Can I really eat the extra calories if I exercise?

littlemissfitnesspal
littlemissfitnesspal Posts: 2 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
This may be a daft question but it says I have burnt 700 calories today exercising and therefore it added more calories to my daily allowance. If I eat this amount will I still lose weight?

I get the logic but I feel scared to eat the additional (however I am starving!)

Replies

  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Of course you're hungry! You expended tons more energy than you took in. We're aiming for that mechanism but not in the extreme. Eat back half of the calories and if you continue to lose weight at your appropriate weight, you can experiment with eating more. Being hungry all the time will derail you, long term. Keep your body happy, no need to punish it.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    So, basically, what you are saying is that you are irrational.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited March 2017
    It really is just math. Really. (And the physics/chemistry that go on behind the scenes). We don't have context for you specifically, but if you ate a caloric deficit without exercise, you would lose weight. If you increase your calories out through exercise and increase your calories in by the same amount, you would lose weight at the same rate.

    ETA: since some don't trust the numbers adjustment for calories out due to exercise, they may eat "half of the calories back". The only way you'll know for sure is by trial and error.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    littlemissfitnesspal wrote: »
    This may be a daft question but it says I have burnt 700 calories today exercising and therefore it added more calories to my daily allowance. If I eat this amount will I still lose weight?

    I get the logic but I feel scared to eat the additional (however I am starving!)

    The only "fear" comes from the fact that 700 exercise calories are a guesstimate. So to mitigate that most people start by eating back a %......say 50%. Eat back 350 calories for a time. If weight loss is faster than expected eat more, if weight loss is slower than expected eat less.

    There are MANY estimates with weight loss. You put in an activity level and MFP used 1 number to represent that. But the fact is some days you may be on the high end of your stated activity level, and other days you are on the low end. Learn to ACCEPT that these numbers are not exact.
  • sotoale3655
    sotoale3655 Posts: 20 Member
    Great question! Thank you!
  • hrtunstall
    hrtunstall Posts: 49 Member
    For me, if I eat back all my fitbit says I can, I don't lose weight. So, yeah only half if any. If you're starving, that is not a sustainable program. Vegetables have few calories, so you can eat quite a lot without messing up your calorie deficit. And, roasted vegetables are awesome.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    Eat back half of those calories, leave 350 at the end of the day and do that for a while. If you burn 800, eat back 400 and leave 400 left.. etc. and so forth. The reason for this is that exercise calories are just estimates, and are generally over inflated. After 4-6 weeks if you're losing weight at a faster rate than you expected, then eat a bit more back each time, if your weight loss has slowed then eat a bit less back. MFP uses the NEAT method which calculates your daily calories BEFORE exercise. So yes, you should be eating them back. How much of the calories are accurate is up to you to determine.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Yeah...it's just math...if I maintain on 2400 without exercise and cut 1 Lb per week on 1900...and exercise and burn an additional and unaccounted for 500 calories...well, then my maintenance increases to 2,900 calories and thus I would still lose that same 1 Lb per week eating 2400 with exercise.

    That said, I would leave some allowance for estimation error. Energy expenditure is difficult to determine with accuracy.
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    How confident are you in that you actually burned 700 calories? Is that number coming from mfp or a machine at the gym (which tend to be overestimates)? You should eat *some* level back, but unless you are absolutely sure of the number you actually burned you probably shouldn't eat them all back or you risk cancelling out your deficit.
  • perfect_storm
    perfect_storm Posts: 326 Member
    If you are using a heart rate monitor is is accurate if you are using a machine it is not eat back most or all if you could if your goal is to lose weight your calorie goal will already be set at a deficit so you will continue to lose weight good luck
  • Rincewind_1965
    Rincewind_1965 Posts: 639 Member
    http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-should-i-eat-back-my-exercise-calories/
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    perfect_storm wrote: »
    If you are using a heart rate monitor it is accurate if you are using a machine it is not eat back most or all if you could if your goal is to lose weight your calorie goal will already be set at a deficit so you will continue to lose weight good luck

    Um no. We don't know what type of exercise the OP did. HRMs are wild guesses for many forms of exercise, somewhat better for steady state cardio.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    perfect_storm wrote: »
    If you are using a heart rate monitor is is accurate if you are using a machine it is not eat back most or all if you could if your goal is to lose weight your calorie goal will already be set at a deficit so you will continue to lose weight good luck

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    perfect_storm wrote: »
    If you are using a heart rate monitor is is accurate if you are using a machine it is not eat back most or all if you could if your goal is to lose weight your calorie goal will already be set at a deficit so you will continue to lose weight good luck

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

    Uh-oh......are you looking for a flag too?
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    edited March 2017
    It's not daft. I've recently begun eating some of my exercise calories in a deliberate effort to keep my daily deficit nearer -500. In 3 days of doing this in the past week, I've measured 2 next-morning gains of 0.2 lb, and 1 next morning gain of -2.0. Your results may differ. Your results will differ. Heck, I don't even understand my results. I thought of editing that but decided that a negative gain is a loss so I left it.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    perfect_storm wrote: »
    If you are using a heart rate monitor is is accurate if you are using a machine it is not eat back most or all if you could if your goal is to lose weight your calorie goal will already be set at a deficit so you will continue to lose weight good luck

    No, this is terrible advice.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    littlemissfitnesspal wrote: »
    This may be a daft question but it says I have burnt 700 calories today exercising and therefore it added more calories to my daily allowance. If I eat this amount will I still lose weight?

    I get the logic but I feel scared to eat the additional (however I am starving!)

    MFP isn't trying to trick you into getting fat.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,169 Member
    If you used mfp to get your goal then you should be eating back the exercise calories. Exercise calories are all just estimates, so lots of people just eat back half or some other percentage. I would recommend eating back half and after about 4 weeks reevaluate. If you are losing faster than your expected rate of loss then eat back more of the exercise calories. If you are losing slower then eat back less.
  • Jabbarwocky
    Jabbarwocky Posts: 100 Member
    I personally eat back between half to three quarters of my exorcise calories and am losing fairly steadily. That being said, make sure to eat enough protein. It definitely helps to curb the hunger and also helps with building and toning muscles.
  • littlemissfitnesspal
    littlemissfitnesspal Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks for all the comments, they are helpful. I lost about 5 stone 9 years ago and I have kept it off apart from 1/2 stone which has crept slowly and now that I am 40 I am struggling to shift it. I have never counted calories (even during the huge weightloss as I just cut back and ate the right things) so it is a real eye opener entering the foods on here! I have tried my old ways of losing weight but this time is just isn't happening :-(
  • mengqiz86
    mengqiz86 Posts: 176 Member
    I don't eat back those calories - with the only exception being my weekly 10-mile runs (which burns ~900cal for me) - then I add an extra 300 cal or so. For most days when I burn below 500cal - I pretend it didn't happen. It doesn't bother me. I do plan my meals around my workout schedule so I allocate calories carefully for the hour post-workout.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    MFP uses the NEAT method, and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back.

    My FitBit One is far less generous with calories than the MFP database and I comfortably eat 100% of the calories I earn from it back.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
  • AmyOutOfControl
    AmyOutOfControl Posts: 1,425 Member
    I eat exercise calories back. I have lost 31 pounds so far.

    For example, I ran 9 miles this morning - That's like 1000 calories of yummy goodness. I hear the ice cream in my freezer calling my name. :)
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