Do you "eat back" your calories burned?

scottishlass78
scottishlass78 Posts: 28
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
I know for me, when I was doing Weight Watchers last year, there were always "extra points", but I never used them and did better when I didn't use them. However, now, counting calories, I'm on a 1200/day regimen and with the activity I log with my Fitbit, etc., I'm often under my calorie level for the day...I know about the starvation mode, but I've always heard people preach, "balance your calories in with your calories out. If you don't eat more than the calories you're burning, you won't gain back weight."...What's your take?
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Replies

  • soonernick
    soonernick Posts: 63 Member
    I never do. The whole point is to burn more than you consume. However, I think if you use them in therory it will keep you even and you won't gain. I think....:laugh:
  • Lorleee
    Lorleee Posts: 369 Member
    I never did. I didn't even know anyone did until I'd nearly reached my loss goal and found this site.
  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
    No I don't, I usually eat above my goal and burn a lot more than I should. But I never just eat them back. I don't see how eating them back will aid in losing weight. And I tend to ignore people that tell me otherwise :laugh:
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    I honestly try, but after my 2390 base, I'm rarely hungry enough to eat them all.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I always eat between 75% and 110% of them. Your 1200 cal goal it to lose your goal amount of weight without exercising, once you exercise your body requires that fuel to be replenished or you want have enough fuel for the rest of the day.

    As an example your day to day requirements are like a tank of gas. if you use a tank of gas/week going to and from work, if you go on any extra trips or errands you will need to add more gas in order to have enough gas to get to work. So if you need 1200 for day to day stuff (you will lose weight with 1200 cals and no exercise), then when you do extra (workout) you need to put more calories in your body.
  • vancil01
    vancil01 Posts: 70 Member
    It can really depend on when you burn....because it is good to eat after a workout to gain the energy back that your body used, however, that doesn't mean you need to eat it ALL back. Maybe a protein shake or a high protein salad after the gym will suffice.
  • Juawill
    Juawill Posts: 16 Member
    My opinion is that your body needs to absorb a certain amount of calories to exist at an acceptable level each day. I usually stay below my adjusted MFP calorie goal for the day. If you're looking to lose weight fast, don't eat them back and you'll get there. However, if you're making a lifestyle change where you'll be paying attention to both what you eat and how you exercise FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, I think you need to go with the adjusted number. Not eating back calories on a strenuous exercise day can leave your body with less than the essential nutrients it really needs to keep you going. Just my humble opinion.
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    my excercise is pretty standard so I just eat around the same amount every day. 2,800. This is allowing me to remain in a slight deficit for losing fat, and it makes planning easier since I don't have to eat extra if I work out longer.
  • LauraMyny
    LauraMyny Posts: 34 Member
    nope. unless Im really hungry or snacky then I will cut into my exercise calories but I try not to!
  • ramon3
    ramon3 Posts: 10 Member
    my goal is about 1600 and i am usually at about 1400 on average for what i eat in a day. Typically when i go to the gym I'll burn between 400-600 calories and ill maybe eat half back. This kind of comes into play if you reach plateaus. I've hit 3 and each time i would increase my calorie intake for a bit and i would finally overcome them after being stuck for like a month at the same weight. If your body doesnt get enough it will just hold onto what it can and so this may be why people say to eat them back.
  • rsdgirl
    rsdgirl Posts: 241 Member
    if im really hungry that day, i will eat back UP TO 3/4 of them :) dont know if that helps but thats just me :) good luck!!
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    I rarely do, but sometimes might eat 100 of them if I want a snack that goes over my normal calorie limit by a bit.
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
    Yes, I eat my exercise calories. My body needs fuel, and I want to keep the muscle that I have, not lose it from having too much of a deficit. MFP already figured your deficit to lose weight, I don't need to make it any bigger but not eating them back. Plus, I like food. It's working for me. Edited to add that I do use an HRM, so I know what I'm truly burning. When I was going just by what MFP suggested I burned, I didn't eat them ALL back.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    my goal is about 1600 and i am usually at about 1400 on average for what i eat in a day. Typically when i go to the gym I'll burn between 400-600 calories and ill maybe eat half back. This kind of comes into play if you reach plateaus. I've hit 3 and each time i would increase my calorie intake for a bit and i would finally overcome them after being stuck for like a month at the same weight. If your body doesnt get enough it will just hold onto what it can and so this may be why people say to eat them back.

