Do you eat your exercise calories?
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glenorch
Posts: 4 Member
If you burn e.g. 400 calories in a spon class, do you guys eat those the same day? Is that the healthier thing to do? Other plans like weight watchers encourage you not to, but I guess it can encourage you to exercise more?
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Replies
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No don't eat them back!1
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U burn them off , so it stays off lol0
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It depends on how you calculate your calorie goal. Did you factor in your activity level when you set yourself up or did you choose the sedentary option? Did you calculate your TDEE and factor in regular activity?
If you do choose to eat them back, bear in mind that MFP gives very generous calorie burns so most people recommend eating back only 50-75%.4 -
Yes eat them back - they are a perfectly legitimate calorie need for your body.
It's also how your calorie goal was arrived at if you used this app to work out your target - base calories plus exercise calories.
You will also have to account for your exercise needs when you get to goal so might as well get used to it now.
But just like the food database don't blindly trust every database entry, simply use a bit of common sense.
(400 cals seems reasonable to me if your spin class is about 45 mins by the way)
Have a read....
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p17 -
some days i eat them some days i stay under my caloric allowance (1200). i still lose weight. it really depends on what u eat and what time u eat, IMO.1
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Eat them! at least 50-75% of them.... fuel your body yet lose weight, win win
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Yes, eat them back. Your deficit is already built into your calorie goal when you use MFP. You need the extra food as fuel for your workouts, especially if they're hard 400-calorie workouts.4
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I eat mine back, sometimes most, sometimes all...depends on how hungry I feel that day
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When I was losing I ate about 50% back early and then at least 75% as my conditioning and activity level went up.2
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This is a slightly complicated question as you may have picked up from the variety of answers, and my advice to you specifically would depend on you built in deficit and how often you exercise and you average burns, and how you are measuring that, which I don't currently know.
In general, if you want to lose faster then don't eat them back. With that, I caution you to listen to your body, if you are feeling tired and run down consistently then that is probably a sign you are not eating enough and your body needs more fuel.
If you prefer to eat them back then err on the side of under estimating as over estimating exercise calories is one of the things that commonly trips people up.
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If I just exercise a little bit (say 300 calories worth), I'll eat about 50% of my calories back.
If I exercise a bit more (say up to about 800 calories), I'll eat about 75% of my calories back.
If I exercise a lot, I'll eat about 90% of my calories back.
Approximately.3 -
Nope. I'd never lose weight if I ate them back.
I use my exercise calories as a buffer in case I log anything wrong or the packages are off.
For example, I eat a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich every morning. It says 300 calories. It might actually be 350 or 400. I don't weigh it, I just trust the number on the package. By not counting my exercise calories, I take in the extra calories into account.
Same with my lunch of a 6-inch subway sub. It says 450 calories (accounting for all my veggies and condiments). It might be more, probably is, so not eating back exercising helps.... because I probably am, I just don't know it.
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The MFP system already gives you a deficit without exercise. By NOT eating back your exercise calories, you are creating an even bigger deficit. Some people like having a bigger deficit, but I'm not one of them. It's not a race for me. I intend to keep doing this forever, and I want to enjoy my life while I'm doing it.
I eat the extra calories that I burn because I use them to fuel my workouts and to help my body repair. It's also motivation for me to exercise when I know I'm earning extra calories for treats. The MFP system, as it was designed, has worked brilliantly for me, so I'm not messing with it.
I'm here for long-term success, not quick, temporary weight loss. I need this lifestyle to be sustainable. If I starve myself I'm going to lose more lean muscle mass and end up burning out. I've been maintaining at goal here for 5 years and I always eat most of my exercise calories back, unless I'm just not hungry (hardly ever happens.)
Sometimes exercise calories can be overestimated, so I know that sometimes people like to eat back less to make sure they don't overeat (A lot of people say 50-75% works for them). I haven't had that problem myself. My estimates have been fairly accurate over time. I've probably eaten at least 90% of mine back over the years.
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No don't eat them back!U burn them off , so it stays off lol
It seems like you have a little to learn about this tool.
When you first start MFP and enter in your data, and how much you want to lose per week MFP spits out a number, assuming that you aren't going to do any exercise. That exercise is going to give you more calories to eat per day. Let's look at the math.
Let's say we have an individual who wants to lose 1lb per week. This person maintains on 2000 cal day, so MFP spits out a number of 1500 cal per day to lose 1lb per week.
2000 main cals - 500 cal deficit = 1500 cals per day to lose 1lb per week.
Now, let's say this person adds in a run that burns 350 cals.
2000 maint cals + 350 exercise cals = 2350 new maintenance cals, so...
2350 new maint cals - 500 cal deficit = 1850 cals to lose the same 1lb per week.
Now, one thing to remember is it's all an estimate. We don't know exactly how much we're eating and we don't know exactly how much we're burning. This is why many on here start by eating back 50% of their exercise cals and adjust from there. If you're losing quicker than goal after 2-4 weeks, start eating back 75%. If you're not losing to goal after 2-4 weeks, eat a little less of them back. For me, I usually end up cutting by eating back about 75-80% of my exercise cals.
As you get closer and closer to goal weight, exercise cals do become more important, and so does the accuracy of your logging.8 -
I eat if I'm hungry.
Usually about 50%, with my day preplanned at or below goal, if I'm still hungry I know how much wiggle room I have left.1 -
If you used mfp to get your calorie goal then you are supposed to eat them back. If you used a TDEE calculator then don't eat them back. Since exercise calories can be overestimated a good rule of thumb is to start by eating back about 50% and after about 4 weeks reevaluate. If you are losing faster than expected you can eat back more and if you aren't losing as fast as expected eat back less. I lost my weight eating back about 75-80% of my exercise calories.2
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i ate half of mine back as I was losing and now that I'm maintaining I eat 75% of them back.0
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+1 to the people saying that MFP is designed so that you're intended to eat back the exercise calories. If you have several hundred calories of exercise, and a steep calorie deficit (lose 2 pounds per week) in your MFP profile, you can be seriously, dangerously under-fueling yourself if you don't eat them back.
Yes, it can mean faster loss . . . but you're potentially losing more muscle than necessary, in addition to losing fat. Not Good.
Some people worry that MFP over-estimates exercise calories, and so eat back only a percentage. If you're worried, you can start that way, then adjust once you see whether your actual weight loss rate matches your goal.
Personally, I estimated my exercise carefully, then ate all the exercise calories back, while losing 60+ pounds in less than a year. It's not essential to eat them all back the same day, if you prefer. You can see whether you're more hungry that same day, or the next day (which happens for some folks) and adjust accordingly.2 -
beaglebrandon wrote: »I use my exercise calories as a buffer in case I log anything wrong or the packages are off.
For example, I eat a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich every morning. It says 300 calories. It might actually be 350 or 400. I don't weigh it, I just trust the number on the package.
Or, it could be 275 calories.
Weighting it would make more sense than ignoring a completely unrelated type of calorie.
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