SO, If i burn calories i have to eat them back??

Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .
«1

Replies

  • HausOfTina
    HausOfTina Posts: 92
    wut
  • xalexxandrax
    xalexxandrax Posts: 43 Member
    dont u speak english .
  • rayita001
    rayita001 Posts: 150 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    From what I understand is that if you eat the calories you burn you will maintain your weight. You don't have to eat all the calories, just be sure that you eat at least 1,200 calories a day.
  • lizzynewm
    lizzynewm Posts: 199 Member
    wut
    dont u speak english .

    this is so funny to me
  • cressievargo
    cressievargo Posts: 392 Member
    Regardless of the eating back exercise calories - why are you eating so little?
  • ademiter
    ademiter Posts: 176 Member
    Well, I've heard lots of mixed comments about this subject since joining MFP. I started Jan. 2 and up until last week, I had lost 25 pounds. I plateaued there for a while and then after talking it over with a few people, I just upped my calories to 1400 from 1200, I eat just that (well, I'm a little over today, lol), and then I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories. We burn calories all day long just LIVING, so we don't log that and eat those back. Since I changed my calorie goal 2 weeks ago, I broke the plateau and lost 2 more pounds! I feel more full with the 1400 cal. as opposed to the 1200. And I exercise the same as I did before. After being very adament about eating my burned calories back, as really suggested by many on MFP, I decided it's not for me. This change is working for me, but that doesn't mean it will work for everyone. I hope this makes sense and is helpful! :) I'm still learning everyday!
  • lemasney
    lemasney Posts: 67 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    It is a theory. I choose to ignore it and lose pretty steadily. I usually gain between 500-1000 calories a day over my adjusted cals on MFP. I eat my 1700 suggested cals and stop there, despite the additional calories gained, and magically, I lose almost every day.
  • xalexxandrax
    xalexxandrax Posts: 43 Member
    Lol
  • BackTatJIM
    BackTatJIM Posts: 1,140 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    From what I understand is that if you eat the calories you burn you will maintain your weight. You don't have to eat all the calories, just be sure that you eat at least 1,200 calories a day.

    To maintain your weight you don't eat at a deflict ... If you are eating a deflict and supposed to net 1,000 calories then eating back your exercise calories will not hurt your weight loss goals ... and 1,000 cals a day is unheard of
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    From what I understand is that if you eat the calories you burn you will maintain your weight. You don't have to eat all the calories, just be sure that you eat at least 1,200 calories a day.
    not true.
    when you plug in your weight loss goals and such into MFP they give you a number, that includes a deficit. so if you did nothing but sit around all day, and ate to that number you would lose weight. when you add in exercise, you make that deficit bigger, which can be unhealthy so its recommended to eat those back so that you still lose weight at the pace you want, and youre giving your body the fuel it needs to function.
    i eat my calories back and have no problems losing weight (as evidenced by my ticker :))
  • MFP automatically sets your calorie total so you are already eating at a calorie deficit so if you exercise you need to eat the calories back otherwise you will be undereating for the day
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    From what I understand is that if you eat the calories you burn you will maintain your weight. You don't have to eat all the calories, just be sure that you eat at least 1,200 calories a day.

    Not true, unless you have set yourself to 'maintain'.
  • purplegoboom
    purplegoboom Posts: 400 Member
    Well, you don't HAVE to do anything. But it is better for you in the long run if you do.

    It's like this: you're consuming 1000 calories a day. You say you're burning off 300 of those calories. Which means you're only living off of 700 calories a day. That is way too low, it's reccommended women aim for at least net 1200 calories a day.

    When you sign up for MFP, you tell them how much weight you want to lose each week. Depending upon that, and picking your daily activity level, they give you the number of calories you would need to lose that much weight each week. So you're already eating less calories than you burn each day.

