My problem with eating back exercise calories.

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o_delaisse
o_delaisse Posts: 193 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I understand that a lot of people don't find it necessary to eat back their exercise calories while a lot of people firmly believe it's the way forward, but the debate and understanding the reasons aren't my problem.

My problem with eating back my exercise calories is that I WANT to, but I'm too scared.

Fact is, I can't afford a HRM. I don't know how many calories I burn, and I've found people on here generally agree that estimates can be very high.

So what now? I've spent the past month working on increasing my food intake, and after a long time of drastically undereating, this week I finally hit my BMR. According to estimates, however, I'm still netting at 1000, or a little under.

I've just started running (I'm dreadful at it, but someone on here talked about how she ran a ten minute mile and she inspired me - I run / crawl a 12.5 min mile (don't laugh!) and according to MapMyRun (which calculates by speed and distance measured by Google Maps) I'll burn about 150 calories for 24 mins. Then, my cross-trainer - it says I burn 300 for 60 mins, and the estimate says 701 cals, so I've been averaging the two to get about 490/500 or so.

But really, what does this mean? When I "run" (a good part is walked!), am I *really* burning 150? And the cross-trainer - a good work out for me is 20km in 60 mins, which leaves me warm and slightly sweaty - not exhausted, red hot, and dripping in sweat - is that really 490 calories?

If I found that I was *really* netting at 1200 I'd be so pleased and would happily eat a little more to net at my BMR. But what if I take those estimates as fact, eat it all back, and end up gaining?

I want to do this, but honestly, I don't know what I'm doing.

So how do all you people who don't have a HRM manage this? :)
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Replies

  • princeza9
    princeza9 Posts: 337 Member
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    I can't afford an HRM either. I eat back only 1/2 of my exercise cals, just in case. When I walk or do C25K, I use RunKeeper. It isn't the most accurate, but it seems to be better than MFP estimates. When I start doing more running, I'll switch to Nike+ GPS since it's geared for running, and it knows my gender/height/weight/age.
  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
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    I don't have a HRM at the moment (however you can get them relatively cheap on websites like Amazon) so I go by what the tracker on this website tells me.

    What I do is say I do 45 minutes on my stationary bike... I will only enter 30 minutes and at a lower intensity that I have actually done. I like to log the actual information in the "notes" section on the tracker just so I know what I've really done. This gives less calories that I eat back. I know some people will only eat 2/3 of their exercise calories back to take into account any errors.

    I would suggest trying it out. Put in less time and less intensity (or pace) than you've actually done. Not by a huge amount but than you'll get a bit more accurate of a number. Try it for a few weeks and see what happens.

    This weight loss thing is a lot of trial and error.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
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    What do you do? Set up your calorie goals according to your TDEE and accounting for your activity level - that's exactly what I'm doing.

    Hit up the website here;
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

    Use the Military Bodyfat Calculator and then the Calories and Basal Metabolic Rate calculator to find your ideal calorie plan.
  • sscott79
    sscott79 Posts: 13 Member
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    I can only speak from my experience in the last 3-4 months. I have been eating back my exercise calories and I go by the calories burned that is shown on mapmyrun until I can get a FitBit to be more accurate. I have steadily lost at least a pound a week the whole time and I usually eat all my daily calories to include my exercise calories or come between 50-100 shy. I do that mostly to make up for the weekends since I do not log my food or limit what I eat on the weekends. When I was shorting myself 300-400 a day I was miserable, nasty and sluggish. Food is not your enemy. Don't be afraid!
  • Aliciaaah
    Aliciaaah Posts: 379 Member
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    bump
  • mixedfeelings
    mixedfeelings Posts: 904 Member
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    I was never sure and at around half of what was said for fear it was way off. I now have a HRM and have found it to be sort of off. Every time I work out it's different as sometimes I work harder, sometimes I'm trying to take it a bit easy. Sometimes I burn more than it suggests, sometimes half.

