should I eat back calories burned while exercising?
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tamlady
Posts: 3 Member
Should I eat back calories burned while exercising?
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Answers
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The general answer is: yes, you should. However we know nothing about you. How many calories are you eating each day and what kind of exercise are you doing?2
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Depends on your goals. If it's just one day, or once in while then I would not eat back the calories. However, If your calorie deficit is too big on a daily basis then you might lose weight faster, but the problem is you start losing muscle in addition to fat. Especially if you are not getting enough protein.
You don't want that for many reasons, one of them being that when you lose muscle your metabolism slows down because it doesn't need as many calories. You need to find that sweet spot. For example if I burn off 500 calories and my calorie deficit is too big, I'll eat back 150-250 calories (but something healthy or rich in protein). I no longer eat back "all" of my calories, because when I did, it significantly slowed down my progress. There is lots of good info out there why that is. My favorite summary on this subject is on Youtube: Jeremy Ethier - How Many Calories Should You Eat To Lose Fat?0 -
Generic answer, when using MFP: Yes. That's how MFP is designed to work.
I ate all my exercise calories while losing 50+ pounds in just less than a year. I've eaten back all my exercise calories for 7+ years of maintaining a healthy weight since.
Keys:
* Set your MFP profile "activity level" based on activity excluding intentional exercise, i.e., things like job and home chores
* Log your exercise when you do it, without overblowing it. (If you're new to exercise, lots of things feel "intense" but objectively may not be. Don't choose the most dramatic-sounding exercise entry just because the exercise felt hard.)
* If you have a decent brand/model of fitness tracker, sync it to MFP, enable negative adjustments in MFP, and follow the adjustments that result. Don't add exercise manually when you do that.
* Follow this carefully for 4-6 weeks, then look at your average weekly weight change. If you have menstrual cycles, compare body weight at the same relative point in at least 2 different cycles when you do this.
* If necessary, adjust your base calorie goal to dial in your desired loss rate, using the assumption that 500 calories per day is about a pound a week (and use arithmetic for fractional pounds).
* Don't try to lose super fast. 0.5-1% of current weight per week is good, ideally toward the lower end of that unless severely obese and under close medical supervision for deficiencies or complications.
* Keep monitoring weight changes, activity and calorie intake long term, and adjust along the way as needed
That can work.
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I personally do not. My calorie allowance for the day is comfortable enough ( around 1500) and I do not do the type of intense exercise that would burn a huge amount; probably 200-350/ day; sometimes less, sometimes more. Good to read the suggestions- then figure out what works best for you.1
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I think the general answer should be no. This is a "feature" of some apps including MFP that does more harm than good. Set your calories to achieve your goals and don't waiver or modulate. The risk with "eating back" calories is it sets you up to overestimate the calories burned during exercise, then sets you up to eat more calories overall.3
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Should I eat back calories burned while exercising?
If you do- I would make sure the calories burned are accurate. The app tells me I burned 150 calories cleaning the house or 500 in a cycling class. How do I know it’s accurate? I don’t. So if I want to eat more.. I only eat a small portion back.
I have a hard time believing I burned 240 calories in a light yoga class or spent 1200 calories jogging for 50 min.3 -
dmourati5029 wrote: »I think the general answer should be no. This is a "feature" of some apps including MFP that does more harm than good. Set your calories to achieve your goals and don't waiver or modulate. The risk with "eating back" calories is it sets you up to overestimate the calories burned during exercise, then sets you up to eat more calories overall.
Bad advice...overly large deficits can do a whole lot of harm. If someone already has a 1000 calorie deficit built in and then does a bunch of exercise on top of that and doesn't account for it in some manner, that's a recipe for all kinds of nasty *kitten*.9 -
dmourati5029 wrote: »I think the general answer should be no. This is a "feature" of some apps including MFP that does more harm than good. Set your calories to achieve your goals and don't waiver or modulate. The risk with "eating back" calories is it sets you up to overestimate the calories burned during exercise, then sets you up to eat more calories overall.
So you're telling someone that undereating is better than potentially reducing the calorie deficit? Can you please explain why that is the case?5 -
dmourati5029 wrote: »I think the general answer should be no. This is a "feature" of some apps including MFP that does more harm than good. Set your calories to achieve your goals and don't waiver or modulate. The risk with "eating back" calories is it sets you up to overestimate the calories burned during exercise, then sets you up to eat more calories overall.
That is literally not how MFP is designed to work.
I agree with others above who express concerns about negative impact of under-eating, or losing weight faster than sensible. Faster weight loss isn't necessarily better. Further, eating more isn't necessarily bad: I figure that the person who loses weight at a satisfying rate while eating more is winning.
Here's a thought: If a person doesn't learn to estimate their exercise calories, but just goes with a method that doesn't consider exercise . . . what will happen if they are ill or injured and can't exercise? (Hint: Their calorie deficit gets smaller, so they slow or stop weight loss, or - if in maintenance - they gain weight. That's not good.)
