Do you eat your calories you earn?

Really good write-up on the subject: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

LOL not only is it overwhelming but there's lots of experts.:)

I didn't read the article so I hope I don't contradict it. But, personally I don't eat back the calories earned. Unless I'm trying to maintain that weight, bf and muscle mass. Eating your BMR and calories burned through activity is essentially how you maintain ur weight. Your composition may change though.

DTrain351 wrote: »

LOL not only is it overwhelming but there's lots of experts.:)

I didn't read the article so I hope I don't contradict it. But, personally I don't eat back the calories earned. Unless I'm trying to maintain that weight, bf and muscle mass. Eating your BMR and calories burned through activity is essentially how you maintain ur weight. Your composition may change though.

Considering your weight loss deficit is factored into your calorie goal, eating back exercise calories doesn't affect your deficit. Especially if you are only eating back a portion of your calorie burns (which is fairly common here as we all know the burns aren't 100% accurate).

All not eating back your calories does is make your deficit bigger, which if you're on a 1200 calorie diet could lead to negative effects to your health.

Also, don't forget you can go by a weekly calorie goal. Some people save up their calories so they can have high days over the weekend, or cheat days or whatever.

I see what you guys are saying. I guess i dont use MFP as it was meant to be used. In my situation it's nearly impossible to eat back the calories. I have to go to a weekly average type system as mentioned by Christine72. Keep in mind all of my numbers are strictly educated guesses as I do not have the equipment to accurately measure anything. So, my bmr is about 1800 cal and I set my goal at 2400-3000 cal with a 40/40/20 macro split. If I go ride a bike I typically will go 50 miles in hilly terrain with a descent cadence. A couple programs I use estimate my cal burn at anywhere from 3500-4500 cal...depending on the ride. It would be nearly impossible to eat 5900-7500 cal in a day. I mean I could do it but that's all I'd do all day...eat. playing ice hockey is estimated at an 800-1000 cal burn for a game. Even at that, eating my base 2400-3000 cal plus 1000 more is tough. Pro bodybuilders on steroids only consume about 4000-6000 cal a day. So, I do serious cal burn on bike and hockey days. On strength & conditioning days i eat...probably in excess of what my body requires. I don't personally use MFP for anything other then tracking food/cal intake and macro split. I try to measure success or trends by body fat tests. At 6', 235 and just shy of 15%BF it seems to work. 2400-3000 cal a day seems to keep me where im at. Yea, my knuckles drag:) For me weekly averaging works better then daily deficits and eat backs.

kgirlhart wrote: »

DTrain351 wrote: »

LOL not only is it overwhelming but there's lots of experts.:)

I didn't read the article so I hope I don't contradict it. But, personally I don't eat back the calories earned. Unless I'm trying to maintain that weight, bf and muscle mass. Eating your BMR and calories burned through activity is essentially how you maintain ur weight. Your composition may change though.

The article basically explains the different calculations. If you used a tdee calculator it includes exercise so you don't eat exercise calories. If you use MFP's calorie goal it does not include exercise and you should eat back some of the exercise calories. I eat back most of mine and lose fine. When I don't eat them all I lose faster than expected. The best thing to do if you are using MFP's formula is to eat back 50% and after about 4 weeks reevaluate and either eat more or less depending on if you are losing faster or slower than desired.

Yeah pretty much all of this!