Do you eat your exercise calories?

2

Replies

  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
    The site is designed to eat back your calories. You should follow the advice of the site and monitor your progress over a few weeks (not days). If you are losing, then keep it up. If you are not you could consider eating back 1/2 the calories or so. Keep in mind that the calorie burn calculation of the machines is probably 30 to 50% greater than actual. So if the treadmill says 150, it is likely closer to 100. Your 750 may be 500.

    ^^^^This! MFP's calculations are based on the theory that you will eat back any exercise calories earned. I always eat back my calories! There is a caveat - If your calculations are wrong and you are not logging your calorie intake correctly or not estimating your calories burned correctly.....this can throw off your over all end result.
  • stephvaile
    stephvaile Posts: 298
    I eat back every single exercise calorie for 3 reasons

    1. I am trying to lose FAT, not just weight. If my calories are too low ... I lose muscle too.
    2. I use a heart rate monitor, so I know my calorie burns are not grossly exaggerated.
    3. That is how MFP is designed. The calorie deficit is built in before exercise. Not eating them back is INCREASING the deficit (see reason #1).
    i agree you may lose weight initially noteating your cals ack but this is a long term thing so as long as you have set mfp correctly eating them back should be no problem
  • SmudgerSmithRhino
    SmudgerSmithRhino Posts: 96
    Hell yeah I eat them back, I earned them, they are the ones that taste the best!

    You are already in a deficit by having such a low goal, so you should eat the calories back. Yes you'll lose weight faster by being so far in deficit, but not in a healthy way. You didn't put the weight on overnight so don't expect to lose it overnight.

    Eat your exercise calories, nom nom nom!
  • SmallMimi
    SmallMimi Posts: 541 Member
    I don't always eat 100% my exercise calories back. Most days I would have a hard time consuming that many healthy calories. I'm still trying to drop weight so, I eat enough to not feel hungry and have the energy to do my normal workouts.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    Yeah, I eat my exercise calories and all of those from people who don't eat theirs too :tongue:
  • supplemama
    supplemama Posts: 1,956 Member
    I don't, I asked my doctor for a plan for me and she told me not to eat the exercise calories, so I go by what she says for me to do!

    ^^^This. My doctor said the same thing!
  • charanne52
    charanne52 Posts: 88 Member
    According to what I've read if you eat below your BMR you will lose muscle along with fat. If you eat at your TDEE level you will maintain your weight. As I am nearly 60 I can't afford to chance losing muscle so I will eat back my exercise calories to ensure I end up above my BMR (mine is 1592) and below my TDEE (mine is 1910).
  • blazeybug87
    blazeybug87 Posts: 226 Member
    Okay cool, I'll try to eat at least a few hundred of them but not all as like other people have said, sometimes the amount burned is not quite right on here and I wouldn't want to go over.

    Was just thrown by the first few people who replied and said they didn't lose if they ate them :-/
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    I don't, I asked my doctor for a plan for me and she told me not to eat the exercise calories, so I go by what she says for me to do!

    ^^^This. My doctor said the same thing!
    Please be aware that most diets give you a calorie allowance based on your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, which includes your average exercise calories over the week. MFP does not include your exercise calories in what it allows you to eat, it only calculates your activity level based on non-exercise expenditure, hence you eat back your exercise calories and still remain at the calorific deficit you set to lose X lbs a week. Your doctor will probably not be aware of how MFP works.
  • monty619
    monty619 Posts: 1,308 Member
    Just wondering? I've done 750 cals today in exercise and am really reluctant to eat them!!!
    hell no... not if the goal is to lose weight
  • mzhokie
    mzhokie Posts: 349 Member
    For me, I want to go with the slow and steady loss. Yes, I eat at least some of my exercise calories back. I go with at least 1/2 of the calories from my most intense workout. So if I burn 400 calories on the treadmill, in my heart rate zone for at least 30+ minutes, then I will give myself 200 extra calories if I want or need them. The one thing I watch is my net calories. I try to make sure I get somewhere between 1100-1200 net calories a day. Ever since I read up on eating your exercise calories back and paid more attention to the net number.... I have been steadily dropping weight. I lose at least 1 lb a week and average at least 5 lbs a month.

