
    subversive99 Posts: 273 Member
    TeaBea wrote: »
    quiltlovinlisa wrote: »
    If I'm hungry, yes, i absolutely eat them. If I'm not, then I don't.

    Wrong...........hunger is not a good indicator of adequate nutrition.

    Who said it was? Hunger is a good indicator of how much I want to eat.

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited September 2015
    subversive99 wrote: »
    TeaBea wrote: »
    quiltlovinlisa wrote: »
    If I'm hungry, yes, i absolutely eat them. If I'm not, then I don't.

    Wrong...........hunger is not a good indicator of adequate nutrition.

    Who said it was? Hunger is a good indicator of how much I want to eat.

    My response was in reference to: I eat back exercise calories when I'm hungry.

    My How much "food" you want to eat is one thing.....and fueling existing lean muscle (with said food) is another. Maybe keeping lean muscle while eating at a deficit is not your concern. Keeping lean muscle is why I strength train (but that's me).

    There's a thread.....what food do you find satiating? Those foods run the gamut. Some people stay full on low calorie, high fiber foods. Other people stay full on protein (or fat). My point is 4 cups of broccoli may be very filling to some....but that doesn't do much to support lean muscle. Being full and being nourished are not necessarily the same as you (and I pointed out).

    Lean muscle loss is not a critical concern for everyone. Morbidly obese people can go on Dr. supervised very low calorie diets (and not lose an ounce of muscle mass). But for those that merely need to lose a few pounds, losing muscle mass is a given. I do what I can to minimize that, and that means keeping my deficit in check.

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