Why you shouldn't eat back excercise calories.

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aplusgeek
aplusgeek Posts: 49
in Food and Nutrition
There's alot of debate among people here as to whether you should or shoul not eat bac excercise calories. Let me offer you an explanation as to why you should not eat back excercise calories, and hopefully this will put the topic to a rest.

When you set up your goals for myfitnesspal it asks you what your activity level is, based on your activity level it roughly calculates what your daily energy (calorie) expenditure is. From this you select what your weight loss goal is, let's say you want to lose 1 pound of fat a week. It then subtracts 500 calories (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories (1 pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 calories)) daily. So at this point the amount of calories that you consume already takes into account your activity level because you would have had to choose it when setting up your profile. So if you are now consuming an extra 700 calories that you "earned" from excercise you are in fact just consuming an extra 700 calories, and are consuming 200 calories above your goal so you will very slowly gain weight instead of losing weight.

Now if you are planning on gaining weight as some do, for weightlifting, powerlifting or even body building purposes then it would be ok to eat back calories as your goals differ from simply cutting fat. For everybody else, eating back excercise calories is counter-intuitive to your weight loss efforts and should be avoided.

You may say, I feel sapped after a workout... well plan your daily calories in such a way that you can afford a protein shake after your workout and you'll feel 100% better.

I hope this helps people understand and clarifies the "excercise calories" fiasco.
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Replies

  • ChristinaBarnhouse
    ChristinaBarnhouse Posts: 274 Member
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    I totally agree... Nicely said! :)
  • sfgonzales
    sfgonzales Posts: 110 Member
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    I have a fit bit and it tracks the calories I burn each day... Then it adjusts my mfp calorie intake based on how many calories I've burned and how many I am projected to burn. So I do eat more, but only if I earn it! :)
  • Smuterella
    Smuterella Posts: 1,623 Member
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    It is confusing I agree.

    You should only log and eat back exercise additional to that included in your MFP estimation.

    This is why most people estimate based on their daily life without workouts and then log and eat back workout calories.
  • Im_NotPerfect
    Im_NotPerfect Posts: 2,181 Member
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    I get what you're saying, but my question is...if MFP already takes those 500 calories into consideration, why does it ADD calories to your daily allowance when you record your exercise? Shouldn't it just record your exercise and keep your daily allowance the same if you're not supposed to eat them?
  • erinw1011
    erinw1011 Posts: 86 Member
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    You are correct, if you put that you exercise 4-5 times a week, don't add them. I sit at work all day so I selected Sedentary and I eat some of my exercise calories, especially if it is a high burn and I am hungry.
  • meljane28
    meljane28 Posts: 17
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    What if you picked "sedentary" as your exercise option?
  • ronh21
    ronh21 Posts: 5 Member
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    My daily calories are figured using "sedentary". I sit at a desk all day, and exercise is kind of random for me at this point. When I do work out, those calories aren't already figured in, so I can probably eat them. I may or may not, but feel like I can. If I get into a regular exercise routine, I may change up the MFP config to account for it.
  • LindaCWy
    LindaCWy Posts: 463 Member
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    What if you picked "sedentary" as your exercise option?

    BAM!

    Also, OP I didn't read a word you said, I was distracted by the guy in the background of your picture photo-bombing the sh&t out of it. HAHA< I can't stop looking at him.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    What if you picked "sedentary" as your exercise option?

    Then the OP doesn't apply. This is what I do, by the way, because my activity levels vary frequently and I can't always eat consistently. (PS: works for me)
  • fatgirlslove
    fatgirlslove Posts: 614 Member
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    Most people select "sedentary" as their fitness level yet they workout 5-7days a week...these people should be eating more than the allotted 1200.
  • montana_girl
    montana_girl Posts: 1,403 Member
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    You are correct, if you put that you exercise 4-5 times a week, don't add them. I sit at work all day so I selected Sedentary and I eat some of my exercise calories, especially if it is a high burn and I am hungry.

