Are you supposed to eat back your exercise calories?
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digidoomed
Posts: 151 Member
Simple question. I eat 1300 cals a day and burn around 200-300 from exercise. Am I supposed to eat those back or is it okay if I'm just eating 1300 cals a day?
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Replies
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If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.1 -
Yes you should. If you are accurately tracking your intake (food scale) and accurately tracking your calories burned then yes you should.0
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Yes. Eat them.0
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janejellyroll wrote: »If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.
Might sound like a dumb question but how do you lose weight if you eat the calories you burn from exercise?0 -
digidoomed wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.
Might sound like a dumb question but how do you lose weight if you eat the calories you burn from exercise?
if you are using MFPs calculations, they have already built in the deficit you need for weight loss.1 -
digidoomed wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.
Might sound like a dumb question but how do you lose weight if you eat the calories you burn from exercise?
Would seeing it in numbers help?
Assume you need 2000 calories on a normal non-exercise day to maintain your weight.
You tell the app you want to lose 1lb a week so it sets your goal at 1500 (500 cal daily deficit).
But then on a day you burn 300 calories in exercise you now need 2300 calories to maintain your weight.
If you eat back those exercise 300 calories you will eat 1800 cals but that's still 500 cals under that day's maintenance needs - your deficit and weight loss is still the same.
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digidoomed wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.
Might sound like a dumb question but how do you lose weight if you eat the calories you burn from exercise?
Because when you put your information into MFP and say you want to lose X Lbs per week, MFP calculates the calories you need to eat WITHOUT exercise to accomplish that...your calorie target is your weight loss deficit WITHOUT exercise if you set it up properly...ie you didn't include exercise in your activity level.
Like, MFP will give me a target of around 1900 to lose about 1 Lb per week...I don't have to do any exercise to lose 1 Lb per week...just eat 1900 calories. This means MFP is estimating my NEAT (Maintenance calories without exercise) is around 2400 calories.
When I exercise, that activity isn't accounted for in my activity level...common sense would dictate that all activity should ultimately be accounted for. Let's say I go on a 10 mile ride and burn around 350 calories...I could now eat 1900+350=2,250 calories and still lose 1 Lb per week because my maintenance requirements would have also changed from 2,400 to 2,400 + 350 = 2,750 and 2,750-2,250=500 calorie deficit still.
Also, why would MFP be trying to trick you?
I'd also recommend reading the stickies.1 -
Have you tried using the search feature to see if your question has been asked and answered previously? (Hint - it has).
Have you read the stickied most helpful forum posts at the top of the various forum sections, as these have a wealth of information in them about how to best use this site to achieve your goals.
Short answer - yes, you are supposed to eat back at least a portion of those calories if using the MFP NEAT approach.0 -
digidoomed wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.
Might sound like a dumb question but how do you lose weight if you eat the calories you burn from exercise?
Would seeing it in numbers help?
Assume you need 2000 calories on a normal non-exercise day to maintain your weight.
You tell the app you want to lose 1lb a week so it sets your goal at 1500 (500 cal daily deficit).
But then on a day you burn 300 calories in exercise you now need 2300 calories to maintain your weight.
If you eat back those exercise 300 calories you will eat 1800 cals but that's still 500 cals under that day's maintenance needs - your deficit and weight loss is still the same.
That helps actually, thank you. I had just misunderstood the way MFP works. Thank you very much for this explanation2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »digidoomed wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.
Might sound like a dumb question but how do you lose weight if you eat the calories you burn from exercise?
Because when you put your information into MFP and say you want to lose X Lbs per week, MFP calculates the calories you need to eat WITHOUT exercise to accomplish that...your calorie target is your weight loss deficit WITHOUT exercise if you set it up properly...ie you didn't include exercise in your activity level.
Like, MFP will give me a target of around 1900 to lose about 1 Lb per week...I don't have to do any exercise to lose 1 Lb per week...just eat 1900 calories. This means MFP is estimating my NEAT (Maintenance calories without exercise) is around 2400 calories.
When I exercise, that activity isn't accounted for in my activity level...common sense would dictate that all activity should ultimately be accounted for. Let's say I go on a 10 mile ride and burn around 350 calories...I could now eat 1900+350=2,250 calories and still lose 1 Lb per week because my maintenance requirements would have also changed from 2,400 to 2,400 + 350 = 2,750 and 2,750-2,250=500 calorie deficit still.
Also, why would MFP be trying to trick you?
I'd also recommend reading the stickies.
I never thought MFP was trying to trick me, I just didn't understand that concept till now. But thank you, I'll make sure to eat my calories back. I was just under the impression you weren't supposed to eat what you burn/lose. That would actually explain a lot with what's going on with me lately. Thank you0 -
digidoomed wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »digidoomed wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.
