Does anyone eat their exercise calories while losing?
lc_getsfit
Posts: 3 Member
Does anyone eat their exercise calories while losing? Do you eat a certain amount?
If you eat them do you track them manually or use a fitness tracker synced (like a Fitbit)!
If you eat them do you track them manually or use a fitness tracker synced (like a Fitbit)!
3
Replies
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I track them manually, and try to never eat them!!! Go team!
I worked with a nutritionist and stick to a specific number of calories they gave me for my exercise level and body size, even when I'm hungry I try to toe the line. There are calculators all over if you google out there. The key is to get enough potassium, and avoid the hellish salty garbage.1 -
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/p113 -
It is the way this tool is designed. Your exercise isn't accounted for in your activity level...it would make sense that it should be accounted for in some way. Also, why does everyone seem to think MFP is trying to trick them...makes no sense.12
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lc_getsfit wrote: »Does anyone eat their exercise calories while losing? Do you eat a certain amount?
If you eat them do you track them manually or use a fitness tracker synced (like a Fitbit)!
I let my FB track steps, and I enter workouts in FitBit. I don't really *track them* though, I couldn't tell you how many calories FB says I have burned. I find that that number is not really meaningful for me. I generally eat within my budget each day. If I did an exceptionally long bike ride, or had an unusually active day where I truly felt that I was hungrier than normal, I would certainly eat more. But most days fall as *normal* days, with just my normal budget.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »It is the way this tool is designed. Your exercise isn't accounted for in your activity level...it would make sense that it should be accounted for in some way. Also, why does everyone seem to think MFP is trying to trick them...makes no sense.
Have you seen men think exercise shouldn't count? I've only noticed women, and so I suspect something cultural specific to women.10 -
I don't understand this at all. If you're going to use this site's numbers as your calorie goal, you are supposed to eat the calories earned by exercise.
This site uses the Mifflin St. Jeor calculation, you can Google how that works, or you can read the instructions when you set up your goals.
I always ate/eat every delicious exercise calorie, but then I'm a rule-follower like that.
No, that's not it. I did it that way and it worked and I like to eat food, so why wouldn't I?19 -
While I am all in favor of using the site the way the site is designed to be used, I'm also aware that the site's exercise database is often accused of being too generous at awarding calories for exercise. I even have a cardio machine that tells me I can burn 1000 calories in an hour. I don't believe it. I log it, but I don't believe it. Because of this doubt, I try not to eat more than 50% of my exercise calories8
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I eat a portion of this back, but wary of the calorie over-estimations on several exercises. To be safe I cut these to about half and focus on protein.4
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I ate mine. I would have been a couch potato out of the gym if hadn't.
When I was losing using MFP's NEAT formula I ate back my exercise calories. I used the MFP data base and it was pretty accurate. I never used a digital tracker.
When I was consistent with my exercise I used TDEE. This too was pretty accurate and the total weeks numbers were within 100cals of my NEAT calories plus exercise- just distributed differently.
When I was near maintenance I worked out my own cal spent per hr based on the data from months of MFP logging.
It was close to both NEAT and TDEE population averages for my stats, and has been the number I have used for over 6 years maintenance.
All that being said- why if you are using MFP as designed would you deprive yourself of nutrients and calories needed to exercise.
Those extra calories prevent sub-par performance when exercising, or lethargy in daily life.
Start by eating 50 or 75% back, then adjust after a month so you are losing at your weekly goal.
Cheers, h.4 -
Yes but I severely underestimate them to be safe1
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I do my best to make sure my calculations are as accurate as possible, including subtracting 2 kcal/min to get net burn. But then I eat 100% back.0
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I always eat mine back.
I'm also aware of where those numbers came from.
When I cross country ski (which, sadly, won't happen again until November or December) I'm using an HRM to tell me how many calories I've burnt, which means I need to take the number with a grain of salt. Heart rate monitors count heart beats, not calories. But I literally don't have a better option, speed is a factor of snow conditions as much as it is of my exertion.
When I ride, I use a power meter to measure how much energy I put into the bike, and the calorie number I get from it will never be more than 5 % off. So I eat every one of those calories with joy.
My particular Garmin watch is bonkers for walking calories, so I calculate them myself based on distance, and then eat what I come up with, with confidence.
I've lost 75 pounds this way.7 -
I'll dip into them a little, but usually under half. If I am especially ravenous, I will take an extra brisk walk to afford more calories.4
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I eat back all of my exercise calories most of the time and use a fitbit Charge HR to track them.
I did a little math earlier today to see if the calories my fitbit said I burned were accurate. I added up all of the calories fitbit said I had left to eat for the day over the past six weeks that I've been using mfp and fitbit together. I've lost 8.4 lbs total, so that should equate to roughly 29,400 more calories burned than I've consumed. In that time, I've had 30,002 calories left over according to my fitbit, which should be 8.57 lbs of loss. So the numbers are a little high but closer than I thought they would be. I'm comfortable with those little inaccuracies for now because I'm pretty pleased with my rate of loss.
