eating back your exercised calories?

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Healthyby2017
Healthyby2017 Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Most days i've logged i've eaten back some-most of my exercise calories is this ok? I walk about 3.2 km a day atm and have started jogging a little of it. I usually burn about 250-350 calories and have the basic cal goal on here set at 1200, so I'm essentially eating about 1450-1550 a day but only have 1200 to use, is this enough? should I exercise more/longer so I can eat more? have I set the goal too low? I'm 110kg, 5'7 and looking to be about 70-65kg in a year.

any help is appreciated :)
«1

Replies

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    the calorie estimates are gross overestimations, pretty much across the board. it can wipe out a deficit REAL quick.

    when i am closely watching my intake, i try to eat back only about half.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,484 Member
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    As callsitlikeiseeit said calorie burns are overestimated.

    Enter your exercise in mfp and eat back 75% of it. If you are losing close to the rate you have entered, continue like that.
    If you are losing too fast, up it to eating 100%, if you are losing too slow, drop it to 50%.
    If you are using a step tracker link it to your MFP account, and eat the recommended calories.

    Cheers, h.
  • Healthyby2017
    Healthyby2017 Posts: 9 Member
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    thankyou :)
  • hamlet1222
    hamlet1222 Posts: 459 Member
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    "should I exercise more/longer so I can eat more" - that route of trading minutes on the treadmill for scoops of ice cream never worked for me (and I tried it for a long time). I find it simpler just to work out daily calories and stick to it, and do enough exercise to 'get my system going', but not too much to overtrain. 3.5km a day of walking/jogging sounds like a great start - good luck!
  • HowlinAl
    HowlinAl Posts: 277 Member
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    I don't understand why anyone logs exercise in MFP at all. It's a terrible "feature" that creates the illusion that it's okay to eat more.

    Don't record exercise in MFP. Then you don't have to worry about eating back those calories. If all your exercising causes you to lose too quickly then raise your calorie total. If you aren't losing weight, then decrease your calorie level. There is no reason on earth to log exercise in MFP. As everyone has noticed, the numbers it reports are laughably inaccurate anyway.
  • hamlet1222
    hamlet1222 Posts: 459 Member
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    If it's a lot of hard exercise that can lead to excessive muscle breakdown then I think it's worth logging, and eating extra protein.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
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    middlehaitch wrote: »
    As callsitlikeiseeit said calorie burns are overestimated.

    Enter your exercise in mfp and eat back 75% of it. If you are losing close to the rate you have entered, continue like that.
    If you are losing too fast, up it to eating 100%, if you are losing too slow, drop it to 50%.
    If you are using a step tracker link it to your MFP account, and eat the recommended calories.

    Cheers, h.

    Agreed. And a 5'7" and 110 kg, you definitely should be eating more than 1200. Try the above regarding varying the percentages of exercise calories. Despite what one poster stated, you are supposed to eat your exercise calories to provide your body with the nutrition it needs. Some people actually are successful eating back all their exercise calories, but many do find they are overestimated.

    Anytime you make a change, you should give it at least 4-6 weeks to see if it's working. So you may want to try 75% for 4-6 weeks to see how it goes. Also, make sure you are logging accurately (weighing solid food, choosing accurate entries), otherwise you may end up eating more than you think you are.
  • MarcyKirkton
    MarcyKirkton Posts: 507 Member
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    I never eat back my exercise calories, because I want to lose. I would do so if I wanted to maintain.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
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    I place my activity level at "sedentary. I have my I-Phone synced to count all my I-Phone counted steps which MFP logs as calories expended. All steps are counted the same, walking, jogging, running. I then eat stopping when I'm "full" or at the top limit of the calories I am "allowed". (sometimes I go above that limit but this is bad) Usually my calorie count is above my initial weight loss goal but below that amount plus "step" calories. I've lost a pound to two punds a week for the past 2 months. 5 August @ 215#/ 27 September @ 201.6#. I gained three pounds during a week in the Dominican Republican. ( I thought vacation calories did not count ;-)

    That's what I do. Do what you do, if it works, continue. If it doesn't, change to something else.

    Just my $0.02
  • oh_happy_day
    oh_happy_day Posts: 1,138 Member
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    HowlinAl wrote: »
    I don't understand why anyone logs exercise in MFP at all. It's a terrible "feature" that creates the illusion that it's okay to eat more.

    Don't record exercise in MFP. Then you don't have to worry about eating back those calories. If all your exercising causes you to lose too quickly then raise your calorie total. If you aren't losing weight, then decrease your calorie level. There is no reason on earth to log exercise in MFP. As everyone has noticed, the numbers it reports are laughably inaccurate anyway.

