Do you eat Your Exercise Calories

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Replies

  • mpkpbk2015
    mpkpbk2015 Posts: 766 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    cyfehr76 wrote: »
    Maybe this is a bad habit, but If I anticipate a meal that has a lot of calories, I tend to kick up my exercise for that day to balance it out. I'm no expert in the subject so my thoughts could be totally wrong. The one thing I have found out on MFP is that my induced hunger has significantly reduced when I record my daily intake and I stopped eating after 6pm.

    I call that "good planning" :)

    I agree sounds like good planning to me too.
  • mpkpbk2015
    mpkpbk2015 Posts: 766 Member
    steveko89 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I use the TDEE method...so essentially, yes...I do eat back exercise calories in that they are already included in my total activity level and I take my cut from TDEE. I don't use the MFP method of setting activity level to day to day stuff and logging exercise separately...but when I did, it pretty much worked out to be 6 of 1, half dozen of the other.

    With MFP I had 2000 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...with logging exercise I was eating around 2300-2500 gross calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week. With TDEE I eat the same...pretty much 2300-2500 calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week...the only difference is that my exercise is included in my activity level and thus my base calorie target is higher than it is with MFP...but after exercise gross calories are pretty much the same.

    If you're not losing weight and/or gaining weight from eating back exercise calories as MFP intends, then something else is off...logging is off...erroneous entries...inaccurate serving sizes...over-estimation of exercise calories, etc.

    I had a very similar experience and have seen much more success via the TDEE method than when trying to quantify/measure my exercise output. My logging accuracy needed to improve as well but with neither side of the equation right it's hard to make any sort of informed adjustments.

    Thank you for your insight - I am going to read up on TDEE it seems to be more accurate based on what I am seeing in everyone's responses. Have a great day.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    If eating your exercise calories makes you gain weight (when you've set your goal to lose), then something is off in your overall calculation, most likely that you're underestimating what you're eating or overestimating the calories you've burned through exercise. It's also possible that your initial calorie goal is off (either because you've overestimated your base activity level or because you're one of the few people who just burn fewer calories than estimated).

    Not sure generally when it happened I was going by what the app said I burn doing the exercise. I very almost to the point of being OCD weigh and measure all my food. And my calories were determined through a metabolism test given by my doctor. The reason for my post was to see what other people's experience was with eating back their exercise calories since that's a basic premise of this program. thanks for sharing.

    Depending on the type of exercise, the app can over-estimate how many calories you're burning. At the end of the day, it's just an estimate. You compare it to your real life results and adjust from there.
  • mpkpbk2015
    mpkpbk2015 Posts: 766 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    If eating your exercise calories makes you gain weight (when you've set your goal to lose), then something is off in your overall calculation, most likely that you're underestimating what you're eating or overestimating the calories you've burned through exercise. It's also possible that your initial calorie goal is off (either because you've overestimated your base activity level or because you're one of the few people who just burn fewer calories than estimated).

    Not sure generally when it happened I was going by what the app said I burn doing the exercise. I very almost to the point of being OCD weigh and measure all my food. And my calories were determined through a metabolism test given by my doctor. The reason for my post was to see what other people's experience was with eating back their exercise calories since that's a basic premise of this program. thanks for sharing.

    Depending on the type of exercise, the app can over-estimate how many calories you're burning. At the end of the day, it's just an estimate. You compare it to your real life results and adjust from there.

    How very true, thank you and have a great day.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    steveko89 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I use the TDEE method...so essentially, yes...I do eat back exercise calories in that they are already included in my total activity level and I take my cut from TDEE. I don't use the MFP method of setting activity level to day to day stuff and logging exercise separately...but when I did, it pretty much worked out to be 6 of 1, half dozen of the other.

    With MFP I had 2000 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...with logging exercise I was eating around 2300-2500 gross calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week. With TDEE I eat the same...pretty much 2300-2500 calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week...the only difference is that my exercise is included in my activity level and thus my base calorie target is higher than it is with MFP...but after exercise gross calories are pretty much the same.

    If you're not losing weight and/or gaining weight from eating back exercise calories as MFP intends, then something else is off...logging is off...erroneous entries...inaccurate serving sizes...over-estimation of exercise calories, etc.