    By only netting 700 calories a day, it's going to make it very hard to lose weight.
  • ElyseL1
    ElyseL1 Posts: 504 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    It varies per person. I eat 1200k a day and then dont not consume back any. But the thing is you have to consume a minimum of 1200 or else you gain weight bc your body goes into survival mode. The whole thing with this website is that it will calculate how many calories you need to eat (combined with exercise) to lose an average of one to two lbs a week. So they expect you to consume anything you worked off bc they already calculated how many calories you would need to lose though one to two lbs.
  • xalexxandrax
    xalexxandrax Posts: 43 Member
    Regardless of the eating back exercise calories - why are you eating so little?

    Im not, I honestly feel like Ive eaten a lot , but thats because i wake up late ! I sleep around 2 or 3 and wake up at like 10 , so i eat like at 10;30 or 11;00.. and then after around 1 or 2 i exercise & then i eat again . Then, i try to exercise or i just us the computrer & drink tea .
  • phatycake
    phatycake Posts: 216
    I eat some if I'm hungry. If not, I don't. Easy, just listen to your body.
  • PayneAS
    PayneAS Posts: 669 Member
    www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
  • LatinaGordita
    LatinaGordita Posts: 377 Member
    I eat 1250, and only eat exercise calories when I want to i.e. going out to dinner, special occasion. But normally I do not eat exercise cals. I have lost consistently since Jan 2012 with 3 weeks were the scale didn't budge, but still losing. Do what works best for you! If you are hungry eat them if you are not - don't eat them.
  • TadaGanIarracht
    TadaGanIarracht Posts: 2,615 Member
    You don't have to eat them back, it's all up to you what you do and don't do.
  • If you used MFP to set up your Goals and told it that you want to "lose X lbs per week" then YES you should eat back your calories. Go back into your goals and change it to "maintain" your weight. You will see when you save that it's higher than what you have in there for "lose X lbs per week". So two ways to do it. Set your goal as maintenance workout and don't eat them back or set your goal as "lose X lbs per week" and eat them back. Now you don't have to eat them all back but I would also say definitely do that based on the 1,000 calories you mentioned in your post...that's way to low and very unhealthy for you. Your body burns calories to do everything to keep you alive. If you don't give it the bare minimum to do that you can get very sick. Female teens, aged 13 to 18, sedentary or active, should have 1,600 to 2,200 calories per day, respectively.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    OP, some people eat them back, and some people don't. But regardless of the exercise calories, under 1200 isn't generally recommended unless you're extremely obese (and by extremely obese I mean 'can't walk because of fat', not 'I hate my body in the bikini'). That's because it's really hard to get good nutrition when calories are that low, and because weight lost this way is often not sustainable.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    Please read the MFP FAQs. Excellent explanations. And I agree...why are you eating so little?
  • laura0385
    laura0385 Posts: 5 Member
    Can anyone help me with this please?! Very similar question but i'm new to the site and a bit confused...

    When I do exercise (additional to my general daily activities) my 'NET' at the end of the day is a lot lower than my 'goal' i.e today it was approx 300 at the end of the day but I had burnt about 600cals in exercise as the rest of the day I had been doing nothing

    I assume this is good for weight loss?

