Do you eat the calories you are burning from exercise?

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Replies

  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    edited March 2016
    hko718 wrote: »
    hko718 wrote: »
    Eating back cals is just over-complicating things. Find TDEE and subtract 500 to lose weight. Das it mane. Like I said most people are getting bad info back from eating calories back because MFP caloric expenditure numbers are WRONG

    You're assuming that people are eating back 100% of their calories. You're assuming that people are using the MFP calorie burns instead of those from more reliable resources. People are correcting you and everyone, simply everyone, has shown you how both models end up at the same place when used appropriately. What more are you looking for?

    Because these people don't even know how many cals are in a gram of protein. How would they know that the mfp exercise cals are off. The thing is that they're off by a lot in most cases.

    Spend a little more time in the forums (and actually read some posts, bruh) and you'll see that this is a widely known fact amongst the user population. I don't even use the MFP calculations at this point, preferring my HRM burns for steady-state cardio. I don't eat back lifting calories. Like I said, you're not the herald of new information here.
  • Bibia2418
    Bibia2418 Posts: 80 Member
    Really kind of depends on the situation. For example, if I know I am going to a party or out to dinner and I want to have a favorite food with no guilt, then I do. If it's just a normal day/week, then no.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    hko718 wrote: »
    I just think MFP is inferior. Sorry m8z. We will never agree.

    Well there are plenty of other sites. The Mifflin-St Joer calculation is good. The exercise calories and food calories have to be verified by each user as they use them. There is no such thing as a perfect food or exercise database.

    You're free to go. Why try to reinvent the wheel? This site has flourished without your input for a lot of years. :shrug:



  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
    Well, do you? :)

    Because MFP tends to be overly generous with calories, I don't eat ALL of them back. I typically eat 2/3 of the exercise calories back. I do want to eat some of them back though because along with losing weight, my goal is also to tone up and I need those calories to fuel my runs and strength training.
  • hko718
    hko718 Posts: 85 Member
    Not reinventing anything. TDEE is just superior compared to eating back calories, on all levels.
  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
    I totally eat my excersize calories. I call it "buying calories"

    +1. Exactly :)
  • ElizabethOakes2
    ElizabethOakes2 Posts: 1,038 Member
    synacious wrote: »
    I bank calories, too. Of course, sometimes, like tonight, things happen, like, you know, opening my oven and finding a rat

    NOOOOO. Oh my God. I live in NYC and I'm deathly afraid of them. How did you deal with that? It would take me a long time to use my oven again.

    I'd like to say that I calmly caught the rat, threw it over the back fence, and went about my evening. The reality is that I screamed like a sissy-child and threw the broiler pan at it, along with the perfectly seasoned steak that I was preparing for dinner. The rat, apparently afraid of seasoned steaks and screaming women, ran up the back of the stove, across the cabinet and down the back of the fridge. I then texted my husband and told him we were going out for dinner, and, despite considering myself a reasonable, sensible, and self-reliant woman, vacated the premises. It's probably still in my kitchen somewhere, since the traps my husband set last night are still set.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    hko718 wrote: »
    I just think MFP is inferior. Sorry m8z. We will never agree.

    If you think mfp is inferior, why are you even here? Bored?

    At times I think you're a troll and at other times I think you're just too much like the meatheads at the gym I hear about. :)

    One of his first posts was about it being slow over at BB.com.

    I don't use MFP exercise numbers. I have another calculator that I use that removes my estimated BMR and gives me what I did burn doing the workout. It's still guesswork, but the best guesswork I've used since I haven't gained my weight back.
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    hko718 wrote: »
    Not reinventing anything. TDEE is just superior compared to eating back calories, on all levels.

    Holy obtuseness, Batman. Talk about not understanding something. I'll say it louder. TDEE IS EATING BACK CALORIES!!!!
  • hko718
    hko718 Posts: 85 Member
    I came here to add peeps who need help and poach them duh
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    hko718 wrote: »
    Not reinventing anything. TDEE is just superior compared to eating back calories, on all levels.

    That's like saying 2+2 is better than 3+1.
  • hko718
    hko718 Posts: 85 Member
    edited March 2016
    zyxst wrote: »
    hko718 wrote: »
    Not reinventing anything. TDEE is just superior compared to eating back calories, on all levels.

    That's like saying 2+2 is better than 3+1.

