Do we eat the calories back that we burn off

yea ive been wondering the same thing, if i work out will it matter if i eat it back? but i dont want to be too far under on calories from it....i think your supposed to

it's a matter of personal choice, honestly. i eat some of mine back, just 'cause i love food! plus, MFP has me set up so that i will lose what i'm set to lose if i eat the calories they tell me to eat. if you have extra calories left over at the end of the day, you'll just be that much closer to losing the next pound. sometimes if i'm really huingry i'll even work out a little more than usual so i can eat a little more.

You'll use all calories that you eat during exercise; and when you have no more calories to use then you burn fat. Not quite that simple, but basically that's what happens.

This is why, when we diet, the aim is to burn more calories than we eat. Remember that your body burns at least 1,200 calories per day (more if you're larger and more if you're male) just performing its basic functions.

I eat some of mine. If I am hungry. If not, then I don't.

goodness no. if you ate back those calories it might stop your body from burning muscle. and you don't want any excess muscle now do you?

Listen to the man.

Some will say yes some will say no. You should ask your doctor.

Third time copying this lol:

I eat my exercise calories and I still lose. I eat anywhere between 1800 to 2000 cal total and I net an average of 1490 calories a week. Here is what helped me understand "eating my exercise cals":

My activity level (excluding exercise; this is important) is sedentary because I work a desk job. MFP calculated my Total Daily Energy Expenditure to be 1760 calories. This means to maintain my current weight I must stay at 1760 calories.

Now I have set myself to lose 0.5lb per week because I'm getting pretty lean and I want to focus on reduce body fat while maintaining muscle. MFP assigned me 1490 calories per day. A deficit of 250 calories per day. Now I work out ALOT. 6 days a week for 1 to 2 hours. I can burn an additional 500 to 1000 calories on those days.

I use a Polar FT4 HRM and it has been a godsend because I can know for sure what I burn.

For example, I went to zumba today and burned 554 calories. My total calorie burn is no longer 1760...it is now 2311 (1760+551). It is very important to me to maintain my deficit. I don't want to lose more than 0.5 lb per week. So my calorie goal for a 0.5 lb loss per week is now 2061 (2311-250). So in essence, I must eat back my "exercise calories". I really don't like how it sounds because it seems like you are eating away all your hard work but if you don't fuel your body properly you run the risk of stalling your weight loss. Now I always leave a little room for error. So I always leave about 100 to 150 calories for cushion.

I've been losing about 0.5 to 0.75 lbs per week. The key to making this work is making sure your activity level reflects your normal life not including exercise. Then you can add in exercise.

You can, as an alternative, set your activity level to include exercise. For example, active or very active with exercise. MFP will give more calories to eat. In this case you don't log your exercise and you wouldnt have to eat them back.

My settings are sedentary and I add in my exercise cals. I eat a average of 1800 to 1900 cals per day and burn an average of 400 calories per day through exercise (2800 cal per week). I net between 1400 to 1500.

BUT If I change my activity level settings to very active to include my exercise....MFP will give me 2152 as my TDEE and a calorie goal of 1902 to lose 1/2 per week. IN this case I wont "eat back my exercise cals". The math turns out to be the same.

I actually asked a trainer, in person, yesterday at my gym. He said that you don't really need too unless you've stopped losing weight but one (women) should never go under 1200 calories a day. Up until MFP, I have never heard of eating back calories but you will find a lot of people who believe 100% that you should. I do eat some back, sometimes. Sometimes I don't.

I believe the system sets your daily calorie intake based on your long-term goal. For example, my daily goal is 1600 calories. Well, this is well below the 2500 I was eating before. So, the system is only concerned with you hitting your daily target. If you exercise you essentially earn calories or food to eat while still hitting your daily goal which I'm sure is much much lower than our calorie intake before going on the plan.

So all the system cares about is restricting your daily calorie intake because in the end, it's all up to calories!

in the end, i think it's up to you/personal choice, but i think it's hard to ignore the facts (in my opinion). here's what i found on MFP (see question #1)...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

hope that helps :-)