Don't add eat exercise calories

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Replies

  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    In many cases, I don't feel there is a need to eat back any exercise calories. But in some cases, there is. The key is to know when you actually need to. There is a BIG difference between spending 15 minutes doing a light effort on an elliptical machine that doesn't even cause you to break a sweat, or 3 sets of lifting 10 pound weights and 20 crunches, and thinking you need to eat more to compensate for that...

    ...and running many miles at a brisk pace, or cycling a long hilly course, or doing some other really intensive exercise for an extended period of time.

    On days that I jog for 10 or 15 minutes and then do 8 interval sprints followed by a cool down...I typically don't eat back any exercise calories. However, if I do 3 hour hike with over 1,000 feet in elevation gain...or do a long slow run that is much more than normal for me, I WILL be hungrier and I will eat more. I think you need to learn when your body actually needs more fuel. Eat when it does, but skip the extras when it doesn't.

    An extreme example of people sabotaging their weight loss efforts for the sake of being able to justify eating an extra cookie are the threads that I used to see here frequently asking how many calories they burn doing routine house cleaning and other things of that nature. These were real threads!!! I mean, even if you say you are sedentary, I believe that these calculators that estimate daily calories burned assume that you occasionally get out of bed. Trying to add extra food because you went to the effort of showering and dressing yourself is just ridiculous.

    Also, I don't believe any of these calorie burn estimates are necessarily accurate...whether from a machine, a fit bit, or from mfp. So I always assume they are too high...I mentally deduct 1/3 automatically in the interest of being conservative...and even then I have no idea if the estimate is close.

    Bottom line...listen to your body. If you don't eat back calories, and don't start to get hungrier or lose energy, then you are probably eating the right amount. If that changes, eat back some of it at least on your more active days. On the other hand, if a person isn't losing weight over a period of several weeks...they most likely do NOT need the extra food.
  • sydneyplainjane
    sydneyplainjane Posts: 140 Member
    For me, I find that I have to eat back calories after strength training; my body kind of craves them, and especially something like a big bowl of oatmeal or something with rice. If it's light aerobics, like walking, I might eat back about half of those calories.

    Generally, I listen to my body. I'm a low carber, and every now and then I feel like I have to have a higher carb day. And, interestingly, I often find I'll lose more or break a plateau when I eat back more of my exercise calories.

    About the FitBit, I was surprised how accurate mine is. I use it to track my Curves workout; and, the calories burned, based on my heart rate and length of time of the workout, are pretty close to what MFP has for the calorie burn for Curves, if you look it up.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    DietPrada wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    When someone uses MFP and doesn't lose weight (over time) when eating back exercise calories, that means they are either underestimating Calories In and/or overestimating Calories Out.

    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 am finding MFP gives me less calories than my Charge HR...hmm interesting.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,575 Member
    Blitzia wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    I think it depends on the person. If someone is running several miles, they need to eat their exercise calories. Conversely, some people come to these threads asking why they aren't losing weight, and it comes out that they're eating 400 calories over their goal because of an "intense" 30 minute yoga routine. If your exercise calories are an overestimate, don't eat them. If you're burning a significant number of calories with your exercise, you need to eat them. That's the universal rule.

    Exactly. Pretty much a sure bet that most people that have not been successfully managing/tracking calories and exercise, for a long time, are way off on their estimates of both.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    I don't think anyone is arguing to eat a "ton" of fuel. The question is whether or not it's okay to eat back the estimated burn of a 3 mile run. My daily goal to maintain is 1,460. If I run 3 miles, I'm going to eat at least some of that back and that's okay.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    A ton, no, but if your daily calories are 1200, 300 is 25% of that.

    25% is a big deal.

    None the less, I don't find it necessary to add 300 calories to my intake to "make up" for a 3 mile run. Far from the doom and gloom predicted by some of the naysayers here, it hasn't killed my energy levels, my nails are not brittle, my hair is not falling out, my pace has increased (I just PR'd three different distances in the last six weeks in races), and I am not starving to death.

    The sky will not fall down if I don't "eat back" those calories.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    DietPrada wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    When someone uses MFP and doesn't lose weight (over time) when eating back exercise calories, that means they are either underestimating Calories In and/or overestimating Calories Out.

    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 am finding MFP gives me less calories than my Charge HR...hmm interesting.

    Same here. 45 min of hiit at peak intensity has me at 373 calories, 2781 steps out of 7385 so far. MFP gave me 385 for the whole day. So in the process of daily living and work my 145 lb self only burned 12 calories? Hmmm. Just noticed this, but I would rather have a lowball estimate.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    Nobody is arguing to eat a "ton"...but you could certainly eat another XXX calories provided the estimate is relatively accurate and you would still lose weight at the rate that you told MFP you wanted to...which is the whole point of the question.

    Could.

    If I wanted to, and were hungry. Neither of those conditions apply, and the world has not ended. :)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    Nobody disagrees with you!! Your non-strawman opponent would say you should eat approximately 2/3 your body-weight-in-pounds as calories, times 3, to replenish the energy needs imposed by a 3 mile run.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    Nobody is arguing to eat a "ton"...but you could certainly eat another XXX calories provided the estimate is relatively accurate and you would still lose weight at the rate that you told MFP you wanted to...which is the whole point of the question.

