Eating calories gained by exercising- yay or nah?

svetlanalarson
svetlanalarson Posts: 1 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
So i am wondering i am on the losing weight path for calories which is approx 1400 cals a day and when i exercise and track it it adds more calories.....
My question is ...
Is it more benificial to just eat my 1400 calories and leave the extra cals... or is it better to eat all the extra 'exercise 'calories?

Thanks for your help

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Ideally, eat them, but start off with 50% first in case they're overestimated. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation
  • Natso29
    Natso29 Posts: 28 Member
    If you're trying to lose weight then you should only eat your 1400 calories. The extras is the reason you're working out, to burn calories. You can eat those but that's more for maintaining your existing weight
  • FatMoojor
    FatMoojor Posts: 483 Member
    Natso29 wrote: »
    If you're trying to lose weight then you should only eat your 1400 calories. The extras is the reason you're working out, to burn calories. You can eat those but that's more for maintaining your existing weight

    This is incorrect. The 1400 calories is the net number of calories you need to consumer on a daily basis. That means that you should eat back a portion of your exercise calories otherwise you would be under the 1400 target for the day.
  • Unknown
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  • razzapool
    razzapool Posts: 89 Member
    i like to use some of the extra calories I burn on my exercise days because I get to have meals that I couldn't normally on my off days, but I don't use all of them them I normally burn around 1300-1440 calories at the gym 4 days a week and I will use about 500-600 of them as extra food
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
    I use some and track over the week to try to make sure I end the week in a deficit (or at least not over) so I have enough for a nice lunch, or to cover a day when I don't manage to do as much exercise as I planned. I don't think MFP particularly over-estimates (or I would not have lost weight) but its easy to over estimate yourself - if you are very unfit you might put down "20 mins very brisk pace walking (4mph)" when in fact if you measured it you would only have been walking 3mph at best.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Natso29 wrote: »
    If you're trying to lose weight then you should only eat your 1400 calories. The extras is the reason you're working out, to burn calories. You can eat those but that's more for maintaining your existing weight

    @Natso29

    No that's not how it works. Your calorie goal is plus exercise calories otherwise every time you exercise you are exceeding the rate of loss you selected. That's often not a good thing at all.

    If you don't wish to eat exercise calories on the day and prefer a set daily allowance then set your calorie goal using a TDEE calculator and not MFP's numbers.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Natso29 wrote: »
    If you're trying to lose weight then you should only eat your 1400 calories. The extras is the reason you're working out, to burn calories. You can eat those but that's more for maintaining your existing weight

    Please watch the video in the link I posted above your post. You don't have to work out to lose weight...many here do it more for fitness and health reasons.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    Yes. All of them. (Note: some activities are more consistent and well-characterized in terms of calorie burn - running, walking will probably be accurate. Some other activities you may want to underestimate and not eat 100% back).
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Natso29 wrote: »
    If you're trying to lose weight then you should only eat your 1400 calories. The extras is the reason you're working out, to burn calories. You can eat those but that's more for maintaining your existing weight

    By design, that's not how this tool works. That 1400 calories is your deficit without exercise. Exercise is additional, unaccounted for activity...it is not included in your activity level and thus, that activity is unaccounted for...common sense would dictate that all activity should be accounted for.

    My target to lose about 1 Lb per week is 1900...that means MFP estimates my non exercise maintenance to be 2,400 calories. If I go for a 30 mile ride I'll burn in the neighborhood of 1200 calories give or take...if I didn't account for that, I'd be leaving my body a mere 700 calories to work with...not good. I could eat those calories bring my gross to 1,900+1,200 = 3,100 calories and still lose 1 Lb per week because my maintenance would have increased by those same 1,200 calories to 2,400+1,200 = 3,600 and 3,600-3,100 = 500 calorie deficit still.

    On average, with exercise I eat around 2,500 calories per day to lose about 1 Lb per week.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,764 Member
    I eat back all my exercise calories and still lose weight. If I don't eat them back, I get really really hungry. Better to include those calories in my daily plan than to go completely wild at the end of the day because I'm starving or find myself without the energy I need to go do my runs.
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