I'm sure it's been asked 1000 times but...

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2

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  • vick9180
    vick9180 Posts: 144 Member
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    Technically, you should eat your exercise calories back to be on target to lose the alotted weight per week that you set up in your goals. Whether you do or not, is a personal choice. I eat mine back, for the most part, and have been losing what I want to be. As long as you get in 1200 calories, the decision to eat back the exercise calories can be determined on what works best for you.

    On the Biggest Loser, those contestants eat at least 1200 calories and then workout for their 8 hours a day without consuming anymore than those calories...which is why they have such extreme weight loss week to week. They are also under medical supervision while they do this. Of course, in the real world, nobody has this much time to work out, so you should be fine if you choose to consume the calories MFP set up for you and not eat back those calories. In my personal experience, working out makes me hungry though, so I always have to eat some kind of protein after I work out so I don't become ravenous and binge later.

    Just do what's comfortable and effective for you.
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
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    it's been asked more than 1000 times.

    Click on Search

    or, you could just be nice and answer the question/concerns. thanks.

    I know, right? I'm sick of people being snotty on here.
    its a public forum...your going to get all kinds of replies, whether you like them or not.
  • bry_all01
    bry_all01 Posts: 3,100 Member
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    I like that you were nice and explained it, even if it has been asked more than a thousand times. :happy:

    And, I sometimes do and sometimes don't eat mine back, but I'm at 2090 a day, so it all depends on the day and my mood. :tongue:

    Everyone is different when it comes to eating back their exercise calories. That being said, MFP already figures a deficit into your calories when it gives you your daily calorie allowance. It assumes you won't be exercising, so it makes sure you have a deficit built in. Since the deficit is already built into the calories you're eating for the day, you should try and eat back at least some of your exercise calories.

    Here's an easy way to see it:

    1260 (this is the amount of calories MFP wants you to eat each day) - 400 (calories burned in exercise) = 860 NET calories (This is how many calories you're really eating - 860 is far below the 1260 MFP recommends) + 400 calories eaten back after exercising = 1260 which is your original goal. MFP will say you consumed 1660, but you didn't because you burned off 400 of them.

    Did that help?
  • edenjoy3
    edenjoy3 Posts: 45
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    I believe it is also a simple question ..dont reply if you arent going to help at all. I got the same reply enough times to look into the first one that provided me with the link. thanks anyway..I think the idea is to support
  • RobertaG
    RobertaG Posts: 205 Member
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    it's been asked more than 1000 times.

    Click on Search

    or, you could just be nice and answer the question/concerns. thanks.

    I know, right? I'm sick of people being snotty on here.
    Yet none of you answered the question lol

    & YES! Eat them!
  • edenjoy3
    edenjoy3 Posts: 45
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    thank you for explaining.
  • skittybang
    skittybang Posts: 1,525 Member
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    The answer is yes. I made a website about it: http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
    Love,
    Taso

    So, what you're trying to say is I should eat my exercise calories?
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    The answer is yes. I made a website about it: http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
    Love,
    Taso

    So, what you're trying to say is I should eat my exercise calories?

    Not you. You're exempt. Everyone else should though.
  • bry_all01
    bry_all01 Posts: 3,100 Member
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    Best of luck! :glasses:
    I believe it is also a simple question ..dont reply if you arent going to help at all. I got the same reply enough times to look into the first one that provided me with the link. thanks anyway..I think the idea is to support
  • omid990
    omid990 Posts: 785 Member
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    This link has the most helpful response i've ever seen to the question