    I thought I would never get one and from reading the posts I could only see the £60+ models of the Polar were the only decent hrm to get but I ended up getting one for £12.99 from Lloyds that works really well. If you are really worried and would feel better I'd suggest saving up for this one. I've found it to be easy to use.

    http://www.lloydspharmacy.com/en/lloydspharmacy-watch-and-heart-rate-monitor-35281
  • jsapninz
    jsapninz Posts: 909 Member
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    I got an HRM, but honestly, as far as I understand, if you have your activity level set properly for your TDEE, you shouldn't need to eat back your calories.

    Multipliers for your BMR to get to your TDEE:
    1.2 for Sedentary - desk job and little to no exercise
    1.375 for Lightly Active - light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk
    1.55 for Moderately Active - moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk
    1.725 for Very Active - hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk
    1.9 for Extremely Active - hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training

    So for example, if your BMR is 1300 and you work out a couple times a week, you should eat 1,788 a day and not log/eat back exercise.

    If you use this method you should not need to eat back your calories unless you do activities above and beyond your multiplier activity.

    OR, you can be conservative and just eat back like 25% or 50% of your "burned calories" along with your BMR.
  • mzhokie
    mzhokie Posts: 349 Member
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    I have a Fitbit pedometer, not a HRM. It's still expensive but so worth it. Syncs up nicely with MFP.

    RunKeeper is a decent app and it's numbers were very close to my fitbit as far as distance and time went. I tried a while back to compare. So knowing time, distance and speed should help you get a decent exercise calorie reading.

    I try to eat some of my exercise calories back. If I'm hungry, I eat them.... if I'm not hungry or full even, I only go to 1200 net calories for the day. If I go lower than that I don't have a good week weight loss wise.
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
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    I don't use a HRM because I'm asthmatic and have to use medications and caffeine, which will increase my heart rate and cause a HRM to overestimate Calorie burns. I was taught in my degree to use METs instead of a HRM for Calorie estimates because most people consume caffeine or are on a medication that affects heart rate. We used this compendium to find the MET level of various exercise modalities. http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/tools/docs/documents_compendium.pdf

    To figure Calories burned from METs, you multiply the MET level by your weight in kilograms and by 0.0175 to get Calories per minute. Then multiply by the number of minutes you did the activity to get your Calories for the activity.
  • BrienJD
    BrienJD Posts: 541 Member
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    I'd give it a go, I don't have a HRM either, I just use the totals on the machines and the estimated totals on here. I eat back my exercise calories and I am losing weight. You really won't know unless you try it. I was scared as well, I was pushing 245-250 when I started and I've dropped 20 pounds. Try it and see, if it works you'll be glad you did, if it doesn't its a very minor setback.

    A 12.5 minute mile is nowhere NEAR a crawl. I was in the AF and being fit I was only ever able to break an 11:30 so don't knock youself!!! That's pretty damn good!
  • tropaze
    tropaze Posts: 317 Member
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    Without a HRM it can be hard, and sometimes it's hard to afford a quality HRM. I found a few websites that give a fairly conservative estimate based on info you input, for walking this one works
    http://caloriesburnedwalkinghq.com/
    When I'm using the machines at the gym, I usually go with their estimates since I'm imputing all my vitals (age, weight, etc) and some of them have HRM in the bars (guess it makes for better accuracy).

    I eat back some of my exercise calories, enough so that I feel full. I know it's a big deal on here, but you should do what works for you. If you're hungry then eat some of them, if not then I wouldn't worry about it.
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    My question is are you moving closer to your goals. As long as you're making progress it doesn't matter.

    It's really only critical to eat back ALL your exercise calories if you are way under eating. This is such a touchy subject and it's different for everyone.

    For Example. Someone that has a goal of 1200 and are at a 2 lb per week deficit and burn 500 calories a day should eat back their calories because they are all ready at a 1000 calories a day deficit and are only netting 700 calories which is not enough for nutrition / energy.

    But someone that's eating at a surplus and burn 500 doesn't really need to eat back any / all their calories.

    A few weeks ago while I was in a bulk phase I was eating 2500-2800 but not eating all my exercise calories back.

    So you see, the answer is it's different for everyone.

