bit confused about eating back exercise cals????

Starvation mode is fake unless you dont have fat to burn on your body. talk to your doctor if you are concerned about this

Also, you definitely should not eat back all of your calories from exercise if only for this reason.

lets say you work out for 1 hour and burn 500 calories,
in that hour had you been sitting on your butt you may have still burned 50 -100 calories just from your body living.
the site does not account for the difference so when you enter 500, you really only burned a net of 400 because the site already gives you those 100 calories in your daily total.

for this reason i tend to eat back about half of my exercise calories.

seems to work

Edit I didnt realize someone else already pointed this out. But it seems to get forgotten all of the time so its worth repeating.

Starvation mode is fake unless you dont have fat to burn on your body. talk to your doctor if you are concerned about this

Also, you definitely should not eat back all of your calories from exercise if only for this reason.

lets say you work out for 1 hour and burn 500 calories,
in that hour had you been sitting on your butt you may have still burned 50 -100 calories just from your body living.
the site does not account for the difference so when you enter 500, you really only burned a net of 400 because the site already gives you those 100 calories in your daily total.

for this reason i tend to eat back about half of my exercise calories.

seems to work

Edit I didnt realize someone else already pointed this out. But it seems to get forgotten all of the time so its worth repeating.

This guy gets it!

With a 1000cal a day deficit, you'd have to really mess up your exercise calorie estimate to not lose weight.

Agreed

This is the way I understand it:

BMR x Daily Activity Level + Calories Burned During Exercise = Calories needed to maintain weight

For example: 1,500 x 1.2 + 500 = 2,300 daily caloric need

To lose 2 pounds per week, reduce your caloric intake by 1,000 calories

2,300 – 1,000 = 1,300 calories per day to lose weight

In this calculation, exercise calories are already factored in.

There is a BMR calculator on this site but it does not account for normal daily activity (ranges from 1.1 to 1.4 depending on your activity level - a google search will probably turn up a chart or something. I got mine from my Certified Fitness Trainer materials that I recently ordered).

The BMR calculators and the activity level factors are only estimates. Some people may find that they need to up their caloric intake a little and some people may find they need to lower it some (just don't go below 1,200). I've played around with my caloric level until I found what works for me. I use a heart rate monitor when I exercise to get a more accurate reading on the calories that I'm burning but, even then, I don't believe it is an exact number. Again, I just experimented until I found what works best for me now.

I spent several months not really paying attention to what I ate (my diet has been terrible - fast food and junk food - boo!) and as a result, I've gained a lot of weight even though I exercise at a high intensity level. I don't feel I've worked out unless I'm dripping with sweat I got lazy thinking that all the exercise I was doing was an excuse to eat whatever I wanted. I found out that it just doesn't work like that for me. I may not like it but reality is what it is. From this experience, I decided to go back to keeping a food and exercise diary. I was talking with a trainer at my gym and she told me about this site.

I've been tracking my calories and exercise for the past 2 and half weeks and have lost 5 pounds which is about right. I do not "eat back" the exercise calories that I burn. My thought is that if I find that I'm losing more than 2 pounds per week, I'll up my caloric intake a bit. If I'm not losing 2 pounds per week, I'll cut back on my calorie intake. I believe that keeping a diary is so important for this reason. You can tweak what you're doing as needed. I think that I sometimes fall into the trap of "one cookie won't hurt me" and before I know it, I've eaten the whole box. Keeping a diary keeps me accountable.

I do a circuit training/interval routine in the morning using body weight exercises (takes about 30 min) and I do 30 minutes of interval training on either the elliptical or treadmill in the evening. I use my heart rate monitor to ensure that I'm keeping my intensity level high and not just going through the motions. I do this 5 days per week. I'm two weeks into this plan and I like the results I'm getting.

What I've learned is that everyone has an opinion on what the best way is. I think you just have to experiment and find what works best for you.

I say, if you're hungry, eat them back. If you're not, don't. If you're in between, eat some back. The main thing is that at the end of the day, your net is under the goal set for your caloric deficiency. Then you're golden.