    Edit... I have a HRM so I have a better idea how much I actually burn too so I am more comfortable eating at least half of them back than I was before when it was just an estimate.
  • Wonderwoman2677
    Wonderwoman2677 Posts: 428 Member
    I do if I'm hungry :)
  • TaintedVampyre
    TaintedVampyre Posts: 1,428 Member
    I try not to, but sometimes it happens.
  • Christine1110
    Christine1110 Posts: 1,786 Member
    If I do I only eat 1/2....you never really know if the food in your diary is accurate.

    Good luck
  • Flab2fitfi
    Flab2fitfi Posts: 1,349 Member
    I eat mine back too - well try most days to. Today I have burned over 1000 calories - gym and then walking ( no choice in the walking) and I have a hrm so I know its pretty close to target and will eat back at least 500 calories otherwise I'll get burned out.

    In a normal day my walking is around 500 and I eat them all back. So far I have lost 23lbs in 8 weeks so it must be working.

    I see myself a bit like a car - without fuel it wont be going anywhere.
  • CoffeeNBooze
    CoffeeNBooze Posts: 966 Member
    If I don't eat them, I plateau or gain. if I eat them back, I lose weight. Different for everyone I suppose! My body needs all the fuel it can get and I'm not about to deprive it if I'm starving from exercising.
  • PaveGurl
    PaveGurl Posts: 244 Member
    I try to at least eat some of them - but I work on a weekly average guide for myself.

    Basically, I calculated my BMR and TDEE using a few different calculations, and took an average of them both. I shoot to have my daily average over the course of a week about halfway between the two - so I feel comfortable that I'm not putting myself into starvation mode. Most weeks, that works out pretty well - some days when I work out, I end up with a lot of extra calories that I "bank" for a treat (date night, dinner with friends, etc) later in the week.

    So over the course of a week, I will often eat them back... But not always :)
  • placebomonkey
    placebomonkey Posts: 104 Member
    I eat back every single exercise calorie for 3 reasons

    1. I am trying to lose FAT, not just weight. If my calories are too low ... I lose muscle too.
    2. I use a heart rate monitor, so I know my calorie burns are not grossly exaggerated.
    3. That is how MFP is designed. The calorie deficit is built in before exercise. Not eating them back is INCREASING the deficit (see reason #1).

    Hi where do you get a heart rate monitor from?? :)
  • lratliff
    lratliff Posts: 21 Member
    My weight loss slowed down when I ate back my calories, but I think it was because I was going by the machine at the gym, and i'm sure those numbers are overly optimistic. So when I was eating back the calories, I was actually eating back a lot more than I had actually burned. To account for this, I try to give myself a buffer of at least a hundred uneaten calories if I exercise a lot in a day, and I have found this to be more successful.
  • jckwrmn
    jckwrmn Posts: 4
    I typically eat mine, and it hasn't impacted my work toward my weight loss goal. Here's how I look at it...

    Yes, you will lose weight more quickly if you don't eat your exercise calories. But, if you want to lose weight more quickly, just adjust your goal so MFP gives you the daily calorie target that meets that quicker weight loss goal. I prefer to keep my goal set the way I want it and eat my way to zero calories each day. Doing so allows me to maintain a daily accounting of appropriate calorie intake.

    Taking the blanket approach of always/never eating your exercise calories seems to me that it would make your weight loss seem inordinately dependent on your exercise rather than your entire approach to weight management. Thus, any days that you can't exercise for any reason, you'll feel like you're slowing down your weight loss if you don't *under* eat. Whereas, by using the daily calorie target and eating to zero you know exactly how much to eat to stay on track the days you can't exercise.

    As others have noted, the calorie counting here seems a little wonky. If I go for an hour long bike ride, I will typically only enter 45 minutes. It's less scientific than I like, but it's worked alright for me in that I am not hungry and I am continuing to lose weight.

