Eat back all of your exercise calories or you WILL DIE.

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Pretty much! Everyone has an opinion, I get that but some people make it seem like it's their way or it can't work. I have lost 110lbs and only eat 1200 calories even still. I don't eat back my calories. It works for me. I have tried to eat them back, don't work for me I gain weight doing that. Everyone's body works differently.

you will lose weight faster if you eat back those cals

This doesn't make sense. Has anyone got any copies of scientific journal articles that have experiments of people testing this theory?

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I do eat back my exercise calories, or so I thought I did. MFP had me set at 1470, I would burn between 100-475 cals/day depending on which TF workout I did. Some days I didn't eat over 1600 calories, but I still have been losing.

I just now went and re-figured out my BMR/TDEE, etc.
BMR is 1430, TDEE is 2217. So for me to lose 1 lb/week, I'd have to eat 1717 cals/day. PLUS try to eat what I exercised, right? (I hope this is right!)

I have about 15 more lbs to lose, so I want to be sure I'm getting it right. But my point was that I do and will eat back my exercise calories since it has been working for me, and because I'm so hungry on the hard workout days :-)

If you base your calorie intake off your TDEE-500 (or -1000 or -20% or whatever) then you do not need to eat back exercise calories because they are already figured into your base level. MFP doesn't factor the exercise in when it figures your deficit, so if you use their base calorie level then you do need to eat them back. Does that make sense?

So even though I add in my exercise to my diary, and my calorie "allotment" goes up, I do not have to eat the extra ones it gives me?

Right. You can add the exercise minutes to reach a goal, but put the calories burned as "0" so that it doesn't add on.

For me, a TDEE-15% cut eaten every day is roughly equal to netting MFP's .5 lbs/week calorie target. It's a modest goal, but 6 months or a year from now I'll be at goal and it won't have been hard to do.

Ok, thank you. So I shouldn't even put in the exercise, really. Unless I want to see the daily burn estimate.

So like I wrote in my original post, I should stay at 1717 calories to lose a lb per week. So does that mean I'm *not* going to eat my exercise calories then? LOL, sorry OP, for the mini-hijack, I've always been in favor of eating back exercise cals :-)

I don't want to put anyone on blast, but I am seeing posts from quite a few people in support of eating calories back who've only lost 4-5 pounds and have been on MFP for 1-2 years. I don't see how that's working for you??

If you are talking about me....I have been on MFP since 2010 (just cause people were talking about the app) I never used the app till Monday....I'm super excited about this program and the fact I have already lost 2 pounds since Monday!! I'm neither for or against eating them back. I really think it's a personal preference. Nobody elses buisness....I have just found that I have gained weight back by doing low carb, Weight Watchers etc....because I gave up a lot and then started binge eating. With this program I have yet to feel deprived. Sometimes I eat them back sometimes I dont.....Whatever people choose....To each their own Whatever you choose I wish u and everyone else luck....

The "FOOD" tab, "Exercise" tab, "TOOLS" tab, and the "Community" tab are tools. A plan for dieting is something that you follow strict guidelines and has meals, and different foods to choose from. This site, Weight Watchers and the such where you control it are tools and guidelines, and are made for lifestyle changes. People can use "PLANS" though to go along with their "TOOLS" and "GUIDELINES" until they are comfortable to do it without a plan. after the "plan" is up, hopefully they can just use the tools and guidelines. Plans are meant for short term, but tools and guidelines are meant for a lifetime. That's the difference. Just like people calling this site a "DIET". it's not a "DIET", it's something you use (Tools and guidelines) to make a lifetime change in your life. Some people though, need to wean themselves into a lifestyle change, by starting with a plan. or some people just like to use a plan b/c of the recipes or it gives them something strict to use instead of using just tools and guidelines so they don't have to worry about falling off track...

Hmm....if this site isn't a plan then I don't have one. I could not follow any plan that tells me exact meals to eat and not to eat. The whole calories vs workout thing this site has going on will be my salvation if I stick to the intake recommended and try to limit my naughty foods. I can'd do low carb, I get dizzy. I can't do high protein I get headaches. So, I eat without worrying too much about that type of stuff, mostly I limit salt and sugar intake.

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Now if one eats all their exercise calories back than how is someone loosing weight?
I am doing Jamie Easons lifefit plan and I sure a daisy don't eat all my exercise calories.
Lost 9 pounds so far, and with her eating plan, even with less calories your body does not have time to get starving.

Haha that's what I was thinking!! Just seems like an excuse to eat more and not gain weight-- which would happen, but I want to lose!! I eat every two hours a day. I just get some "tiffs" sometimes. HATAS GON HATE.

So what exactly was the purpose of you post other than to start the same old sh*tstorm about this same old topic? It is pretty obvious you already have your mind made up - so what were you trying to achieve.

And what the h*ll is wrong with using exercise as an excuse to eat more.....sounds like a pretty damn good reason to me. Well, that and the cardiovascular improvement of cardio and body composition improvements of strength training. Who exactly is the 'hata' here? If done properly (using reasonable estimates and tracking) people will lose weight because there is already a deficit built into the base number.

Since you asked about the purpose of my post. I was only answering the original post. I did not know that the answers have to be in sinc with the majority of the people.

I was not referring to you - the quote above my answer was from the OP - so this is the post I was referring to.