    ^^ Me too! Except I generally eat back all my exercise calories. What can I say? I like to eat... which is why I run, so I can eat more! :laugh:
  • JeSuisPrest
    JeSuisPrest Posts: 2,005 Member
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    But your explanation is the reason to eat them back. MFP creates the deficit for you in the activity level you have chosen. It is so important to fuel the body so that it will metabolize and burn the fat. But again, everyone is different. I could not lose weight until I increased calories and ate back those additional exercise calories.
  • aplusgeek
    aplusgeek Posts: 49
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    What if you picked "sedentary" as your exercise option?

    BAM!

    Also, OP I didn't read a word you said, I was distracted by the guy in the background of your picture photo-bombing the sh&t out of it. HAHA< I can't stop looking at him.

    He got quite a workout with an empty bar. lol
  • tony2009
    tony2009 Posts: 201 Member
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    I work at a desk job. Therefor I selected sedentary as my activity level, therefor burning at a minimum. This doesn't count in the half mile walk to work that I do (don't count it).

    Or the fact that I workout 3-5 times a week, whether it be sports or running/weights. Therefor, I count them, and eat them back. As people have suggested.

    Your logic is flawed as much as the peoples that you criticize my friend. :huh:
  • OhKelsey1
    OhKelsey1 Posts: 139
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    Except it asks you both activity level AND how often you plan on excerising, meaning it wants to know how active you are just in your dailty life. And it's also BUILT INTO MyFitnessPal to eat back your exercise calories.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    If you did it that way, you set up MFP wrong. It clearly states to select your activity level NOT INCLUDING EXERCISE. Just your daily activity level with normal activities.

    If you did include exercise, then you're right you should not eat them back. But most people did not include exercise when setting up their goals. Therefore, most should be eating them back.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    "Why you should research your TDEE/BMR and do whatever makes sense for you personally"
  • LindaCWy
    LindaCWy Posts: 463 Member
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    If you did it that way, you set up MFP wrong. It clearly states to select your activity level NOT INCLUDING EXERCISE. Just your daily activity level with normal activities.

    If you did include exercise, then you're right you should not eat them back. But most people did not include exercise when setting up their goals. Therefore, most should be eating them back.

    WHat she said, Mr. Photobombed
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    There's alot of debate among people here as to whether you should or shoul not eat bac excercise calories. Let me offer you an explanation as to why you should not eat back excercise calories, and hopefully this will put the topic to a rest.

    When you set up your goals for myfitnesspal it asks you what your activity level is, based on your activity level it roughly calculates what your daily energy (calorie) expenditure is. From this you select what your weight loss goal is, let's say you want to lose 1 pound of fat a week. It then subtracts 500 calories (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories (1 pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 calories)) daily. So at this point the amount of calories that you consume already takes into account your activity level because you would have had to choose it when setting up your profile. So if you are now consuming an extra 700 calories that you "earned" from excercise you are in fact just consuming an extra 700 calories, and are consuming 200 calories above your goal so you will very slowly gain weight instead of losing weight.

    Now if you are planning on gaining weight as some do, for weightlifting, powerlifting or even body building purposes then it would be ok to eat back calories as your goals differ from simply cutting fat. For everybody else, eating back excercise calories is counter-intuitive to your weight loss efforts and should be avoided.

    You may say, I feel sapped after a workout... well plan your daily calories in such a way that you can afford a protein shake after your workout and you'll feel 100% better.

    I hope this helps people understand and clarifies the "excercise calories" fiasco.

    I disagree. As MFP tells you to ignore exercise when picking your activity level. In other words base your activity level on your non exercise related activity and log and eat exercise cals separately.

    This is a great way of doing it as if you are using TDEE it assumes each week you are doing the same amount of exercise, whereas with MFP you only eat based on the work you did do, not what you planed on doing.
  • bbchickpea
    bbchickpea Posts: 48 Member
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    You are correct, if you put that you exercise 4-5 times a week, don't add them. I sit at work all day so I selected Sedentary and I eat some of my exercise calories, especially if it is a high burn and I am hungry.

    That : ) Exactly the same.

    The original post doesn't take into consideration that many of us use the sedentary lifestyle setting.

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