Do YOU personally eat back your workout calories?
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Of course. That’s how mfp is designed to work (and that’s how it does work). I don’t workout to burn calories. I do assorted workouts as part of an overall training plan to become faster, stronger, fitter, have more endurance and more running PR’s. My total workout time is 10-15 hours a week (much of it spent running).
My base calories are 1200 (which is correct-I’m not large or active aside from exercise).
I wouldn’t even make it through a week before collapsing if I didn’t eat my exercise calories (or I would simply crash and be unable to complete runs/workouts/daily life activities/etc.)
I lose as expected and also am able to function well in the world.
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I eat back 50% - 75%.
Yesterday I burned 570 calories, so I ate an additional 300.
I don't want to drop muscle, so I need to fuel my body. MFP is designed for you to eat back intentional workout calories.
I do however know my HRM tends to over estimate certain burns based on the activity selected, hence why I still maintain a bit of a drop. However if I was hungry- I would eat up to the estimated burn amount. As a small stature lady, if I didn't eat them back I could easily be well under 1200 calories a day, which isn't safe, healthy or sustainable.4 -
Yes. I've been in maintenance for several years. Eating my exercise calories keeps my CI-CO in balance.2
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No but if I go over every blue moon I see them as a cushion. I have lost 60lbs.
I try to stay in my calories budget daily... but if I feel my body is craving nutrients I grab that salad to fruit bowl or even a serving of left overs. If family brings food over got them if I want to use them. I don’t add the exercises to my activity logs I just exercise.
If I eat back all my calories every day my weight jumps up like a rocket 🚀. My cousin eats back his he looses still. It’s based on your body in the end3 -
It depends on your health and fitness goals. If you want to lose weight, no. If you want to gain or maintain then yes. I think of it as a nice buffer zone.1
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moonangel12 wrote: »
MFP is designed for your to eat back at least some of your exercise calories - some recommend starting with 50% and adjusting based on your weight trend compared to your set goals. I eat back 100% and have not seen any ill effect on my weight loss efforts, even at .5lb/week. Ignoring them completely can lead to underfueling and undernourishing your body long term - fatigue, muscle loss, hair loss, and other nasty effects in time, especially if someone is already at a steeper deficit. And some people have higher calorie burns - on a Sprint triathlon day I will hit around 1000 burned. To ignore that would not be good for my body in the long run (and short term I would by tired, hungry, and grouchy!)Nope. And it's not a good idea to do so, especially when you're trying to maintain a smaller deifict or are closer to GW. the reason being that at 2 to 400 calorie deficit can be wiped out by just one or two mistracked or misweighed meals. Also provided that most fitness trackers are up to 20% inaccurate, it's just not worth it in my opinion.
I usually just assume the people giving the advice not to eat them don't actually get what you and I would consider exercise (or else they'll have bonked bad and learned their lesson). ("Exercise" means different things to different people.. those meandering further around the supermarket aisles with a Fitbit can probably safely ignore them).
My answer to the original question: F* yes. I eat them. (I'll deduct some if I was in a paceline, add some for a trail/off- trail run).3 -
I eat them back (both exercise calories and the calorie adjustment from extra activity), and I have done since I started my weight loss journey in August of last year. And my weight loss is as fast as I wanted it to be.
The only exceptions:
- sometimes the estimates are a bit inflated (especially walks, and sometimes also runs if it's very warm) so I sometimes keep a small margin
- sometimes I don't eat them back on the same day: e.g. after a 4 hour hike, having eating regular meals AND half a tub of ice-cream as a snack, I'm not going to 'stuff my face' just for the sake of it. I might carry over some calories to the next day, or just leave myself with a larger deficit.
My weight loss rate is set at 0.5lbs (0.25kg) per week and I still have about 18 lbs to lose, so it's not a big deal if I have a slightly larger deficit occasionally.
Ditto.. I'll eat a fair number of mine back on recovery days rather than the day of.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »MichelleMcKeeRN wrote: »I selected active and 1/2 pound weight loss. I don’t eat back additional exercise calories.
If you used your level of intentional exercise as the basis of selecting "active," then that's just another way of eating back your exercise calories. You're just using a workaround to get them upfront.
Yes! It is a good easy option for those that are regularly active!
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CharlizeGraves wrote: »It depends on your health and fitness goals. If you want to lose weight, no. If you want to gain or maintain then yes. I think of it as a nice buffer zone.
