Is anyone eating back most of their exercise calories?

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jandsstevenson887
jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Because I am and it still seems to be working. I had no idea that I shouldn't be before coming on the boards. I have my activity set to lightly active and I eat back most (somedays all) of my exercise earned calories and still seem to be losing. Am I alone?
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  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    jandsstevenson887 wrote: »
    Because I am and it still seems to be working. I had no idea that I shouldn't be before coming on the boards. I have my activity set to lightly active and I eat back most (somedays all) of my exercise earned calories and still seem to be losing. Am I alone?

    Many times people overestimate their exercise calories, and this is why it is usually recommended to not eat all of them back. And many of MFP exercise entries are vague and require personal estimations, like moderate or vigorous effort etc, so it is common to overestimate. It sounds like you do not have this problem, so keep doing what you are doing :)
  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
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    Okay, I'm doing spin classes and I'm taking my calories from the bike after putting in my age, weight, etc. I'm also running and getting calories from Runkeeper who also has my profile. I feel like it is pretty accurate.
  • CarolineM11
    CarolineM11 Posts: 7 Member
    edited April 2016
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    I found the machines to be totally inaccurate for me. However when I was hitting the gym 2-3 hours a day 7 days a week I absolutely ate back 80% (ish) of my exercise calories and I was losing fat and gaining muscle. I was NOT losing weight but weight loss was not/is not my primary goal.
    I used a heart rate monitor and based calories estimates off of that (much less than machines). Hope this helps and good luck!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    I have always eaten back exercise cals, when o was losing and now that I'm in maintenance. I have a FitBit now but even before I went with MFP calorie burn estimates and didn't have an issue.

  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
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    If it ain't broke, don't fix it. When u stop losing, decrease the amount of cals consumed
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I always did and never had an issue. 50-75% recommendation is for those who are initially scared I think.

    And for some the estimates from MFP aren't that accurate.
  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
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    I know they probably aren't perfect, that's why I tweak them based on what my machine says and Runkeeper says. And I try to leave some gap in there. You can look at my diary and see that some days I have 200-300 left.
  • RobD520
    RobD520 Posts: 420 Member
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    I have always eaten back most of my exercise calories (~80-100%); I have never had a concern. I don't accept MFP estimates, as they are all too high. But based upon heart rate monitor readings for cardio, I have what appear, based upon my results, to be very reasonable estimates.

    People new to MFP who use the numbers on this site may get frustrated if they ate back all their calories because the estimates are so high.
  • Companero1
    Companero1 Posts: 14 Member
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    I always eat back my cals and it works fine for me.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    jandsstevenson887 wrote: »
    I know they probably aren't perfect, that's why I tweak them based on what my machine says and Runkeeper says. And I try to leave some gap in there. You can look at my diary and see that some days I have 200-300 left.

    Just so you are aware machines are known to be over by about 25-75% as well...can't guarantee those.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    RobD520 wrote: »
    I have always eaten back most of my exercise calories (~80-100%); I have never had a concern. I don't accept MFP estimates, as they are all too high. But based upon heart rate monitor readings for cardio, I have what appear, based upon my results, to be very reasonable estimates.

    People new to MFP who use the numbers on this site may get frustrated if they ate back all their calories because the estimates are so high.

    not always...when I first came (after I started using a food scale) I ate them all back based on MFP estimates and I lost the weight I want at the speed I wanted.
  • katiebean
    katiebean Posts: 110 Member
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    I eat back most if not all of them. I know the estimations are exaggerated but I'm quite careful with my food logging, and since it seems to be working I will continue to eat them all back.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    @SezxyStef
    Re "Just so you are aware machines are known to be over by about 25-75% as well...can't guarantee those. "

    No! Generalisation alert! :)
    Some machines are going to be very accurate. e.g. those measuring power.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    @SezxyStef
    Re "Just so you are aware machines are known to be over by about 25-75% as well...can't guarantee those. "

    No! Generalisation alert! :)
    Some machines are going to be very accurate. e.g. those measuring power.

    True dat.

    Exercise machines.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Some exercise machines are going to be very accurate!

    Often the clue is they tell you power output.
    Or they may have been calibrated against a sample of people in a lab to produce calorie tables using weight/resistence/speed/incline etc. (e.g. some ellipticals)
    Or they have been around so long there are decades of data to use (concept2 rower as an example).
    Or they use standard and well proven formulas.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Some exercise machines are going to be very accurate!

    Often the clue is they tell you power output.
    Or they may have been calibrated against a sample of people in a lab to produce calorie tables using weight/resistence/speed/incline etc. (e.g. some ellipticals)
    Or they have been around so long there are decades of data to use (concept2 rower as an example).
    Or they use standard and well proven formulas.

    perhaps but I've read more than a few articles where the machine makers admitted to inflating the burn

    Here is one

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/fitness/how-accurate-are-calorie-counters/article573069/
  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
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    Okay, maybe I will round down on my exercise calories by 25% or so.
  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
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    I have difficulty changing my food intake to match a calorie goal that changes greatly from day to day. I don't intentionally eat my fitbit adjustments, but I accumulate them as a sort of buffer for the occasional donut.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    Sometimes I do but usually I do not. In my mind it's like why work out if I'm just going to eat and put the same calories I lost back on me. :D I'm just not real good at losing if I eat beyond what I am allotted. I guess because I'm so short and have less to lose maybe.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    And I rarely put the correct amount on my calorie loss anyway. For instance, if I walk on the treadmill for an hour I will usually say 30-40 minutes instead of the 60 minutes. I think they are way too gracious in the amount of calories they say I burned. It's always a little more than what my treadmill tells me.

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