Should you be eating calories burnt through exercise?

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emers82
emers82 Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all, I'm confused re calories burnt through exercise, I'm currently on 1,530 calories per day to give me a 500 cal deficit, however, I exercise every day and notice that MFP adds approx 50% of my calories burnt to my daily calories. I never use these extra calories and wonder if I should or just use them to increase my calorie deficit?

Replies

  • xLyric
    xLyric Posts: 840 Member
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    You don't have to, but it's part of the formula for MFP to eat them back, and I personally don't see the point of depriving myself if I'm hungry. If you're eating them back and find you're not losing as much weight as predicted, just eat half the exercise calories. Adjust again if necessary, etc.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Depends...I don't use exercise to increase my deficit...my fitness is important to me and fueling that is a big part of fitness gains, recovery, etc. A larger deficit isn't always optimal either...kinda one of those more isn't always better propositions.

    It also kinda depends on what you're doing...I do a lot of endurance stuff and my calorie burns can be substantial. MFP gives me around 1,900 calories before exercise to lose about 1 Lb per week. A 30 mile + bike ride isn't a-typical for me and I'll burn around 1,000 calories doing that...if I didn't eat those, I'd be leaving myself a mere 900 calories which wouldn't be healthy in the least considering I need around 1700-1800 to fuel my mere existence.
  • emers82
    emers82 Posts: 13 Member
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    Ok thanks for the replies, I've had a few bad weeks food wise but always keep my exercise levels up so getting back into my tracking this week and hopefully the scales will start moving again, 9.5lbs to target :)
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Depends...I don't use exercise to increase my deficit...my fitness is important to me and fueling that is a big part of fitness gains, recovery, etc. A larger deficit isn't always optimal either...kinda one of those more isn't always better propositions.

    It also kinda depends on what you're doing...I do a lot of endurance stuff and my calorie burns can be substantial. MFP gives me around 1,900 calories before exercise to lose about 1 Lb per week. A 30 mile + bike ride isn't a-typical for me and I'll burn around 1,000 calories doing that...if I didn't eat those, I'd be leaving myself a mere 900 calories which wouldn't be healthy in the least considering I need around 1700-1800 to fuel my mere existence.

    This post is golden. Many of us start with the focus on weight. That's what I did. When I started to realize as I was exercising that I could perform better and better, it brought the whole health picture into focus. Why did I want to lose weight? 1) I wanted to look better (well, that was true at the time), 2) I wanted to do more.

    I've learned that as I do more, I look better. And that food is essentially what we need to fuel what we do. We can't do what we want without working at it. And we can't work at it optimally if we are not fueled to do it.

    So ultimately the purposes work together. If I neglect one, the other suffers. Especially if I eat too little. Nothing is more frustrating to me than not being able to do now what I could a workout or two ago. That usually means I've left too many calories on the table.

    Now, if anything, I try to eat a bigger percentage of exercise calories back than I did when I started. I'm much happier knowing I can perform better in my exercise than I am about nailing my deficit for the day. I still go under sometimes, but other days I may eat to a 500 deficit or less. Still losing weight. Still getting better at what I can do.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
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    emers82 wrote: »
    Ok thanks for the replies, I've had a few bad weeks food wise but always keep my exercise levels up so getting back into my tracking this week and hopefully the scales will start moving again, 9.5lbs to target :)

    With only 9.5 pounds to lose, a weekly weight loss goal of a half pound per week plus eating back at least 50% of the calories you earn from exercise will be a much more sustainable plan for you. Undereating can definitely trigger overeating :)

    These last few pounds can be very slow, so do be patient with the process.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    How is this confusing?

    You have a deficit to lose weight, before exercise is factored in. If you exercise and eat the calories back, for weight loss purposes that's the same as not exercising - just that you get some fun and fitness and strength and me time as a bonus.

    It's just like putting more gas in your car when/because you drive more.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    emers82 wrote: »
    Ok thanks for the replies, I've had a few bad weeks food wise but always keep my exercise levels up so getting back into my tracking this week and hopefully the scales will start moving again, 9.5lbs to target :)

    9.5 Lbs is likely to be pretty slow...You just don't have the fat stores to mobilize for fast weight loss. Vanity weight is the slowest...
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    Depends on how your original calorie target was calculated. If you use MFP's method (NEAT), you should eat at least a portion of them back . . . assuming your activity level is set correctly. If you have been able to calculate your TDEE with reasonable accuracy and use that to determine your calorie target, your activity is already figured in so then you would not.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,575 Member
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    emers82 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm confused re calories burnt through exercise, I'm currently on 1,530 calories per day to give me a 500 cal deficit, however, I exercise every day and notice that MFP adds approx 50% of my calories burnt to my daily calories. I never use these extra calories and wonder if I should or just use them to increase my calorie deficit?

    If you are hungry, eat them. If not, then don't.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
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    fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »
    emers82 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm confused re calories burnt through exercise, I'm currently on 1,530 calories per day to give me a 500 cal deficit, however, I exercise every day and notice that MFP adds approx 50% of my calories burnt to my daily calories. I never use these extra calories and wonder if I should or just use them to increase my calorie deficit?

    If you are hungry, eat them. If not, then don't.

    This only works if one's hunger cues can be trusted, and many of us are here because our hunger cues didn't work properly.

    MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), 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
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »
    emers82 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm confused re calories burnt through exercise, I'm currently on 1,530 calories per day to give me a 500 cal deficit, however, I exercise every day and notice that MFP adds approx 50% of my calories burnt to my daily calories. I never use these extra calories and wonder if I should or just use them to increase my calorie deficit?

    If you are hungry, eat them. If not, then don't.

    This only works if one's hunger cues can be trusted, and many of us are here because our hunger cues didn't work properly.

    MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), 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

    i eat back 75% of my Fitbit calories and only 50% of my swimming calories for the exact reasons you mentioned. I trust a tracker more than I trust the numbers from the MFP exercise database.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,575 Member
    edited April 2017
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »
    emers82 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm confused re calories burnt through exercise, I'm currently on 1,530 calories per day to give me a 500 cal deficit, however, I exercise every day and notice that MFP adds approx 50% of my calories burnt to my daily calories. I never use these extra calories and wonder if I should or just use them to increase my calorie deficit?

    If you are hungry, eat them. If not, then don't.

    This only works if one's hunger cues can be trusted, and many of us are here because our hunger cues didn't work properly.

    MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), 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

    Personally I don't believe it is a matter of "trusting hunger cues". I think most have simply forgotten what hunger actually feels like, and tend to eat out of habit. As far as I am concerned, it is just a retraining of bad habits, and learning to know the difference between being stuffed, full, and what is really *enough*. If I ate the calories that my Fitbit said I burned, I would steadily gain, every week. You have a different view, and that's fine. Everyone needs to figure out what works for them as we are not all made from a cookie cutter. ;)

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