workout calories..to eat or not to eat?

at first i wasn't eating them back and I lost weight, started eating them back and I plateaud, or the scale didn't move. I don't eat them back and that works for me. guess everyone is different.

When you create your profile at MFP, it takes the info you give (gender, age, height, weight, and activity level) and comes up with an estimate of the calories your body requires each day to remain the same weight. There is a certain amount of calories that your body would utilize each day even if you didn't roll out of bed (basal metabolic rate = BMR) and then there is an amount that you burn during a day of normal activity (total daily energy expenditure = TDEE). MFP calculates those numbers using the info you give. So, let's say MFP calculates your TDEE to be 2000 calories (random number just for the purposes of this example). Let's also note the fact that 1 lb of fat is about 3500 calories, so to lose 1 lb of fat you need to burn 3500 more than what you take in. So MFP says well, to burn off 3500 extra calories in 1 week, you need to have a 500 calorie per day deficit (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat). So MFP takes that estimate of your body utilizing 2000 calories per day and tells you to eat 500 less calories i.e. a total of 1500 calories per day. MFP estimates that your body uses 2000 calories per day through normal activities and tells you to eat 1500 b/c that will creat a 500 calorie per day deficit (your body burning 500 more than the food you eat). Now say you go out and exercise and burn off 500 calories extra on top of your normal daily activities. Now your body has a calorie burn of about 2500 that day (2000 from normal activity and 500 from your extra exercise). If you still only eat 1500 calories then you now have a 1000 calorie deficit for the day. You told MFP you wanted to lose 1 lb per week, therefore you told MFP you want a 500 calorie deficit per day, therefore when you burn off extra calories, MFP tells you that you should eat them back in order to maintain the same level of deficit that you requested in the first place.

In a nut shell. :-)

I have eaten mine back (most of them at least) and I've had really great progress. I also bought a heart rate monitor so I could feel confident in the calorie estimate. If you are using estimates from gym machines or MFP, you might consider only eating back a portion of the calories as many people feel that machines and MFP overestimate calorie burn. Some people go with eating back around half if they don't have a HRM to try and be on the safe side.

Hope the links provided here help with your understanding of how MFP is set up:

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

MFP is not set up like the typical weight-loss plan. Your deficit for losing weight is given to you in your calories/day. Exercise is for fitness and health (hence My FITNESS Pal and not My Weight loss Pal). When you exercise you create a bigger deficit, which can be unhealthy. To account for inaccuracies many people eat only a portion of them back.

Your body requires calories and nourishment to replenish it's stores to build muscle, which in turn burns more calories. If you starve it, your body burns existing muscle tissue, a complex chemical interaction producing Ketogenisis and Catabolism. Timing of when you eat after a workout, and what you eat are critical. Short-changing your body will only result in failure of your goals, illness, and fatigue. A good sign you're doing it wrong? Your sweat smells like ammonia.... Your earned those calories, enjoy them wisely. There's a reason MFP warns you about "starvation mode" if you under-eat. Preventing starvation mode or catabolism while still maintaining weight loss and benefitting from the Training Effect requires caloric intake hovering just above that threshold. It's natural to want to overaccomplish to achieve your goals but going overboard and ignoring years of experience and research is part of your natural tendency to set yourself up for failure. Failure, which brought your here...

Here's the science:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/412742-pre-post-workout-meals/

http://thinkmuscle.com/nutrition/pre-post-workout-nutrition/

When you create your profile at MFP, it takes the info you give (gender, age, height, weight, and activity level) and comes up with an estimate of the calories your body requires each day to remain the same weight. There is a certain amount of calories that your body would utilize each day even if you didn't roll out of bed (basal metabolic rate = BMR) and then there is an amount that you burn during a day of normal activity (total daily energy expenditure = TDEE). MFP calculates those numbers using the info you give. So, let's say MFP calculates your TDEE to be 2000 calories (random number just for the purposes of this example). Let's also note the fact that 1 lb of fat is about 3500 calories, so to lose 1 lb of fat you need to burn 3500 more than what you take in. So MFP says well, to burn off 3500 extra calories in 1 week, you need to have a 500 calorie per day deficit (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat). So MFP takes that estimate of your body utilizing 2000 calories per day and tells you to eat 500 less calories i.e. a total of 1500 calories per day. MFP estimates that your body uses 2000 calories per day through normal activities and tells you to eat 1500 b/c that will creat a 500 calorie per day deficit (your body burning 500 more than the food you eat). Now say you go out and exercise and burn off 500 calories extra on top of your normal daily activities. Now your body has a calorie burn of about 2500 that day (2000 from normal activity and 500 from your extra exercise). If you still only eat 1500 calories then you now have a 1000 calorie deficit for the day. You told MFP you wanted to lose 1 lb per week, therefore you told MFP you want a 500 calorie deficit per day, therefore when you burn off extra calories, MFP tells you that you should eat them back in order to maintain the same level of deficit that you requested in the first place.

