eating exercise calories back??

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hockeyjen85
hockeyjen85 Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
My name is Jennifer I have been on my weight loss journey since the end of april and have lost 27 pounds so far. I really enjoy reading the forums on MFP. There is one thing I don't really understand though. I have heard alot of people say that they eat their exercise calories back, Can someone please explain this to me. I thought the point in exercise was to burn calories to lose fat. Why would you wanna eat back the calories you worked so hard to burn off? Maybe I am misunderstanding this but if someone could clear it up for me that would be appreciated. Thanks

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  • itsuki
    itsuki Posts: 520 Member
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    The whole point is that the magical number MFP gives you (usually 1200 or around there) already has a large calorie deficit built in. If you're aiming to lose 2lbs a week, MFP puts you at a 1,000 calorie deficit per day automatically, without taking ANY exercise into consideration.

    That's a big deficit.

    You eat your exercise calories back because being at a deficit that's TOO big is bad for you.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    Some people do, some people don't, so you can get a lot of different opinions round here. Basically, MFP gives you a deficit even if you never do any exercise, the way the website is set up, it gives you a certain calorie goal assuming that you will eat back additional calories burned from exercise. Other programmes work differently and would give you a higher calorie goal to start with. MFP gives you a lower goal, with the assumption that you will eat exercise cals on top of that. There is some more info about eating exercise calories here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    Your body requires energy in the form of calories and the amount depends on factors such as your basal metabolic rate, thermic effect of food, and activity level (planned and unplanned exercise). When you add all these up, you get your Total Energy Expenditure. Simply put, that is the amount of calories you need to function on a daily basis according to lifestyle. When people consume calories, they typically get close to their BMR which is the least you need for basic bodily functions - ie being a couch potato. However, engaging in exercise requires additional calories both in the form of performance and recovery. Thus, you need to add additional calories to support this demand. This is what people refer to as "eating back their exercise calories."
  • hockeyjen85
    hockeyjen85 Posts: 6
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    Oh ok that makes sense. I am new on MFP, I was tracking my calories on a different calorie counter app and then heard about MFP from a friend. Still making the transition over to MFP. I did notice that some people's calories were set really low. My old counter set my calories at about 1600 so I have been following that. MFP set me at around 1700 so pretty close to my old one. So I guess I wouldnt need to eat any calories back. Thanks for responding it would seem like alot of work to have to track all of my calories burned from exercise considering I do alot of weight training and not much steady state cardio.

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