eating back exercise calories

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cottagegal1
cottagegal1 Posts: 161 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
ok....I was just on another topic under general.......someone said that you should not eat back all your exercise calories as then you will overeat.....something to do with your resting calories you are to subtract those.......this is way to confusing, if we are not to eat back the exercise calories then why does this site calculate that for you ........do you eat back your calories and if so have you lost weight................this is getting to complicated.....or someone is making it complicated and confusing???? Thanks

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  • skinnyinnotime
    skinnyinnotime Posts: 4,141 Member
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    Oh my goodness i know what you mean, before joining this site I obviously had no idea, i just thought less calories and exercise would mean weight loss... from all i've read on here it's an absolute minefield and i'm amazed i've managed to lose any weight lol!
  • fitforMYSELF
    fitforMYSELF Posts: 29
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    I was told dont eat back ur exercise calories, to me this makes sense because then exercising was just a waste of time really.
  • jlanz10
    jlanz10 Posts: 58 Member
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    It is perfectly fine to eat back your exercise calories...The program is set up for you to lose weight with no exercise...So, the calories burned by exercise can be eaten...That is why they have the additions on here...Exercising wasnt a waste of time...It helped boost your metabolism for the day, and get your body in better shape...
  • fabulousfebe
    fabulousfebe Posts: 204
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    this is what I read recently in researching this topic on Google. ..fitness experts say NOT to eat your exercise calories because you lose your effectiveness to lose weight. It's like your maintaining your weight instead of losing. Your best bet is to burn calories not eat them. hope this helps! :smile:
  • Harrar10
    Harrar10 Posts: 116
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    I was told dont eat back ur exercise calories, to me this makes sense because then exercising was just a waste of time really.

    This makes sense to me as well, and I always try not to eat back my calories and if i do only a few...
  • bunchesonothing
    bunchesonothing Posts: 1,015 Member
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    myfitnesspal already subtracts your loss calories. Your loss is already calculated in before your exercise. So, if you want to lose 2lbs a week, the max for healthy weight loss and then don't eat your exercise calories, you are now going to be losing weight at an accelerated, and unhealthy rate.

    Exercise is never for nothing. It kind of makes me sad when I read that.

    If you lost weight purely by cutting cals in your diet and not exercising, you would most likely not have the toned look you all probably want. That takes muscle. That takes exercise.

    Beyond that, exercise is good for stress relief, self-image. It can help fight against depression. People who exercise regularly report feeling better about themselves. Also it's good for your heart and your lungs. It makes you healthier, which is what we should all be really concerned about... at least, IMO.
  • barbiex3
    barbiex3 Posts: 1,036 Member
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    i dont really know on this one. I usually burn around 900 calories a day, and I usually eat about 400 back. I'm not really sure what works best tho! =[ sorry
  • Lizshouse88
    Lizshouse88 Posts: 81
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    My understanding is that you should eat back your calories AT LEAST to the point there you have 1200+ net per day. I'm in a delima today because my current "net" is "1" LOL because I went on a short hike and burned a LOT. Today I probably wont be eating them all back since I just had dinner and I can't imagine eating 1200 calories before bed tonight :)
  • sharidiane
    sharidiane Posts: 212 Member
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    what bunchesonothing said.

    also: exercise will bring you those lost inches. when the scale doesn't budge for weeks on end, it's not your diet that you can hold up a measuring tape to for a bit of inspiration. it's your waist.

    there's a perfect post by shboss (?). it's in the newbies read this section. explains it perfectly. i think it's called for those of you still confused about eating your exercise calories.

    Edit: found it! read this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • Just1forMe
    Just1forMe Posts: 624 Member
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    I was told dont eat back ur exercise calories, to me this makes sense because then exercising was just a waste of time really.

    This makes sense to me as well, and I always try not to eat back my calories and if i do only a few...

    When you are younger than say, 30, this might work for a while. Over time though, you are killing your metabolism. You are essentially training your body to live on way less calories than it needs. I did this for years when I was younger and set myself up for many years of not losing unless I ate next to nothing. I know many other people who have done this too. I have lost 68 lbs and I eat most every calorie back that I burn. Sometimes, I exercise just because I'm hungry and need more calories :) If you can lose AND eat all your calories back, why wouldn't you?? You feel less deprived, you have extra motivation to exercise and you are less likely to "quit". I'm guessing that the majority of people on here eat most of their exercise calories back and are losing at a good rate. Also, once you are familiar with how MFP goals and setting work, you understand that they already have you at a deficit to lose, so any exercise calories that you burn are over and above what you need to meet your weekly weight loss goal so exercising is NOT just "a waste of time"...it gives you more food to eat!
  • elliecolorado
    elliecolorado Posts: 1,040
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    ok....I was just on another topic under general.......someone said that you should not eat back all your exercise calories as then you will overeat.....something to do with your resting calories you are to subtract those.......this is way to confusing, if we are not to eat back the exercise calories then why does this site calculate that for you ........do you eat back your calories and if so have you lost weight................this is getting to complicated.....or someone is making it complicated and confusing???? Thanks

    I think that the point they were trying to make is that you need to subtract the calories you would have burned anyway during the time you were exercising in order to be completely accurate. To do this divide your BMR by 1440 (minutes in a day) and that will tell you how many calories you burn a day doing nothing.

    My BMR is 1716 calories a day divided by 1440 is 1.2 (roughly) so I will burn 1.2 calories a minute doing nothing and 72 calories per hour. So if I exercise and burn 500 calories in an hour to find out what I burned from exercise I'd have to subtract the 72 calories I would have burned anyway so I really burned 428 calories. If you ate back 500 technically you would be 'over eating' by 72 calories. I never worry about that with my exercise calories but I don't eat back more than 1/2 of them anyway.

    Not sure if that made sense. Hope it helps though.
  • becalee26
    becalee26 Posts: 185 Member
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    Totally agree that it's a lot easier under 30 ! I've always lost weight so much easier when I was under 30 by excercising a ton and not eating more than 1200 cals. This time that I am 31, it's not working at all!! So frusterating!! I am going to start eating my excercise calories for a trial basis and see if it will actually help me to loose weight. It does totally make sense to why you have to eat them. There's plenty of info around here that explains it.

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