I don't think you understand how MFP is designed. It gives you a calorie goal that is a deficit *before* any intentional exercise. With this set-up, it's perfectly appropriate for people with a goal to lose weight to eat back their exercise calories. Using it as a "buffer zone" can result in consuming way fewer calories than you need to support your fitness goals.5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »CharlizeGraves wrote: »It depends on your health and fitness goals. If you want to lose weight, no. If you want to gain or maintain then yes. I think of it as a nice buffer zone.
I don't think you understand how MFP is designed. It gives you a calorie goal that is a deficit *before* any intentional exercise. With this set-up, it's perfectly appropriate for people with a goal to lose weight to eat back their exercise calories. Using it as a "buffer zone" can result in consuming way fewer calories than you need to support your fitness goals.
This- It would go so far as resulting in taking *negative* net calories in on a regular basis for endurance athletes. Admittedly, I've had a few days like that now and then depending on event timing, but would never think of not making it up the next day/several days (and I'm pretty sure the ravenous hunger the next day wouldn't let me even if I stupidly wanted to).2 -
moonangel12 wrote: »
MFP is designed for your to eat back at least some of your exercise calories - some recommend starting with 50% and adjusting based on your weight trend compared to your set goals. I eat back 100% and have not seen any ill effect on my weight loss efforts, even at .5lb/week. Ignoring them completely can lead to underfueling and undernourishing your body long term - fatigue, muscle loss, hair loss, and other nasty effects in time, especially if someone is already at a steeper deficit. And some people have higher calorie burns - on a Sprint triathlon day I will hit around 1000 burned. To ignore that would not be good for my body in the long run (and short term I would by tired, hungry, and grouchy!)Nope. And it's not a good idea to do so, especially when you're trying to maintain a smaller deifict or are closer to GW. the reason being that at 2 to 400 calorie deficit can be wiped out by just one or two mistracked or misweighed meals. Also provided that most fitness trackers are up to 20% inaccurate, it's just not worth it in my opinion.
I usually just assume the people giving the advice not to eat them don't actually get what you and I would consider exercise (or else they'll have bonked bad and learned their lesson). ("Exercise" means different things to different people.. those meandering further around the supermarket aisles with a Fitbit can probably safely ignore them).
My answer to the original question: F* yes. I eat them. (I'll deduct some if I was in a paceline, add some for a trail/off- trail run).
In addition to the athlete side, I think a lot of the people who don’t lose/gain when they eat them may be eyeballing portions or using measuring cups (eg-eating much more than they think) and are probably eating their exercise calories already because their intake is more than what they are logging.6 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »moonangel12 wrote: »
MFP is designed for your to eat back at least some of your exercise calories - some recommend starting with 50% and adjusting based on your weight trend compared to your set goals. I eat back 100% and have not seen any ill effect on my weight loss efforts, even at .5lb/week. Ignoring them completely can lead to underfueling and undernourishing your body long term - fatigue, muscle loss, hair loss, and other nasty effects in time, especially if someone is already at a steeper deficit. And some people have higher calorie burns - on a Sprint triathlon day I will hit around 1000 burned. To ignore that would not be good for my body in the long run (and short term I would by tired, hungry, and grouchy!)Nope. And it's not a good idea to do so, especially when you're trying to maintain a smaller deifict or are closer to GW. the reason being that at 2 to 400 calorie deficit can be wiped out by just one or two mistracked or misweighed meals. Also provided that most fitness trackers are up to 20% inaccurate, it's just not worth it in my opinion.
I usually just assume the people giving the advice not to eat them don't actually get what you and I would consider exercise (or else they'll have bonked bad and learned their lesson). ("Exercise" means different things to different people.. those meandering further around the supermarket aisles with a Fitbit can probably safely ignore them).
My answer to the original question: F* yes. I eat them. (I'll deduct some if I was in a paceline, add some for a trail/off- trail run).
