Does everyone use the extra calories earned from exercise ?
turnpike1920
Posts: 5 Member
I didn't lose last week so I'm guessing I shouldn't use my extra calories earned from exercise ? would be good to get your feedback on this and any tips / advice.
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Replies
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No, never. Since only 20% of weight loss is from exercise, I just treat it like a bonus for me. That's one of the reason people who work out don't always lose weight as fast as they hope- they are overestimating how many calories they are burning and eating more than they should. BTW, this came from my doctor, so it's not just my opinion. :-)15
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I never lose if I eat my exercise calories. Estimates on actual calorie burn can be unreliable. I also have to be consistent with water too.3
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I ate all my exercise calories back while losing, and have continued to do so for the 10yr I have been maintaining. I, personally, would have been undernourished and lethargic if I hadn’t.
If you don’t eat them back you have a more difficult time adjusting calories if you can’t work out, or change your routine.
MFP gives you your deficit calories without exercise and expects you to eat them back. It helps one understand that the more you move, the more you need to eat to maintain good health even when in a deficit.
If you are having trouble losing while eating them back re visit your logging practices. Are you weighing everything and using correct entries?
Also you may need to adjust the calories you have earned through exercise. All devices, websites, apps, and MFP use estimates for exercise calorie burn. You can check their accuracy against your personal accumulated data then adjust.
Cheers, h.20 -
I try not to but it's a nice cushion if you are feeling like an extra nibble.3
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turnpike1920 wrote: »I didn't lose last week so I'm guessing I shouldn't use my extra calories earned from exercise ? would be good to get your feedback on this and any tips / advice.
My advice would be to not make changes based on one week. There are going to be weeks where the scale doesn't go down and sometimes goes up.
And all of what @middlehaitch said. You're already in deficit regardless of exercise calories. You're supposed to add them and eat them.
As for personal experience, I ate all of my actual exercise calories (calculators offer estimates) while losing and in maintenance. It made a world of difference in energy levels and satiety.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear/p112 -
I eat all mine back when I go for long walks and hikes and am still losing just over a lb a week. I opted not to eat them before and had issues with my menstrual cycle as a result. If my logging and app were to be believed, some days I was only netting 800-1000 calories. I'm feeling much better now. Less tired and my monthlies have come back.7
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I eat back what my fitbit tells me I burnt and it seems accurate. Mfp is known to overestimate and alot of people halve the mfp estimates. Only time I didn't eat back exercise calories was when cutting for fight and that was not fun.2
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I cut my exercise calories in half for something like 20+ miles on a bike, because my fitbit estimates those rides at more than my daily allowance of calories. When I do strength training, I usually just allow myself about 250-300 calories as a flat amount. Essentially, eating back your exercise calories is the right thing to do. Estimating them properly is the hard part.10
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I went online and calculated an average calorie burn for an hour of exercise. I did this because I do several different things. I had been warned that MFP estimates high and I wanted an easy way to get an accurate calorie allowance. I average 330 calories per hour.
This has worked really well for me. My weight is tracking right where it should be.1 -
I used to eat half my exercise calories back, and continued to lose at faster than MFP's estimate.
Currently I eat almost all my exercise calories back, and when I do that I maintain/lose correctly. Then again, I log my food meticulously and slightly lowball my exercise.
If I didn't eat back at least some of the calories I burn in 14 miles of cross-country hiking, or five miles of walking and two gym classes, I'd be in a pretty bad way.2 -
Does everyone use the extra calories earned from exercise ?
Yes ... always.
Roughly 50% if I do a little bit of exercise like an hour's brisk walk.
Roughly 75% if I do a medium amount of exercise like 2-3 hours of cycling.
Roughly 95% if I do a lot of exercise like 6 hours of cycling.3 -
I've always used my exercise calories both when losing and during the 6 years I've been maintaining. I do use a fitness tracker to make sure I am logging walks at the right speed (its easy to ever-estimate, especially if its hot or you are going uphill!). I don't always eat all the calories on the day they are earned, but save them for the weekend. I always use a scale to weigh ingredients such as pasta - never use cup measurements or "average plate" entries, as that is far more likely to undermine your weight loss. If you log accurately you will lose weight eating your exercise calories.
I have always used the MFP estimates with no problem - I know some trackers (including fitbit) can over-estimate calorie burn so I don't sync my tracker to MFP.1 -
A week is too short a time to judge: Weight loss isn't linear.
I estimated exercise calories carefully, and ate them all back, while losing about 50 pounds in less than a year at age 59-60, and have continued to do the same in 3 years since of maintaining a healthy weight.
If someone has a slow weight loss target rate (for their current size) and doesn't do a lot of exercise, it can be OK to take the exercise calories as an add-on to calorie deficit (i.e., not eat them back). On the flip side, someone trying to lose weight fast, and doing a lot of exercise, would be taking quite a big health risk by not eating exercise calories back. Losing weight too slowly is frustrating, but losing weight too fast can be dangerous.
In between those extremes, it's a matter of balancing risks vs. rewards. Fast weight loss isn't necessarily best: It's about balancing weight loss rate, sustainability of that weight loss rate (can we stick to it), health, and energy level (fatigue = reduced energy = reduced activity = lower daily life calorie burn: counterproductive).