In that time, I trained for and ran a half marathon, and have kept running 15-20 miles a week. There were days when I ate more than 3,000 calories, which can be a scary number to look at when you're trying to lose weight. However, it proved to be necessary to sustain my activity (and to keep me happy during the process).7 -
I track my exercise calories manually and always eat at least some them.1
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Whatever the device or machine or app gives me as my total I record half that number. The only exception has been the number given when I recorded shoveling snow...I earned that extra pancake!
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I eat half. 1) I've lurked enough in the forums to notice all the post (and the infamous flow chart) saying that MFP and fitness machines can overestimate the burns. 2) I've always used measuring cups for solids. As much as I recognize that this is less accurate than weighing, I use American cookbooks a lot and sometimes, I can't be bothered to Google 'weight of 1 cup flour' or the cup of grapes I have with my Greek yogurt in the morning. Not eating back all my calories gives me a bit of a cushion that is—thus far—helping the weight come off. (If and when I plateau, tightening up my weights and measures will probably be the first thing I do.)2
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Always - but I put more effort than many appear to in ensuring they are reasonable.
They don't have to be accurate but "reasonable" isn't hard to arrive at with a bit of self education and common sense.3 -
I usually only eat a portion of them back - I eat a larger portion on days I do more strength training and try to make those high protein items.1
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Be careful syncing a tracker with MFP. I did that because I thought it would be helpful. It was giving me back my calories based on how many steps I was walking (I avg 10-12K a day). I made sure I was logging my exercise as "0" or "1" calorie so I wasn't double dipping exercise calories. I ended up gaining 5#'s before I realized it was because I was eating back my step calories. I unsynced my Misfit from MFP and just log my exercise normal and I'm back to losing again. I eat back most of my exercise calories but I have a lot to lose. I figure as I get closer to goal I won't be able to (or will only be able to eat half). I'm not sure why eating back my actual exercise calories works and why eating back my step calories doesn't. All I know is, I gained when I followed the calories given when I had my tracker synced to MFP.2
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I will if I'm hungry. I use a Garmin Vivosmart HR, which supposedly underestimates burns. I'm losing just fine.0
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I'm not an expert, but maybe the stepped calories are already factored into MFP's calorie allotment, based on the activity level you input? So if you put down 'sedentary', it figures that in the normal course of the day you're already walking X steps. Now you're going and putting down all your exercise calories and the X you burn, just by virtue of the fact that you aren't spending your whole non-exercise time lying in bed or sitting in a chair. Effectively, you're double-dipping.
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ronjsteele1 wrote: »Be careful syncing a tracker with MFP. I did that because I thought it would be helpful. It was giving me back my calories based on how many steps I was walking (I avg 10-12K a day). I made sure I was logging my exercise as "0" or "1" calorie so I wasn't double dipping exercise calories. I ended up gaining 5#'s before I realized it was because I was eating back my step calories. I unsynced my Misfit from MFP and just log my exercise normal and I'm back to losing again. I eat back most of my exercise calories but I have a lot to lose. I figure as I get closer to goal I won't be able to (or will only be able to eat half). I'm not sure why eating back my actual exercise calories works and why eating back my step calories doesn't. All I know is, I gained when I followed the calories given when I had my tracker synced to MFP.
I think *maybe* there was a clash between your activity setting and your step counting. A higher activity setting is already giving you more calories and it may have double dipped. Steps shouldn't have give you really any additional calories until you were above your reported activity level.2 -
lc_getsfit wrote: »Does anyone eat their exercise calories while losing? Do you eat a certain amount?
If you eat them do you track them manually or use a fitness tracker synced (like a Fitbit)!
Depends how much you burn! You don't want to be in too severe a deficit so if your target macros already put you in a deficit then yes, eat them back.
Personally I don't let my macros adjust from exercise calories; I workout every day and I know what my average TDEE is so my macros are preset accordingly.0 -
RedheadedPrincess14 wrote: »Yes but I severely underestimate them to be safe
I think this is the answer, combined with your specific caloric goals. If you're already cutting 500 calories or more from your diet, then denying your body further can be counter-productive. You could be encouraging your body to break down muscle, for example, or slowing down your metabolism.
Also, interestingly, MFP doesn't deduct calories for strength training. Muscle burns off fat, not to mention the energetic use of the workout itself, so this is another way to underestimate caloric intake.0 -
The WW system has a similar structure, and I always ate my earned calories on that, and always lost. First day on this was yesterday, and I ate them. If I'm remembering correctly, WW stressed that it's possible to eat too little to lose, as your body goes into starvation mode, which would cause it to hold onto what weight you have. I don't use a device to track. I think there are studies that it doesn't really help you lose.0
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Starvation mode isn't actually a thing: http://www.fattyfightsback.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html1
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I don't generally log and eat them, *but* I over-run my calorie limit fairly often anyway, so I feel like I'm banking those exercise calories to give me a little more flexibility when I need it.
Edited to add: and yes, this seems to work for me in terms of losing!1 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »Starvation mode isn't actually a thing: http://www.fattyfightsback.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html
Agreed, but aggressive deficit for weightloss isn't optimal.3 -
No argument there!1
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