Eat Back Your Calories?

If you are going to follow MFP the way it's intended then you should eat them back. If not all at least enough to get you to 1200 net. I was doing that and doing ok. Recently I've started doing the Spike diet so I don't eat them back now (most of the time). I eat between 1200 and my BMR (1500) 6 days a week and twice my BMR (3000) calories on spike day. For me now my exercise calories are just a bonus.

I was in the exact same boat, once I started eating back the calories I work off I started loosing again.

I am new to MFP, but I wonder why you would exercise, if you are going to replace it with the calories you burned. This may be a very stupid question, but I really wonder this.

MFP is set up to give you a calorie defecit already to lose amount of weight you enter that you want to lose (1 pound a week, 2 pounds, etc) and it's reflected in your calories allowed. When you lose exercise calories on top of that it creates a bigger defecit than MFP calculated and if takes you below your basic metabolic needs (just to run your body while resting) and you do that for too long you can go into starvation mode and it actually makes weight loss harder. And it's not healthy.

The only reason I am no longer eating mine is with the diet plan I'm following I am more looking at things on a weekly basis than a daily and with my spike day every Sunday I'm not going to go into starvation mode. It actually helps keep my metabolism moving along. Or that is the theory anyway.

If you are following a daily plan that is basically the same and especially if your calorie goals are already low (ie 1200) you need to replace some of what you burn.

this topic should have its own website.

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

it takes 3500 BURNED cals to burn 1lb

If you eat back your calories that you BURN you are going to see no loss

That's if you've configured MFP to maintain your weight. Seems like you've been here long enough to realize that.

This is always such a hot topic on here! Personally, I will only eat my calories back if I am feeling hungry. That means my body is craving more nutrients. Having a protein shake definitely helps out by raising your calories but not taking in "bad" calories like McDonald's.

I also find that having a protein shake right after a work out helps to curb my hunger throughout the day as well. My protein shake is 280 calories, 60g of protein, and only about 5g of carbs.

My BMR is 1840 but MFP suggest I should eat 1320 Calories a day so is it ok to eat less than your BMR?

...and when you exercise, they increase the amount of calories you are allowed to eat... Does that mean you should eat back all of the Calories you burn?

BMR is what you would burn laying in bed all day
you need to get up and move and workout to get your heart rate up to get more calories burned
like I mentioned above
Men 1800 a day min
Females 1200 a day min
so its fine

they increase it to say if you burned x amount you can eat x amount to maintain your weight
if your trying to lose I wouldn't eat back those calories
but if your hungry eat but if your not hungry then don't force yourself to eat those cals
also takes 3500 BURNED cals to lose 1lb
also takes 3500 cals to put ON 1lb

just gotta do whats best for you

My BMR is 1840 but MFP suggest I should eat 1320 Calories a day so is it ok to eat less than your BMR?

...and when you exercise, they increase the amount of calories you are allowed to eat... Does that mean you should eat back all of the Calories you burn?

You really shouldn't eat less than your BMR as it will slow down your metabolism by doing so. Also, according to the National Institute for Health (NIH), they suggest men don't eat less than 1500 calories, although some of organizations suggest no less than 1800 as TNoire stated. The biggest thing we need to under is your normal lifestyle and what kind of exercise you do. If you have a desk job, you are probably considered sedentary unless you do a lot of walking (like many IT guys). From there we can develop a better baseline and create a good deficit to minimize muscle loss. Below is a quick summary of your caloric needs.


TDEE = 1840 * 1.2 = 2208

If you workout for an hour, it isn't uncommon for a man to burn 500 calories (would suggest a HRM or bodybugg to confirm). At that point

TDEE = 2208 + 500 = 2708


From my experience, having a smaller deficit (such as a 20% deficit) will allow your body to maintain or increase lean muscle mass. This will improve long term results as your body has the potential of increasing your metabolic rate and the more muscle you have, the more body fat you burn. So yes, you may lose weight slower, but your body will lose inches faster and your body will tighten up.


Caloric needs = 2708 * .8 = 2166

So I generally recommend in this case eating around 2100 calories.


Another way of looking into caloric needs is including your exercise into your TDEE multiplier and then creating a deficit. So lets say you workout 5 days a week. This makes you moderately active, so;

TDEE = 1840 * 1.55 = 2852

Caloric needs = 2852 * .8 = 2280

So this case I would put you around 2200-2300.


I generally use the second equation, especially if you don't have a HRM or body media to tell you burned calories. Also, to answer your question, MFP can over estimate or under estimate calories for exercise. It seems it over estimates for most women and for men, it can under estimate. But some general guidance is to eat 50-75% of your exercise calories.