    I had a very similar experience and have seen much more success via the TDEE method than when trying to quantify/measure my exercise output. My logging accuracy needed to improve as well but with neither side of the equation right it's hard to make any sort of informed adjustments.

    Thank you for your insight - I am going to read up on TDEE it seems to be more accurate based on what I am seeing in everyone's responses. Have a great day.

    It's inherently LESS accurate.
    With the TDEE method you are assuming in advance what you plan to do you actually do, but you might do less duration or more. You might do different types of exercise or different intensity.
    The exercise descriptions are extremely broad, three sessions a week for example. This week one of my sessions will be under an hour and probably 200cals and one was four hours and 1936 cals. 3 x 200 and 3 x 1936 would be very different!

    At least with logging and estimating after the event you have actually done it, know what kind of exercise you did, what duration, what intensity.

    The big advantage of TDEE method is you just have one number to adjust based on your weight trend over time. That's a more likely reason for some people finding it successful. Successful weight control and accuracy are not the same thing, consistency and adjusting based on results also works.

    Tends to work well for people with regular and predictable exercise routines. Not so well if your exercise is varied or long enough duration to require specific fuelling.

    One of the better TDEE calc is here - https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
    (Some are extremely vague and/or use outdated formulae.)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    steveko89 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I use the TDEE method...so essentially, yes...I do eat back exercise calories in that they are already included in my total activity level and I take my cut from TDEE. I don't use the MFP method of setting activity level to day to day stuff and logging exercise separately...but when I did, it pretty much worked out to be 6 of 1, half dozen of the other.

    With MFP I had 2000 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...with logging exercise I was eating around 2300-2500 gross calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week. With TDEE I eat the same...pretty much 2300-2500 calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week...the only difference is that my exercise is included in my activity level and thus my base calorie target is higher than it is with MFP...but after exercise gross calories are pretty much the same.

    If you're not losing weight and/or gaining weight from eating back exercise calories as MFP intends, then something else is off...logging is off...erroneous entries...inaccurate serving sizes...over-estimation of exercise calories, etc.

    I had a very similar experience and have seen much more success via the TDEE method than when trying to quantify/measure my exercise output. My logging accuracy needed to improve as well but with neither side of the equation right it's hard to make any sort of informed adjustments.

    Thank you for your insight - I am going to read up on TDEE it seems to be more accurate based on what I am seeing in everyone's responses. Have a great day.

    TDEE isn't more accurate than NEAT, it's just different. Some people prefer the simplicity of having just one number day-to-day. But it's still accurate on people having a relatively accurate estimation of how many calories they're using. If NEAT isn't working for someone because they're over-estimating how many calories they're using, TDEE is going to have the exact same set of problems.
  • mpkpbk2015
    mpkpbk2015 Posts: 766 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    steveko89 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I use the TDEE method...so essentially, yes...I do eat back exercise calories in that they are already included in my total activity level and I take my cut from TDEE. I don't use the MFP method of setting activity level to day to day stuff and logging exercise separately...but when I did, it pretty much worked out to be 6 of 1, half dozen of the other.

    With MFP I had 2000 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...with logging exercise I was eating around 2300-2500 gross calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week. With TDEE I eat the same...pretty much 2300-2500 calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week...the only difference is that my exercise is included in my activity level and thus my base calorie target is higher than it is with MFP...but after exercise gross calories are pretty much the same.

    If you're not losing weight and/or gaining weight from eating back exercise calories as MFP intends, then something else is off...logging is off...erroneous entries...inaccurate serving sizes...over-estimation of exercise calories, etc.

    I had a very similar experience and have seen much more success via the TDEE method than when trying to quantify/measure my exercise output. My logging accuracy needed to improve as well but with neither side of the equation right it's hard to make any sort of informed adjustments.

    Thank you for your insight - I am going to read up on TDEE it seems to be more accurate based on what I am seeing in everyone's responses. Have a great day.

    It's inherently LESS accurate.
    With the TDEE method you are assuming in advance what you plan to do you actually do, but you might do less duration or more. You might do different types of exercise or different intensity.
    The exercise descriptions are extremely broad, three sessions a week for example. This week one of my sessions will be under an hour and probably 200cals and one was four hours and 1936 cals. 3 x 200 and 3 x 1936 would be very different!

    At least with logging and estimating after the event you have actually done it, know what kind of exercise you did, what duration, what intensity.

