Has anybody ate back their exercise calories consistently and still lost weight?

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sarahvjones26
sarahvjones26 Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm new and confused about this and just wanted to know if anyone has still lost weight eating their exercise calories?
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  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,885 Member
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    Yes.

    When I wanted to lose fairly quickly, and wasn't exercising too much (only about 60-90 min/day) I ate about half my exercise calories back.

    When I wanted to slow the loss a bit and increase the amount of exercise I was doing, I started eating anywhere from 75-95% of my exercise calories back.

    25 kg/55 lbs lost. :)
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
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    Yes. MFP is designed for you to eat your exercise calories back. Some choose to eat about 50-70% back, because they've found their exercise calories to be overestimated by MFP. When I was losing weight, I usually ate all them back and still lost at the rate I was expecting.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,195 Member
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    Yes. I was careful/conservative about estimating my exercise calories.

    Careful/conservative means, for example, when I did something new, I'd compare MFP's estimate to my heart rate monitor calorie estimate, and consult other specialized calculators for particular activities (if these were available), like cycling or walking calculators that use more detailed speed/distance data as input.

    But I ate pretty much every exercise calorie, while losing about 1/3 of my bodyweight (63 pounds) in 10-11 months. And, once I figured out how my body's workings compared to the standard calorie needs calculator results, I lost at the rate I targeted & expected.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    Sort of. But for best results, I need to slightly undereat the exercise allotment, I've found.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    I did when I was losing and I still do now that I'm maintaining. :)
  • Anonymous_fiend
    Anonymous_fiend Posts: 196 Member
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    I haven't but I'm at a low weight (and hypothyroidism) just trying to recomp. Also I don't use a food scale so 50% of my exercise cals are buffers. Careful mfp likes to overestimate how much you burn. Try it for a week. If you lose weight eating them back then do it. If not try 50% or less.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    sarahvjones26 wrote: »
    I'm new and confused about this and just wanted to know if anyone has still lost weight eating their exercise calories?

    yes, i have always eaten mine back, and always lost
  • razzapool
    razzapool Posts: 89 Member
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    I only eat back about 20-30%
  • lavender51
    lavender51 Posts: 41 Member
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    I find it hard to work out how many calories I've burned off so tend to be very conservative in how many calories I eat back. I'm not sure my exercise bike gives a correct number of calories burned. I wonder if it's being too generous. Same with doing online workouts. So I tend to eat 50 percent back. I've lost weight doing this in the past.
  • BCinTOR
    BCinTOR Posts: 4 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I'm eating the full exercise calories and still losing weight. I try not to delay eating them such as exercising in the morning then eating the extra in the evening. I recommend getting a Polar watch like the A360. You can turn on the integration to MFP for either just exercises or also as a step counter. You have to use a heart rate monitor to get calorie burn accuracy during exercising. Logging exercises manually in MFP is a pain. The Polar watch makes it simple.
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
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    Yes, definitely. Sometimes I save some for the weekend, but I generally try to make sure I'm under for the week as a whole. Don't over-estimate (putting down brisk walking when you're just strolling) but otherwise I use MFP estimates for eg aerobics. I've just got a Garmin, and the walking calories are the same as MFP estimates.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Yes. I eat every single exercise calorie I earn. It's important not to over-estimate them if you want to do that, though. I just kept fiddling with my Fitbit settings (the vast majority of my exercise is step based) until my total burn reflected my weight loss accurately.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    YES
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    BCinTOR wrote: »
    You have to use a heart rate monitor to get calorie burn accuracy during exercising.

    A lot of people think this, but it's not true at all, it's not even in the same ballpark as true. If you're walking, you'll get better accuracy from a formula that considers your distance, elevation change, and time than from a heart monitor. If you're cycling or rowing, a power meter is night and day more accurate than a heart monitor. For lifting weights, rolling dice is more accurate than using a heart rate monitor.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Yes, but I adjusted the cals given by MFP down by about half. They tend to be overstated.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    When I followed MFP's methodology, yes...it's the way the program is designed to work...it's not trying to trick you or something. You would want to make some kind of allowance for estimation errors.
  • LeoT0917
    LeoT0917 Posts: 206 Member
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    Nope. Many of the calories burned calculated for exercise other than aerobic workouts (1/2 to 2/3s of mine are weight training and yoga) are over estimated, so I don't eat them back usually and have had much better weight loss success. I will occasionally eat a snack or eat more than my meal calories and go over, but I "listen to my body" for those occasions and don't sweat it if I end up eating up to 1/2 of my exercise calories back. But these are the exception rather than the rule - perhaps 2 to 3 times per month.
  • HardcoreP0rk
    HardcoreP0rk Posts: 936 Member
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    If I don't eat back my exercise calories, I lift/run like garbage the next day and my athletic performance suffers. I consistently eat mine back and lose or maintain successfully, depending on my goals at the time.

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