    That's your way of doing it, it's not the only way. I log my exercise because I like to ensure I'm eating enough (calories and macros) on days where I exercise a lot. I'm petite so my calorie goal is low, without eating back calories I could be netting as low as 500 calories on some days. Appetite is not always an accurate way to guess whether I should/shouldn't eat more. I also have fitness goals and enjoy regular (vigorous!) exercise, so I'd rather not under-eat and lose more lean muscle mass than is absolutely necessary. I don't use the MFP estimates, I have a Polar HRM which is still dubious at times but more accurate the database.
  • Qskim
    Qskim Posts: 1,145 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/173853/an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories/p1
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    MarcyKirkton wrote: »
    I never eat back my exercise calories, because I want to lose. I would do so if I wanted to maintain.
    That's one approach. The "textbook" MFP method is to eat them back so that you are at your target deficit, not a larger one.

  • jdleanna
    jdleanna Posts: 141 Member
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    MarcyKirkton wrote: »
    I never eat back my exercise calories, because I want to lose. I would do so if I wanted to maintain.

    I eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories *and* I am losing weight and a nice rate. I have seen your other posts and I know you're committed to eating at quite a low level, but it is really possible to eat more and eat back calories and lose weight. MFP has the deficit built in so eating back calories is sensible. It's not the only way to do it, obviously, but again it's entirely possible to do so and lose weight.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
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    MarcyKirkton wrote: »
    I never eat back my exercise calories, because I want to lose. I would do so if I wanted to maintain.

    Did you tell MFP that you want to lose weight? If so, then it already gave you a calorie goal to lose weight without exercise. If you're logging accurately, then eating your exercise calories would not mean you're eating at maintenance, it would mean you're eating at the same deficit (assuming accurate exercise calorie calculations).
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    eat back 50 - 75% of your exercise calories, its about eating as much as possible and yet still losing...win win :smile:
  • Healthyby2017
    Healthyby2017 Posts: 9 Member
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    thank you everyone for you posts, its alot to think about especially from not really caring what I ate to logging everything everyday. Im trying not to go hungry because I know I will snack inappropriately if given the chance I think Id probably go mental if I didn't eat some excercies callories back :P
  • HowlinAl
    HowlinAl Posts: 277 Member
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    oh_happy_day wrote: »
    I log my exercise because I like to ensure I'm eating enough (calories and macros) on days where I exercise a lot. I'm petite so my calorie goal is low, without eating back calories I could be netting as low as 500 calories on some days. Appetite is not always an accurate way to guess whether I should/shouldn't eat more. I also have fitness goals and enjoy regular (vigorous!) exercise, so I'd rather not under-eat and lose more lean muscle mass than is absolutely necessary. I don't use the MFP estimates, I have a Polar HRM which is still dubious at times but more accurate the database.

    Watching the scale is the way to ensure you are eating too much/not enough, not using some bizarre and pointless metric that I think everyone here agrees is ridiculously inaccurate.

    I see people every day logging in their diaries that they are burning hundreds and hundreds, sometime thousands of calories a day from exercise that is only giving them maybe 1/4 of that in reality...and then eating them back. if you are trying to lose weight and you are eating back these bogus numbers provided by MFP you are setting yourself up for failure.

    if you want to track exercise use a separate app or program that won't interfere with your food diary.
  • pembr0ke
    pembr0ke Posts: 54 Member
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    I use a heart rate monitor to track calories burned (Polar RCX5) when in the gym for both weights and cardio. This method is more accurate, IMHO...
  • HowlinAl
    HowlinAl Posts: 277 Member
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    I use a heart rate monitor too, and I DO track my exercise... I just don't let MFP do it and screw up my daily calorie goal.
  • cocates
    cocates Posts: 360 Member
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    veganbaum wrote: »
    middlehaitch wrote: »
    As callsitlikeiseeit said calorie burns are overestimated.

    Enter your exercise in mfp and eat back 75% of it. If you are losing close to the rate you have entered, continue like that.
    If you are losing too fast, up it to eating 100%, if you are losing too slow, drop it to 50%.
    If you are using a step tracker link it to your MFP account, and eat the recommended calories.

    Cheers, h.

    Agreed. And a 5'7" and 110 kg, you definitely should be eating more than 1200. Try the above regarding varying the percentages of exercise calories. Despite what one poster stated, you are supposed to eat your exercise calories to provide your body with the nutrition it needs. Some people actually are successful eating back all their exercise calories, but many do find they are overestimated.

    Anytime you make a change, you should give it at least 4-6 weeks to see if it's working. So you may want to try 75% for 4-6 weeks to see how it goes. Also, make sure you are logging accurately (weighing solid food, choosing accurate entries), otherwise you may end up eating more than you think you are.

    +1

    According to the information you provided + your profile, I entered your information and here are your results: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/#results

    It says you should be eating 1704 cals/day BUT this is for a 26.9kg/year rate.

    I hope that helps!

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