Do you eat back your exercise calories?

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Replies

  • RoyBeck
    RoyBeck Posts: 947 Member
    RoyBeck wrote: »
    I deliberately underestimate my exercise calories to allow for error. For example I walk for 60 minutes on a treadmill. The treadmill says I've burnt 450 calories. I treat that as 300 calories, allowing for any errors, then I eat back 75% of those so 225. It works for me.

    So you eat half....?

    In that example yes but not always. For instance if I walk for 90 minutes and it says I've burnt 600 if probably treat that as 500 and eat back 400. I suppose roughly half is a good starting point.

  • moogie_fit
    moogie_fit Posts: 279 Member
    Not unless i work out on a rest day, like someone said above, my macros account for my daily energy expenditure. If for some reason I overeat I will use exercise to try to compensate but don't prefer doing that
  • DomesticKat
    DomesticKat Posts: 565 Member
    DoubleUbea wrote: »
    Thank you but If I am not hungry I am not going to eat. I never feel hungry when I close the day.

    I am sure the treadmill is over estimating my calories burned. Everything I read has said those treadmill estimates usually over estimate your calories burned.

    When I complete the day MFP will give me a warning if I have not eaten enough. I have not seen the warning since my first week, when I wasn't logging everything correctly.

    Best of luck to you then!
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    edited July 2018
    DoubleUbea wrote: »
    No I do not. Calories burned is an estimate, I try to stay under my original suggested calories as it is. If you want to lose weight you have to burn more than you consume.

    MFP gives you a calorie goal for losing weight without exercising. If you eat your exercise calories, you will still be burning more than you consume.

    Even your calorie goal is an estimate and you may burn more or less than the number the estimate is based off of. So, choosing not to eat any exercise calories at all because the numbers might be inflated for you does not seem reasonable. What does seem reasonable is eating a percentage and adjusting based off of real world results after a reasonable period of time (4-6 weeks).

    ETA: I eat all of my fitbit adjustment. There is no way I would be properly fueled if I didn't.
    I've lost just fine and am in maintenance.
  • OHammykins
    OHammykins Posts: 98 Member
    I have my daily calories set higher than the MFP recommendation so I eat between 1400 and 1500 a day. I tend not to eat back my exercise calories unless I'm having a hungry day or I've had an intense work out.

    I never let myself go hungry though. If I need extra food and I've done the work I'm going to eat and enjoy it B)
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    I eat my Fitbit adjustment and half of my exercise calories.
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 979 Member
    Not really, but I don't worry so much about going over my goal range.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    I eat back some of my exercise calories, but on days I exercise, I like to leave at least 315 calories in the green.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    There is no way I could meet my fitness goals and maintain my energy if I didn't eat back my exercise calories.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,515 Member
    Only rarely. I’m in my 40’s and weight loss is slow enough as it is. If I’m really hungry I’ll eat back some, but I don’t really exercise that strenuously anyway.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    I switched a long time ago to IIFYM. I do the same amount of exercise each week without fail, so those calories are already calculated into my daily calories. I simply go to iifym.com, use their macro calculator, answer all the questions honestly about how much exercise I do, enter those calories into MFP and adjust the macros like it tells me and eat the same amount every day. This way I don't have to starve on rest days and eat more on days I exercise. It's the same every day and works just the same over time. The catch is that you can't slack off on the exercise you input in their calculators or you'll either gain weight or not lose at the projected rate. Any exercise that gets entered into MFP automatically by my apps/devices I simply change the calorie burn to 0 or 1 so that I'm not double dipping on calories. If I do anything above and beyond what I planned on a weekly basis I may keep those calories and eat about 50% of them back.
  • errollmaclean
    errollmaclean Posts: 562 Member
    When cutting I tend to leave about a 100 calorie buffer to account for logging errors/calorie burn estimate errors. But the best way to know how accurate everything is, is to watch your body weight on the scale, to see if you're losing at the expected rate. If not, your calorie burns may be over estimated or you may have a logging error. If you're losing faster than expected, you can eat back more if you like.