In a nut shell. :-)

I have eaten mine back (most of them at least) and I've had really great progress. I also bought a heart rate monitor so I could feel confident in the calorie estimate. If you are using estimates from gym machines or MFP, you might consider only eating back a portion of the calories as many people feel that machines and MFP overestimate calorie burn. Some people go with eating back around half if they don't have a HRM to try and be on the safe side.

Yeah, I agree. You explained it perfectly. I used to not eat mine back and I only lost .4 pounds or stayed the same during the week. Once I started staying around my goal calories I saw the weight was coming off faster. Even without exercise.

But it probably depends on the person but staying at a reasonable calorie level works for me ^_^

When you create your profile at MFP, it takes the info you give (gender, age, height, weight, and activity level) and comes up with an estimate of the calories your body requires each day to remain the same weight. There is a certain amount of calories that your body would utilize each day even if you didn't roll out of bed (basal metabolic rate = BMR) and then there is an amount that you burn during a day of normal activity (total daily energy expenditure = TDEE). MFP calculates those numbers using the info you give. So, let's say MFP calculates your TDEE to be 2000 calories (random number just for the purposes of this example). Let's also note the fact that 1 lb of fat is about 3500 calories, so to lose 1 lb of fat you need to burn 3500 more than what you take in. So MFP says well, to burn off 3500 extra calories in 1 week, you need to have a 500 calorie per day deficit (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat). So MFP takes that estimate of your body utilizing 2000 calories per day and tells you to eat 500 less calories i.e. a total of 1500 calories per day. MFP estimates that your body uses 2000 calories per day through normal activities and tells you to eat 1500 b/c that will creat a 500 calorie per day deficit (your body burning 500 more than the food you eat). Now say you go out and exercise and burn off 500 calories extra on top of your normal daily activities. Now your body has a calorie burn of about 2500 that day (2000 from normal activity and 500 from your extra exercise). If you still only eat 1500 calories then you now have a 1000 calorie deficit for the day. You told MFP you wanted to lose 1 lb per week, therefore you told MFP you want a 500 calorie deficit per day, therefore when you burn off extra calories, MFP tells you that you should eat them back in order to maintain the same level of deficit that you requested in the first place.

In a nut shell. :-)

I have eaten mine back (most of them at least) and I've had really great progress. I also bought a heart rate monitor so I could feel confident in the calorie estimate. If you are using estimates from gym machines or MFP, you might consider only eating back a portion of the calories as many people feel that machines and MFP overestimate calorie burn. Some people go with eating back around half if they don't have a HRM to try and be on the safe side.

Best explanation I have ever read on this topic.

It depends on what your calorie goal is set to. Mine is set to losing 2 pounds a week. I can only eat 1200 calories and you naturally burn around 2000 a day so no matter what I'm still burning 800 calories if i stay under my goal. that way if i burn 300 calories working out and then eat 300 calories later im still under 2000 by 800. That means i can eat more on days i work out and im burning the same amount of calories.
of coarse if you don't eat your calories you will lose weight faster because your burning more but if you set your goal and eat your exercise calories as long as you are in your limit you should be ok

Just to be clear, the amount that your body burns per day varies greatly between different people - a 300 lb person uses a lot more calories in a day than a 150 lb person, assuming they have the same activity level. The whole '2000 calorie average diet' thing is just on food labels, it's not reality for most people. For example I am currently 125 lbs and MFP estimates that my body uses about 1600 calories per day through normal activity.

my bad. i should have specified that for me its 2000...your right its different for everybody. I was just using that as an example

Well here's what I think. It's ok to eat SOME of them back...not all. I don't think it's a good idea to say, burn 500 and keep at your original 1300 deficit...that's just mean and starving yourself. You could eat 250-300 more! Don't burn yourself out, I think that's the point. Drink lot's of water too, when you're exercising. I know if I workout I feel crazy hungry but that's mostly from dehydration. Whatever you decide, be careful. Healthy weight loss first!

I say don't eat them back unless you are doing a SUBSTANTIAL amount of exercise that is torching calories. People that gain weight when eating their exercise calories are the ones that enter in normal daily activities as exercise such as walking or cleaning. Those kinds of activities were included into the BMR that MFP calculates for you-basically how they decide how many calories you should eat a day.

Personally, I eat about half of mine back- depends on how hungry I am. I don't do all because I don't trust the machines to give me an accurate reading on how many calories I burn plus I may underestimate my serving/portion sizes without knowing it.