    TDEE would be 2+2. Eating back cals is poverty,

    I just don't believe in bringing cardio into dieting unless you're stalling. Losing weight w/o cardio is the GOAT. It's 2016
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    hko718 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    hko718 wrote: »
    Not reinventing anything. TDEE is just superior compared to eating back calories, on all levels.

    That's like saying 2+2 is better than 3+1.

    TDEE would be 2+2. Eating back cals is poverty,

    I just don't believe in bringing cardio into dieting unless you're stalling. Losing weight w/o cardio is the GOAT. It's 2016

    Do you know how long it would have taken me to recomp from 240lbs to 170? Ain't no one got time for that, bruh.
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    MFP is what I do and I've been pretty damn successful. Then again, I'm a 44 year old female, not a buff, young male gym rat. Not that there's anything at all wrong with buff, young male gym rats, but there are a variety of people on these forums of all ages, sizes and all have different goals. If you want to poach your peeps, it sounds like a body building forum would probably be more your speed. (After you poach them, I recommend Sriracha sauce. Yum, and adds just the right amount of kick.)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    hko718 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    hko718 wrote: »
    Not reinventing anything. TDEE is just superior compared to eating back calories, on all levels.

    That's like saying 2+2 is better than 3+1.

    TDEE would be 2+2. Eating back cals is poverty,

    I just don't believe in bringing cardio into dieting unless you're stalling. Losing weight w/o cardio is the GOAT. It's 2016

    Personally, I don't do cardio to lose weight. I do cardio because I LIKE cardio and have cardio-related goals.

    Since I would be undereating and not fueling my activity if I did not eat back exercise, I also eat back exercise.

    Oh, and I do that using the TDEE method (which should get you to the same weekly number as MFP if used correctly).
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited March 2016
    hko718 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    hko718 wrote: »
    Not reinventing anything. TDEE is just superior compared to eating back calories, on all levels.

    That's like saying 2+2 is better than 3+1.

    TDEE would be 2+2. Eating back cals is poverty,

    I just don't believe in bringing cardio into dieting unless you're stalling. Losing weight w/o cardio is the GOAT. It's 2016

    Losing weight without using cardio machines is my goal. Normally I hike in the woods at lunch time but it's been raining so I'm off to get my ice skates sharpened so I can skate the next time I'm rained out. I'm looking forward to gardening and swimming season too.
  • mrspaws91
    mrspaws91 Posts: 27 Member
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    No. I do not lose weight when I eat them back, despite having properly set up my account.

    You may be overestimating your burns in that case. MFP's calorie allowance is based on your activity level before exercise. If you stop losing weight when eating back your exercise calories, that means you are eating both the exercise calories and the calorie deficit MFP has calculated for you. Try eating back half your exercise calories, especially if you're using MFP to calculate how much you burn with exercise.

    I let MFP set my calorie goal and it calculates my exercise burn. I log everything I eat, weighing or measuring portions and creating recipes for meals I make instead of relying on something close that's already in the database. I am short and over 50 that's just the way it is.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    Yes. I mostly lift, walk and play Ultimate. Back in the late summer and fall my activity level was all over the place, so MFP's method worked great and I lost weight as scheduled. I did cut down the calories burned from playing sports as they were ridiculously high as if they assumed I ran full out 100% of the time which isn't the case.

    Over the winter my activity level evened out and the weight lifting estimate was probably a tiny bit on the generous side. I decided I'd rather just have the same goal every day so I switched to TDEE.

    Once Ultimate picks up in the spring I'm not sure what I will do, so we'll see when I get there.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    No. I do not lose weight when I eat them back, despite having properly set up my account.

    You may be overestimating your burns in that case. MFP's calorie allowance is based on your activity level before exercise. If you stop losing weight when eating back your exercise calories, that means you are eating both the exercise calories and the calorie deficit MFP has calculated for you. Try eating back half your exercise calories, especially if you're using MFP to calculate how much you burn with exercise.

    I let MFP set my calorie goal and it calculates my exercise burn. I log everything I eat, weighing or measuring portions and creating recipes for meals I make instead of relying on something close that's already in the database. I am short and over 50 that's just the way it is.

    MFP calorie burns are sometimes overstated.
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    No. I do not lose weight when I eat them back, despite having properly set up my account.

    You may be overestimating your burns in that case. MFP's calorie allowance is based on your activity level before exercise. If you stop losing weight when eating back your exercise calories, that means you are eating both the exercise calories and the calorie deficit MFP has calculated for you. Try eating back half your exercise calories, especially if you're using MFP to calculate how much you burn with exercise.

