Eat Exercise calories or not
Jadu786
Posts: 141 Member
Hello Everyone, for those of you who are successful with weight loss.. do you eat your exercise calories? For example, if you run 30 minutes and burn 300 calories. Do you add them to your daily allowance or ignore them?
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Replies
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You should eat back your exercise calories. The trick is to be careful and have some confidence that the number of calories calculated for your exercise are reasonably accurate. For example: If some device or machine gives you "800 calories for 20 minutes of exercise ______" then don't believe it... Some machines and devices drastically overestimate the calories burned for an activity. Be patient and use some critical thinking. That's why some people eat 50% of their exercise calories - it's an adjustment for inaccuracy.11
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If you get your calorie goal from MFP, yes you eat at least some if not all of your exercise calories. MFP's goal is NEAT (not TDEE) and is lower because you are supposed to log and eat your exercise calories too.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p1
If you use a TDEE calculator, then no you don't eat your exercise calories as they are already included in your TDEE goal.
In a perfect world MFP calorie goal + exercise calories = TDEE calorie goal.13 -
Yes I eat all of my exercise calories. They taste delicious and rewarding. I want to lose weight at a safe and appropriate pace. I don't want to feel fatigued or have my hair come out, or just not be able to perform.14
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Yes if you use MFP for your calorie goal, you need to eat them back. If you don't, you are not giving your body enough energy and can find yourself with unhealthy weight loss.9
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It has always worked pretty well for me to eat back nearly all my exercise calories.
Unless you find that you are not losing weight. In which case, you are either underestimating what you are eating or overestimating your exercise calories.7 -
Another vote for eating exercise calories. I like to be fueled for my activities. And yeah, they do taste the best!7
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I usually eat about half of them, just in case the calculations are off, unless I'm really hungry, then I eat them all.8
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I’ve always eaten back all my exercise calories.
1year weight loss ~10yr maintenance.
If I didn’t eat them I would lack energy, that would lead to underperforming my exercise routine, and/or not getting as much out of my daily life as I could.
ie: I would be lethargically stuck in a chair watching tv instead of building a new garden bed.
Another good reason why I eat them back, I can take a break when I want or need to and know how to adjust my calorie intake without gaining or losing weight.
Cheers, h.7 -
Unlike other sites which use TDEE calculators, 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 for them and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p16 -
I take a different approach. I set my calorie goal on MFP to "maintain." Then eat my maintenance calories every day. Any calories burned toward exercise go toward my weight loss. It's a slower process this way, but much more sustainable for me personally.12
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I don’t, but I would consider it if I had constant hunger or cravings that would cause me to not stick with my plan. Maybe try eating the exercise calories on special occasions and track how your body responds.5
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I don’t, but I would consider it if I had constant hunger or cravings that would cause me to not stick with my plan. Maybe try eating the exercise calories on special occasions and track how your body responds.
If you’re usingMFP to set calorie targets, as mentioned above, you’re supposed to eat back those calories or risk underfueling your activity.11 -
I do if I'm hungry. So basically, I don't force myself to eat them if I'm not hungry, but don't hesitate to eat them when I am.
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staticsplit wrote: »I usually eat about half of them, just in case the calculations are off, unless I'm really hungry, then I eat them all.
I do this, too. For the same reason.0 -
We have a "Woo-er" on the thread who is "Woo-ing" any post that suggests eating your exercise calories.
Woo-er, I'm living proof that it works if your exercise and intake calorie estimates are good. I've been near my weight goal for about 3 years now!10 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »We have a "Woo-er" on the thread who is "Woo-ing" any post that suggests eating your exercise calories.
Woo-er, I'm living proof that it works if your exercise and intake calorie estimates are good. I've been near my weight goal for about 3 years now!
Haha you're right! Why would someone woo that?
If I used the exercise calculations provided by MFP then I might eat half because I found them overinflated. But I spent a couple months trying to find the most accurate exercise calculator for me so that I could eat them all, so that I could best fuel my workouts and so that I would lose weight somewhat close to plan. Some people may want an easier solution which might be to eat half and then watch your loss over several weeks and then adjust if necessary.
My plan of eating all exercise calories is working very well for me as I'm dropping weight as expected, am not hungry and have lots of energy.
Bring the woo! 😆7 -
I do not eat mine back 95% of the time. I have the premium MFP, and one of the main features of it is to not have your daily goal increased by your exercise calories.
I will listen to my body though, and there have been occasions where I am very hungry and I will eat them back on those days but it has been rare.
I also was set @ 1200 calories by MFP when I started, and I manually adjusted it to 1399 as that fits better with my macro goals. So in a sense I might be already eating 200 calories over what MFP says and the reason i'm still losing weight at the same rate is because those extra 200 are covered by exercise, i'm not sure 3 -
sammidelvecchio wrote: »I do not eat mine back 95% of the time. I have the premium MFP, and one of the main features of it is to not have your daily goal increased by your exercise calories.
I will listen to my body though, and there have been occasions where I am very hungry and I will eat them back on those days but it has been rare.
