Eating Back Exercise Calories...

SquishyVicki
SquishyVicki Posts: 280 Member
edited September 28 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all - just looking for some advice as to what others do and what seems to work!!

I've calorie counted before but this is the first time I have ever calculated exercise burn alongside it to aim for a 'true' deficit......my question is whether everyone eats back the calories burned through exercise or whether they still stick to the limit that MFP has set whether you exercise or not???? Views would be appreciated!! Vxx

Replies

  • SarahWrittenThin
    SarahWrittenThin Posts: 595 Member
    Most people eat theirs back but when I eat mine back I gain weight. I go back and forth between not eating then and eating about 1/4 to half of them and that seems to work well for me.
  • cassy027
    cassy027 Posts: 7
    Hi, I wondered the same thing when I started, but I opted to stick to my original calorie goal. It kind of seems like eating the calories back would defeat the purpose of exercising. Hope this helps. Good luck. :)
  • jnell82
    jnell82 Posts: 136
    You should eat them back, but I have a hard time with it. Someone on here used an analagy. If you fill your tank up with gas, then take a long trip, you need to fill back up to keep the car running. If your calorie deficit is too low, your body can go into starvation mode and that is definitely not what you want. Hope this helps!
  • michz
    michz Posts: 102
    I eat back most of the time. I think the catch depends on the total number of calories a day. No matter what you need to eat 1200 calories a day minimum. Soooooo I always eat a least enough to be there. I am NEVER under 1200 calories, because that is just unhealthy and in starvation mode.
    For me my MFP says 1340 calories a day with usually 200ish calories of exercise so I usually totally around 1440 eaten. But if I only ate 1340 calories for the day and exercised for 200 calories that would make me at 1140 for the day which i find unacceptable so then I would at minimum eat 60 calories to get to the 1200. Hope that makes sense!
  • kirstinkrueger
    kirstinkrueger Posts: 346
    I can not eat back my exercise calories or I gain. But I also have friends who have to eat them back or they gain. It really depends on the person, try it one way for a few weeks (2-3 weeks is best) and see how it works for you, if it does not, try the other way. Some people even only eat back 1/2 of them and it works for them, it is kind of a trial and error type deal! As long as you are eating your regular calories each day you will be fine either day (Meaning make sure you eat at least 1200 even if you burn off 800 of them)
  • beamishcas
    beamishcas Posts: 226 Member
    From what I've been reading on here, everyone seems to say eat your exercise calories, I didn't do it at first, but have been trying to eat at least most of my exercise calories this past week. Next week's weigh-in will be the test.
    Good luck
  • jasonwhitham
    jasonwhitham Posts: 25
    I tend to stick to my programme as set by MFP. I dont eat my excercise cals back. I lost 55lbs to date,, so its working for me not to eat them back, but everyone is different:happy:
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
    If you are using the MFP model (and the goal it sets out for you) you should be eating your exercise calories. It's important because MFP sets lower goals than typical calorie counters so that you can continue to lose without exercise. If you look at the info on MFP you will see your calorie goal is a NET calorie goal - Which is calories + exercise.

    Plenty of people don't and because it's estimates, plenty don't eat all of them but for what it's worth, I ate most of mine on a consistent basis and have had great results. Just try to find a healthy, happy balance that works for you.

    Hope this helps!
  • reepobob
    reepobob Posts: 1,172 Member
    I earn my exercise calories through hard work and sweat. I eat every one of them back!! I've lost 54 pounds since last November and have gained muscle as well...don't torture yourself and go hungry. It works! I swear!

    1.8 pounds a week lost on average for over six months...need I say more?

    Disclaimer...ya gotta measure your food properly (scale) and you need to measure your exercise accurately (HRM) in order to eat all of your calories back with impunity. If you aren't measuring, then you should leave a hundred or so calories in reserve.

    Weight loss should not be torture!! EAT! EAT! EAT!
  • ohthatmomma
    ohthatmomma Posts: 115
    Hi! I don't usually eat back my calories UNLESS I am quite hungry. Another member suggested that I look at my exercise calories as a bank. What is there can be used or you don't have to use them at all. Depends on how hungry you are feeling, and if you choose to reward yourself with food.

    MFP (and I am not completely schooled on this, I am still figuring out MFP) gives you a calorie deficit of 500 initially. If you have tracked the number of calories you have consumed (honestly consumed) before you start MFP, this deficit will truly work. However, if you hardly eat anything through the day and have an 800 cal dinner (for example), then how would a deduction of 500 work? (I am still trying to figure that one out). Sorry... Got a little off topic there :-)

    You can eat them back or not. If you eat them back you would have created less of a calorie deficit for the day, but you would always know that you have eliminated at least 500 from your diet on a daily basis thanks to MFP. Other sites encourage a deficit as well as actvity.

    Hope I wanst rambling on!
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
    It worked for me to not...until it didn't. LOL. I hit 150 pounds and then stalled for over a year. I'm just now realizing I was working my body out to death and then not feeding it. I've been eating enough of them back now to at least net 1200..which is the MINIMUM. I had put on some weight from vacations...was up to 159.....once I started doing this...I'm back down to 152 in less than a week. I'm hungry all the time now, and I think it's my metabolism thanking me.
  • Kirsty_UK
    Kirsty_UK Posts: 964 Member
    I eat mine back, but aim to eat 2/3 of them backonly, because I don't use a HRM, and I think mfp overestimates burn on a lot of what I do.
  • abalicious
    abalicious Posts: 361 Member
    Hmmm... it depends. sometimes the calories burned number you see on the machine is not accurate, so you don't want to eat everything back and then in turn haven't burned anything. Usually I will be at 300 calories left before I go to the gym, so I'll burn like 300ish, which makes me at 600. Then I'll eat my calories back down to about 200 calories so I'm not put into starvation mode. Just find what works for you because everyone is different.
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    You have a built in deficit. Exercise is not necessary to lose weight on the MFP plan. If you do exercise, you burn more calories than the calculations and increase that built in deficit to potentially unsafe and unsustainable levels. To see what your deficit is already at, go to Home > Goals:


    netcalories-1.jpg

    That said, I only eat part of mine back as I burn very little extra during my workouts.
  • BlessedMomX2
    BlessedMomX2 Posts: 241 Member
    Eating mine back doesnt work for me. I think you have to just play with things and find out what works for you. Everybody is different!
  • SquishyVicki
    SquishyVicki Posts: 280 Member
    Thanks all - the comments have been fab!! Exactly what I was looking for :smile: Vx
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