Might sound like a dumb question but how do you lose weight if you eat the calories you burn from exercise?
Because when you put your information into MFP and say you want to lose X Lbs per week, MFP calculates the calories you need to eat WITHOUT exercise to accomplish that...your calorie target is your weight loss deficit WITHOUT exercise if you set it up properly...ie you didn't include exercise in your activity level.
Like, MFP will give me a target of around 1900 to lose about 1 Lb per week...I don't have to do any exercise to lose 1 Lb per week...just eat 1900 calories. This means MFP is estimating my NEAT (Maintenance calories without exercise) is around 2400 calories.
When I exercise, that activity isn't accounted for in my activity level...common sense would dictate that all activity should ultimately be accounted for. Let's say I go on a 10 mile ride and burn around 350 calories...I could now eat 1900+350=2,250 calories and still lose 1 Lb per week because my maintenance requirements would have also changed from 2,400 to 2,400 + 350 = 2,750 and 2,750-2,250=500 calorie deficit still.
Also, why would MFP be trying to trick you?
I'd also recommend reading the stickies.
I never thought MFP was trying to trick me, I just didn't understand that concept till now. But thank you, I'll make sure to eat my calories back. I was just under the impression you weren't supposed to eat what you burn/lose. That would actually explain a lot with what's going on with me lately. Thank you
In most cases, you would be right. I don't think the NEAT method is all that commonly used. Most trainers and whatnot typically use the TDEE method which would include your exercise in your activity level and thus you would have more calories up front to start with...in that case if you logged them and ate them back you would be double dipping because they're already accounted for in your activity level.
The only difference between the TDEE (I think more common) and NEAT is where you account for exercise. TDEE it's accounted for up front...downside is that if you don't do it, you're over eating. NEAT it's accounted for on the back end when you log it once you've done it and getting additional calories.
NEAT can be beneficial in allowing one to not have to worry about exercise to lose weight...it also can teach one the value of additional activity in terms of being able to eat more...and even if that's initially the reason, it often gets people into a more fitness oriented mind set.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »digidoomed wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »digidoomed wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given with the assumption that you will eat back your exercise calories.
If you're actually burning 200-300 calories a day and only eating 1,300, your net calories are only 1,000-1,100 a day. This isn't a healthy or sustainable net calorie level.
Might sound like a dumb question but how do you lose weight if you eat the calories you burn from exercise?
Because when you put your information into MFP and say you want to lose X Lbs per week, MFP calculates the calories you need to eat WITHOUT exercise to accomplish that...your calorie target is your weight loss deficit WITHOUT exercise if you set it up properly...ie you didn't include exercise in your activity level.
Like, MFP will give me a target of around 1900 to lose about 1 Lb per week...I don't have to do any exercise to lose 1 Lb per week...just eat 1900 calories. This means MFP is estimating my NEAT (Maintenance calories without exercise) is around 2400 calories.
When I exercise, that activity isn't accounted for in my activity level...common sense would dictate that all activity should ultimately be accounted for. Let's say I go on a 10 mile ride and burn around 350 calories...I could now eat 1900+350=2,250 calories and still lose 1 Lb per week because my maintenance requirements would have also changed from 2,400 to 2,400 + 350 = 2,750 and 2,750-2,250=500 calorie deficit still.
Also, why would MFP be trying to trick you?
I'd also recommend reading the stickies.
I never thought MFP was trying to trick me, I just didn't understand that concept till now. But thank you, I'll make sure to eat my calories back. I was just under the impression you weren't supposed to eat what you burn/lose. That would actually explain a lot with what's going on with me lately. Thank you
In most cases, you would be right. I don't think the NEAT method is all that commonly used. Most trainers and whatnot typically use the TDEE method which would include your exercise in your activity level and thus you would have more calories up front to start with...in that case if you logged them and ate them back you would be double dipping because they're already accounted for in your activity level.
The only difference between the TDEE (I think more common) and NEAT is where you account for exercise. TDEE it's accounted for up front...downside is that if you don't do it, you're over eating. NEAT it's accounted for on the back end when you log it once you've done it and getting additional calories.
NEAT can be beneficial in allowing one to not have to worry about exercise to lose weight...it also can teach one the value of additional activity in terms of being able to eat more...and even if that's initially the reason, it often gets people into a more fitness oriented mind set.
I think my problem was I used to use the TDEE method based off numbers I got from iifym.com. I would log those into MFP but did not understand it already accounted for exercise calories and was probably not burning what was calculated. I didn't know what algorithm that MFP uses, but now I see it's okay to eat back the calories I get from working out. Can't be mad about being able to eat more either. Thanks for your help1
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