    And, it's also worth noting, as obvious as it is, that exercise makes you hungry. I'm an avid cyclist, and the year I gained the most weight was the first year I rode over 4000 miles. My appetite was through the roof! Last year, I rode 5500 miles- 25% more than I'd ever done - and I gained 25 pounds. So, if I exercise and am hungry, I am grateful for the guidance I get from MFP that allows me to address my hunger *and* continue to lose weight.

    HTH,
    Jck
  • rachaela06
    rachaela06 Posts: 167
    I suggest searching BMR and TDEE on the message boards. It is explained very well by some posts and I think once you understand those numbers and what they mean it will help you. I know once I understood what those numbers are and mean I began eating back my exercise calories and have seen improvents.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I eat back every single exercise calorie for 3 reasons

    1. I am trying to lose FAT, not just weight. If my calories are too low ... I lose muscle too.
    2. I use a heart rate monitor, so I know my calorie burns are not grossly exaggerated.
    3. That is how MFP is designed. The calorie deficit is built in before exercise. Not eating them back is INCREASING the deficit (see reason #1).

    Hi where do you get a heart rate monitor from?? :)

    I have a Polar FT4 (love it) - I ordered from polar.com ..... but these are available on Amazon, and sporting goods stores also.
  • airbent
    airbent Posts: 150 Member
    As long as you're still at a calorie deficit you're going to lose weight even if you eat back your calories (at the very least you wouldn't ever GAIN at a true deficit). If you eat 1200, but work off 600 of them, then eat 600 more, you're still at 1200 and still at the same deficit you were at before. except this way you gain some muscle.

    granted, it's hard for me to take this advice because who can eat that much more when it's the kinds of food you should be eating? especially when I tend to exercise later in the day and there's less time. so difficult, i'm still getting used to it.

    I'd just say eat them back if you feel you need the energy or if you're hungry. It can't hurt unless you eat more than you burnt off.
  • danielled731
    danielled731 Posts: 26 Member
    Okay, my BMR is 1730 (according to various websites) and MFP gives me 1200 per day so I am already 500 odd less per day.

    So are you guys saying that for you, if you eat your exercise cals you don't lose anything even though your cals have already been adjusted by mfp to allow weightloss?

    Kinda new and a bit confused lol

    Cheers x

    I get confused on this also
  • malibu5880
    malibu5880 Posts: 31 Member
    Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I tend to exercise longer and harder if I know I'm going out to dinner or having a special meal that day, so I know I won't be way over in calories.
  • danielled731
    danielled731 Posts: 26 Member
    Hell yeah I eat them back, I earned them, they are the ones that taste the best!

    You are already in a deficit by having such a low goal, so you should eat the calories back. Yes you'll lose weight faster by being so far in deficit, but not in a healthy way. You didn't put the weight on overnight so don't expect to lose it overnight.

    Eat your exercise calories, nom nom nom!

    I wish there was "like" button for this!
  • obeserat
    obeserat Posts: 218 Member
    I don't, I asked my doctor for a plan for me and she told me not to eat the exercise calories, so I go by what she says for me to do!

    ^^^This. My doctor said the same thing!

    Same here, I have been doing as the doctor said I sometimes don't feel I'm getting enough to eat.
    I was told to drop down to 1200 calories and not to eat back the exercise calories. I am male 6 foot tall
    and weigh 295lb my bmr is around 2200. I ride my bike for at least 10 miles each day which averages
    a 500 calorie burn. I have been under this new regimen for 2 weeks and have lost 17lb , Iost 16lb the MFP way
    but took longer (not a bad thing) . Remember though I am doing this under medical advice.
  • Linda_Darlene
    Linda_Darlene Posts: 453 Member
    I eat some back. It just depends on how I feel. A really heavy workout can leave me with a need to feed! I need fuel.
  • kuhayetee
    kuhayetee Posts: 41
    most of them yes!
  • LeenaRuns
    LeenaRuns Posts: 1,309 Member
    Yes! They are the best tasting ones because you EARNED them!
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