Can we settle this calorie debate???

If MFP says my goal is 1500 calories, and I burn 600 calories, should I be eating a total of 2100 calories? Or get my 1500? I've been told both by friends on here. I don't use a food scale every time so I adjust for variage counting. I would love to get a definitive answer on this. Thanks in advance....
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Replies

  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    No. You should eat back about half of the 600 calories which means your total would be 1800
  • bujiebuke
    bujiebuke Posts: 6 Member
    Calorie counters on treadmills and machines etc account for TOTAL calories, which includes the calories that you would have lost during that time by just sitting on the couch instead of exercising. To calculate NET calories, find your BMR, hours spent working out to get resting calories lost. Subtract resting calories from TOTAL calories lost. This is only an estimate since treadmills and other machines are inaccurate.
  • lauraesh0384
    lauraesh0384 Posts: 463 Member
    The best thing to do is weigh everything on the food scale in grams and eat back half of your exercise calories. You may see a temporary increase on the scale from increased calories, but that's normal.
  • dykask
    dykask Posts: 800 Member
    It is all just estimates. However 600 kc is a pretty hard workout. It is really excellent that you are exercising that hard.

    As IllustratedxGirl said you have to see what happens to know if your calorie counting, exercise estimates and what your body actually does with the food gets you moving to where you want to go. It is also something you have to watch because things change all the time. For example your metabolism can change or even the impact your workout changes as your muscles adapt. Sometimes the changes can be very good for weight lose, such as maybe as you lose weight you become more sensitive to insulin and end up with less of in in your blood. There are many things going on in your body, so you have to watch it over time to see what is really going on.

    I basically don't pay attention to the exercise estimates on MFC. I think they are too high in general. However I don't even really pay attention to the estimates coming from my fitness tracker. I'm also eating about 400 to 800 kc more than what MFP recommends but I'm still losing weight for now. In fact I'm probably losing weight a little too fast right now. I'm sure that won't last.

  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Well, I've always eaten back all or most of my exercise calories and I've been successful at both losing and maintaining at goal for 5 years here on MFP. The system is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories, but some people don't eat all of them back since it's common for exercise calories to be over-estimated. I wouldn't skip ALL the exercise calories, though. You have to fuel those workouts and then recover from them, you know. I'd think people who never eat back ANY exercise cals would burn out over time. Doesn't seem sustainable to me. But that's just my opinion. If it works for other people, who am I to judge? Just experiment and see what works for you. :)
  • Motions28
    Motions28 Posts: 18 Member
    I'm a math teacher. It drives me crazy there isn't a set answer to this....a yes or no would be fantastic. I've been doing this for 50 days and have lost 11.5 pounds so things are moving in the right direction. I just want to know if what I am doing is causing my body harm. I don't plan on staying at this once I reach my target weight...but it seems like the consensus is to eat half workout cals back. I'm never going to be hungry...
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I sometimes eat all of my exercise calories back , other times some or none, it depends how hungry i am.
    I don't do intense exercise though, just lots and lots of walking. Plus, i think my fitbit overestimates so this is another reason why i try to avoid eating back 100% of them.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    I eat all or most of my exercise calories back and have been having success
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    I eat all mine from my Fitbit zip which logs steps only and my polar ft4 (which I use advisedly based on type of workout eg will knock a couple of hundred calories off for strength training)

    Bio feedback and trend sites with extrapolations based on moving averages like trendweight.com are the way to go if you are into numbers IMHO
    (Also Weightographer or apps like libra and Happyscale)
  • Dnarules
    Dnarules Posts: 2,081 Member
    I ate my exercise calories back (and I estimated conservatively). I did just fine, weight loss wise. MFP is designed to eat back exercise calories. So, I think it is very important that members take exercise into consideration in your calorie calculation, whether it be the MFP method or the TDEE method (which takes exercise levels into consideration before-hand). You need to make sure your overall activity level is properly fueled.

    That being said, I think it is very sweet that you want a definitive answer (and I honestly don't mean that in a bad way). I've been here since 2012, and there has never been a consensus. Ever.

    If I was using the MFP method, I would put my stats in, along with my activity level without exercise. Maybe start eating 50% of your exercise calories back, and within a few weeks, see how your weight loss is going and adjust. I found MFP calorie estimates for walking (my main exercise) to be fairly accurate. For other exercise, I used a HRM with a chest strap.

    It takes some experimentation, some times, to find your sweet spot :).
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Oh boy, i think I'll just stick to estimating lol
  • dykask
    dykask Posts: 800 Member
    Motions28 wrote: »
    I'm a math teacher. It drives me crazy there isn't a set answer to this....a yes or no would be fantastic. I've been doing this for 50 days and have lost 11.5 pounds so things are moving in the right direction. I just want to know if what I am doing is causing my body harm. I don't plan on staying at this once I reach my target weight...but it seems like the consensus is to eat half workout cals back. I'm never going to be hungry...

    Well there is at least one study that suggests you may be making some undesirable long term changes. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/4/906.long
    Declines in energy expenditure favoring the regain of lost weight persist well beyond the period of dynamic weight loss.

    This is a well know issue, people diet and succeed but then gain back more weight than they lost. Anyway that is my primary reason I don't worry about what MFP thinks I need to eat. I've actually tried logging some exercise in MFP and the results were not trustworthy.

    I mentioned I though my weight lost was too fast. That is about 13 pounds in 100 days, although probably 3 or 4 pounds of that is because the weather is so much hotter now. Most people would consider that very slow I think, but I like eating. :smiley:
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Weight loss when overweight is not an undesirable change

    Getting overweight in the first place is

    Following an advisable cautious path to lose that weight will in some way affect the amount you can eat after you lose ...there is no way to eradicate that as you will be a smaller person and need less energy ...minimising any metabolic shift through slower weight loss and building back to a new maintenance level slowly.

