Extra calories from exercise

tarryk1
tarryk1 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Are you supposed to increase calorie intake as your allowance increases with excersise?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    Yes.

    You wouldn't try to drive 2000 miles on a quarter tank of gas, right?

    You might want to read the Sticky "Most Helpful" posts at the top of the "Getting Started" forum.

    Here: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest
  • nsk1951
    nsk1951 Posts: 1,304 Member
    I wouldn't say yes or no ... because I don't know what you included in your profile regarding your lifestyle activity level ... if you said you are very active because you exercise on a regular basis, MFP will have given you more calories to start with on a daily basis. Then, if you add back more calories because you did exercise that day, you would be over feeding yourself. ... better to read up on the helpful tips MFP gives you under their help button than to ask us ... we all do our own thing.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited April 2023
    nsk1951 wrote: »
    I wouldn't say yes or no ... because I don't know what you included in your profile regarding your lifestyle activity level ... if you said you are very active because you exercise on a regular basis, MFP will have given you more calories to start with on a daily basis. Then, if you add back more calories because you did exercise that day, you would be over feeding yourself. ... better to read up on the helpful tips MFP gives you under their help button than to ask us ... we all do our own thing.

    True...but this would be an incorrect use of activity level, which is supposed to account for your job.

    zybxesn9aejc.jpg
    The OP appears to be asking about intentional exercise not related to work.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    tarryk1 wrote: »
    Are you supposed to increase calorie intake as your allowance increases with excersise?

    Yes.

    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 are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
  • nsk1951
    nsk1951 Posts: 1,304 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    nsk1951 wrote: »
    I wouldn't say yes or no ... because I don't know what you included in your profile regarding your lifestyle activity level ... if you said you are very active because you exercise on a regular basis, MFP will have given you more calories to start with on a daily basis. Then, if you add back more calories because you did exercise that day, you would be over feeding yourself. ... better to read up on the helpful tips MFP gives you under their help button than to ask us ... we all do our own thing.

    True...but this would be an incorrect use of activity level, which is supposed to account for your job.

    zybxesn9aejc.jpg
    The OP appears to be asking about intentional exercise not related to work.

    It's ok to disagree ... neither one of us has to explain our thinking ... but I will ... the OP didn't give enough info for me to feel confident that he/she were using the system the way it works. Reading the instructions from the app itself is a better way to get application answers than asking the world.

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,225 Member
    tarryk1 wrote: »
    Are you supposed to increase calorie intake as your allowance increases with excersise?
    as far as the way the site is designed, yes.

    The overall accuracy of the whole program will be determined by the user tracking calories correctly, choosing the correct lifestyle category and being accurate with logging calories burned during exercise so you can see there are many variables that can cause inaccuracies with the total equation.

    The best approach is to set things up the way that you think fits you best then in a month review the progress or lack of it and adjust the entries accordingly. If you aren’t losing then maybe lower your lifestyle level and/or don’t eat back all your exercise calories and double check the accuracy of your calorie counting.

  • subbyletta
    subbyletta Posts: 1 Member
    I never eat my exercise. And I have lost weight.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,848 Member
    subbyletta wrote: »
    I never eat my exercise. And I have lost weight.
    To be expected, since you are increasing your intended deficit.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,222 Member
    edited April 2023
    subbyletta wrote: »
    I never eat my exercise. And I have lost weight.

    I ate all my exercise, and I lost weight, too. Almost like it's calorie balance that matters, eh - the in vs. out?

    And y'know what, for me, maintenance is lots easier because I got all practiced about accounting for my (variable) exercise calories while I was still losing weight. Still eating every delicious exercise calorie in year 7+ of maintenance, too - I think exercise calories taste best. ;)

    OP: Account for your exercise calories somehow. Fast weight loss is a trap, can be unhealthful or counterproductive.

    If you use MFP as it was designed, set your activity level based on your pre-exercise life. Then estimate exercise calories conservatively, and eat back at least a fair fraction of those, too. Or - better yet for most people - sync a good fitness tracker that you wear 24x7 except when charging.

