DO you eat back your workout calories?

cmatos426
cmatos426 Posts: 14 Member
edited December 18 in Food and Nutrition
I was wondering who eats and doesn't eat there workout calories because I do not see the sense of eating back the calories you work off because isn't that counter productive. I can be wrong I am just wondering...
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Replies

  • moochachip
    moochachip Posts: 237 Member
    You work out to become stronger. If you don't eat back at least /some/ of those calories, basically all that hard work went to nothing.

    I use to not eat back the calories, but once someone talked me into it... I feel stronger, am at a healthy weight, and can run longer distances then I could without eating those calories back.
  • rungirl1973
    rungirl1973 Posts: 2,559 Member
    It depends on whether I'm hungry or not.
    I usually eat at least some of my exercise calories back, but I eat them all if I'm still hungry. Sometimes, I'm hungry the next day after a long run or difficult workout, then I'll eat more calories THAT day.
  • cmatos426
    cmatos426 Posts: 14 Member
    Thing is I haven't been hungry and I hate force feeding myself :(
  • agrzybow
    agrzybow Posts: 38 Member
    If I am feeling hungry, I eat back my calories. Some days, I am just hungrier than others. Sometimes I almost can't seem to work out if I haven't had a little extra something. I'd say 75% of the time, I eat back my calories!
  • Superchikanthem
    Superchikanthem Posts: 362 Member
    I usually eat back 50 min if not all of them. I don't function well if I don't
  • robindina
    robindina Posts: 157 Member
    I eat back some of them depending on my appetite that day.
  • tone4ever
    tone4ever Posts: 32
    no i dont....
  • skinnylove00
    skinnylove00 Posts: 662 Member
    HELL YEAH I EARNED THOSE SUCKERS SO I AM GONNA EAT THEM DAMMIT
  • samanthanic0le
    samanthanic0le Posts: 81 Member
    HELL YEAH I EARNED THOSE SUCKERS SO I AM GONNA EAT THEM DAMMIT

    lmao xD that made me smile
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
  • BackTatJIM
    BackTatJIM Posts: 1,140 Member
    I do a average of 45 minutes of cardio 6 days a week, and on occasion I eat over my calorie limit but my extra calories still keep me under my limit. It is defiantly ok to use some of your extra workout calories, that's why they are there!
  • AnitaRichardson
    AnitaRichardson Posts: 1
    ok feel thesame way!!!!
  • logoode_
    logoode_ Posts: 21
    Think of it this way - you lose weight with a calorie deficit, which MFP already provides for you. 1200 calories alone will already be a calorie deficit. If you burn 600 calories, you'll be netting 600 calories.

    Would you ever eat 600 calories a day to lose weight? No! It wouldn't be smart and you would lose weight at a slower pace.

    At first I didn't believe in eating back calories either but I'm losing weight at a faster pace now that I have :)
  • N_Bridgeman
    N_Bridgeman Posts: 45 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/206951-asked-my-trainer-re-eating-back-calories

    Read.....best answer to this question. Ive had this discussion quite a bit lately, but this is a good answer.
  • stephyy4632
    stephyy4632 Posts: 947 Member
    yep I eat just about every one of them back I have a great HRM and I`m sure of my burn plus MFP sets my defecit already so yep I earned them I eat them
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
    Yes, I do eat my exercise calories, and they are oh so tasty!
  • Arroyosasto
    Arroyosasto Posts: 1
    I do eat a little less than 1/2 of my earned calories. You need to have to eat after each workout to fuel your muscles and help burn the fat. You dont want to waste your work out. You can try a protien shake or a good smoothie thats not packed with sugar :) Hope this helps!
  • Femtec74
    Femtec74 Posts: 347 Member
    I always try. My weight loss is more consistant when I eat them back.
  • Kristy_Elizabeth
    Kristy_Elizabeth Posts: 435
    I try to eat back about half of my workout calories. Sometimes I don't want that much and I'm not going to eat just to eat though.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    MFP already creates a deficit for you when you choose your activity level.

    MFP is set up so that it already creates a deficit, meaning you will lose weight even if you don't exercise. When you exercise, you further increase that deficit. Think of your exercise calories like fuel. When you workout , you need energy, you need fuel. Food is fuel.


    P.S. Please please use the search function before posting a thread !!
  • Mercenary1914
    Mercenary1914 Posts: 1,087 Member
    If I am trying to gain weight ...I eat back the calories...if I am trying to cut or lose weight...I don't eat back the calories....Defeats the purpose unless you short changed your calorie goal from the start...
  • jessienmiller
    jessienmiller Posts: 73 Member
    I just tr to stay around my normal caloie limit and still work out, I don't personally see them as extra calories to eat. I thought thats why we work out i to have a defecient.
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
    When I hit my goal weight last september, I never touched my exercise calories. I lost my weight ,no plateaus,no problem, was getting by on 1,300 calories a day, burning around 1,000 every day.

    Now, i have gained 10 lbs and trying to lose them. This time, I eat back about half of my exercise calories..I again work out around 1,000calories a day. I lost 2lbs in February, and since then I have gained another 3 lbs....having said that, i feel better, more healthier.

    Im not sure if eating back exercise calories will help me lose my weight, i know when i didn't eat them back, my weight loss was constant and very steady, but I certainly enjoy the feeling of not feeling extreme hunger now that I eat them back.
  • joannmdunn
    joannmdunn Posts: 22
    No I don't since I am trying to lose weight I try to stick to or below my goal of 1500 cal.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    If I am trying to gain weight ...I eat back the calories...if I am trying to cut or lose weight...I don't eat back the calories....Defeats the purpose unless you short changed your calorie goal from the start...

    That is not true. Please explain how eating back your exercise calories "defeats the purpose"? MFP already has you on a deficit!
  • Bhart72
    Bhart72 Posts: 1 Member
    I've done both. It all depends on you! But you should not have to force yourself to eat!! But don't feel bad about what ever you decide its a journey to weight loss....
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    I just tr to stay around my normal caloie limit and still work out, I don't personally see them as extra calories to eat. I thought thats why we work out i to have a defecient.

    Yes, MFP already creates that deficit FOR you when it gives you your calorie goal. Even if you didn't work out, you would still lose weight eating at the amount set for you! But you should still work out!
  • niknak2308
    niknak2308 Posts: 315 Member
    You need to be looking at your Net Cals total at the top of your home page and decide whether you need to be eating them or not - if you're under your daily goal, then eat away lol. MFP takes into account the fact you want to lose weight so has already made adjustments to your calorie goal to account for this.

    However, there are lots of different opinons for and against. Personally I prefer to think of my exercise as EARNING me calories, not BURNING calories. If you are exercising and you DON'T eat those cals back, you'll be trying to make your body survive on much less than it needs (remember MFP has already given you a low calorie goal total to figure in a deficit over the week resulting in weightloss) . You'll also be slowing down your metabolism in the long term which will slow the rate at which your body will burn your calories.

    I didn't eat my exercise cals for the first month or so, the weight fell off, I then lost really slowly for another month, then plateaued for a month. I then decided to do the dreaded thing of upping my cals (everything I read told me that's what to do but I still doubted it!), and that week I lost no weight but lost 3 inches, the following week I lost 3lbs, then I carried on at a better weight loss rate ever since. I find when I plateau again for a few weeks, if I up my cals I start losing again.
  • LilRedRooster
    LilRedRooster Posts: 1,421 Member
    I eat when I'm hungry. Solves that problem.
  • N_Bridgeman
    N_Bridgeman Posts: 45 Member
    Eat them back ppl. take a minute and read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/206951-asked-my-trainer-re-eating-back-calories
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