    Focusing on some things obfuscate the process which is IMHO quite simple

    Am I overweight?

    Yes => Do I need to lose weight?

    Yes => Eat fewer calories than I use (focus on both sides of equation energy in or energy out)

    => lose weight

    Hit target weight
    => am I at the weight I want?

    Yes => Start to increase intake and wait until water stabilises (2-4 weeks), increase again and again until stable

    Do I want to maintain this new weight?

    Yes => How many calories do I need to eat, how much exercise do I need to do (ooo would you just look at all that lovely data I have from the last x amount of time losing weight lets use that)

    => continual bio-feedback tracking
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    Oh boy, i think I'll just stick to estimating lol

    Excuse me for thinking that a few minutes of basic arithmetic to make use of all the data from the logging I do anyway is a small price to pay for actually knowing what results I should really expect based on how much I'm eating, rather than going on forever losing two pounds for every one pound MFP tells me I will lose.

    Or don't excuse me. I don't see anything to apologize for in being able to calculate an average. And I don't see anything funny about it ("lol"). Shaming people (especially women) for being able to do arithmetic is wrong on so many levels.
  • dykask
    dykask Posts: 800 Member
    Oh boy, i think I'll just stick to estimating lol

    Excuse me for thinking that a few minutes of basic arithmetic to make use of all the data from the logging I do anyway is a small price to pay for actually knowing what results I should really expect based on how much I'm eating, rather than going on forever losing two pounds for every one pound MFP tells me I will lose.

    Or don't excuse me. I don't see anything to apologize for in being able to calculate an average. And I don't see anything funny about it ("lol"). Shaming people (especially women) for being able to do arithmetic is wrong on so many levels.

    Well if you really want to hone your math skills, dive into the 3500 kc / lb of fat estimate. It is a pervasive number used everywhere and it is probably wrong for most people. :smile:
  • dykask
    dykask Posts: 800 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    Weight loss when overweight is not an undesirable change

    Getting overweight in the first place is

    Following an advisable cautious path to lose that weight will in some way affect the amount you can eat after you lose ...there is no way to eradicate that as you will be a smaller person and need less energy ...minimising any metabolic shift through slower weight loss and building back to a new maintenance level slowly.

    ...

    => continual bio-feedback tracking

    Of coarse if you are smaller you need less food, that isn't the issue. In the study I referenced the REE and NREE ended lower than could be accounted for by body composition changes. This is something that has shown up in other studies too, the most noticeable one is the biggest loser study. In short I don't want to eat like I'm 100 lbs less when I'm only 50 lbs less. :smiley:
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,399 Member
    Motions28 wrote: »
    I'm a math teacher. It drives me crazy there isn't a set answer to this....a yes or no would be fantastic. I've been doing this for 50 days and have lost 11.5 pounds so things are moving in the right direction. I just want to know if what I am doing is causing my body harm. I don't plan on staying at this once I reach my target weight...but it seems like the consensus is to eat half workout cals back. I'm never going to be hungry...

    If you are a math teacher, just use the data you have in hand already. You can calculate your daily or weekly rate of weight loss, and then compare it to your food and exercise logging to find your total error.

    But since you aren't weighing your food, you can't really be sure where the error is. Not to say that you can't lose weight without weighing the food you eat, as you and many others have proven that you can.


    The system MFP uses is designed to allow you to eat back all exercise calories. The problem lies in the fact that all calorie expenditure numbers, both for exercise and non exercise activities, are estimates. If your activity level and exercise estimates are close, you will be closer to MFP goal. Many apps, machine, and MFP estimates for certain exercises are unrealistic. If you use reasonably accurate calorie burn estimates you should be able to eat back all your exercise calories.



    I personally think the trend of many suggesting eat back half is simply people leaning towards any error producing greater weight loss. And for those that don't exercise as much, that might not be a bad thing. But for anyone exercising longer and/or harder it could easily lead to unhealthy deficits. It has been proven that weight loss that is too rapid can lead to metabolic damage in the long run, and those people struggle to maintain once at desired weight. Large deficits can also have short and long term impact on hormone levels, mood, and mental health in general.

    Though it's not an exact, I think the basic suggestion of never losing more than 1% of a persons body weight per week is fairly sound for most people. Greater percentages for very large people might be the lesser of the evils at times, but at that point a doctor should probably be involved regardless. Even at 1% I think that is pushing things some, and think many people would notice energy drops or performance drops if training.
  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
    My suggestion is to keep yourself in a 20% deficit overall. So yes you have you know your total caloric burn to do that. I measure and weigh all my food. I estimate my weightlifting burn for the week and just keep my calories flat off that.
  • oolou
    oolou Posts: 765 Member
    Motions28 wrote: »
    If MFP says my goal is 1500 calories, and I burn 600 calories, should I be eating a total of 2100 calories? Or get my 1500? I've been told both by friends on here. I don't use a food scale every time so I adjust for variage counting. I would love to get a definitive answer on this. Thanks in advance....

    You can give yourself the definite answer on this in about 6 weeks time. Choose one way or the other but stay consistent on whether or not you are going to eat your exercise calories or not. Log your calories eaten and your weight loss over that period of time. Work out your TDEE bearing in mind that for each pound lost you are adding 3500 to the total calorie intake. If you have lost more or less than expected, adjust your intake!

  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
    Did you calculate 1500 from your TDEE or using MFP? If using TDEE (- 10 to 20%) then that accounts for exercise calories, MFP doesn't and expects you to NET your GOAL. I would say eat as many back so you NET 1500. If your are set to sedentary you probably aren't being a teacher.