    I'm slightly confused with the meaning of NET as alot of other sites seem to suggest that its the same as deficit which it isn't right?
  • lilpoindexter
    lilpoindexter Posts: 1,122 Member
    Not only should you eat them back, you should eat them back double.
  • Bobby_Clerici
    Bobby_Clerici Posts: 1,828 Member
    You eat them back - all of them.
    MFP is set up for us to maintain a net calorie intake every day to equal 1 lb of weight loss per week.
    1 pound equals 3500 calories.
    3500 divided by 7 days equals 500 calories per day. Our MFP daily number already has that 500 calories subtracted.
    When we exercise, that green number goes up, because MFP expects us to eat back your exercise calories to keep your net daily calorie intake steady; that's how MFP works. Read this to learn more.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
    Follow the recommendations on this site for safe, steady and lasting results.
    You could lose weight faster, but what kind of weight would it be?
    Muscle! And that stifles metabolism.
    No, eat right, exercise - both cardio and resistance, lose weight in such a way that maintains health and preserves lean body mass which burns more calories at rest.
    Good luck to you.:flowerforyou:
    All Is Possible!
  • Bobby_Clerici
    Bobby_Clerici Posts: 1,828 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    From what I understand is that if you eat the calories you burn you will maintain your weight. You don't have to eat all the calories, just be sure that you eat at least 1,200 calories a day.
    Wrong.
    You eat them back All of them unless you're on some other program apart from MFP.
  • basschick
    basschick Posts: 3,502 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    From what I understand is that if you eat the calories you burn you will maintain your weight. You don't have to eat all the calories, just be sure that you eat at least 1,200 calories a day.
    not true.
    when you plug in your weight loss goals and such into MFP they give you a number, that includes a deficit. so if you did nothing but sit around all day, and ate to that number you would lose weight. when you add in exercise, you make that deficit bigger, which can be unhealthy so its recommended to eat those back so that you still lose weight at the pace you want, and youre giving your body the fuel it needs to function.
    i eat my calories back and have no problems losing weight (as evidenced by my ticker :))

    ^^ This. I lost 53 lbs. eating back all my exercise calories. I wear a heart rate monitor when I exercise to get an accurate calorie burn, subtract the number of minutes of the workout (for instance if my HRM says I burned 400 calories during a 60 minute aerobics class, I log 340) and eat back all of those calories. I consistently lost 1 pound a week doing this.
  • purplegoboom
    purplegoboom Posts: 400 Member
    Can anyone help me with this please?! Very similar question but i'm new to the site and a bit confused...

    When I do exercise (additional to my general daily activities) my 'NET' at the end of the day is a lot lower than my 'goal' i.e today it was approx 300 at the end of the day but I had burnt about 600cals in exercise as the rest of the day I had been doing nothing

    I assume this is good for weight loss?

    I'm slightly confused with the meaning of NET as alot of other sites seem to suggest that its the same as deficit which it isn't right?

    calories eaten - calories burned = net calories
  • Bobby_Clerici
    Bobby_Clerici Posts: 1,828 Member
    Today If i didnt exercise i would have had a net calories of over 1000, but i worked out & burned like 300 .//
    I heard you must eat them back ? I dont think so .

    From what I understand is that if you eat the calories you burn you will maintain your weight. You don't have to eat all the calories, just be sure that you eat at least 1,200 calories a day.
    not true.
    when you plug in your weight loss goals and such into MFP they give you a number, that includes a deficit. so if you did nothing but sit around all day, and ate to that number you would lose weight. when you add in exercise, you make that deficit bigger, which can be unhealthy so its recommended to eat those back so that you still lose weight at the pace you want, and youre giving your body the fuel it needs to function.
    i eat my calories back and have no problems losing weight (as evidenced by my ticker :))

    ^^ This. I lost 53 lbs. eating back all my exercise calories. I wear a heart rate monitor when I exercise to get an accurate calorie burn, subtract the number of minutes of the workout (for instance if my HRM says I burned 400 calories during a 60 minute aerobics class, I log 340) and eat back all of those calories. I consistently lost 1 pound a week doing this.
    And one final point.
    Which program looks like more fun?
    Go with what's more fun - not some starvation, restrictive diet where you lose muscle, stifle metabolism and go without.
    No thanks!
    That's BORING!
  • laura0385
    laura0385 Posts: 5 Member
    Can anyone help me with this please?! Very similar question but i'm new to the site and a bit confused...

    When I do exercise (additional to my general daily activities) my 'NET' at the end of the day is a lot lower than my 'goal' i.e today it was approx 300 at the end of the day but I had burnt about 600cals in exercise as the rest of the day I had been doing nothing

    I assume this is good for weight loss?

    I'm slightly confused with the meaning of NET as alot of other sites seem to suggest that its the same as deficit which it isn't right?