    The big advantage of TDEE method is you just have one number to adjust based on your weight trend over time. That's a more likely reason for some people finding it successful. Successful weight control and accuracy are not the same thing, consistency and adjusting based on results also works.

    Tends to work well for people with regular and predictable exercise routines. Not so well if your exercise is varied or long enough duration to require specific fuelling.

    One of the better TDEE calc is here - https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
    (Some are extremely vague and/or use outdated formulae.)

    Thanks for the link- and your insight. Really appreciate it. Have a great day.
  • mpkpbk2015
    mpkpbk2015 Posts: 766 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    steveko89 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I use the TDEE method...so essentially, yes...I do eat back exercise calories in that they are already included in my total activity level and I take my cut from TDEE. I don't use the MFP method of setting activity level to day to day stuff and logging exercise separately...but when I did, it pretty much worked out to be 6 of 1, half dozen of the other.

    With MFP I had 2000 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...with logging exercise I was eating around 2300-2500 gross calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week. With TDEE I eat the same...pretty much 2300-2500 calories per day to lose 1 Lb per week...the only difference is that my exercise is included in my activity level and thus my base calorie target is higher than it is with MFP...but after exercise gross calories are pretty much the same.

    If you're not losing weight and/or gaining weight from eating back exercise calories as MFP intends, then something else is off...logging is off...erroneous entries...inaccurate serving sizes...over-estimation of exercise calories, etc.

    I had a very similar experience and have seen much more success via the TDEE method than when trying to quantify/measure my exercise output. My logging accuracy needed to improve as well but with neither side of the equation right it's hard to make any sort of informed adjustments.

    Thank you for your insight - I am going to read up on TDEE it seems to be more accurate based on what I am seeing in everyone's responses. Have a great day.

    TDEE isn't more accurate than NEAT, it's just different. Some people prefer the simplicity of having just one number day-to-day. But it's still accurate on people having a relatively accurate estimation of how many calories they're using. If NEAT isn't working for someone because they're over-estimating how many calories they're using, TDEE is going to have the exact same set of problems.

    Thank you so much, appreciate the clarification - I misunderstood what you said initially. Have a great day. 👌👌
  • middleagegirl
    middleagegirl Posts: 19 Member
    edited March 2021
    Isn't the point of exercising to burn calories? Why would I eat them back after all of the work???
    So no, I do not eat mine back. I don't even log what I burn.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Isn't the point of exercising to burn calories? Why would I eat them back after all of the work???
    So no, I do not eat mine back. I don't even log what I burn.

    No that's not the point of exercise.
    Are you planning on stopping exercising when you get to goal weight?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    Do you eat back your exercise calories even when your stomach/body is telling you your full for the day.

    My stomach/body doesn't have a brain - and I originally had to lose weight because that described feedback was obviously not working correctly.

    I now know the foreign language the body speaks in most cases, most don't.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
    Isn't the point of exercising to burn calories? Why would I eat them back after all of the work???
    So no, I do not eat mine back. I don't even log what I burn.

    That is not a good plan. Fuel your workouts, food and calories give you more energy. Not fueling for workouts is a recipe for failure. Seen this on MFP over and over again.
  • mpkpbk2015
    mpkpbk2015 Posts: 766 Member
    Isn't the point of exercising to burn calories? Why would I eat them back after all of the work???
    So no, I do not eat mine back. I don't even log what I burn.

    From what I have read and been told your supposed to according to MFP program. That's why I put the question out there to see exactly how many people actually do. Because when I tried I winded up gaining. thanks for sharing
  • mpkpbk2015
    mpkpbk2015 Posts: 766 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    Do you eat back your exercise calories even when your stomach/body is telling you your full for the day.

    My stomach/body doesn't have a brain - and I originally had to lose weight because that described feedback was obviously not working correctly.

    I now know the foreign language the body speaks in most cases, most don't.

    I am not saying the stomach/body has a brain but you or at least I know when I feel full. And according to my dietician I should pay attention to that feeling and stop eating or I will go back to weighing 227 pounds again and I am not letting that happen.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    Isn't the point of exercising to burn calories? Why would I eat them back after all of the work???
    So no, I do not eat mine back. I don't even log what I burn.