    If you don't want to do that, use an outside TDEE calculator to get a calorie estimate that averages in your exercise plans (but then be sure to do the exercise!). This one looks a little scary at first, but it have more activity levels with better descriptions than most, plus lets you compare multiple research-based formulas:

    https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

    If someone hasn't picked a too-aggressive weight loss rate to start (i.e., more than 0.5% of current weight per week), and doesn't do a lot of exercise (in terms of any of frequency, duration, or intensity), it may be fine to let exercise increase your calorie deficit to lose a little faster.

    Picking an aggressive weight loss rate, then doing a bunch of exercise, and not eating back exercise calories? That significantly increases health risks, risks of things like weakness, fatigue, or hair thinning/loss at the minor end; to heart damage at the most extreme end . . . and things in between, like gallbladder problems, muscle loss, etc.

    Extreme loss also makes it more likely that we'll have deprivation-triggered bouts of over-eating, long breaks when "motivation" fails, maybe even give up the effort altogether. Sometimes more moderate weight loss can get us to goal weight in less calendar time than extreme methods that include those timeouts.

    In between those extremes of slow loss + little exercise, vs. fast loss + extreme exercise? It's a question of how much risk you want to take, realistically.

    Best wishes!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    The short answer, if using this site as designed is yes. If you're using this site as designed, exercise is excluded from your activity level and your activity level consists only of your day to day hum drum. As such, exercise would be unaccounted for activity for which common sense would dictate that it should be accounted for.

    The more nuanced answer is that it depends. When I was heavy into endurance cycling and training and absolutely made sure to account for those calories and eat more than I other wise would if I were doing no exercise. This was important to recovery and performance as well as being able to function in my daily hum drum. But we're also talking multiple hundreds of calories that would be unaccounted for daily if I didn't eat most of those back.

    Fast forward to right now...most of my daily exercise right now is walking. I typically walk 2-3 miles daily and it's not a particularly large expenditure of energy, nor does it really require recovery. Other than that I lift 2-3x per week and try to get out on my road bike or mountain bike for a bit on the weekends, but nothing remotely resembling my former training regimen. My energy expenditure from exercise at this point in time is relatively negligible so I don't really concern myself with "eating back" or whatever. My built in deficit is only 500 calories so a couple hundred calories from walking or lifting weights or whatever just gives me some cushion for inaccuracies and/or possibly a very slightly larger deficit. If my built in deficit was already substantially large I would likely reconsider my current position but as it stands I've been fine and losing just a little bit over 1 Lb per week on average.

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,225 Member
    edited April 2023
    You can not eat back your exercise calories and still not lose weight if you’re lifestyle activity category is set too high an/or your calorie tracking is inaccurate and you’re underestimating your true intake.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 920 Member
    edited April 2023
    If you filled out MFP correctly -- yes you are supposed to eat back your exercise calories.

    If you didn't...maybe maybe not....

    MFP doesn't account for your intentional activity (exercise)...so when it's asking you what your activity level is...it simply means your job/lifestyle. If you then do physical activity (workout) then log that in MFP, it gives you back those calories bc the calorie goal it gives you is already set at a deficit based on your stats and activity level you filled out in the set-up. So, if you DON'T eat them back (or at least some part of them) it's very easy to NET less than your BMR....which isn't good.
  • Rich_SC
    Rich_SC Posts: 64 Member
    If I am doing exercise 1 hour or less I won't add anything back, I treat this as bonus weight loss... longer workouts for me require more calories than the 1600 I have set up. Eg... today I did a 50 mile bike ride that took 3 hours, I probably burned about 2000-2500 calories. I will add in about 1000 calories on these long ride days and this is usually pre ride food and what I eat on the bike. If I don't add some back in then I have a terrible ride... ymmv.
  • nograe1
    nograe1 Posts: 3 Member
    I tried adjusting my calorie intake to make up for exercise, but then I didn't lose weight. It is very easy to overestimate the number of calories you burned and easy to underestimate the number of calories you consumed. So I stopped making any adjustments for activity, just stuck with the same calorie goal. That's when I really started to consistently lose weight. So, it might sound like a good idea to increase your intake for the exercise you do, but for me that was a recipe for failure.

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