Activity calories earned back... to eat or not to eat? Help!

Most people on here eat back 25-50% of added exercise calories. That way, you are properly fueling your work outs, but not over-estimating them and removing your deficit.

MFP uses NEAT formula. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis. So the number it gives you is the calories you would need to eat to lose weight if all you did was go about your day. It accounts for your BMR, which is the calories used to run your organs and whatnot, and your daily activities, like walking around your office, folding laundry, carrying in the groceries. What it does NOT account for is purposeful exercise. That's why you have to add that manually. o you add the exercise, which, for example, burned you an extra 200 calories, and MFP expects you to eat 200 extra calories to make up the difference.

And that's where the problem lies. See MFP and most everyone else overestimates calorie burns during exercise. So it might tell you you burned 500 calories just now on the treadmill, but realistically, you probably burned closer to 200-300. If that. So it's better to start by eating back "some" of your added exercise calories so you are not eating too much and wiping out the deficit you're trying to achieve. You can start with 50%, eat that for a while, and check "Does this continue to get me the results I'm anticipating?" OR "has this slowed down my loss or eliminated it altogether?" then you can reassess how much of the added calories you eat. Some people can happily eat them all and lose weight fine, other people have to limit how many of them they eat to maintain their projected weekly loss. It's very individual. You'll have to experiment a little.

JayLe81 wrote: »

Thank y'all! I use a Fitbit to help track but even then I know the calorie burn isn't 100% accurate. I think I will eat back 50% of the calories earned back and see how that works for a few weeks!

You can make your fitbit calorie burn a little more accurate by doing the following:

1.Wear it on your non-dominant hand, but tell the app you are wearing it on your dominant hand (reduces regular movements counted as steps)
2. Calculate and enter your gait length for both running and walking (gets a more accurate step count and distance reading)
3. Tell the app you are one inch shorter than you really are. (Shorter bodies use less fuel for the same movement as taller bodies, so just an inch can make an overly high calorie burn a little closer to reality)

ETA: Don't forget also that going UP is also an option. If 50% is making you lose weight too fast, eat more than 50%. Weight loss is not a race, first one to the goal is not necessarily the healthiest person.

JayLe81 wrote: »

Thank y'all! I use a Fitbit to help track but even then I know the calorie burn isn't 100% accurate. I think I will eat back 50% of the calories earned back and see how that works for a few weeks!

Yes^

Before long you will get a good feel for how well your FitBit does for you.

I eat 100% of the calories I get from my Fitbit One, which is less generous than MFP. I don't eat back a specific percentage of those - when I have big burns I stop eating when I'm full which usually leaves a few hundred calories on the table.