eating back exercise calories

lilvixen84
lilvixen84 Posts: 100
edited October 5 in Health and Weight Loss
hi there,

i was just wondering if i should eating back the calories i am burning when doing exercise? i haven't been doing so and doing ok but just wanted to make sure im not doing it wrong.

my daily intake goal before exercise is 1335

thank you in advance :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • Jacquibennett
    Jacquibennett Posts: 95 Member
    Generally I will eat them if I'm hungry but not concern myself about it if I'm not, as long as you don't feel like your starving yourself I don't see any harm in not eating them. But that's just my opinion :smile:
  • lalalazzz
    lalalazzz Posts: 131 Member
    Yes
  • MelDarni
    MelDarni Posts: 14
    Yes, definitely
  • mommymegz
    mommymegz Posts: 33 Member
    If your workouts are intense than I recommend eating the calories back or at least half of them...Your body must have enough energy inorder to burn fat!!!!
  • lilvixen84
    lilvixen84 Posts: 100
    Yes

    so i need to try and eat as much back as i can? was just thinking if i wanted a nice treat :wink:
  • Trishparsons
    Trishparsons Posts: 1
    Excellent question and always wondered the same. I do, however agree with above in that I eat them when I am hungry and don't worry about it if I don't. I would love to know if I should be doing differently. I figure they record them for a reason and that reason is to be able to eat them. After all, we should fuel out body.
  • hottottie11
    hottottie11 Posts: 907 Member
    Yes, They are amazingly delicious :)

    If everything is calculated correctly (activity level, calorie intake, calories burned), then it works.

    Read this article about large deficits and lots of exercise:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html
  • txred9876
    txred9876 Posts: 11
    I have been told by several different people (doctor, trainer ect) that you shouild not go below 1200 net calories because your body will go into starvation mode and you might not lose any weight.

    Tina
  • lilvixen84
    lilvixen84 Posts: 100
    i go on the wii and do just dance and ea active 2. I try to do about a hour when i'm not working. Sometimes more if i can.
  • firefly171717
    firefly171717 Posts: 226 Member
    I make sure that on days I work out I have mroe protein, which generally adds some calories to my day. But for the most part I use them if I want to and if I do I do and if not I don't. Generally after I work out I am not more hungry but its nice to think of those calaries I didn;t use on days I go over :-)
  • stephm112
    stephm112 Posts: 297 Member
    i sometimes do. i sometimes dont. depends how hungry i am x
  • mariec25
    mariec25 Posts: 47
    You are going to get a whole host of responses on both sides of the arguments on this. I would say its trial and error for you, eat all, eat some, eat none and see what works for you. Just make sure you eat enough, you want a slow and sustainable weight loss and ultimately you want your body to be healthy. MFP nets your calories so if you are on 1200 for example and burn 500 calories then you are supposed to eat that back to still be on a net of 1200. I gain if I eat back all of my exercise calories but lots of people lose so try it out.
  • 03258
    03258 Posts: 60
    I think it just depends on you and your body and how you are calculating calories burned. I was using them and not losing so now I am trying not to use them or at least not on the days when I"m not that hungry.

    Most folks on this site feel you should use them

    Good luck :-)
  • Lauren8239
    Lauren8239 Posts: 1,039 Member
    search button much?

    Really? 1st post and this is it?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    It is only a good idea not to eat them if you increase your activity level to account for your exercise (change from sedentary to light active or active). changing your activity level will give you more calories so you will be eating enough, without the thought of "eating your exercise calories".

    Essentially by changing your activity level 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 your 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 MFPers 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.

    As an example your day to day requirements are like a tank of gas. if you use a tank of gas/week going to and from work, if you go on any extra trips or errands you will need to add more gas in order to have enough gas to get to work. So if you need 1200 for day to day stuff (you will lose weight with 1200 cals and no exercise), then when you do extra (workout) you need to put more calories in your body.

    See. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390145-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories
  • lilvixen84
    lilvixen84 Posts: 100
    Thanks all for the response :smile:
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    Yes, They are amazingly delicious :)

    If everything is calculated correctly (activity level, calorie intake, calories burned), then it works.

    Read this article about large deficits and lots of exercise:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

    That's a great article, thanks for sharing.
  • Jacquibennett
    Jacquibennett Posts: 95 Member
    search button much?

    Really? 1st post and this is it?

    I was thinking exactly the same. If you can't say something nice why bother??
  • Crimson_
    Crimson_ Posts: 60
    search button much?

    Really? 1st post and this is it?

    I was thinking exactly the same. If you can't say something nice why bother??

    ikr
  • Diggy2011
    Diggy2011 Posts: 198 Member
    I'm currently doing slim for life (UK) its a programme you get referred to on the nhs, they told me to eat 1500 cals wether I exercise or not eating lower or higher could slow down my progress and under no circumstances do I eat my exercise cals back so think I'm going to experiment to see what works for me.
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