Excercise calories

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Ashlove5
Ashlove5 Posts: 152 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Should you or can you eat back your excercise calories ? So on a day i loose up to 100 calories walking and from excercise i loose up to 250 calories so that’s 350 calories lost. My daily calorie intake goal on this app is 1,400 calories. So can i eat some of the calories from 350 calories i have lost , like maybe 100 of it back? Because some articles said you shouldn’t and that it slows down or stops the weight loss progress.

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's given to you with the intention of you eating back your exercise calories.

    MFP gives you a goal that will result in a calorie deficit (if your goal is to lose weight). If you make this deficit larger through exercise, it's only common sense to eat back some or all of those calories. This helps support your physical activity, makes sure you're getting enough to eat, and makes weight loss much more pleasant.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Are the walking calories just a part of your general activity setting (day to day lifestyle) or purposeful exercise?

    Your goal is only 1,400 on a day when you don't exercise, that's how this tool works and what your goal actually means.

    There's some articles that say the world is flat or the moon is made of blue cheese. Link the articles you have read that mention exercise calories if you want people to comment on them

    You selected this tool to do a job for you - at last give it a chance to work as it was designed otherwise you are just like someone trying to hammer in a nail with a screwdriver.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    I'd say eat back about half.
  • slossia
    slossia Posts: 138 Member
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    I used an N plus 1 experment and at 195 lbs set my goals to maintain my weight. I didn’t eat back my exercise calories and went down to 170 lbs. so I then purposely gained my weight back to now 190 lbs and now am eating back my exercise calories and so far so good, I’m maintaining my weight. So I would say to eat your exercise calories back!
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
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    At 1,400 calories you should probably think about eating back all of your exercise calories.

    Many people here (including me) eat back around half of them, but are often starting from a higher baseline calorie quota than 1400. My daily calories are currently 1750 and if I do 500 cals worth of exercise, I'll eat back 200-300 of them, for a total of 1950-2050. Calorie estimates for exercise are notoriously high, and most of the time half of what a machine reports is a realistic number.

    1400 is a low daily caloric intake. That plus not eating your exercise cals is probably too extreme, and unsustainable.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    Yep, eat your exercise calories.

    As you can see, some are advocating eating only a portion, because depending on where you are getting those calorie burn estimates from, they may be exaggerated. Thus, it's often suggested to start by eating back 50-75% of exercise cals, then after 4-6 weeks compare your expected average weekly weight loss (what you entered into MFP as wanting to lose each week), to your actual weight loss. If you're losing faster than expected, eat more of the exercise cals :)
  • katarina005
    katarina005 Posts: 259 Member
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    I don't ever
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Yep, eat your exercise calories.

    As you can see, some are advocating eating only a portion, because depending on where you are getting those calorie burn estimates from, they may be exaggerated. Thus, it's often suggested to start by eating back 50-75% of exercise cals, then after 4-6 weeks compare your expected average weekly weight loss (what you entered into MFP as wanting to lose each week), to your actual weight loss. If you're losing faster than expected, eat more of the exercise cals :)

    Not only are exercise calories overestimated, but it is often the case that what you are logging food wise is underestimated. Eating back 1/2 to 3/4's caters for this logging inaccuracy. You make an excellent point of getting 4-6 weeks worth of data and adjusting the amount after that.
  • Ashlove5
    Ashlove5 Posts: 152 Member
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    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Yep, eat your exercise calories.

    As you can see, some are advocating eating only a portion, because depending on where you are getting those calorie burn estimates from, they may be exaggerated. Thus, it's often suggested to start by eating back 50-75% of exercise cals, then after 4-6 weeks compare your expected average weekly weight loss (what you entered into MFP as wanting to lose each week), to your actual weight loss. If you're losing faster than expected, eat more of the exercise cals :)

    Not only are exercise calories overestimated, but it is often the case that what you are logging food wise is underestimated. Eating back 1/2 to 3/4's caters for this logging inaccuracy. You make an excellent point of getting 4-6 weeks worth of data and adjusting the amount after that.
    Is the gym machine over estimating our calories lost during workout or my fitness pal? And should i count my walking calories lost as workout calories ? My fitness pal always tracks how much calories i burn walking
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    Ashlove5 wrote: »
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Yep, eat your exercise calories.

