Eating back exercise calories

chnkysoup
chnkysoup Posts: 79 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Do you guys eat back the calories you burn through exercise? I have been. Not all but some. It makes me really nervous to do that though....I've just started counting calories again (for the past 5 days) so I haven't been able to fully see how it may affect me. Also, I use my iPhone to count my daily steps which automatically raises my calorie goal due to calories burned (these are the calories I am somewhat eating back). While I do go on walks specifically for exercise the rest of my steps come from just going about my day and if I didn't have a step counter I wouldn't count this as exercise but MFP does. In my settings I put that I am sedentary and I guess I sort of consider most of these steps part of my lifestyle. Yesterday I got up to 10,000 around 6:30 p.m. What do you guys suggest I do with those calories burned? Hope this makes sense...;)

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Yes, I eat back my exercise calories. If you find that you aren't losing weight, you may want to adjust back how many you're eating. But MFP is designed to eat back those calories.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    If it makes you nervous, maybe consider doing a TDEE approach where you factor exercise in up front but then don't log it here. But I'd wait and see how it goes with the MFP approach.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,002 Member
    Most people I've seen eat half of them back since calorie burns are typically overestimated...
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    I eat back 100% but am careful to estimate properly.
  • lizzocat
    lizzocat Posts: 356 Member
    i haven't been this week, but usually I eat back 75% - all of them. BUT you have to be 100% on point with your logging (both your food and exercise) because if you're under counting your calories or overestimating your exercise...
  • bubble_wrap0428
    bubble_wrap0428 Posts: 88 Member
    I eat back some of them. It really depends on the day.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I eat back some, sometimes all of them. You need to do some trial and error to see what works for you. If i didn't eat back my exercise calories I'd be netting 500-1000 cals most days.
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    I've kind of gone back and forth. If you have a consistent excercise schedule, I find the TDEE method to be easier to just have a daily calorie goal and adjust from there. If your excercise is kind of erratic eating back exercise calories may be the way to go.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    when you start to look at is as fueling your fitness, it makes sense...

    with MFP, your calorie target includes your weight loss deficit without any exercise whatsoever...meaning if you just ate to your target and logged accurately, you would lose weight without lifting a finger in exercise. exercise is not accounted for in your activity level with MFP...you account for that activity by logging it. exercise activity increases your body's energy (calorie) requirements and thus should be accounted for appropriately.

    where many go wrong is that they tend to be inaccurate in logging their intake...they pick generic entries from the data base like "homemade lasagna" or they pick entries that are just plain wrong and don't verify things...then on top of that they overestimate their calorie burns from exercise and don't verify those either.

    this also becomes more important as the intensity of your exercise increases. exercise is very good for you, but doing a lot of vigorous exercise is also a huge stress on the body and the body requires nutrients and energy (calories) to repair itself. failure to provide those nutrients and that energy will eventually result in recovery issues and your risk of injury increases substantially. many overtrain issues aren't actually a matter of overtraining, but rather they are an issue of underfeeding their activity.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,002 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    when you start to look at is as fueling your fitness, it makes sense...

    with MFP, your calorie target includes your weight loss deficit without any exercise whatsoever...meaning if you just ate to your target and logged accurately, you would lose weight without lifting a finger in exercise. exercise is not accounted for in your activity level with MFP...you account for that activity by logging it. exercise activity increases your body's energy (calorie) requirements and thus should be accounted for appropriately.

    where many go wrong is that they tend to be inaccurate in logging their intake...they pick generic entries from the data base like "homemade lasagna" or they pick entries that are just plain wrong and don't verify things...then on top of that they overestimate their calorie burns from exercise and don't verify those either.

    this also becomes more important as the intensity of your exercise increases. exercise is very good for you, but doing a lot of vigorous exercise is also a huge stress on the body and the body requires nutrients and energy (calories) to repair itself. failure to provide those nutrients and that energy will eventually result in recovery issues and your risk of injury increases substantially. many overtrain issues aren't actually a matter of overtraining, but rather they are an issue of underfeeding their activity.
    Great post!
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    when you start to look at is as fueling your fitness, it makes sense...

    with MFP, your calorie target includes your weight loss deficit without any exercise whatsoever...meaning if you just ate to your target and logged accurately, you would lose weight without lifting a finger in exercise. exercise is not accounted for in your activity level with MFP...you account for that activity by logging it. exercise activity increases your body's energy (calorie) requirements and thus should be accounted for appropriately.

    where many go wrong is that they tend to be inaccurate in logging their intake...they pick generic entries from the data base like "homemade lasagna" or they pick entries that are just plain wrong and don't verify things...then on top of that they overestimate their calorie burns from exercise and don't verify those either.

    this also becomes more important as the intensity of your exercise increases. exercise is very good for you, but doing a lot of vigorous exercise is also a huge stress on the body and the body requires nutrients and energy (calories) to repair itself. failure to provide those nutrients and that energy will eventually result in recovery issues and your risk of injury increases substantially. many overtrain issues aren't actually a matter of overtraining, but rather they are an issue of underfeeding their activity.

    Agreed, this is a great response. Should be cut and pasted often.

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