Eating earned exercise calories?

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xraychick82
xraychick82 Posts: 10
in Health and Weight Loss
Do you eat the calories you earn during exercise or not? I guess its a balance thing depending on the person; but does MFP recommend we eat what we burn as well? TIA
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Replies

  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
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    Yes it does and you should eat the calories that you burned. However, you have to be careful with exercise calories as sometimes they are overestimated - I usually eat back about 80%
  • turningstar
    turningstar Posts: 393 Member
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    I usually eat some, but not all. I usually keep a deficit of 100-300 calories, but no more. Of course, I also eat a lot more than most of the people on here. Id rather build muscle strength than just focus on cutting calories to lose weight. I also don't like to be hungry!
  • may2490
    may2490 Posts: 65 Member
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    The way I look at it... I am burning those calories because I am trying to lose some weight/fat. SO I DO NOT eat back those calories. I am not sure how MFP is set up to calculate, but I would rather not eat them back. Sort of defeats my own purpose and goal.
  • lipglossjunky73
    lipglossjunky73 Posts: 497 Member
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    I do not make a point of eating them. I either eat them if I am hungry, or need them to fuel my day, or leave them if I don't feel I need them.
  • BL_Coleman
    BL_Coleman Posts: 324 Member
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    I keep under my 1200 a day so far...if i add calories with working out ( i usually do) I get to eat better tasting and worse for me things..and have wine.
  • sunshinegirlnm
    sunshinegirlnm Posts: 312 Member
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    I eat mine back and I use a HRM to track my calories burned. I find the calorie calculations on MFP for exercise are always about 30% higher than what my HRM says. Seems that many of us using HRMs have noticed the same thing. Good luck!
  • JHB2011
    JHB2011 Posts: 153 Member
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    I keep under my 1200 a day so far...if i add calories with working out ( i usually do) I get to eat better tasting and worse for me things..and have wine.

    <3 wine. meeeeeee toooo!
  • LindseyDD
    LindseyDD Posts: 160 Member
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    I never eat my exercise calories - EVER!!
  • vjrose
    vjrose Posts: 809 Member
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    Depends on the day totally, busy day at work and home add workout and yep I eat some of those calories, I try to net 1500, below that I don't lose.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    MFP sets up a weight loss deficit without exercise. So by eating back your exercise calories you are maintaining the deficit that MFP gives you, which is the way it should be. Exercise is NOT for losing weight, it's for getting fit. If you exercise, and don't eat enough, you will actually make your health WORSE, even though you are losing weight, due to muscle loss and nutritional deficiencies. If you want to make sure you're losing fat, keep the deficit small, a large deficit actually causes more muscle loss than fat loss.
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
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    Do you eat the calories you earn during exercise or not? I guess its a balance thing depending on the person; but does MFP recommend we eat what we burn as well? TIA

    lol, can of worms. you would get a kick out of using the "search" function and reading some of the responses to this question. but it's more a personal thing, most say yay! others say nay! go by how you feel but don't make it a habit of having a significantly low "net" total daily
  • beastmode_kitty
    beastmode_kitty Posts: 844 Member
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    lol, can of worms. you would get a kick out of using the "search" function and reading some of the responses to this question. but it's more a personal thing, most say yay! others say nay! go by how you feel but don't make it a habit of having a significantly low "net" total daily

    I totally agree! If I'm hungry, I eat or I drink water. But my MFP tells me on a daily basis I should eat 1680 calories. So I try to stick to that whether I exercise or not. I also don't eat and burn the same amount of calories day to day. Keeps my body from going plateauing. I lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks doing this method. So it's all a trial and error kinda thing. Gotta see what works for you!
  • KeegansMomma
    KeegansMomma Posts: 156
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    Right now, early on in my weight loss I try NOT to eat back my exercise calories. To me it defeats the purpose of counting calories for my weight loss. However, once I get to the point where I NEED those calories to help maintain my weight, I'll eat them back. Calories are fuel for our bodies after all.
  • Nerdy_Rose
    Nerdy_Rose Posts: 1,277 Member
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    MFP sets you up to lose weight with NO EXERCISE AT ALL.

    Pardon the caps, but I see people saying they don't understand how it is set up.

    That said, you would lose weight if you stick to your calorie goal and don't exercise at all.
    So, exercising makes your already existing deficit even deeper. I usually eat back 50% ish of my exercise calories. I am also on 0.5 lb per day weight loss.

    The one thing I can say is that if you do extremely heavy/hard exercise and burn a lot of calories, at least eat back some.
  • xraychick82
    xraychick82 Posts: 10
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    Thanks for all the quick replies. I have it set to no exercise at this point. I have also entered that I am eating for pregnancy. I am having a c-section Friday Jan 13th (lol) and since I had one before, I know the recovery is a slow one. I am just starting out by journaling what I eat for now and the extra calories for baby and once I am recovered and get the OK from my OB, I will slowly start exercise (walking, aquafit). I figured I wouldn't count much of the exercise as I am a)starting out b) doing low intensity exercise and c) if my breast milk supply depletes. ( I will also be counting my breast feeding sessions). I also just need to make healthier choices this time around as I didn't with my first pregnancy and when my son was one, I was quite squishy.
  • Nerdy_Rose
    Nerdy_Rose Posts: 1,277 Member
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    Congrats on the baby! I don't have any knowledge about losing weight while breast feeding, but there are MFP groups for pregnancy and breastfeeding, etc. if you want to get in touch with people in similar situations.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    It really doesn't matter tbh.

    There are pros and cons for both, and everyone reacts differently to it. Sure, if you dont, you may lose weight faster. But remember, the faster you lose, the more chance of loose skin at the end.

    Also, some people exercise PURELY so they can eat more and make this whole process more enjoyable.

    Personally, i try to stay around 14-1500 net, so my body doesnt get too used to very low net cal days, plus i dont have to cut down eating too much. This, for me, makes it far more enjoyable, and far more likely ill stick with it long term. That's why this has been so easy and enjoyable for me! :D
  • Jomoli
    Jomoli Posts: 31 Member
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    For me it depends on the intensity and duration. For high intensity workouts of an hour or greater i definitely eat back some to most my calories. For example, I went for a mountain bike ride today for 1 hr 15 min. My HR monitor tracked me at working off 710 calories. I ate about 500 of those. My reading and research on this indicates that you need to replenish your body well after exercise for better recovery, but make sure the calories are good healthy calories including a balanced combination of carbs, healthy fat, and protein. I wake up less sore the next day if I do this.
  • LeeDahlen38
    LeeDahlen38 Posts: 119 Member
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    I do and I don't. For the same reasons the others do. Sometimes it's inevitable. But I have a rule. I won't purposely eat more than half of my accumulated EVER. Most of the time I don't eat any. I just want a damn good deficit at the end of each day! That's my daily goal! Not the exact number. So When I hit that scale each friday, I know it's a negative!! #NoExcusesLetsGo!!!
  • MaryDreamer
    MaryDreamer Posts: 439
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    I do the same as lipglossjunkie: "I do not make a point of eating them. I either eat them if I am hungry, or need them to fuel my day, or leave them if I don't feel I need them."

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