    As you can see, some are advocating eating only a portion, because depending on where you are getting those calorie burn estimates from, they may be exaggerated. Thus, it's often suggested to start by eating back 50-75% of exercise cals, then after 4-6 weeks compare your expected average weekly weight loss (what you entered into MFP as wanting to lose each week), to your actual weight loss. If you're losing faster than expected, eat more of the exercise cals :)

    Not only are exercise calories overestimated, but it is often the case that what you are logging food wise is underestimated. Eating back 1/2 to 3/4's caters for this logging inaccuracy. You make an excellent point of getting 4-6 weeks worth of data and adjusting the amount after that.
    Is the gym machine over estimating our calories lost during workout or my fitness pal? And should i count my walking calories lost as workout calories ? My fitness pal always tracks how much calories i burn walking

    Possibly both MFP and the gym machines overestimate. As far as walking goes do you have your watch (or whatever you use) synced with MFP? If so some will find it reasonably accurate with calories given but others will find inaccuracies either side. If it isn't synced you may be better off having that day to day walking as part of your normal activity level if there is consistency with your step count. However, all of these are just estimates which is why going with long term data is a more reliable way to go.

    To determine your activity level based on the number of steps you take each day.

    1. Sedentary (Inactive)
    Pedometer steps = less than 5,000 steps a day

    This is equivalent to getting less than 150 minutes of exercise per week, or less than the minimum amount of exercise recommended for all adults. How to increase your steps.

    2. Low Active
    Pedometer steps = 5,000 – 7,499 steps a day

    3. Somewhat Active
    Pedometer steps = 7,500 – 9,999 steps a day

    4. Active
    Pedometer steps = 10,000 steps or more a day

    This is the recommended amount of activity for adults to promote and maintain health. To reach 10,000 steps a day, people generally have to add 30 minutes of exercise to their day, in addition to their regular daily activities. Benefits of 10,000 steps a day.

    5. Highly Active
    Pedometer steps = 12,500 steps or more a day.


  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,204 Member
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    Ashlove5 wrote: »
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Yep, eat your exercise calories.

    As you can see, some are advocating eating only a portion, because depending on where you are getting those calorie burn estimates from, they may be exaggerated. Thus, it's often suggested to start by eating back 50-75% of exercise cals, then after 4-6 weeks compare your expected average weekly weight loss (what you entered into MFP as wanting to lose each week), to your actual weight loss. If you're losing faster than expected, eat more of the exercise cals :)

    Not only are exercise calories overestimated, but it is often the case that what you are logging food wise is underestimated. Eating back 1/2 to 3/4's caters for this logging inaccuracy. You make an excellent point of getting 4-6 weeks worth of data and adjusting the amount after that.
    Is the gym machine over estimating our calories lost during workout or my fitness pal? And should i count my walking calories lost as workout calories ? My fitness pal always tracks how much calories i burn walking

    Do you have a Fitbit or similar tracker synched to MFP? If so, make sure negative adjustments are enabled, and just go with that for your first 4-6 weeks. With some of the trackers, MFP labels it as steps, but it's really the adjustment between what your MFP activity setting says, and what your actual activity is.

    If you don't have a tracker synched, yes, machines may overestimate workout calories, and MFP may overestimate workout calories . . . or these may get them right, or underestimate them. If MFP sets your calorie goal, not eating exercise calories can be risky to health in some scenarios, so it's good to eat some rather than none. But most people would rather risk losing a little too fast at first, if they're going to be off in either direction, so they eat back only part of them to start. I'm not saying I think it's right to err on the side of losing a little fast: It would be better to be accurate, if possible.

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