Why you should eat your exercise calories

I don't get why you should eat your exercise calories - what's the point of exercising when you are suppose to burn what you're eating if you're eating your deficent then it's like you're back at square one.... eat fewer clalories and exercise more.

i don't eat them. i drink them.

I think the point of this is it is important, such as on days where you DO burn very high number of calories - to eat back some of it. It's not the point to not be able to leave a little cushion for yourself, but rather just fuel your body for your workouts so it doesn't think it's starving and start making your metabolism sluggish. In order to really know how it will affect you, you have to learn your own body and the physiology of how it burns fat, which there is never a quick answer

Some days with my workouts and playing tennis I am burning 1000 calories a day...
So your telling me that I should be eating 1000 more calories ...thats alot of food to be eating...

A large peanut butter milkshake from Dairy Queen has 1250 calories.

Ok so the 1200 calories MFP gave me is already a deficit? So if I work out and it says You earned 400 more calories by working out then I should eat them?
I thought 1200 was what we are supposed to eat normally? Not when we are trying to lose weight. This is totally confusing.
Sorry don't meant to make anyone pull hair out of head....I just want to lose weight ....that is all..:)

I sometimes leave a little cushion too. But this is more consistently. If you stall later I would suggest trying to eat them all back :]

@Duelltolose I would try to eat them back and see if it helps! It did for me :]

Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.

this was a post from heaven this morning i had been good (under my calories) and gymed an extra day as i was going out for tea. But no weight loss i am over my 1/2 way to goal and thought it funny that over christmas with limited exercise and more eating i lost 1k so thank you next week im going to eat all my exercise calories and see if that helps as the article states menopause doesnt help blahhh am so over that (night sweats etc) so thanks again:drinker: :happy:

Thanks, gonna check this out.

I posted this a while ago, but I have been seeing more and more new members asking whether or not they should be eating them back.

Short answer: YES!

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

MFP has already created a deficit for you. When you don't eat your exercise calories back you are creating an even larger deficit which can cause you to stop losing. I strongly suggest you to read the link I provided for details!

That article doesn't actually say you need to eat your calories back. What it's saying is choosing a large calorie deficit and also exercising will not help you lose weight, let alone see it fall off.

I get nervous when I see people saying you have to eat your exercise calories back - it opens the door to abuse. To eat my calories back I'd either be eating the crap I cut out in the first place or be sick by the quantity. Also as correctly pointed out by others - MFP is never exact and you should allow margins of error, so why not have it under and be a good one?

If I've eaten 1800 calories and still have 500 spare due to exercise, I won't eat it back if I'm full and content. It's all about moderation and listening to your body

I don't get why you should eat your exercise calories - what's the point of exercising when you are suppose to burn what you're eating if you're eating your deficent then it's like you're back at square one.... eat fewer clalories and exercise more.

There ought to be a ripping out your hair emoticon....

Read the article- then you'll get it.

here you go

I think that has been my problem. Only lost 5lbs since Nov 30th and I work out 5-6x a week. I am trying that now..

yep same here with me - i just have to get my 'brain' around the fact that it is ok to eat back my exercise calories

I don't get why you should eat your exercise calories - what's the point of exercising when you are suppose to burn what you're eating if you're eating your deficent then it's like you're back at square one.... eat fewer clalories and exercise more.

There ought to be a ripping out your hair emoticon....

Read the article- then you'll get it.

here you go

Aw, he's a cutie too! thanks.

me too...I have lost 10 lbs from Sep to now but am exercising and watching (now more with MFP) what I eat and really not losing..up and down, but know that I have been eating way less....I will TRY to do this now too

Ok, ok, ok... a little fired up here so here goes and will try to address all the issues I saw coming up in the posts (I have a degree in nutrition, just never pursued my registered dietitian status, took a different turn in my healthcare career so no credentials, these are just my opinions based on my learning and understanding). Some of these points may have been stated in other posts...
1. The information coming from this website is coming from one person who is selling some books - number one rule of research is to back up your information with multiple sources. This individual has much to gain - he has an online store and is affiliated with a number of companies who also sell product. This is not always a bad thing but something to be aware of. In addition, no where on his site does he state what his credentials are to be giving us this information nor does he state how current the information is and does not provide us with links as to what research studies his information is coming from. The bottom clearly states that this site is a blog and it his opinion based on his knowledge. This article was written based on the info in ONE case study - not even a randomized control study which is the better standard.
2. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. I think someone else stated the 500 calorie rule... if you cut back by 250 calories and burn 250 calories a day, you would have a 500 calorie deficit. 1 pound is 3500 calories divided by a 500 calorie deficit per day = 1 lb lost per week. Now we all know, everyone's metabolism and make-up is different and we all must find the "magic" number that works for us. MFP calculates your basic calorie needs based on your general activity level (sedentary, lightly active, active, and very active). In addition, you can edit your profile to reflect whether you want to lose 0.5 to 2lbs per week and MFP will build that calorie deficit into your overall calorie goal for the day. If you exercise, if gives you an additional deficit - this is where someone was talking that the weight loss deficit is built in and you could "eat" the calories back but still be under your calorie goal if your calories are reduced to allow you to lose weight each week. Confusing, I know.
3. No one should eat less than 1200 calories - your metabolism will slow down and conserve because it doesn't know when it's next meal will come - it will try to hang onto every last piece it can. Your metabolism will also slow down when you have large gaps of time between meals (same concept). Instead, you should be eating ~6 smaller meals throughout the day so that your engine stays revved. Lastly, our bodies don't adhere to our 24 hour clock when it comes to intake and output... Most of us can say that if you burned 1200 calories hiking and couldn't eat them all back, you are probably going to find that you will be hungrier the next day and will eat some of them back anyways. Over a couple days, you still usually end up evening out.
4. Exercise is always better than just diet alone - not only do we burn calories exercising, we also burn calories AFTER exercise especially with weight training. Then, the more muscle we put on, the more we rev our metabolism. Also, if needed, those extra calories let us potentially eat more food and if we pick healthy choices, we gain better health through vitamins, minerals, fibre, protein - sometimes it's nice to use those extra calories for a treat but if you are going to eat those calories back, you should make the healthiest choices possible to get the most benefit. In addition, we strengthen our immune systems, our lungs, our heart, improve circulation, reduce cholesterol, stimulate the digestive system....
5. Lastly, our bodies need to recover. Eating some of those "extra" calories back is good if you are eating in the 30-90min window after ex's - a healthy snack of combined protein and carb will help replenish our stores and make them more efficient for the next time we exercise while giving our muscles key nutrition to repair and become stronger. There are some studies that show that a glass of chocolate milk has nice ratio of carb/fat/protein that our bodies can use quickly to repenish after exercise. This too will help keep your metabolism elevated because all too often, we don't eat after exercise until much later to our next meal which again, slows down the engine. This is where you can "eat back" some of those "extra" calories.

So, in a nutshell, if you have MFP set to already give you a calorie deficit, you can probably eat back some of your exercise calories. Choose healthy snacks, eat 6x's a day if you can, eat 30min post exercise to have some of those extra calories and don't go overboard. MFP calorie burn calculations are an estimate, everybody is different and you have to play with those numbers to find out what works best for you. Sorry so long and if I have upset anyone, it was not my intent. Knowledge is power.

Really? A magic window to eat back calories?