Eat back your exercise calories?

Kimberly874
Kimberly874 Posts: 9
edited October 23 in Health and Weight Loss
Are we suppose to be eating back our exercise calories? I see it says I earned "bonus" calories when I exercise, but not sure if I should be consuming that much more in calories or leave it as a defecit. What have you all been doing and what results are you seeing if eating them back?
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Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    You're new here, aren't you?:laugh:

    That has to be THEEEE most commonly asked question on here. Try the search function if you want a whole slew of discussions.

    Short answer - some people do, some dont.
  • kymdarnell
    kymdarnell Posts: 101
    hi there, I have just started eating back my exercise calories as I found when I first joined and didn't eat back my exercise cals I lost weight quite quickly and then - zilch - nothing!!! so now I am eating them back. it took me a while to get my 'head' around the logic of eating them back. also search your question and trust me, there are heaps of opinions on it..... search button is your friend....best of luck.....
  • Kimberly874
    Kimberly874 Posts: 9
    Thanks! Yes, I am NEW!!! I will try search!
  • beckylawrence70
    beckylawrence70 Posts: 752 Member
    I'm eating em back and losing!!!!!!
  • kagenw
    kagenw Posts: 260 Member
    I asked this same question to my physician and he said that I shouldn't eat them back. It is my personal opinion that you should not eat back your exercise calories and that by doing so assures that you have an added boost in the amount of calories (and pounds) that you burn. This works for me though it may not work for others. Losing weight is a lot of trial and error: try something and if it doesn't work, try something else.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Welcome. Have a browse through the unofficial faq
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/474-unofficial-mfp-faq
  • ImJDLookatME
    ImJDLookatME Posts: 288 Member
    I don't eat them back and have lost 25 pounds so far...
  • kyraslim
    kyraslim Posts: 8 Member
    im new here and I don't understand this eat back thing? Can you explain. Thanks,
  • GemaG
    GemaG Posts: 142
    I eat them if I feel I need some extra food or if not I leave them.. I always work out hard on a Sunday so I can enjoy my sunday roast but other days i usually leave most of them.
  • DeMarraDontStop
    DeMarraDontStop Posts: 342 Member
    I don't eat them back
  • krissypea79
    krissypea79 Posts: 362 Member
    I think it is going to be different for everyone. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't - it depends on the deficit. From what I've come to understand - you want your NET calories to be AT LEAST whatever your daily calorie allowance is set at (mine's 1200), otherwise you are eating too little. When MFP calculates your calories for the day, they are already factoring in a deficit, based on the activity level you gave them when you signed up. Whatever that number is, is already LESS than what you need, so you have a deficit already. If you burn calories, you create even more of a deficit. I find that if I make sure I'm at least AT 1200 at the end of the day, I am losing. I honestly haven't tried, for example, eating 1700 calories on the days I burn 500....yup, you will find ALLLLLLL kinds of differing opinions on this!!! I think the idea is that you *should* - but everyone is different. It's trial and error! Good luck!
  • jessicart77
    jessicart77 Posts: 15
    It depends on the day for me too. If I feel hungry I use them and if I dont then I leave them. You have to listen to your body because if your hungry you have a bigger chance of binging because you feel like your starving. I just started too but my goal is 1lb a week and I've lost my 1 lb that first week and that was even with me slipping up a couple times on some food I really shouldnt have ate. :) Good luck! Take care of you!
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    Just send any "bonus" exercise calories to me and I will use them for you.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
    ive always eaten mine back. the only times i would recommend against it, is if your on a strict drs diet, or you included your exercise in your daily activity level.
    i havent had any problems losing weight when i stick to my calorie goals, which includes eating my exercise calories. i already have a large deficit to lose 2 lbs per week, i dont want it to get any bigger. that said - i dont always manage to eat them all every day. last night to close out my week i still had about 1000 calories left over - so we went out to eat and i had a great fried seafood platter. with fries, and onion rings and coleslaw
  • abhiforlife
    abhiforlife Posts: 75 Member
    I try not to eat them back. I keep them as a "buffer" in case I go over a little on a regular day or I'm going out to dinner that day. I've lost 11 lbs so far.
  • JennL418
    JennL418 Posts: 40
    I don't typically eat all of them back. But I just keep them "on reserve" in case I feel a bit hungrier later on in the day, or if I want to maybe enjoy a dessert or something. It's all personal preference.
  • abradley114
    abradley114 Posts: 39 Member
    Welcome to MFP :) This is just my personal opinion and feel free to take it or leave it.