    Could.

    If I wanted to, and were hungry. Neither of those conditions apply, and the world has not ended. :)

    You know that things can take time to develop right? Most overtraining injuries and issues aren't actually a matter of overtraining but rather an issue of underfeeding activity and they happen over time. Hopefully you won't have any issues, but there are plenty of people who do and have had issues.

    Personally, I train for my fitness and performance and improved fitness and performance and feeding properly is a part of that...lean, healthy, and fit people eat and train...I know a ton of them.

    So if I just wait a few more years?
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    Nobody is arguing to eat a "ton"...but you could certainly eat another XXX calories provided the estimate is relatively accurate and you would still lose weight at the rate that you told MFP you wanted to...which is the whole point of the question.

    Could.

    If I wanted to, and were hungry. Neither of those conditions apply, and the world has not ended. :)

    You know that things can take time to develop right? Most overtraining injuries and issues aren't actually a matter of overtraining but rather an issue of underfeeding activity and they happen over time. Hopefully you won't have any issues, but there are plenty of people who do and have had issues.

    Personally, I train for my fitness and performance and improved fitness and performance and feeding properly is a part of that...lean, healthy, and fit people eat and train...I know a ton of them.

    So if I just wait a few more years?

    Yeah. Were you not planning on making it that long or something?
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    Nobody is arguing to eat a "ton"...but you could certainly eat another XXX calories provided the estimate is relatively accurate and you would still lose weight at the rate that you told MFP you wanted to...which is the whole point of the question.

    Could.

    If I wanted to, and were hungry. Neither of those conditions apply, and the world has not ended. :)

    You know that things can take time to develop right? Most overtraining injuries and issues aren't actually a matter of overtraining but rather an issue of underfeeding activity and they happen over time. Hopefully you won't have any issues, but there are plenty of people who do and have had issues.

    Personally, I train for my fitness and performance and improved fitness and performance and feeding properly is a part of that...lean, healthy, and fit people eat and train...I know a ton of them.

    So if I just wait a few more years?

    Anything that hasn't happened by now is unpossible.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    Nobody is arguing to eat a "ton"...but you could certainly eat another XXX calories provided the estimate is relatively accurate and you would still lose weight at the rate that you told MFP you wanted to...which is the whole point of the question.

    Could.

    If I wanted to, and were hungry. Neither of those conditions apply, and the world has not ended. :)

    You know that things can take time to develop right? Most overtraining injuries and issues aren't actually a matter of overtraining but rather an issue of underfeeding activity and they happen over time. Hopefully you won't have any issues, but there are plenty of people who do and have had issues.

    Personally, I train for my fitness and performance and improved fitness and performance and feeding properly is a part of that...lean, healthy, and fit people eat and train...I know a ton of them.

    So if I just wait a few more years?

    Yeah. Were you not planning on making it that long or something?

    I find it hilarious that I point out none of the doom and gloom has happened to me, and I'm told basically that it will "eventually".

    How long is eventually? It's not as if my lifestyle is new to me. It started with "takes more than a few weeks." Then it was months. Now we're into years. Do we go to decades next? It's exactly the same as being told that you'll just magically start gaining weight when you're "older". You want me to check back when I'm 90?

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    This is bad advice. :disappointed:

    It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.

    A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).


    It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"

    I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.

    doesn't matter what you call it...

    It's still not necessary to eat a ton to "fuel" for a 3 mile run.

    Nobody is arguing to eat a "ton"...but you could certainly eat another XXX calories provided the estimate is relatively accurate and you would still lose weight at the rate that you told MFP you wanted to...which is the whole point of the question.

    Could.

    If I wanted to, and were hungry. Neither of those conditions apply, and the world has not ended. :)

    You know that things can take time to develop right? Most overtraining injuries and issues aren't actually a matter of overtraining but rather an issue of underfeeding activity and they happen over time. Hopefully you won't have any issues, but there are plenty of people who do and have had issues.

    Personally, I train for my fitness and performance and improved fitness and performance and feeding properly is a part of that...lean, healthy, and fit people eat and train...I know a ton of them.

    So if I just wait a few more years?

    Yeah. Were you not planning on making it that long or something?

    I find it hilarious that I point out none of the doom and gloom has happened to me, and I'm told basically that it will "eventually".

    How long is eventually? It's not as if my lifestyle is new to me. It started with "takes more than a few weeks." Then it was months. Now we're into years. Do we go to decades next? It's exactly the same as being told that you'll just magically start gaining weight when you're "older". You want me to check back when I'm 90?

    unless you are a very small woman who runs her 3miles at a very slow pace what you are describing doesn't seem plausible to me either...

    but that being said you found what works for you great...have at but don't assume everyone is like you and what you do is "right".

    Not eating back exercise calories is not good advice unless you are so under estimating your intake that you gain when you do *coughs* then that would be the only reason not to.