Eat burned exercise calories?

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cailynnn99
cailynnn99 Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm just starting back and have been trying not to eat the extra calories I earn from working out, but read one person saying you should eat those calories. Is this true? What do you guys do?

Replies

  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
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    If you use the generic MFP guides then yes - eat them back - maybe not the whole lot of them, but half (because of the tendency to over estimate burns). MFP is designed for you to eat back calories.

    if you use TDEE calculations (NOT MFP) then don't eat them back. I prefer TDEE because then I know exactly how much I need to eat each day regardless of how much or how little I exercise.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    This is an excellent video explaining why you should eat them when using MFP's numbers:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p1
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited March 2019
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    if you are using the calories recommended by MFP yes it is meant to eat back those exercise calories as the deficit is ALREADY included in the initial calorie goal.

    see link in post above.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    I just got home from a four and a half hour ski. Cross country, on flat ground, 20 scenic miles, because it was a perfect day and I had to. I don't know exactly how many calories I burned, but I know it wasn't 0. My HRM says 700 per hour, I'm figuring 500 to be conservative. Anyway to answer your question, I'm either going to have tacos or pasta, and then mint chocolate chip ice cream while I go through the pictures, and I'm still going to lose weight.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    MFP is made for you to eat your exercise calories back. At least most of them (sometimes they can be overestimated, so some people prefer to eat 50%-75%). If you use another formula like TDEE, then your exercise is already accounted for, and you wouldn't eat them back. However, your goal under TDEE would be higher than your MFP goal, because it calculates your general exercise level as part of your base calories.

    For you when starting out, I'd stay with your MFP goals and eating back your exercise calories. If after a while of doing this, you decide that another method is better, you can switch to that, but I'd stay on this one for now. Regardless, your exercise needs to be accounted for somehow.
  • SarahObrien2017
    SarahObrien2017 Posts: 12 Member
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    I am somewhat in the same boat. I burn 1000 a day with HIIT and I also weight train 6 days a week and I track my cals and try to stay at about 1200-1400 am I doing this right? I have about 15 more pounds to lose and it’s like I stay the same weight for like 3 weeks at a time then I’ll randomly lose like 2-3 pounds. I drink a gallon of water a day and take protein. I keep my carbs to mostly at lunch. I need help!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    SarahObrien2017 wrote: »
    I am somewhat in the same boat. I burn 1000 a day with HIIT and I also weight train 6 days a week and I track my cals and try to stay at about 1200-1400 am I doing this right? I have about 15 more pounds to lose and it’s like I stay the same weight for like 3 weeks at a time then I’ll randomly lose like 2-3 pounds. I drink a gallon of water a day and take protein. I keep my carbs to mostly at lunch. I need help!

    No you aren't burning 1000 calories with HIIT.
    Either because what you describe as HIIT isn't (extremely likely as it's recently become a meaningless advertising label attached to just about any exercise that isn't steady state) or because you are using an incredibly inaccurate method of estimation. Where are you getting those numbers from? What exercise are you doing (HIIT isn't an exercise it's an exercise modality) What duration?

    I you are losing on average under 1lb a week (ignore the non-linear nature of your loss) then you can see plainly that your numbers don't add up.

    Your water intake is irrelevant for weight loss as is carb timing.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    cailynnn99 wrote: »
    I'm just starting back and have been trying not to eat the extra calories I earn from working out, but read one person saying you should eat those calories. Is this true? What do you guys do?

    yes eat them, they taste the best!

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