In addition to the athlete side, I think a lot of the people who don’t lose/gain when they eat them may be eyeballing portions or using measuring cups (eg-eating much more than they think) and are probably eating their exercise calories already because their intake is more than what they are logging.
yes- that too.3 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »moonangel12 wrote: »
MFP is designed for your to eat back at least some of your exercise calories - some recommend starting with 50% and adjusting based on your weight trend compared to your set goals. I eat back 100% and have not seen any ill effect on my weight loss efforts, even at .5lb/week. Ignoring them completely can lead to underfueling and undernourishing your body long term - fatigue, muscle loss, hair loss, and other nasty effects in time, especially if someone is already at a steeper deficit. And some people have higher calorie burns - on a Sprint triathlon day I will hit around 1000 burned. To ignore that would not be good for my body in the long run (and short term I would by tired, hungry, and grouchy!)Nope. And it's not a good idea to do so, especially when you're trying to maintain a smaller deifict or are closer to GW. the reason being that at 2 to 400 calorie deficit can be wiped out by just one or two mistracked or misweighed meals. Also provided that most fitness trackers are up to 20% inaccurate, it's just not worth it in my opinion.
I usually just assume the people giving the advice not to eat them don't actually get what you and I would consider exercise (or else they'll have bonked bad and learned their lesson). ("Exercise" means different things to different people.. those meandering further around the supermarket aisles with a Fitbit can probably safely ignore them).
My answer to the original question: F* yes. I eat them. (I'll deduct some if I was in a paceline, add some for a trail/off- trail run).
In addition to the athlete side, I think a lot of the people who don’t lose/gain when they eat them may be eyeballing portions or using measuring cups (eg-eating much more than they think) and are probably eating their exercise calories already because their intake is more than what they are logging.
But I think the overall thrust of your post is potentially exactly what the "create a buffer" people mean and intend, whether they've thought it all the way through in detail or not. (I'm not ignoring the bolded, by the way; just going on with commenting.) There's a choice between precision, and approximation. So, one choice-set is log approximately, don't eat back the exercise. (Some don't realize how very approximate their logging is, I know.
).
Personally, I prefer more precision, because it's so easy (and has side benefits like sound(er) nutritional data; and ability to estimate one's own maintenance calories accurately, potentially even in varying conditions).
BTW: Not disputing the point about endurance athletes. Gotta fuel higher activity levels (regardless whether exercise, job, or anything else), or the piper will eventually need to be paid.
I'd add that when losing weight, it doesn't take an elite level of exercise activity on top of a fairly aggressive deficit (high-ish target loss rate) to create a potential problem over the period of time most meaningful weight loss efforts are going to take.
Edited: clarification3 -
I don't log calories so no. If I'm concerned about body weight, I eye ball my weight trends and adjust intake in general.2
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Duck_Puddle wrote: »moonangel12 wrote: »
MFP is designed for your to eat back at least some of your exercise calories - some recommend starting with 50% and adjusting based on your weight trend compared to your set goals. I eat back 100% and have not seen any ill effect on my weight loss efforts, even at .5lb/week. Ignoring them completely can lead to underfueling and undernourishing your body long term - fatigue, muscle loss, hair loss, and other nasty effects in time, especially if someone is already at a steeper deficit. And some people have higher calorie burns - on a Sprint triathlon day I will hit around 1000 burned. To ignore that would not be good for my body in the long run (and short term I would by tired, hungry, and grouchy!)Nope. And it's not a good idea to do so, especially when you're trying to maintain a smaller deifict or are closer to GW. the reason being that at 2 to 400 calorie deficit can be wiped out by just one or two mistracked or misweighed meals. Also provided that most fitness trackers are up to 20% inaccurate, it's just not worth it in my opinion.
I usually just assume the people giving the advice not to eat them don't actually get what you and I would consider exercise (or else they'll have bonked bad and learned their lesson). ("Exercise" means different things to different people.. those meandering further around the supermarket aisles with a Fitbit can probably safely ignore them).
My answer to the original question: F* yes. I eat them. (I'll deduct some if I was in a paceline, add some for a trail/off- trail run).
In addition to the athlete side, I think a lot of the people who don’t lose/gain when they eat them may be eyeballing portions or using measuring cups (eg-eating much more than they think) and are probably eating their exercise calories already because their intake is more than what they are logging.
But I think the overall thrust of your post is potentially exactly what the "create a buffer" people mean and intend, whether they've thought it all the way through in detail or not. (I'm not ignoring the bolded, by the way; just going on with commenting.) There's a choice between precision, and approximation. So, one choice-set is log approximately, don't eat back the exercise. (Some don't realize how very approximate their logging is, I know. ).
Personally, I prefer more precision, because it's so easy (and has side benefits like sound(er) nutritional data; and ability to estimate one's own maintenance calories accurately, potentially even in varying conditions).
