Eating Back the Calories You Burned...

I will classify my reply by saying I am not an expert.

That being said, I did lose weight with weight watchers a few years ago. With their program it doesn't matter how much exercise you do (for the average person - they do clarify that the rules are different if you are a nursing mother or training for a marathon), you are only allowed a limited number of points (calories) for exercise/activity each day; usually between 100-150 calories per day.

I was encountering the same issue with eating all of my MFP exercise calories per day, and finding that it was counter-productive. I experimented with limiting my extra exercise calories consumed to 100-150 calories per day, and have found success with this way of doing things.

Again, this may not work for everyone, but it is what has worked for me.

Good luck!!

Wendy

I will classify my reply by saying I am not an expert.

That being said, I did lose weight with weight watchers a few years ago. With their program it doesn't matter how much exercise you do (for the average person - they do clarify that the rules are different if you are a nursing mother or training for a marathon), you are only allowed a limited number of points (calories) for exercise/activity each day; usually between 100-150 calories per day.

I was encountering the same issue with eating all of my MFP exercise calories per day, and finding that it was counter-productive. I experimented with limiting my extra exercise calories consumed to 100-150 calories per day, and have found success with this way of doing things.

Again, this may not work for everyone, but it is what has worked for me.

Good luck!!

Wendy

150 calories a day?? If u burn 900 cals and ur net is way below 1200 I would suggest eating more back

from my own experience... i haven't been eating them back, like you i think it would be too much/counter productive... i started about 3 weeks ago and try my hardest to stick to my 1200/per day and have felt no negative effects in doing so...

I usually eat back about 50% of them, not because I think I should, but because I'm hungrier when I exercise. I think some of it has to do with how much weight a person has to lose. I needed to lose 15 lbs, so staying between 1200-1400 worked for me even with exercise.

Someone who has a lot more to lose, or ate a few thousand a day before beginning their program probably would have a harder time netting below 1200 cals a day.

I happily eat 85-90% of my exercise calories back (I wear my Polar FT60 Heart rate monitor to get a more accurate calories burned) I am currently eating 3200 calories a day and my deficit is set to lose 1/2 lb. a week.... I am a firm believer in fueling my body for the workouts that I do... Having to large of a deficit overtime will screw up your metabolism. From the beginning I kept my weightloss at a modest 1 to 2 lbs. a week and have only recently tighten it up do to being close to the end of my weightloss.... Best of Luck....

I suggest you read this http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/512956-tdee-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-not-eat-below-your-bmr


Check it out..........very good info.

There are several different approaches to this and the question has been asked and answered at least a zillion times on here. To get the best info and broadest answers, I'd suggest searching the forums.

Good luck to you!
All the best,
Jen

I wasn't losing weight when I didn't eat them back..... now I try to get at least 1200 net and I started losing weight again. I have stuck with that.... sometimes I eat most of them back, sometimes only enough to get to 1200. It's working, I have lost 15 lbs since I started doing that.

I was wondering that too!

for me personally...

I make sure I never eat less than my BMR. So, if after exercise I net UNDER my BMR I will eat them back.

There are different answers depending on your BF %, your total calorie intake, type of exercise and your total exercise expenditure. What might be the best answer on Day 1 might not be the best strategy after you have lost 40 pounds.

IMO, most of the variance in people's anecdotal evidence of whether or not it "works" can be traced to inaccuracies in estimating calorie intake, calorie expenditure, or both. It's more a question of the total deficit then it is the actual act of "eating back" the calories.

Every calorie calculator I've ever seen suggests that you eat more if you have a more active lifestyle (ie. if you exercise more).
MFP doesn't count exercise when it sets your daily calorie allowance, assuming that you will add (and eat) those calories when you exercise.

So, the simple answer is:
If you are using MFP to calculate your calories, then yes, you should eat extra when you exercise.
If you are using a different calorie calculator, then most likely not because it probably already includes extra cals for exercising.

The end result is going to be around the same number of calories, it's just a different method of getting there.
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Many people here (including me) have had great success using MFP as it is designed (ie. following MFP recommendation and eating the suggested daily allowance plus exercise calories). It may seem illogical, but if you take the time to read the many threads about this, you'll see that it is in fact very logical. More so, really, than eating a random amount that guesstimates your exercise.

But, its your body and your choice. No one is going to force you to eat those calories and if you don't want to, then don't, it makes no difference to anyone but yourself.
Some people find great success on a very low calorie diet, others find that they lose a lot at first but either can't sustain such a reduced calorie lifestyle or find that their body responds by plateauing and they need to change things around to keep losing weight.

From the research that I have done, most doctors say to stay active, eat no less than 1200 calories if you are a man and no less than 1050 if you are a woman (this does not account for size, weight, pregnancy, etc). That being said, the simple answer is ask a doctor before doing anything extreme. If you know a dietitian, ask them too. The most common answer I have gotten from doctors is a simple "burn more than you eat, but don't deprive yourself of vitamins and minerals".

Basically, if you want a real answer, ask a real doctor.