Further, anyone who cares about exercise performance should be thinking about how to fuel that exercise. Under-fueling - eating too few calories - can tank performance. If the goal is strength gain, underfueling limits that, too . . . can even prevent it.
If a person has told MFP they want a really slow loss rate, and does very little exercise . . . they're probably fine letting a hundred or so calories of exercise increase their calorie deficit for faster weight loss.
If a person has asked for an aggressive loss rate like 2 pounds/1 kilogram per week, and does 200-300 calories or more of exercise most days, but doesn't eat back a fair portion of exercise calories . . . they're increasing health risks; increasing the chance of fatigue/weakness that will reduce daily life calorie expenditure; and increasing the risk of deprivation-triggered overeating bouts, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.
Between those extremes, it's a question of the individual's tolerance for risk. Personally, I'm conservative about "bet your health" scenarios.
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dmourati5029 wrote: »I think the general answer should be no. This is a "feature" of some apps including MFP that does more harm than good. Set your calories to achieve your goals and don't waiver or modulate. The risk with "eating back" calories is it sets you up to overestimate the calories burned during exercise, then sets you up to eat more calories overall.
So you're telling someone that undereating is better than potentially reducing the calorie deficit? Can you please explain why that is the case?
You should focus more on your BMR and setting a sustainable and healthy calorie intake to meet your goals. Trying to eat back calories complicates things and introduces estimation errors and more variables.
People eating back calories and following MFP "features" don't want to hear this. Hence all the negative comments.
https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-should-i-eat-back-my-exercise-calories/1 -
dmourati5029 wrote: »dmourati5029 wrote: »I think the general answer should be no. This is a "feature" of some apps including MFP that does more harm than good. Set your calories to achieve your goals and don't waiver or modulate. The risk with "eating back" calories is it sets you up to overestimate the calories burned during exercise, then sets you up to eat more calories overall.
So you're telling someone that undereating is better than potentially reducing the calorie deficit? Can you please explain why that is the case?
You should focus more on your BMR and setting a sustainable and healthy calorie intake to meet your goals. Trying to eat back calories complicates things and introduces estimation errors and more variables.
People eating back calories and following MFP "features" don't want to hear this. Hence all the negative comments.
https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-should-i-eat-back-my-exercise-calories/
People who are answering this way on this thread literally have eaten back their exercise calories and lost substantial amounts of weight, then maintained that loss.
In my case, it was 50-some pounds lost, after 30 years or so of overweight/obesity. I've maintained a healthy weight for 7+ years since, under conditions from zero exercise, to exercise that consumes 25% or more above my pre-exercise calorie needs. Since my main exercise is weather dependent and seasonally variable, this kind of approach is perfect. My weight trend (and its magnitude) is quite predictable based on my logging results, which is pretty sweet.
I'm literally recommending what worked very, very well for me . . . not some rosy theory that lets me wallow in excess food while failing to achieve goals. For my demographic, my performance in my sport is solid, and I have more than average muscle mass. If I under-fuel, those things will suffer.
I think it's fine for someone to use TDEE method (i.e., average exercise calories into calorie goal before shaving off a deficit for weight loss). Ignoring exercise altogether doesn't seem reasonable at all.
Yes, estimating exercise requires some knowledge tempered by practice/evaluation. So does estimating base (pre-exercise) calories. Those calculators aren't giving us The Answer: It's an estimate, and it can be wrong, too.6 -
dmourati5029 wrote: »dmourati5029 wrote: »I think the general answer should be no. This is a "feature" of some apps including MFP that does more harm than good. Set your calories to achieve your goals and don't waiver or modulate. The risk with "eating back" calories is it sets you up to overestimate the calories burned during exercise, then sets you up to eat more calories overall.
So you're telling someone that undereating is better than potentially reducing the calorie deficit? Can you please explain why that is the case?
You should focus more on your BMR and setting a sustainable and healthy calorie intake to meet your goals. Trying to eat back calories complicates things and introduces estimation errors and more variables.
People eating back calories and following MFP "features" don't want to hear this. Hence all the negative comments.
https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-should-i-eat-back-my-exercise-calories/
That article assumes peoples' Calories In and Calories Out inputs are going to be inaccurate. Sure, if you're going to be inaccurate, you probably don't want to eat back exercise calories.
I'm quite confident in my food logging. I evaluate exercise calories all the time. The MFP entry for Tai Chi* seems to be based on a more martial style than the classes I take, so I created a custom entry. I only use the regular gardening entry when I am doing a lot of digging with a shovel (as opposed to a trowel) and created a moderate gardening entry. Etc. So, when I use accurate numbers, I can use MFP as designed, which is to eat exercise calories back.
https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-should-i-eat-back-my-exercise-calories/
"...The main reason is this: It’s easy, and fairly common to overestimate calorie burn (both from everyday activity and from exercise) and underestimate calorie consumption. By going out of your way to eat back every calorie you expend during exercise, you may unintentionally undermine your efforts to lose or maintain your weight."
