Eating Back Exercise Workouts

geminigarcia199017
geminigarcia199017 Posts: 529 Member
edited November 30 in Health and Weight Loss
How many should I eat back my exercise workout calories?

Replies

  • HealthyGinny
    HealthyGinny Posts: 821 Member
    depends on how you count them (HRM or mfp, etc.) but often eating half of them is a good idea so you still have energy but don't end up overestimating them and eating back too many cals :)
  • MTDDS18
    MTDDS18 Posts: 62 Member
    I think the general consensus is that is depends on how you are calculating those exercise calories. If you just log in MFP or via a cardio machine, I think most eat back ~50% of exercise calories. If you're using something a little more accurate like a HRM or fitbit, those people eat ~75-100% of exercise calories.

    I'd guess that the majority of people feel comfortable at 50-75% eating back. But, it's really a trial and error process and determining what works best for you.
  • RobinvdM
    RobinvdM Posts: 634 Member
    I am a huge fan of eating back at least half of your workout calories. Somedays I eat it all back, other days I eat half. I would recommend doing what makes you feel good, as (if youre operating on the MFP cal deficit) you can't do any real damage to yourself by eating it all back.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    Eating back half seems common here.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I've been logging and maintaining 4 years after losing 40 pounds. I eat back whatever I'm hungry for. If I'm hungry, I feel no compunction at all about eating every one. If I'm not, I just eat until I'm full. I use the MFP calculations and have my activity level set to 0, so get my calories from an apple watch (used to be a fitbit), plus anything those don't count well, like swimming.
  • ElJefeChief
    ElJefeChief Posts: 650 Member
    I don't care how much I eat back, my goal is to leave a 200-300 calorie buffer at the end of the day.
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  • Frank19556
    Frank19556 Posts: 28 Member
    I don't understand the thinking here. If you calculate the amount of calories you need to eat to lose the weight you want, aren't you supposed to eat back all the excercise calories? If you eat back half, aren't you being too aggressive?


  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    freal123 wrote: »
    I don't understand the thinking here. If you calculate the amount of calories you need to eat to lose the weight you want, aren't you supposed to eat back all the excercise calories? If you eat back half, aren't you being too aggressive?
    The MFP database tends to be generous with the estimated calorie burns so eating back 50% of what it says you burned should put you close to 100% of what you actually burned.
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  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    Lower your daily calories?
  • Frank19556
    Frank19556 Posts: 28 Member
    OK, then in actuality you are eating it all back, I don't go by the calorie counter here. For running I use other calculators. For the gym elliptical I take 80% of what it says, it seems accurate for me. Doing this I lose the two pounds pretty accurately. If I didn't eat it all back I would lose more and I don't want to do that.

    I do have one theory, and I know often when we amateurs come up with theories it is more accurate to call it "Bad Science", but here goes: What if you do real easy cardio workouts such as walking? The low intensity workouts burn mostly fat, and don't strain you. Maybe you then CAN lose more that the 2 pounds a week at least a little, just don't eat back the easy stuff? It slowly burns the fat, doesn't disrupt the muscle, and everything is great?
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  • Cynsonya
    Cynsonya Posts: 668 Member
    geminigarcia199017 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Lower your daily calories?

    What do you mean,how do I lower
    my daily calories?

    Eat less
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    edited March 2016
    Lower your daily calories without exercise.
    Click on My Home, Goals, then edit your numbers. Lower calories = deficit.
  • Mavrick_RN
    Mavrick_RN Posts: 439 Member
    Cynsonya wrote: »
    geminigarcia199017 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Lower your daily calories?

    What do you mean,how do I lower
    my daily calories?

    Eat less

    You mean the stuff I put in my mouth, chew and swallow? Or just log that I ate one apple when I really ate 3 apple fritters?

  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Lower your daily calories without exercise.
    Click on My Home, Goals, then edit your numbers. Lower calories = deficit.

    Why are you telling him to lower his baseline calories? He's already at a deficit with 1800, or whatever number he's supposedly at right now. He's clearly confused and really overthinking the process, given the numerous posts of his that I've seen. I don't think telling him to lower his calories is helpful.

    OP, I know you've been given lots of good advice in your many threads. With the amount of time you seem to be agonizing over things, you could probably be further along than you are if you spent that time just doing and gathering personal data over about a 6 week period, then adjusting from there if necessary. Eat back 50%. Try that for 6 weeks. If you are losing more or less than expected, adjust how many exercise calories you eat back for another 6 weeks, and so on. Done.
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  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    geminigarcia199017 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Lower your daily calories without exercise.
    Click on My Home, Goals, then edit your numbers. Lower calories = deficit.

    I'm confused?

    Yes, yes you are.

    Just eat what MFP tells you too,weigh and log your food honestly and accurately, and eat back 50% of your exercise calories. It's honestly not rocket science...
  • ElJefeChief
    ElJefeChief Posts: 650 Member
    If you set your loss goal to 2 pounds per week and you work out
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    geminigarcia199017 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Lower your daily calories without exercise.
    Click on My Home, Goals, then edit your numbers. Lower calories = deficit.

    I'm confused?

    Yes, yes you are.

    Just eat what MFP tells you too,weigh and log your food honestly and accurately, and eat back 50% of your exercise calories. It's honestly not rocket science...

    If you set your goal loss rate at 2 pounds per week, and (say) you run for 30-60 minutes a day, I'd say limiting yourself to eating back only 50% of your exercise calories might be unhealthy - at least in the sense you'd be burning a bunch of muscle away along with fat.

    I try to leave a 200-300 calorie buffer (sometimes I'm less, sometimes I'm more) simply because I don't trust my calorie estimates on the food I eat, and I know that little calorie surpluses over time are what incrementally cause weight gain (and little deficits cause weight loss). Particularly since I'm so lean at this point anyways, I think the "eat back no more than 50%" advice would be pretty bad advice for me at this point. But maybe I'm wrong.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Maybe he could start off eating back 50% and adjust up or down depending on weight loss. Eat back more if he's losing too quickly, or eat back less if he's losing slower. But all of this relies on accurate food logging...
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