Burned Calories - do you eat them?

The way MFP is set up you eat them back. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation

I eat every single last one, unless I have been on some mad crazy uphill hiking and it would be a struggle to eat them back, then I just bank them for weekend wine, I monitored my tracker for a while and found it was actually underestimating my output. Depending on your method of tracking your calories, you may want to be a little conservative with how many you eat back but whatever you choose to do stick at it for a month or so and you will be able to tell from your weight loss results how accurate they are.

deniseamerson05 wrote: »

This is, sadly, my first time to incorporate any exercise in my life, especially during a time when I'm choosing to eat better.
Is it best to not eat your burned calories? Or does your body need more calories if you're working out and I should be eating then (or some)?
Just curious on what works best for healthy weight loss. Thanks!

Yes, assuming you mean exercise calories added to your total when you say "burned calories" (we burn calories constantly).

It's how MFP is setup. Incidentally, if you were using the TDEE less deficit method while estimating activity up front, you would be already doing that. If you get your activity estimate right in either case, both should give you roughly the same calories to eat.

Ultimately, you'll end doing what's best for you, but you'll need significant time to monitor progress and tell whether you are eating too much or not enough back. The reason you'll need significant time is because fluid loss or retention will make the scale fluctuate at a greater magnitude than fat loss.

If you are losing more than 2 pounds per week (over 4-6 weeks, not individual weeks), you should probably eat a little more, especially if you experience other factors such as lethargy, light-headedness, etc. If you are not losing, then you should eat a smaller percentage of exercise calories "earned". Everyone is different.

It depends on my exercise. When I lift weights I usually end up eating the calories, the protein is needed for a good recovery.

deniseamerson05 wrote: »

Or does your body need more calories if you're working out and I should be eating then (or some)?

Does your car need more fuel putting in it when you drive further than expected?
Your exercise calories aren't accounted for in your calorie goal.

There's issues around accuracy but in reality the accuracy of your food intake is far more significant in achieving the right balance.

LinserSE wrote: »

I never do and I do not track them on here because the higher deficit I can achieve for a day the more weight I'll ultimately lose. However, I do keep it in mind and give myself permission to have a treat every now and again when I know I've done this for a while.

If you feel weak, tired, or hungry, you can always have an extra snack or whatever you may need to feel whole, but for the most 'effective weight loss', you would try not eat the/all calories back.

"Weight loss" is fat+existing lean muscle mass. My preference is a larger % of fat loss, so I eat exercise calories back. When people have quite a bit of weight to lose, this is not as much of an issue.

LinserSE wrote: »

I never do and I do not track them on here because the higher deficit I can achieve for a day the more weight I'll ultimately lose. However, I do keep it in mind and give myself permission to have a treat every now and again when I know I've done this for a while.

If you feel weak, tired, or hungry, you can always have an extra snack or whatever you may need to feel whole, but for the most 'effective weight loss', you would try not eat the/all calories back.

But the deficit you're aiming for, for your weight loss is already accounted for in your calorie allowance. So a higher deficit is not necessarily a good thing. Effective weight loss is achieved by being sustainable long term not faster.

Everybody eats their burned calories. Except dead people. You don't only burn calories through exercise, and the interest you do burn this way aren't any different from the ones you burn posting here.

I do not. But then again, I'm not tired, I don't feel weak, and I use them as 'cheat insurance'. For example, I work out four times a week, and probably burn close to 2500 calories total. I just use those as a cushion for if I go over 200 calories one day, or on the weekend I go out with friends and go 800 over my goal.

I eat back half. It works well for me.

I eat back intentional exercise calories. If I don't, I get extremely hungry. I can't sleep when I'm hungry and lack the energy to do my runs the next day. Most people who are perennially starving will go off their diets sooner or later. You don't have to be miserable while losing weight.

This is a good article about exercise and weight loss, that more importantly links to the actual studies instead of just saying "a recent study". I don't eat mine back unless I'm really weak and hungry because it is way too hard to accurately determine how many calories I burned.

https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

deniseamerson05 wrote: »

This is, sadly, my first time to incorporate any exercise in my life, especially during a time when I'm choosing to eat better.
Is it best to not eat your burned calories? Or does your body need more calories if you're working out and I should be eating then (or some)?
Just curious on what works best for healthy weight loss. Thanks!

Of course your body needs more calories when you're working out...the more active you are, the more calories you need.

All you're doing here is accounting for that activity which is not otherwise accounted for in your activity level. I switched from MFP's method a long time ago and went with TDEE because I was pretty consistent in my exercise...basically MFP gave me around 1800 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...with exercise I was eating around 2300-2400 gross calories per day.

Without exercise my maintenance is around 2,300 calories per day which is why I get the 1800 number from MFP...with regular exercise, my maintenance is more like 2800-3000...so I cut 500 calories from that and I get 2,300 - 2,500 calories per day...about the same as MFP after I logged the exercise.

In essence, I'm "eating back" calories one way or the other...with MFP, it's more deliberate because I had to log it, etc...with TDEE my exercise activity is just built into the overall target.