Am I supposed to eat my exercise calories??

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Sveltenhealthy
Sveltenhealthy Posts: 15 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've heard yes, I should eat the calories I burn, and no, I shouldn't. The 2nd argument makes a bit more sense to me since less calories = pounds lost.
So should I or shouldn't I, and why?? Confused...
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  • deathstarclock
    deathstarclock Posts: 512 Member
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    Is your caloric intake suggest by MFP already set to lose weight each week? If the answer is yes, then you have to eat those calories or the deficit is going to be much larger than it needs to be.
  • Dtrmnd86
    Dtrmnd86 Posts: 406 Member
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    You should depending on how much you burn and what your net calories are. If after you workout, your net is less than say 1200 or 1250- by all means eat some of those calories back. If you net around 1300 or more, it's a personal choice to eat the calories back or not. Just don't dip too low.
  • auticus
    auticus Posts: 1,051 Member
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    It depends on the person. For me, no. I do not. When I do eat my calories from exercise, I don't lose weight. In fact I have gained weight. And no it's not muscle, I do measurements.

    The only way for me to lose weight is to stick at 1750 calories despite how much I exercise. It's difficult to do because I get so very hungry but it's the only thing that works for me.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Yes - eat them back (at least some of them ... anyway)

    It does seem like you would lose weight faster by reducing your calorie deficit even further ..... this is not true. Your body needs those 1200 NET calories for general everyday bodily functions - breathing, heart pumping, etc.

    You want to lose fat (just fat) and keep your existing muscle or build even more muscle. Starving your body will not help you keep lean muscle.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Yes you should as your activity level, recommended caloric intake, assumes you will do no exercise, once you exercise your body requires more fuel.

    Not eating them in only a good idea if you set your activity level to active or higher to account for exercise. Changing your activity level will give you more calories so you will be eating enough, without the thought of "eating your exercise calories".

    Essentially you are setting your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) then creating a deficit from that to lose weight. This is what most trainer/doctors/nutritionists do. Most professionals will tell you not to eat you exercise calories back because they added it into your TDEE, whereas MFP ignores exercise and only accounts for it when you perform it. Either way should get you to the same place.

    As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1750 everyday regardless if you workout.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 12,250 (1750*7) almost the same number of cals for the week. The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFP do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1750/day above.
  • WATRD
    WATRD Posts: 25
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    If you don't, you have to be REALLY careful not to exercise yourself into "starvation mode". The numbers are a plus or minus thing, but for the most part they indicate a deficit already, so be careful not to end up with way more deficit than is healthy. I generally come close to eating mine back, but I don't worry about the occasional day that is up or down from the graph, even by quite a sometimes.
  • julie204
    julie204 Posts: 130
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    i think it is no you should not eat exercise calories as you will loose more weight because your burning up that energy i only eat mine if i am going out for a meal with friends or a extra weekend treat ocasionally
  • fitaliciag
    fitaliciag Posts: 373
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    i do not. i eat 1400 a day regardless of what i do. sometimes i go over. :( but if i eat back, i dont lose. to each his own, find what works for you.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    Prepare for a whole myriad of answers!

    There is no set rule to this.

    Some eat them all back, and lose weight.

    Some eat a portion of them back, and lose weight.

    Some eat none of them back, and lose weight.


    If you find you have enough energy without eating them back, go nuts!

    If you find you are tired and weak without eating them back, start eating!
  • WKenL
    WKenL Posts: 64 Member
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    Bear in mind that if your calorie deficit is too great, then your body is going to kick into conservation mode, which means you'll slow down your metabolism and lose energy while storing more fat.

    The formula isn't quite as simple as fewer calories = pounds lost. Too few is bad, too.
  • Justjoshin
    Justjoshin Posts: 999 Member
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    I eat what my body tells me it needs to fuel itself/recover etc.
    So some days I do, some days I do not.
  • Givemewings
    Givemewings Posts: 864 Member
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    I eat my exercise calories back when I want to...and I usually do. At the very least I make sure I eat some of them back.
  • tcpowell25
    tcpowell25 Posts: 292
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    I think it depends on the person. I never eat back my calories and I seem to be losing weight. Also, I never dip below 1200 calories either. I guess as long as you don't dip too low, which I think is below 1200-1300 per day you're good.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    i think it is no you should not eat exercise calories as you will loose more weight because your burning up that energy i only eat mine if i am going out for a meal with friends or a extra weekend treat ocasionally

    Why would you want to lose faster than your goal, your goal should be a goal for a reason. remember a safe deficit to lose weight is 250-1000 cals/day, if you are set up for a 2 lb weight loss your deficit is already 1000 cals so if you burn more your deficit grows and may not be healthy for you stats. Having too large of a deficit will cause your body to burn muscle, not just fat, to use as fuel as your body can not break down fat fast enough.
  • atomdraco
    atomdraco Posts: 1,083 Member
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    YES, and no, depends how you set up your goal:

    1. MFP way - yes, eat your calories back, it already have build in deficit for you
    2. have a fixed daily maintenance calories - no, use your exercises burn calories to create the lose weight deficit

    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
    (Note - 2nd page has many links to help you understand how MFP works)
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
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    Really. You can trust Mike and the MFP site that they know what they are talking about.

    you can use search

    Or you don't have to eat them back and just do whatever.

    I pretty much apply the same rules to my dieting as I do driving. I roll though the stop signs and I turn right on read. I mean if no one is watching its all good.
  • mik1e
    mik1e Posts: 5
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    Just remember that like any machine, your body must be fueled in order to run properly. If your caloric input leads you to fatigue,
    then adjust your intake. No steadfast rule on using or not, those calories depleted by exercise..
  • CaptainGordo
    CaptainGordo Posts: 4,437 Member
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    I donate mine to charity.
  • realme56
    realme56 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    When I eat closest to 1200 net I hardly lose, when I net closer to 1400 net I lose more. If you are set to achieve a 2# weight loss weekly your calorie intake is already lower so you definitely should eat back the exercise calorie. Try one month at different net levels and listen to your body.
  • deathstarclock
    deathstarclock Posts: 512 Member
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    I wait for the answer slam before posting this. I tried to break down the math for you to make it understandable. I hope :(

    Example:

    Let's say 2000 calories is what your body needs to maintain current weight.

    To lose a pound per week, your weekly caloric expenditure needs to have a negative balance of 3500 calories per week, which is 500 per day. Basically, you need to end the day at 1500.

    You can achieve this by either diet or exercise or a mix of both. The best benefits come from mixing diet and exercise.

    So let's say you move your caloric intake to 1750 and decide to burn 250 calories from exercise each day of the week. That will put you at 1500. 250 calories less from diet + 250 calories burn from exercise = 500 calorie negative balance.

    Now assuming this, if you exercise more than you allotted (lets say you ran further), your negative balance is going to be affected. Let's say you instead burned 500 calories from running 5 miles. 250 calories less from diet + 500 calories = 750 negative calorie balance. Thats way more than you need to achieve 1 pound of weight loss each week.

    With a 750 negative calorie balance, you'll have to eat back those extra (and i emphasize extra) 250 exercise calories as they were not included in the original goal.

    Does this make sense?

    Edit: I should also reiterate what others have said already. MFP allows for you to have the deficit built into the suggested caloric intake based on your weight loss goal. If you have your caloric intake already preset to lose the weight through diet alone, those exercise calories are extra calories that need to go back into your body.

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