I'd suggest giving it another 2-3 weeks before making any major changes. Sometimes there's a bit of a water-rentention roller-coaster in the first weeks of weight loss, and extra water retention can mask fat loss on the scale. With a little more time, you should be able to get a better idea of what's really happening.4 -
Thank you to all who have responded, Im finding the discipline of logging everything good and Im convinced I will get there. Injury and poor mobility have taken their toll over the last 6 months and its a daily struggle to exercise the little Im doing , mainly short walks at a slow pace and swimming. I have taken all your tips and inspiring advice on board I will let you know how I get on .3
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I had not been eating calories back. I decided to give it a shot. When I did, I lost nothing that week. So now, I’m back to not eating my calories back.1
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I think it really depends on how many calories extra you get, if it's a small amount, I'd reccomend you don't. In talking with my nutritionist, she suggested I don't eat the extra in which I wasn't anyhow. Also when I showed her what my daily alloted calories were, I needed to reduce it by 400-500 calories. She likes this app but found it a bit higher on the allotted calories given and so in order for me to lose I needed to reduce and it's going pretty well I'd say!0
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When you only get 1300 cals a day, you eat every one of those suckers. Even 100 cals makes a difference for me.6
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Does she not understand very basic mathematics?Barbee1933 wrote: »I think it really depends on how many calories extra you get, if it's a small amount, I'd reccomend you don't. In talking with my nutritionist, she suggested I don't eat the extra in which I wasn't anyhow. Also when I showed her what my daily alloted calories were, I needed to reduce it by 400-500 calories. She likes this app but found it a bit higher on the allotted calories given and so in order for me to lose I needed to reduce and it's going pretty well I'd say!
The app does not calculate calories, you do by the information you input4 -
I use around half of my exercise calories on the day then save the other half for a meal out and alcohol on the weekends
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turnpike1920 wrote: »I didn't lose last week so I'm guessing I shouldn't use my extra calories earned from exercise ? would be good to get your feedback on this and any tips / advice.
I eat back half. I also try to walk at least 2 hours a day, strength train 5 days a week, and am currently training for a 5K run 3 days a week. Let's just say my workouts need fuel.2 -
turnpike1920 wrote: »I didn't lose last week so I'm guessing I shouldn't use my extra calories earned from exercise ? would be good to get your feedback on this and any tips / advice.
I never do.1 -
Sort. Of
I use them. All the time. I log everything I eat, and drink, I mean everything. That sandwich I just made. I include everything the butter, the sauce and garnish, not just the bread and main fillings like I know some people do. If MFP can't find a 100% match and I don't have the info, I use the higher value, or if I don't know the exact weight of food I add an over estimate of weight. that I know I didnt it. Eat it
When it comes to my exercise (cycling) I have a HRM strap and other kit to help me get an better calorie used count. I then assume thats high so take 100 or so of it.1 -
I do that too, higginbr, err on the side of overestimating.1
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lauragreenbaum wrote: »No, never. Since only 20% of weight loss is from exercise, I just treat it like a bonus for me. That's one of the reason people who work out don't always lose weight as fast as they hope- they are overestimating how many calories they are burning and eating more than they should. BTW, this came from my doctor, so it's not just my opinion. :-)
Your doctor doesn't understand how MFP works. If I didn't account for my exercise calories I would keel over. MFP gives me around 1900 calories to lose 1 Lb per week...that is without any exercise. I regularly ride 30+ miles on my bike and can burn 1,000+ calories. If I didn't account for those and eat at least a portion of those back, my net calorie intake would be a mere 900 calories and no grown man should be netting 900 calories.9 -
PiscesIntuition wrote: »I had not been eating calories back. I decided to give it a shot. When I did, I lost nothing that week. So now, I’m back to not eating my calories back.
So you gave it one week? That's not exactly a fair trial, honestly. I don't think OP should take this experience as anything other than anecdotal and based on a woefully insufficient time frame.0 -
And to respond to OP, yes, I eat my exercise calories back. Because I earned those MFers and I'm already at between 1300-1400 calories a day, so too close to 1200 NOT to eat them back! I just estimate low on the calories burned. I'm losing weight consistently week over week, and I'm not hungry all the damn time.1
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cwolfman13 wrote: »lauragreenbaum wrote: »No, never. Since only 20% of weight loss is from exercise, I just treat it like a bonus for me. That's one of the reason people who work out don't always lose weight as fast as they hope- they are overestimating how many calories they are burning and eating more than they should. BTW, this came from my doctor, so it's not just my opinion. :-)
Your doctor doesn't understand how MFP works. If I didn't account for my exercise calories I would keel over. MFP gives me around 1900 calories to lose 1 Lb per week...that is without any exercise. I regularly ride 30+ miles on my bike and can burn 1,000+ calories. If I didn't account for those and eat at least a portion of those back, my net calorie intake would be a mere 900 calories and no grown man should be netting 900 calories.
This. I'm training for a half marathon at the moment, which means I'm running three times a week, with my long runs up to 9 miles. I'll easily burn 1000 calories, which is half of my daily allotment. You best believe I'm eating those back (and still losing to boot). There's a certain amount of fudge in the values based on how accurate the estimated burns are for you, how accurately you're logging your food (eyeball vs measuring spoon vs food scale), etc, but if you're doing everything as intended, MFP expects you to eat your exercise calories back.3 -
I don't ..it just factors in to help with mistakes and slips along the way.1
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cwolfman13 wrote: »lauragreenbaum wrote: »No, never. Since only 20% of weight loss is from exercise, I just treat it like a bonus for me. That's one of the reason people who work out don't always lose weight as fast as they hope- they are overestimating how many calories they are burning and eating more than they should. BTW, this came from my doctor, so it's not just my opinion. :-)
Your doctor doesn't understand how MFP works. If I didn't account for my exercise calories I would keel over. MFP gives me around 1900 calories to lose 1 Lb per week...that is without any exercise. I regularly ride 30+ miles on my bike and can burn 1,000+ calories. If I didn't account for those and eat at least a portion of those back, my net calorie intake would be a mere 900 calories and no grown man should be netting 900 calories.
If I was hungry I would eat some of mine, at the moment I'm exercising in the gym and walking and find I dont need too. Your situation I can see why you would.0
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