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* There are three categories for Tai Chi in the Compendium of Physical Activities and only one in MFP. My custom entry uses slightly less METs than the Compendium's "tai chi, qi gong, general": https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/sports3 -
You can understand your tools. You can guess aggressively. You can guess conservatively. It all works till it doesn't. And it all POTENTIALLY works better if your understand what you're doing.
Weight is not going to BOTH drop off and stay off without some effort and some longer term changes to whatever you've been doing that brought you here today.
If it would have for you, then you would have already done it and you wouldn't be here reading this.
Guts and glory and heroic measures work in the short term. At some point they break down.
Methodical and incremental change takes some mental effort.
Maximum deficit tends to become fragile fast.
At least that's what I've seen for people who are here without a team of dieticians, therapists, trainers and doctors around them (i.e the do-it-yourselfers amongst us)
Sustainable deficit requires adjustment.
Ignoring things such as exercise to me means you're going into this choosing not to make adjustments.
Sure, if it is a very small % of your day and deficit and your deficit is on the low side it will work fine
If your deficit is aggressive and exercise (or the miscalculation of your actual activity) is substantial... you will increase the fragility.
I would strive for accuracy and adjust by results!
Best of luck2 -
I always eat back my calories from exercise. I’m trying to get some form of exercise every day for several reasons. One reason is for overall health benefits. The second reason is so I can eat normally, lose weight, and feel good. Every day that I exercise I really count on the extra calories to eat. If I don’t exercise, i don’t look forward to my meals nearly as much.
I’m short, and older, and don’t require a lot of calories. If I don’t exercise and eat back my calories I can’t continue to lose weight as I’m just too darn hungry and will go over my daily goal. I’ve been doing this for close to a year, have experimented with both methods, and eating back my exercise calories really helps me to be successful.8 -
Unpopular opinion. In theory based on how MFP works one does eat back exercise calories. In practice, MOST people new to weight loss and exercise aren't burning enough calories from exercise to make a difference.1
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »Unpopular opinion. In theory based on how MFP works one does eat back exercise calories. In practice, MOST people new to weight loss and exercise aren't burning enough calories from exercise to make a difference.
How many calories would that be? For a small person, 200 calories could make a lot of difference in their happiness. I certainly don't see a trend of posters opening with calories burns that small.
I'd revise your statement to "MANY people new to weight loss and exercise initially struggle to accurately log Calories In and Calories Out."2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I'd revise your statement to "MANY people new to weight loss and exercise initially struggle to accurately log Calories In and Calories Out."
This. And too many people new to MFP chose the biggest possible weightloss goal and wonder they're doing something wrong when not losing as much as expected, while exercising on top.2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Unpopular opinion. In theory based on how MFP works one does eat back exercise calories. In practice, MOST people new to weight loss and exercise aren't burning enough calories from exercise to make a difference.
How many calories would that be? For a small person, 200 calories could make a lot of difference in their happiness. I certainly don't see a trend of posters opening with calories burns that small.
I'd revise your statement to "MANY people new to weight loss and exercise initially struggle to accurately log Calories In and Calories Out."
I'm going to keep with "MOST". Remember the FDA has a 20% error allowed on calorie measurement, plus calories burned by movement isn't an exact science unless measured in a exercise lab and even then it's not perfect. Most people just aren't moving that much.1 -
I'm in the minority here, but I personally do not eat my exercise calories back. Mostly because I don't trust what MRP or my HMR tells me as my calorie burns. So I use my exercise calories to account for inaccuracies in my food logging. Example a few extra grams of PB that got missed, that TBSP of oil my chicken was cooked in....ect. I say this with a grain of salt tho....as this is what works for me...as of today Ive lost 101.6 pounds and met my original goal.......your mileage may vary.3
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Been said before. But...
Yes.
Very much yes.
But that's if you use a tool like the MFP Guided Setup to get your calorie goal. Whether you tell the Guided Setup you are trying to maintain your weight or gain or lose some amount, the number you get does not include exercise. Here's a bad analogy. You decide to figure out how much fuel to put in your car. You usually only drive 50 miles per week, and you get 25 mph. You could fill up with eight gallons every four weeks and put black tape over your fuel gauge. It will work until you have a couple weeks where you drive 200 miles and keep using the same fueling routine. You'll run out of fuel. Same with your body. Yeah. Terrible analogy.
The answer can be no though -- If you have a very consistent exercise regimen and use some other tool that gives you a calorie target based on total daily energy expenditure (that includes exercise), you can just go with that number because... it already includes exercise! That's like realizing you have one week a month when you drive 200 miles, and you can fuel your vehicle accordingly.
I still wouldn't put black tape over the fuel gauge. Use it for feedback. Kind of like your bathroom scale gives you feedback on your calorie balance over time by remaining steady, increasing, or decreasing.
What's with me and the bad analogies tonight?5
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