    Edit*** Almost forgot. So play with your calories making small weekly adjustments and see if you move closer or further from your goals.
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,449 Member
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    I assume MFP overestimates by 30% and eat back around half. I am losing about 1-1.5 pounds a week.
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
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    There is literally no correct answer here. Your problem is that you don't know how many calories you burned as it compares to the (usually unreliable) machine. None of us know, either. If it's reporting high, the people who say not to eat back calories are right. if it's reporting low, you're messing up your metabolism by not eating back. If you don't want to save up for a HRM, just flip a coin. It will be just as reliable as any advice you get within this thread.
  • nixirain
    nixirain Posts: 448 Member
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    I will tell you what I did if it helps?

    When I started in January I ate 1200 calories and worked out 5 days a week. I didn't eat back my exercise calories and lost 2lbs every week for 3 weeks. The probelm? I was SO tired, and grumpy and hardly had any energy. Plus I stopped losing

    So i went on the forums looking for answers and found out that I was doing it all wrong. I started to eat some of them back and even cut my goal to .5 lbs per week. Why? Because I don't want to diet anymore. I don't want to worry about gaining weight and not fitting in my clothes. I also didn't want to worry about not being about to go out with my friends and eat normally.

    I decided then that it was going to come off and I didn't care how long it took.

    What happened? I kept losing. Slowly but it is happening.

    This wee I decided that I didn't want to "chase" my exercise calories any more. I end up with a ton at the end of the day alot and have a hard time eating them all because I have a hard time with my lifestyle knowing when I can make it to the gym.

    I took the advice of alot of people that have had success on here and went to this site:http://www.fat2fitradio.com/

    and I figured out my calories for how often I work out.

    Wanna know how much I am eating now including exercise? 1700 calories and I don't track my exercise anymore and I am 4'11" and 139lbs and work out 5 days a week. I lost a pond last week doing this.

    You can do it hun.

    and remember, you would have to up your calories by 500 above your maintenance to gain a pound of fat. you cant do that by eating you BMR.
  • shaycat
    shaycat Posts: 980
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    I couldnt afford a HRM either. I really wanted one as I was trying to eat back my calories but didnt want to go over.
    I saved up and bought one for $70.00 I found out MFP is over about 30 calories for each exercise, so it wasnt to bad.
    I am hoping to not be so stuck now that I know what I am burning.

    My problem with eating back calories is I lost lots of weight NOT eating them back. So far I can barley maintain while eating them back.
  • nebulinda
    nebulinda Posts: 120 Member
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    I have my activity level set to sedentary and my goal set to maintenance, and I don't log my exercise.
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 7,978 Member
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    I don't stress over getting the exact number of calories. I simply go by the estimate here on MFP and have had good success. If you are worried, try upping your calories by a little for a couple of weeks, then upping a little more.

    For me, eating back my exercise calories has allowed me to work out much harder when I want to splurge -- a good thing I think. But I live for the little motivational tools MFP offers "77tes completed her diary and was under her calorie goal" and "If every day was like today, in 5 weeks ..."

    Good luck.
  • Balice57
    Balice57 Posts: 125
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    I don't have an HRM, but I use the Endomondo app on my LG phone. It tracks my walks, and since I'm moving faster I'm now burning more calories. I always use a smaller number than Endomondo gives me, and don't eat back all of my exercise calories - but maybe half of them.
  • o_delaisse
    o_delaisse Posts: 193 Member
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    Thanks everyone for their advice.

    Firstly - I hadn't looked on Amazon, and I have found a cheap HRM, which I will buy. Thank you for pointing me towards that :)

    Secondly - I'm going to aim for my TDEE, which is about 1770 (I will use that website to work it out properly - right now I don't have a tape measure to fill in the details, so I'll have to borrow my neighbour's tomorrow!)

    Thirdly - to answer the question "am I moving nearer to my goals" - I am, slowly. My goal isn't just about losing weight any more, it's about getting healthy, and a part of that is getting a healthy attitude towards food. I've been on a very heavily restricted diet of a long time (I posted about my experience here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521480-1000-calories-or-less-a-day). In the past month, I've increased my food intake from under 1000 to 1450 (actually, today was 1600). That was really tough, and I lost weight today for the first time in ten days (I realise that's not a long time, however it was hard to increase and come out of my comfort zone, not lose weight, and sticking to my plan of increasing by 100 a week even when I hadn't lose a single ounce). So yes, I am nearer to my goals :)

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