    I let MFP set my calorie goal and it calculates my exercise burn. I log everything I eat, weighing or measuring portions and creating recipes for meals I make instead of relying on something close that's already in the database. I am short and over 50 that's just the way it is.

    No, that's not the way it is. I'm sorry, but that's not how it works. If you're using the MFP calorie burns, they are too high. It's a known issue (that you would have found for yourself after being around the forums a little longer) and the workaround is to either measure your burns using an activity tracker or to eat back only a percentage of the calculated burn.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    No. I do not lose weight when I eat them back, despite having properly set up my account.

    You may be overestimating your burns in that case. MFP's calorie allowance is based on your activity level before exercise. If you stop losing weight when eating back your exercise calories, that means you are eating both the exercise calories and the calorie deficit MFP has calculated for you. Try eating back half your exercise calories, especially if you're using MFP to calculate how much you burn with exercise.

    I let MFP set my calorie goal and it calculates my exercise burn. I log everything I eat, weighing or measuring portions and creating recipes for meals I make instead of relying on something close that's already in the database. I am short and over 50 that's just the way it is.

    If you're eating back the MFP calorie estimates, that's probably the issue (not the general practice of eating back exercise burns itself). The database has a lot of inflated calorie burn estimates.
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    mrspaws91 wrote: »
    No. I do not lose weight when I eat them back, despite having properly set up my account.

    You may be overestimating your burns in that case. MFP's calorie allowance is based on your activity level before exercise. If you stop losing weight when eating back your exercise calories, that means you are eating both the exercise calories and the calorie deficit MFP has calculated for you. Try eating back half your exercise calories, especially if you're using MFP to calculate how much you burn with exercise.

    I let MFP set my calorie goal and it calculates my exercise burn. I log everything I eat, weighing or measuring portions and creating recipes for meals I make instead of relying on something close that's already in the database. I am short and over 50 that's just the way it is.

    MFP's calorie calculations can be way off, so I would check a few different sites and see what they tell you. Shapesense seems to be pretty accurate and is what I use. If I used MFP's database for my calorie burns and then ate them all back, I'd be gaining weight. I actually have my own personal entries that I use, and are slight under-estimations, so that if I do eat all my calories back, I know I'm not eating too much back and am still in a deficit.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Yes
  • Anabug81
    Anabug81 Posts: 161 Member
    No I try not to I feel like I work hard to workout I do not want to defeat the purpose by eating back my hard work.
  • NovaDuck
    NovaDuck Posts: 63 Member
    I definitely do, at least half of them. I'm short, so my calorie goals are quite low as it is, so eating at least half of them is a must otherwise I'd go crazy. ;)
  • Naptownbabi
    Naptownbabi Posts: 256 Member
    MommyL2015 wrote: »
    I bank calories, too. Of course, sometimes, like tonight, things happen, like, you know, opening my oven and finding a rat,
    It must be the night for it. My cat,that never hunts, just brought in a rodent. I had to chase out of the house at 3am!!

    Cheers, h.

    Today, I just have to deal with gigantic palmetto bugs creeping around at night. (Just a fancy name for huge cockroach that flies.)

    Whole lotta NOPE!!

  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    Anabug81 wrote: »
    No I try not to I feel like I work hard to workout I do not want to defeat the purpose by eating back my hard work.

    You didn't read the thread, did you.....
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    I'm not consistant with xersize and I don't have a scale. So I put into the mfp goals the option to maintain at a weight that is in the middle of the healthy bmi for my height. So I am set to eat maintenance calories for that healthy weight which is set with doing the light excersize option. Eventually I will reach that weight if things are acurate. I am losing inches and its fat, I can tell. I eat less some days, the days I don't go for walks or do my excersize routines. Other days I eat at the top of my calories, which I set at the calories expected to maintain at my goal weight.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    House minus Rats = Cats
  • giorgioc722
    giorgioc722 Posts: 65 Member
    edited March 2016
    Nope. I made my life simple and it seems to work. I eat a base of no more then 2400 cals a day, and if I'm under yay. Days I do any kind of activity longer then an hour; hiking, skating, running, whatever. I allow myself up to 2600, but no more.

    Sometimes things change (Like I did an 8 hour hike and the next day I'm SUPER hungry) and I will adjust so I don't have an emotional break down haha.