Exercise calories

andrewchater1988 · November 2015

Calories - food + exercise do u have eat exercise calories

goldthistime · November 2015

I eat mine, but lots of people believe the database entries to be on the high side so eat back as little as 50%.

elbrujo53 · November 2015

if you want to accelerate your weight loss process, do not eat them. However it is nice to know you have them there in case you need them...

BrianSharpe · November 2015

I typically eat most of mine back but that's because I need the fuel for my workouts (fitness is more important to me than losing those last few pounds).

If you're going to eat your exercise calories back be cautious. Many machines (and MFP) will overestimate the calories expended and it's very common for people to underestimate the amount of food they eat.

malibu927 · November 2015

Do you have to? No, but to keep your body fueled and your deficit consistent you should eat half.

McMandaDee · November 2015

How often are you guys actually working out? I just started counting calories and exercising yesterday. I would say that I did pretty well considering I haven't been very active other than being a house wife and watching our 11 month old. I had an hour walk yesterday while pushing her in the stroller and did an 8 minute workout (it was a little more difficult to do much with my daughter chasing me and grabbing my phone). Today I've been battling a headache/sinus migraine all day and haven't had it in me to do much of anything. I was wanting to exercise every day.

MamaMollyT · November 2015

I generally eat some back and maybe one day a week on my long run day I eat most of them back. Mainly because I fuel during my run. I would say on a normal day I eat 100-200 calories of my workout burn. My regular runs are generally 1 to 1.5 hour and I burn anywhere from 500-1200 calories. That of course is an estimate. My GPS watch uses my age and weight plus tracks elevation and speed so I get a more accurate reading that MFP estimates. Generally the MFP estimates are WAY higher than my reading. So be careful of that. I do not log my weight workouts because it's too hard to quantify. I do also have my calories set to a generous amount (1450ish) because I am in training. I am at the point of just have a few vanity pounds I could lose but like another poster said I am more worried with my running performance. With my activity level and the amount I eat I easily maintain and have lost a few pounds recently even though I'm not trying. Probably because I'm pushing harder during race season. Sometimes I worry I'm not eating enough but I'm not losing or gaining and my performance is steadily improving so if I see a drop in my performance I would consider upping calories. I feel satisfied with what I eat now though and I try to listen to my body. I think you have to play with the amount a bit to figure out what works for you. Everyone will be different. Focus on your physical progress and you will figure it out over time. I really encourage people to focus on getting stronger. Counting calories is a tool to help you have knowledge of how much you are consuming but it isnt the end goal and there is no magic number.

elite_nal · December 2015

I see this question a lot and quite honestly it's a bit of a confusing one that seems to stem from a basic misunderstanding of how fat loss works. The basic principle of losing fat is to create an ongoing "calorie deficit" by burning more calories than you consume on a consistent basis. This is accomplished by taking in fewer calories through your diet, as well as burning more calories through exercise. The combination of both ensures that your total caloric expenditure exceeds your total caloric consumption, and as a result the body will turn to its excess fat stores to correct the deficit.

So the question of "eating back calories burned" shouldn't even really come into play. Burning calories through exercise is one of the ways that you create your calorie deficit in the first place, so intentionally "eating back" those calories wouldn't make any sense. Just find the right combination for yourself between reducing caloric intake and increasing your exercise frequency until you're landing somewhere in that standard 1-2 pound per week fat loss range. Some people prefer to eat a bit less and do a bit less cardio, while others prefer to eat more and do more cardio; either one is acceptable and you just have to find the right balance for yourself since they'll both create the same bottom line result.

At the end of the day though, all that fat loss comes down to is managing energy input/output so that a NET calorie deficit is maintained in the big picture. Asking the question "should I eat back burned calories" doesn't really make any sense in the first place. If your primary goal is to gain muscle then the same logic applies here, except that your goal will be to maintain a net calorie surplus (calories in should exceed calories out) and aim for around half a pound per week gained rather than 1-2 pounds per week lost.

cwolfman13 · December 2015

learning how to properly fuel your fitness is kind of important...

rsclause · December 2015

I found that after all the data was input including exercise and my logging was accurate & honest, as long as I was at deficit I would lose. I did eat a lot more when my exercise level increased.

malibu927 · December 2015

jay_upi wrote: »

I see this question a lot and quite honestly it's a bit of a confusing one that seems to stem from a basic misunderstanding of how fat loss works. The basic principle of losing fat is to create an ongoing "calorie deficit" by burning more calories than you consume on a consistent basis. This is accomplished by taking in fewer calories through your diet, as well as burning more calories through exercise. The combination of both ensures that your total caloric expenditure exceeds your total caloric consumption, and as a result the body will turn to its excess fat stores to correct the deficit.