    From what I have read and been told your supposed to according to MFP program. That's why I put the question out there to see exactly how many people actually do. Because when I tried I winded up gaining. thanks for sharing

    Not just MFP though, TDEE calculators and all day trackers also take your exercise into account - just in different ways.
    There's this perception that MFP is unusual for "eating back exercise calories" but the strange thing for someone calorie counting would actually be to ignore a significant contributor to their calorie balance. That's not how estimating works!

    The most likely reason for your gain would be inaccuracy in your food or exercise logging and for most people it's the food side that has the most power to skew the numbers due to the relatives sizes of the numbers over your week.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Isn't the point of exercising to burn calories? Why would I eat them back after all of the work???
    So no, I do not eat mine back. I don't even log what I burn.

    So that you can continue to progress in meeting your fitness goals?

    The point of exercise is EXERCISE. For some people who are trying to lose weight, having it burn calories is a bonus but even then they should account for their overall activities when setting their calorie goal (whether they're doing it through MFP's NEAT feature or a TDEE approach). Nobody, even if they're trying to lose weight, should be active and eating like they're sedentary. Your statement also ignores the fact that many people who are regularly exercising are perfectly happy with their weight and aren't looking to lose anything.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    Do you eat back your exercise calories even when your stomach/body is telling you your full for the day.

    My stomach/body doesn't have a brain - and I originally had to lose weight because that described feedback was obviously not working correctly.

    I now know the foreign language the body speaks in most cases, most don't.

    I am not saying the stomach/body has a brain but you or at least I know when I feel full. And according to my dietician I should pay attention to that feeling and stop eating or I will go back to weighing 227 pounds again and I am not letting that happen.

    But didn't you gain weight such it needs to be lost now because you were eating until you felt full?

    Or you mean you felt full - and kept eating?

    The reason I said it that way - to show you can't trust it without knowledge of it - and again it's like a foreign language, and if you don't know you'll misunderstand it.

    Just as many can easily overeat without "feeling" full, the body can also fool you by not feeling hungry when in actuality you can be undereating by an amount that can cause problems.

    Feeling full, and fully feeding your body is not the same thing.

    It's gotten to a bad point when a person has undereaten too long, and body starts to adapt to the foolishness and they no longer feel hungry. It's a bad state if frequent or continuous thing.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    mpkpbk2015 wrote: »
    Isn't the point of exercising to burn calories? Why would I eat them back after all of the work???
    So no, I do not eat mine back. I don't even log what I burn.

    From what I have read and been told your supposed to according to MFP program. That's why I put the question out there to see exactly how many people actually do. Because when I tried I winded up gaining. thanks for sharing

    Tried it for how long?

    Because you are saying you were in a diet, eating less than some daily burn estimate without exercise. say 500.

    Then when you exercised and burned more, you also ate more. say 250.

    And somehow you ate more than the deficit to cause weight loss, and ate more than the exercise burned, so much more that you actually gained fat weight?

    Say the exercise estimate was 100% inflated - only burned 125 calories.
    How could eating 250 extra calories overcome the 500 cal deficit and the 125 cal exercise?
    See how something doesn't work out there, and therefore more to the story is to be found by examining what happened.

    Or you tried for 2 days and gained water weight type of response?
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,514 Member
    People refer to the "TDEE Method," which is a bit of a misnomer (not that there's any problem with that). Really what they mean is that they're eating a fixed number of calories per day and not adjusting for variations in TDEE due to activity level, but achieving an average that controls their weight. A fine approach!

    If you have very large exertions on certain days, it's becomes harder to do the fixed calorie approach. My workouts can burn anywhere from 500 to 1500kcals, so I try to know where I land on a particular day, eating a bit more when necessary. Actually, I wish MFP would show your cumulative deficit for the past several days to make it easier to spread a re-feed out, but you can just keep it in mind.

    Finally, I will complain that, if you link a Garmin to your account, it's always throwing you extra calories. For example, today it's given me an extra 67kcals just for taking the trash out. I find it best to undershoot those calories, perhaps to make up for my sloppy logging.
  • dolorsit
    dolorsit Posts: 92 Member
    edited March 2021
    If I set my goal as 1kg/week and activity level as sedentary, I get a target of 1500 cals/day and a projected loss of 0.4kg/week. If I set my activity level at highly active since I do 5-6 workouts of 1-4 hours each, I get a target of 1640 cals/day and a projected loss of 1kg/week. That tells me not to eat all my exercise calories back.