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Pretty much! Everyone has an opinion, I get that but some people make it seem like it's their way or it can't work. I have lost 110lbs and only eat 1200 calories even still. I don't eat back my calories. It works for me. I have tried to eat them back, don't work for me I gain weight doing that. Everyone's body works differently.

you will lose weight faster if you eat back those cals

This doesn't make sense. Has anyone got any copies of scientific journal articles that have experiments of people testing this theory?

I believe in generally at least eating some of your exercise calories back, and this makes no sense to me either.

I've never counted exercise calories nor ate them back. You won't really know for sure exactly what your exercise expenditure is anyway. And I find it much simpler to set a lower absolute deficit.

Note that this is different than saying that I don't eat before/during/after my workouts, which is not the case (unless I am glycogen depleting).

This is a good point. I think the main issue with not eating calories back is when someone has a large base deficit and then burns a load of calories through exercise - this potentially creates an excessive deficit. If the base deficit is smaller, this is less of an issue, especially when you are not looking at significant burns during exercise.


Edited to fix typos

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I've never counted exercise calories nor ate them back. You won't really know for sure exactly what your exercise expenditure is anyway. And I find it much simpler to set a lower absolute deficit.

Note that this is different than saying that I don't eat before/during/after my workouts, which is not the case (unless I am glycogen depleting).

This is a good point. I think the main issue with not eating calories back is when someone has a large base deficit and then burns a load of calories through exercise - this potentially creates an excessive deficit. If the base deficit is smaller, this is less of an issue, especially when you are not looking at significant burns during exercise.


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I agree with gluco, have never eaten back exercise cals. IMO deficit should be determine by body comp. When I was 25% bf, a 1000 cal deficit was no problem. At 8%, totally different story (~300 cal). If I were 40%, I would probably VLCD it up. Current body comp is a huge factor in what kind of deficit you can carry.

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I wonder if the people who argue the most on these message boards lose more weight than the people who don't argue?

I wonder if they log the calories burned typing and then eat them back?:laugh: :laugh:

Haha, this made me LOL!!

I watched Etreme weightloss last evening and the lady ate 1500 calories a day for her 355 lbs body and also exercised at a 3500 deficit......wow..... she survived....goes to show you dont have to eat your calories back....I think each person is different and should do what works for them.... main thing is to lose, feel healthy and be energised.....

I really think we have to factor in metabolism.. I feel that my metabolism is very low due to being very overweight for more than half my life.. So right now, I have to work a little harder, and really watch my calories. I notice that I'm starting to fuel up more.. I'm sweating more while working out, I'm starting to "feel" when I'm hungry, etc.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/ -- listen to the most recent podcast called "Eating Your Exercise Calories" It will answer all questions.

Simply put -- no -- don't eat them back.

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I watched Etreme weightloss last evening and the lady ate 1500 calories a day for her 355 lbs body and also exercised at a 3500 deficit......wow..... she survived....goes to show you dont have to eat your calories back....I think each person is different and should do what works for them.... main thing is to lose, feel healthy and be energised.....

I really think we have to factor in metabolism.. I feel that my metabolism is very low due to being very overweight for more than half my life.. So right now, I have to work a little harder, and really watch my calories. I notice that I'm starting to fuel up more.. I'm sweating more while working out, I'm starting to "feel" when I'm hungry, etc.

Actually, the heavier you are the higher your BMR and TDEE (all other things being equal). Which is one reason why people need to re-assess their targets as they lose weight - their BMR and therefore TDEE decreases so you have to reduce calories to keep the same deficit.

We have three in our family on this diet (well, four, but the last one just started this week). I am trying to lose a stubborn last few pounds. My husband has more to lose, and one daughter thinks she has more to lose as well (all of my children look perfect to me).. For me, eating back calories was a huge teaching tool because I used to try to just limit calories, meanwhile exercising like crazy. Before sites like this, it was hard enough to report calories and get a reasonable idea of how much they were worth to begin with. MFP makes it easy. But on top of that, I never counted my exercise. I would lose a few pounds and then get headaches and want to sleep all the time, and then POOF there went the focus and I'd be right back where I started.

This time, I am able to stick to the plan. Sometimes I don't really feel like eating after exercise in the evenings, but I try to put in some healthy calories that don't require much digestion: yogurt, soy milk, or something like that. And–wonder of wonders–I am losing without a struggle.

My husband has been very successful so far. Like me, he eats back as many calories as he can. Both of us try to overestimate on the number of calories in uncertain food items (home recipes) and underestimate on calories burned because they seem a little high here sometimes. But still, eating back calories keeps us from "panic mode." I can't comment on starvation mode, but personally used to gain weight every time I started to think about dieting.

Our daughter tried to set her weight loss too high (as far as we were concerned): two pounds a week. She actually started gaining, even though she was eating her calories back. I'm not sure whether she was reporting accurately, but I think that she wasn't eating enough. We'll see what happens now that she's lowered her weekly goal. She was pretty depressed about it. Since I don't believe she needs to lose weight, it's easy to soothe her and tell her it will all work out.

What am I trying to say here? It's that I think people could consider relaxing, eating as many of their exercise calories as feels reasonable, and not focusing on whether they're losing weight fast or not. The slower you lose it, supposedly the easier it is on your body, and the less chance there is of gaining it all back. The site seems to work as planned!

right on....Well put^