    Not good, as a guy your minimum should be 1500 net (1500 plus what you burned from exercise) any less and you risk losing a large % of lean muscle instead of mostly fat. You have to ask yourself, do you want to lose weight, or lose fat?
  • DanL66712
    DanL66712 Posts: 135
    OK,

    Example:

    You eat 1200 calories
    You burn 800 calories
    Net calories = 400
    You'll burn more than 400 calories laying in bed in a coma.

    I'm not advocating eating back all 800, because that's a lot of food, but try and eat back at least 25-50% of your calories

    One of the things to watch out for on this site is that I find, personally anyway, that it grossly over estimates my calories burnt. Get a HRM and see what that says, because I think you will be surprised.
  • Stacyanne324
    Stacyanne324 Posts: 780 Member
    When I was doing a 7 day a week same calorie plan I always made sure I netted at least 1200 so I'd eat at least as many to bring me to that. Now I'm doing the Spike diet and am going for a weekly defecit with my high calorie days on the weekends. Those spike day(s) help to keep my metabolism humming so I no longer need to eat them (but will if I'm starving).
  • ramon3
    ramon3 Posts: 10 Member
    well, Im also only 5'6'' so im short for a guy. I run a lot and I have been increasing time and distance when I do and notice the muscles in my legs gettting stronger. I have quite the story from going to a spin class at the very begining of my gym experience where i couldn't keep up and struggled but now it is not a problem any more at all.
  • ramon3
    ramon3 Posts: 10 Member
    my goal is about 1600 and i am usually at about 1400 on average for what i eat in a day. Typically when i go to the gym I'll burn between 400-600 calories and ill maybe eat half back. This kind of comes into play if you reach plateaus. I've hit 3 and each time i would increase my calorie intake for a bit and i would finally overcome them after being stuck for like a month at the same weight. If your body doesnt get enough it will just hold onto what it can and so this may be why people say to eat them back.

    Not good, as a guy your minimum should be 1500 net (1500 plus what you burned from exercise) any less and you risk losing a large % of lean muscle instead of mostly fat. You have to ask yourself, do you want to lose weight, or lose fat?

    Sorry for the double post! but clearly hit the wrong button.

    well, Im also only 5'6'' so im short for a guy. I run a lot and I have been increasing time and distance when I do and notice the muscles in my legs gettting stronger. I have quite the story from going to a spin class at the very begining of my gym experience where i couldn't keep up and struggled but now it is not a problem any more at all.
  • Coco_Puff
    Coco_Puff Posts: 823 Member
    For me, I'm having better results eating back my exercise calories. I was stuck at the same number FOREVER!!!! But started losing once I began eating them back. I also do strength training and need those extra calories to support muscle building. Plus I love that I can eat so much!!!
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    I never do. The whole point is to burn more than you consume. However, I think if you use them in therory it will keep you even and you won't gain. I think....:laugh:

    That isn't the theory unless you have set yourself to maintenance. The theory is that if you exercise and then eat back the calories you consume, you are maintaining the deficit that you set up in the first place with MFP. So if you are at 1 lb/week (500 calories/day deficit), and you exercise off 400 calories, you are now at a 900 calorie deficit for that day. For some people, that's too much. Eating back the calories will put your deficit back to the 500 calorie you set up in the first place.
  • serenity216
    serenity216 Posts: 512 Member
    This is exactly what happened to me and then I start losing again once I started eating the calories back. I usually around 100 calories though.
    my goal is about 1600 and i am usually at about 1400 on average for what i eat in a day. Typically when i go to the gym I'll burn between 400-600 calories and ill maybe eat half back. This kind of comes into play if you reach plateaus. I've hit 3 and each time i would increase my calorie intake for a bit and i would finally overcome them after being stuck for like a month at the same weight. If your body doesnt get enough it will just hold onto what it can and so this may be why people say to eat them back.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    When I used the calorie guidelines MFP gave me I did. Why, because what you want for consistent weight loss long term is a moderate deficit. MFP already figures that into your base calorie amount not including exercise. Thus exercise can take a reasonable caloric deficit and turn it into a huge one which will for most people result in plateaus in the long run as well as losing a lot of muscle mass.