BTW: Not disputing the point about endurance athletes. Gotta fuel higher activity levels (regardless whether exercise, job, or anything else), or the piper will eventually need to be paid.
I'd add that when losing weight, it doesn't take an elite level of exercise activity on top of a fairly aggressive deficit (high-ish target loss rate) to create a potential problem over the period of time most meaningful weight loss efforts are going to take.
Edited: clarification
Oh-for sure on the people talking about creating a buffer. I was thinking more of those who militantly announce that consuming exercise calories leads to gain (or no loss) and purport this as gospel to those asking what to do.
No question that there’s a balance in all this. And choosing to not eat them and/or eat a small portion or only in cases of extreme hunger, etc in exchange for looser/approximate logging by choice/possible errors is a different kind of advice than “don’t eat them if you want to lose” because evil/magic!
The end result is the same of course-that whether consciously or not, they are being consumed (by those losing at the anticipated rate)-but one acknowledges that within the advice narrative and one does not (which could lead to a poor choice if an advise seeker is not logging in the same manner).
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I know it sounds like an excuse but I try not to eat all the calories but sometimes with all that is going on I find myself compensating with food. I do meditation and my runs really help as well but sometimes it is difficult.1
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gazbooker1 wrote: »I know it sounds like an excuse but I try not to eat all the calories but sometimes with all that is going on I find myself compensating with food. I do meditation and my runs really help as well but sometimes it is difficult.
I don't think you should approach properly fueling your activity level like some kind of moral failing.11 -
I personally don’t but that’s so I don’t go crazy seeing how many calories have freed up.2
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This might illustrate the point a bit more numerically on why it can be a really, really, really bad idea to not eat exercise calories... My RMR as a 107 lb 4'10" female is estimated at 1330 calories... These are my Garmin-estimated (mostly cycling and running) exercise estimates over the last month...
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One thing is for sure, it really doesn't work if you try eating back someone else's exercise calories.
I attached a Fitbit to my cat and and set it for his weight. It was decent steps, but still I ended up having negative calorie adjustments put at 1500 every day. For some reason I felt tired. Weight was coming off pretty fast, so there was that.
So instead I tried eating back Usain Bolt's exercise calories. I mean, I didn't attach a fit bit to him, I just looked up his training routine and did a calculation. Just to be safe, I cut it half. After 2 days I gained back everything from eating back the cat's exercise calories.18 -
My fitness watch automatically adjusts my calorie goal to lose 1 lb a week, and I pretty much always aim for that. So long answer short, yes.1
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Exercise calories are the best tasting calories.9
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I personally don't, but probably will start when I hit my goal (down 37 [33 before using MFP], 3 to go).
What I'm doing is working for me.4 -
Hell yeah, but I like to try and leave a little in the green.0
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Yes, pretty much all of them - I’m not militant about specifically eating back “400 exercise calories” but I eat up to the calorie level MFP gives me with exercise, or typically just below. A 5k run only burns approx 350 calories for me so I’d typically add in 30g of macadamia nuts or something - it’s really not a large amount but it makes a difference to energy levels and endurance for me.
I run 40km a week. So, if I didn’t eat those calories back I would be paying the piper pretty quickly. I need the calories to fuel my running, and I don’t see any need to apologetic about that.2 -
Exercise calories are the best tasting calories.
They SO are. (They are also often ice cream cones in the last few miles of a ride and a post-ride hard cider and ...)
ETA: It's entirely possible I've become the pre-eminent authority on ice cream shop locations and weeknight closing hours in a large radius around my metro area while creating cycling routes. (Note: It only takes ~10 miles to burn a baby cone
) 5 -
Exercise calories are the best tasting calories.
They SO are. (They are also often ice cream cones in the last few miles of a ride and a post-ride hard cider and ...)
ETA: It's entirely possible I've become the pre-eminent authority on ice cream shop locations and weeknight closing hours in a large radius around my metro area while creating cycling routes. (Note: It only takes ~10 miles to burn a baby cone )
I don't think anything tastes better than that post-run cider/beer, it's just scientific fact.3 -
No, I don't.1
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Some of them. Sometimes only a tiny bit, sometimes nearly all of them. - It depends on a lot of factors (how hungry I am, how much exercise I did, what food I am having...)2
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Yeah, but probably not all of them. If I do anything over 90 minutes definitely need to replenish glycogen1
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