    When you earn those extra points its a bonus, this does not mean you HAVE to eat them. Say you worked out so hard that you are just extra hungry that day MFP allows you to have those extra calories just in case so you have them if need be. I would not suggest using all of them every single day but listen to your body. Only you know your body and how you feel. If your body is hungry feed it! ( Healthy things only of course) But keep in mind do not just eat for the hell of it, only eat if you are hungry. The biggest thing that people do not do when they are changing their eating habits is that not many people listen to their body. So keep in mind that you need to listen to your body and if you want those extra calories then they are there :) Hope this helps Good luck with your weight loss
  • Pookylou
    Pookylou Posts: 988 Member
    im new here and I don't understand this eat back thing? Can you explain. Thanks,

    MFP sets you calorie target at the appropriate deficit for the weight loss you have set it to (without going below 1200), if you burn calories you are in excess of this deficit (eg you burned 200 through exercise and you are set to loose 1lb a week = -700)
    I wasn't eating my calories back when I started my weight loss (I had no idea about this concept before joining MFP) and 2 months in I plateaued, now eating most, if not all, and losing again.
  • jarae876
    jarae876 Posts: 39 Member
    Personally I dont eat them back. Now if I am having a really hungry moment that even water wont help with, then I will dip into them. I have googled the best way to lose weight and it seems that honestly there is mixed opinions out there. So my suggestion is do what you think is best. Try it one way and see how it works for you and if you are curious then try it the other way and see what way works best for you. For every link out there explaining why you should there is just as respectable site that says you shouldn't.
  • ImJDLookatME
    ImJDLookatME Posts: 288 Member
    im new here and I don't understand this eat back thing? Can you explain. Thanks,

    Eating back your calories, means whatever calories you burn during an exercise that you logged, you earned those extra calories and MFP says you can eat them back. It's personal preference whether you actually decide to eat them back or not.
  • PodWif
    PodWif Posts: 16
    I eat my calories back and I've lost all the weight I wanted plus a few extra pounds (26lbs in all). For me it was nice motivation to work out because I knew I could eat more if I got my workout in and I do like eating :)
  • dietfree2012
    dietfree2012 Posts: 801 Member
    i think, in my opinion, it depends on where, u are in your journey...if u have a lot to lose..lets say over 25 pounds...its probably not crucial you eat them back...if you have less to lose, lets say less than 25 pounds, it is important to. Food is fuel and eventually you will need to eat them back to fuel your body for the exercise. It seems counteractive, but you eventually will have to do it. Your calorie allowance will get smaller the more you lose. So when you get down to an allowance of 1300 a day to lose weight and then you burn 500 calories, if you dont eat them bach you will net 800 calories which is not enough energy to function properly off of, therefore, eating those calories back will become more and more important. You will still lose just at a slower pace, which happens the closer you get to goal.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
    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.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
    I asked this same question to my physician and he said that I shouldn't eat them back. It is my personal opinion that you should not eat back your exercise calories and that by doing so assures that you have an added boost in the amount of calories (and pounds) that you burn. This works for me though it may not work for others. Losing weight is a lot of trial and error: try something and if it doesn't work, try something else.

    Did you explain to your physician that you're already eating at a deficit before exercise? I can't imagine a medical professional telling someone this, but what do I know.
  • Amanda0325
    Amanda0325 Posts: 245 Member
    I've been eating some of them lol
  • Shannonnn92
    Shannonnn92 Posts: 86 Member
    I try to eat mine back, but I hardly have any appetite when I work out, which is something I do every day... but I'm trying to make myself eat them back in a healthy way.
  • Quiing
    Quiing Posts: 261 Member
    I havent, but I think I should. I've started lifting weights again and eating just 1500 cals leaves me STARRRRRVING.
  • EricMurano
    EricMurano Posts: 825 Member
    Are we suppose to be eating back our exercise calories? I see it says I earned "bonus" calories when I exercise, but not sure if I should be consuming that much more in calories or leave it as a defecit. What have you all been doing and what results are you seeing if eating them back?

    That's the way MFP is set up, yes :)

    If you don't believe in that philosophy but you still want MFP to work for you then either don't log exercise or log less calories than you burned.

    As for what you should be doing there's a lot of discussion about this in the forums and on the internet in general. It's best to look for articles about it rather than asking forums because it'll just turn into a flame war.
  • rydn4h2o
    rydn4h2o Posts: 255
    I think it depends on the person. Each body is different. Myself, if I eat them back, I find I have a hard time losing. But there's other people who can, and they drop weight like crazy. I guess what I'm saying is find what's right for you...good luck!

    :flowerforyou:
  • andythorn1969
    andythorn1969 Posts: 17
    Personally, I only tend to eat my saved exercise calories if I feel hungry (which I often don't after exercise). Your body tends to tell you when you need to eat, that is once you've got past the eating out of boredom stage.

    Good luck!

    Andy
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