So the question of "eating back calories burned" shouldn't even really come into play. Burning calories through exercise is one of the ways that you create your calorie deficit in the first place, so intentionally "eating back" those calories wouldn't make any sense. Just find the right combination for yourself between reducing caloric intake and increasing your exercise frequency until you're landing somewhere in that standard 1-2 pound per week fat loss range. Some people prefer to eat a bit less and do a bit less cardio, while others prefer to eat more and do more cardio; either one is acceptable and you just have to find the right balance for yourself since they'll both create the same bottom line result.

At the end of the day though, all that fat loss comes down to is managing energy input/output so that a NET calorie deficit is maintained in the big picture. Asking the question "should I eat back burned calories" doesn't really make any sense in the first place. If your primary goal is to gain muscle then the same logic applies here, except that your goal will be to maintain a net calorie surplus (calories in should exceed calories out) and aim for around half a pound per week gained rather than 1-2 pounds per week lost.

The way MFP is set up you're at a deficit already without exercise. In order to keep the deficit consistent and fuel one's body, it's expected that they'll eat back the calories.

StacyChrz · December 2015

I have a Fitbit so my calorie adjustments tend to be more accurate than just logging exercise on MFP. I try to only eat back about 1/2 of those calories when I'm being truly serious, and even then I try to be sure those calories are coming from highly nutritious foods.

Upstate_Dunadan · December 2015

malibu927 wrote: »

jay_upi wrote: »

I see this question a lot and quite honestly it's a bit of a confusing one that seems to stem from a basic misunderstanding of how fat loss works. The basic principle of losing fat is to create an ongoing "calorie deficit" by burning more calories than you consume on a consistent basis. This is accomplished by taking in fewer calories through your diet, as well as burning more calories through exercise. The combination of both ensures that your total caloric expenditure exceeds your total caloric consumption, and as a result the body will turn to its excess fat stores to correct the deficit.

So the question of "eating back calories burned" shouldn't even really come into play. Burning calories through exercise is one of the ways that you create your calorie deficit in the first place, so intentionally "eating back" those calories wouldn't make any sense. Just find the right combination for yourself between reducing caloric intake and increasing your exercise frequency until you're landing somewhere in that standard 1-2 pound per week fat loss range. Some people prefer to eat a bit less and do a bit less cardio, while others prefer to eat more and do more cardio; either one is acceptable and you just have to find the right balance for yourself since they'll both create the same bottom line result.

At the end of the day though, all that fat loss comes down to is managing energy input/output so that a NET calorie deficit is maintained in the big picture. Asking the question "should I eat back burned calories" doesn't really make any sense in the first place. If your primary goal is to gain muscle then the same logic applies here, except that your goal will be to maintain a net calorie surplus (calories in should exceed calories out) and aim for around half a pound per week gained rather than 1-2 pounds per week lost.

The way MFP is set up you're at a deficit already without exercise. In order to keep the deficit consistent and fuel one's body, it's expected that they'll eat back the calories.

This. If you have let MFP set your daily goal at the fastest healthy weight loss recommended (say 20%), then your daily calories already have a deficit built in. You'll lose weight (sort of) per what MFP has said. Let's assume that daily goal is 1,200 calories.

Now you are someone who exercises a lot, and burn (truly) 600 calories a day, 5 days a week. If you don't eat those calories back, then 5 days a week you are not really getting 1,200 calories (20% deficit) you are really only getting 600 calories (a much greater deficit).

The mindset that you will now lose weight even quicker I don't think is a good one. I consider it unhealthy. You probably won't lose weight faster because your metabolism is likely to slow down and you may find you don't have the energy you need to maintain your exercise schedule and/or you are slow to recover from them.

If you have any type of goal to do a re-composition (lose fat and add muscle) you can forget it. Not that that is easy at all and is highly debatable.

The only time I'd say you would NOT eat back exercise calories is if you've come up with your daily goals outside MFP by using a TDEE calculator which takes into account how much you exercise. In that case, you don't eat exercise back.

Also, when I say exercise calories, I mean the ones you really burn, not the ones your machine tells you or MFP tells you. If you think your exercise burns are too high, and you're not really burning 1,000 calories lifting weights (you are not btw) then don't put that in MFP. Put in the number you think is right (maybe 50% what you're being told, or 75%, etc.) and then eat that. Don't add 1,000 calorie burn to impress people, then decide you will only eat 25% of it because you don't think it's accurate.

Exercise calories

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