I also was set @ 1200 calories by MFP when I started, and I manually adjusted it to 1399 as that fits better with my macro goals. So in a sense I might be already eating 200 calories over what MFP says and the reason i'm still losing weight at the same rate is because those extra 200 are covered by exercise, i'm not sure
Most premium features are meant for people who are doing things more specialized than just using traditional MFP set goals. MFP offers the no exercise calorie option for people who are using TDEE calculators to calculate their goals. I have premium and use a TDEE calculator for my goal, so I've turned off the exercise calories. But exercise is already built into my calorie goal. It sounds like you are doing somewhat of a rough equivalent to TDEE by adding more calories to your goal, which could cover your exercise level. You may want to check out a TDEE calculator to see how what you are doing matches with what they project for you.
The point remains though that using MFP generated goals and not eating your exercise calories back are incompatible with one another. It is not how the site is intended to be used. People should only not eat their calories back if they use a goal setting method that already accounts for exercise, which MFP does not.8 -
I didn't eat my excercise calories yesterday by a good bit and when I woke up today I was wrecked with tiredness almost felt like fatigue. Ate my porridge, went to spin, then halfway through spin I felt starving! Thanks for the tip on half. I'll try that as I am trying to lose a few pounds at the minute. Just a few though so eating half back should work for that. Thanks.2
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@MikePTY I agree with you mostly, but it can also be a good thing for people who aren't as meticulous with their food measuring. Or if you like to take a free day on the weekend, not eating back your exercise calories during the week will give you more freedom on the free day you choose (you're ultimately eating them back but not daily). I think there are a lot of options for people to play around with and I don't think people need to eat them back everyday like a lot of people suggest here. I just think its nice to let people know they have options 6
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Hello Everyone, for those of you who are successful with weight loss.. do you eat your exercise calories? For example, if you run 30 minutes and burn 300 calories. Do you add them to your daily allowance or ignore them?
It depends on your current calorie deficit.
My current maintenance is at 2,226 to lose weight I should be eating at 1726. If I burned 400 calories, at would put me at 1326. I wouldn't eat the calories back.10 -
A lot of people say you should eat them back, but what’s the purpose of burning the calories if your going to eat them back?!5
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A lot of people say you should eat them back, but what’s the purpose of burning the calories if your going to eat them back?!
- in ORDER to have more calories to eat
(especially if you are only eating 1200 to lose, that can give you more food to eat in a day)
- for fitness
- for health
- to build muscle/stamina
Remember: MFP gives you calories to eat to LOSE THE REQUESTED RATE without purposeful exercise. so those calories INCLUDE your deficit.
therefore, if you are burning extra calories your are increasing your deficit and at some point your body is gonna run out of steam to keep going if you don`t eat more. like a car without gas. bigger deficit is not always better, it can cause harm to underfuel your body over time.10 -
Totally a personal decision. For me personally, it really depends on the day. If I'm particularly hungry, I'll eat them, but at most I'll usually do only half.3
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sammidelvecchio wrote: »@MikePTY I agree with you mostly, but it can also be a good thing for people who aren't as meticulous with their food measuring. Or if you like to take a free day on the weekend, not eating back your exercise calories during the week will give you more freedom on the free day you choose (you're ultimately eating them back but not daily). I think there are a lot of options for people to play around with and I don't think people need to eat them back everyday like a lot of people suggest here. I just think its nice to let people know they have options
Not eating your exercise calories doesn't give you the ability to cheat. Anybody can do that. Easing you're excuse calories helps you calibrate your portion sizes to your energy use, which makes those no logging days not really an issue.6 -
@Northcascades not eating my exercise calories Sunday-Friday actually does give ME the freedom to have a Saturday where I can eat more calories and still make my weekly weight goal. So I'm not sure what you're trying to say.1
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sammidelvecchio wrote: »@Northcascades not eating my exercise calories Sunday-Friday actually does give ME the freedom to have a Saturday where I can eat more calories and still make my weekly weight goal. So I'm not sure what you're trying to say.
So you are eating your exercise calories back Just on Saturday rather than during the week.6 -
sammidelvecchio wrote: »@Northcascades not eating my exercise calories Sunday-Friday actually does give ME the freedom to have a Saturday where I can eat more calories and still make my weekly weight goal. So I'm not sure what you're trying to say.
What you're actually doing is called calorie banking, where you saved calories to eat later. You're doing it with your exercise calories. You're very explicitly linking bigger Saturday meals with the exercise you've done. You're eating your exercise calories back, as you should.9 -
A lot of people say you should eat them back, but what’s the purpose of burning the calories if your going to eat them back?!
Because your calorie target is your deficit without any exercise, and often a substantial one. Crashing your diet and then doing a bunch of exercise on top and creating a bigger deficit isn't always a very smart move and can be very unhealthy.
Also, the purpose of exercise isn't burning calories...that is simply a nice bi-product. The purpose of exercise is overall health and well being and fitness. You can't have good health if you're already underfeeding and then doing a bunch of exercise and not accounting for that activity...and without fuel, your fitness will suffer.11 -
I usually eat most of not all of my exercise calories back but I don't fret if I don't. I also gauge it on how hungry I feel, sometimes I'm just not particularly hungry so I won't force myself to eat.
If I know I'm going out for a meal I may well save a few up too.*
There is the issue of how accurate those estimates are as well. Especially if you're using a fitbit etc. So I do tend to err on the side of caution with an eye on my weekly weigh in.(Losing too much too quickly is never a good thing.)
* currently enjoying a half bottle of wine.1
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