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • ChristyP0303
    ChristyP0303 Posts: 212 Member
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    I have my calorie goal set to 1800. I usually burn 300-350 calories per day which gives me a net of 1500 or so. If I burn a little more that day, I'll eat a little more.
  • charlene77
    charlene77 Posts: 250 Member
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    My daily goal is 1360. Sometimes I burn a couple hundred calories and don't eat them, sometimes I burn 500-600, don't eat them back, BUT sometimes I feel super hungry afterwards, so I eat to give my body the fuel it needs! There's so many conflicting opinions. If you read, there is so many doctors and nutritionists that will tell you eat a minimum of 1200 calories and you don't have to eat your exercise calories back....then there's some that'll say the oppisite. It's really up to you and your body. Give your body the fuel it needs to do the job you require of it! The last big weight loss journey I had, I knew nothing of exercise calories. I lost 60 pds in five months. Now, looking back, I realize I was around 1200-1500 a day, ate only three meals and never six, and burned about 400-500 calories day......I never ate exercise calories back and never went into "starvation mode". I kept the weight off for a long time.....until I had kids and let myself get lazy and just ate a little too much, so I gained the weight slowly. Find what works for you and do it.
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
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    My daily goal is 1360. Sometimes I burn a couple hundred calories and don't eat them, sometimes I burn 500-600, don't eat them back, BUT sometimes I feel super hungry afterwards, so I eat to give my body the fuel it needs! There's so many conflicting opinions. If you read, there is so many doctors and nutritionists that will tell you eat a minimum of 1200 calories and you don't have to eat your exercise calories back....then there's some that'll say the oppisite. It's really up to you and your body. Give your body the fuel it needs to do the job you require of it! The last big weight loss journey I had, I knew nothing of exercise calories. I lost 60 pds in five months. Now, looking back, I realize I was around 1200-1500 a day, ate only three meals and never six, and burned about 400-500 calories day......I never ate exercise calories back and never went into "starvation mode". I kept the weight off for a long time.....until I had kids and let myself get lazy and just ate a little too much, so I gained the weight slowly. Find what works for you and do it.
    this is basically what i do too, if im hungry i eat them back, if im not i dont eat them back.
  • dea5311
    dea5311 Posts: 8 Member
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    I was told by a dietian that you should not eat the calories back. The whole purpose of losing weight is to burn more then you eat.
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    Or you could make it super easy on yourself.

    Drive to store. Buy a Bodybugg or Bodymedia FIT. It is WORTH the investment.

    Wear the armband for 1-2 weeks every day as it gets adjusted to your body and it will be pretty accurate as to how many calories you burn in a 24 hour period.

    You have to remember that it's not just when you are in the gym when you burn calories. You burn calories when you eat, sleep, walk around the house, sit on the couch, play ball outside.

    YOU HAVE TO TAKE EVERY ACTIVITY YOU DO THROUGHOUT THE DAY INTO ACCOUNT.

    Yes it matters.

    Then, once you have that number of how many calories you burn each day on AVERAGE. (Some days you might burn 1800, some 1500, some 2000 depending on what you are doing):

    Then you eat at a 500 to 1000 calorie deficit every day.

    You will lose weight.
  • kimmerroze
    kimmerroze Posts: 1,330 Member
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    I was told by a dietian that you should not eat the calories back. The whole purpose of losing weight is to burn more then you eat.

    BUT what your doctor and you are failing to communicate is that MFP already makes it so you are burning more than you eat.. where as your doctor wasn't taking into acount that fact...
  • anu_6986
    anu_6986 Posts: 702 Member
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    it's been asked more than 1000 times.

    Click on Search

    or, you could just be nice and answer the question/concerns. thanks.

    The answer is yes. I made a website about it: http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
    Love,
    Taso

    LOL.... Atleast all the links are in one place :laugh:
  • LoveMy3Boys
    LoveMy3Boys Posts: 562 Member
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    I'm sorry people are being rude!

    1200 calories, at least for me is so hard to just eat. I always feel like I am starving! Listen to your body, in my opinion, there will be days you cannot satisfy that hunger! Then there will be days where you eat like a bird. :) Eat them sometimes and sometimes don't.
  • emmaleigh47
    emmaleigh47 Posts: 1,670 Member
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    Or you could make it super easy on yourself.

    Drive to store. Buy a Bodybugg or Bodymedia FIT. It is WORTH the investment.

    Wear the armband for 1-2 weeks every day as it gets adjusted to your body and it will be pretty accurate as to how many calories you burn in a 24 hour period.

    You have to remember that it's not just when you are in the gym when you burn calories. You burn calories when you eat, sleep, walk around the house, sit on the couch, play ball outside.

    YOU HAVE TO TAKE EVERY ACTIVITY YOU DO THROUGHOUT THE DAY INTO ACCOUNT.

    Yes it matters.

    Then, once you have that number of how many calories you burn each day on AVERAGE. (Some days you might burn 1800, some 1500, some 2000 depending on what you are doing):

    Then you eat at a 500 to 1000 calorie deficit every day.

    You will lose weight.

    Love it 100% agree! I have just dropped weight like magic since I got my BMF! :)
  • dimplz1965
    dimplz1965 Posts: 105 Member
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    I'm still trying to figure that out myself - trial and error - though neither seems to be working for me! Eat them, don't eat them, the scale does not budge an inch, but the inches are moving as far as the tape measure, so I'll take it. Eventually I will figure it out for my own body. Wish it was just easy. Now, where's that easy button????

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