Eating back my calories from working out

ErinSchuurmans · May 2016

So, does anyone have any thoughts about eating back calories burned? I never know if I should just eat my original allotted amount or go with what MFP says I can eat.

kristieshannon · May 2016

I eat some back, never all. From all I've read exercise burns are often way overestimated. Try eating half back for a couple weeks. If you're still losing at an ok rate, you know you're ok. If you maintain or gain, cut back to eating a third or a quarter of them.

middlehaitch · May 2016

If you want the energy for your normal everyday activity and a good work out I would suggest you eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories.
Not doing so can lead to under fuelling your body. When you are under fuelled you will be inclined to sacrifice everyday activity to perform the exercises. Lowering your everyday activity will lower your calorie needs. Lowering your calorie needs will lower your weightloss.

Eat to have your body and mind performing optimally while still losing weight.

Cheers, h.

ErinSchuurmans · May 2016

Awesome, thanks guys

JenniferReynolds1 · May 2016

I am glad y'all answered that! I was wondering the same thing.

tomteboda · May 2016

When I was significantly overweight, I didn't need to eat my exercise calories. Now that I'm a lot smaller, and my calories allowance is smaller, and my activity levels way up, I have to eat my exercise calories or I'd starve.

I also don't think it's entirely coincidental that I needed my exercise calories about the same time I started weighing, not measuring, my food.

Pam_1965 · May 2016

I only eat back my exercise calories if I have done a specific activity, not just what I earn from my Fitbit after I have surpassed my Lightly Active status. I walk/run 5.5 miles every afternoon. I use Runkeeper and my Fitbit to monitor my activity. I do not log what my Runkeeper gives me because my Fitbit is already synced to MFP, but both apps give me the same calories burned. I rarely eat back all the calories, but I always eat back some.

emmadonaldson95 · May 2016

ErinSchuurmans wrote: »

So, does anyone have any thoughts about eating back calories burned? I never know if I should just eat my original allotted amount or go with what MFP says I can eat.

I never eat mine back just because i think of working out as the effort of getting thin you know and eating them back seems detrimental to that.
That said if i want to do something bad like go out for dinner and slurge a bit (only does this twice) i make sure to do a huge gym sessions first.
I think it also depends what your calories are coming from in my opinion. If it's day to day stuff like walking about or cleaning etc i defo wouldnt eat them back but if it was a workout's calories id be more open to that.
That said i try to maintain my macros as close as possible when i exercise in particular protein because you dont want any muscle dissappearing into fat.

ahmedsandouka991 · May 2016

Depending on your setting if you choose active or slightly active then don't eat it back because it's in the formula of the calculation. Hope this helps

Myjourney2345 · May 2016

I started by eating back 30-45% of my calories, but now I eat back most of my calories on days I workout and burn 400-500 calories per workout session and average 8,000-10,000 steps a day, and still seem to lose weight. I'd rather spend more time working out without feeling lethargic and burn more calories than working out less and burn less calories (I'm 27, 5'4.5, 142.4 pounds). My baseline per day to lose one pound is 1,450 calories (without exercise). On days I exercise I consume 1,700-2,000 calories a day (on those days I burn between 2,300-2,500). On the one day I don't exercise and only walk 12,000+ steps I eat 1,600-1,650. I also weigh all of my food and use a heart rate monitor to track the caloric burn during exercise and daily steps (the Polarm400 is great!). I notice that if my daily caloric deficit is bigger than 600 I feel deprived and turn to bingeing.

Maxematics · May 2016

emmadonaldson95 wrote: »

ErinSchuurmans wrote: »

So, does anyone have any thoughts about eating back calories burned? I never know if I should just eat my original allotted amount or go with what MFP says I can eat.

I never eat mine back just because i think of working out as the effort of getting thin you know and eating them back seems detrimental to that.
That said if i want to do something bad like go out for dinner and slurge a bit (only does this twice) i make sure to do a huge gym sessions first.
I think it also depends what your calories are coming from in my opinion. If it's day to day stuff like walking about or cleaning etc i defo wouldnt eat them back but if it was a workout's calories id be more open to that.
That said i try to maintain my macros as close as possible when i exercise in particular protein because you dont want any muscle dissappearing into fat.

You say this in every thread about eating back exercise calories but I have news for you; undereating will make you lose muscle mass regardless of how on point your macros are.

Not to be overly rude, but if anyone else is reading this thread and is new to weight loss I would ignore this user's advice not only due to what I've stated in the prior sentence but because she emphasizes the effort of getting "thin". I'm 5'3.5" and 111 pounds; I'm what most people would categorize as "thin". However, as you can see in my profile picture, I do have muscle. My goal is to be fit, not thin. That being said, I have a Fitbit Charge HR and I eat back every single one of my exercise calories if I'm hungry. I have a food scale, so my diary is as accurate as it can possibly be. Sometimes I have a deficit of 400 to 600 for the day, sometimes I go over my maintenance by 300. Part of the fitness process is to listen to your body, not ignore your hunger or convince yourself you don't need to eat back any exercise calories. If your main objective is being on the hunt to be thin, that's what's "detrimental" to your progress.

My advice is to start by eating back 25 to 50% of your exercise calories. If you're losing more than 2 pounds per week, or 1% of your bodyweight depending on your current weight, then you need to start eating back more exercise calories. I know people want to rush weight loss and seeing huge drops on the scale is appealing, but when you see what happens to your body composition from repeatedly doing this it won't be so appealing anymore. Approach weight loss as part of an overall lifestyle change and improvement in health. Remind yourself that food is fuel and not your enemy. That mindset is imperative in being successful and staying successful with regard to weight loss.

Eating back my calories from working out

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