Do you eat back your exercise calories?

ashliehawk · February 2012

Hi, I was just wondering how many of you actually eat back the calories you burn? If my goal is 1200 then I burn 600 calories working out and then I am allowed 1800 calories so should I be eating close to 1800 calories for my net? Or should my net be closer to 1200 calories net? I hope I asked that question the right way..

cindy377 · February 2012

I dont usually eat back my calories...However you should be eating back all the calories that you burned during your workout. So technically yes..if your goal is 1200 and you burn 600 than you have to eat 1800.

EuroDriver12 · February 2012

I do not

jhehle · February 2012

I only eat them back if i feel hungry after a workout; if i do not feel hungry, i do not eat.

ianblackburn · February 2012

There is a lot of discussion on this on these forums!

My take on it is that if you originally work out your calorie allowance in MFP using 'sedentary' activity then you add exercise burn as you do it and you can eat them back.

So yes if your target is 1200 and you exercise 600 you can eat 1800.

Just be careful that you
1) haven't over estimated the calories you have burnt because it is not an exact science even with a Heart Rate Monitor.
2) you don't reward yourself with unhealthy food - keep to healthy stuff.

This is what I have been doing for 6 months and have lost 45lbs so it does work (though I have hit a plateau at the moment)

Cheers

Ian

maaadde · February 2012

I think you should eat back your exercise calories but it's easy to overestimate the amount of calories you actually burned. Are you using an HRM? That's probably the closest you'll get to the real number. I use an HRM but I don't eat back all of the calories, usually I go for half. It's better to be safe

treetop57 · February 2012

I do and I've been losing weight at the rate I want. If that changes, I would consider changing.

Do you eat back your exercise calories?

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