    Realise that most other site and programs figure your intended exercise into the amount of calories they give as your goal. Thus, the deficit is based on a number including intended exercise in your activity. In that case you simply eat that amount every day. This, by the way, is what I do now. I have set my own calorie amount based on http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ and include my intended exercise in the amount I use. I took a bit off the maintenace calories that site calculated, and that is what I eat every day. In the end it is pretty close to what I ate here at MFP with exercise calories included, although I no longer have the days where I have 3000 calories to eat because of how much activity I did. I just eat my 2000 give or take a couple of hundred every day. The number will go up as my weight goes down. I have 30 pounds to go right now. When I get to 20 to go or so, the number will likely go to 2250.
  • ebony__
    ebony__ Posts: 519 Member
    I always eat between 75% and 110% of them. Your 1200 cal goal it to lose your goal amount of weight without exercising, once you exercise your body requires that fuel to be replenished or you want have enough fuel for the rest of the day.

    As an example your day to day requirements are like a tank of gas. if you use a tank of gas/week going to and from work, if you go on any extra trips or errands you will need to add more gas in order to have enough gas to get to work. So if you need 1200 for day to day stuff (you will lose weight with 1200 cals and no exercise), then when you do extra (workout) you need to put more calories in your body.

    I like this analogy :)
  • abibrand
    abibrand Posts: 10
    As long as I net over 1200, I'm happy.
  • Im_NotPerfect
    Im_NotPerfect Posts: 2,181 Member
    Absolutely. You EARN them for a reason....I'm not burning calories from my already low calorie count (where my deficit is already figured in). I exercise so that I can eat more!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    my goal is about 1600 and i am usually at about 1400 on average for what i eat in a day. Typically when i go to the gym I'll burn between 400-600 calories and ill maybe eat half back. This kind of comes into play if you reach plateaus. I've hit 3 and each time i would increase my calorie intake for a bit and i would finally overcome them after being stuck for like a month at the same weight. If your body doesnt get enough it will just hold onto what it can and so this may be why people say to eat them back.

    Not good, as a guy your minimum should be 1500 net (1500 plus what you burned from exercise) any less and you risk losing a large % of lean muscle instead of mostly fat. You have to ask yourself, do you want to lose weight, or lose fat?

    Sorry for the double post! but clearly hit the wrong button.

    well, Im also only 5'6'' so im short for a guy. I run a lot and I have been increasing time and distance when I do and notice the muscles in my legs gettting stronger. I have quite the story from going to a spin class at the very begining of my gym experience where i couldn't keep up and struggled but now it is not a problem any more at all.

    That doesn't really change things much. 1400 is too low. 1600 is the goal to reach, not something you want to be way below, and 200 below is way below especially if you only eat half your calories back. You will likely lose a lot of muscle. I have seen it, and it is a lot harder to put muscle on than it is to maintain it in the first place.
  • fionarama
    fionarama Posts: 788 Member
    I will now I have a HRM. Just be careful you are ABSOLUTELY sure how many calories you burned. Don't go by the machines or MFP figures as if its wrong you will self sabotage.
  • Coco_Puff
    Coco_Puff Posts: 823 Member
    I will now I have a HRM. Just be careful you are ABSOLUTELY sure how many calories you burned. Don't go by the machines or MFP figures as if its wrong you will self sabotage.

    What brand HRM did you purchase?
  • CalJur
    CalJur Posts: 627 Member
    This is an oft-asked question. Use the search function and you will tap a wealth of information on this topic.
  • ebony__
    ebony__ Posts: 519 Member
    I'm curious about this too, I'm on 1300 a day plan so far I haven't felt hungry enough to eat more than that regardless of exercise
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