Why you shouldn't eat back excercise calories.

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  • justdazed
    justdazed Posts: 57 Member
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    "Why you should research your TDEE/BMR and do whatever makes sense for you personally"

    lol this.

    Yep. My weight loss stalled after 10lbs, after researching my TDEE/BMR I started eating MORE the weight loss picked up again. I found my happy place and will adjust as needed, but 1lbs+ lost a week is fine by me.
  • soontobesam
    soontobesam Posts: 714 Member
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    My confusion comes when exercise does become a daily activity, and part of the routine, then what? Do you change your activity level or are you still considered sedetary? Also, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it... does it make a sound? Where does the white go when the snow melts?

    This gets me too.
  • alexbusnello
    alexbusnello Posts: 1,010 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.

    For those who want to build lean strong muscle, I say eat them back after working out and then once you gain the desired amount if muscle, then you can concentrate on losing the fat over the new muscle. I know they suggest HIIT style routines to burn fat and build muscle at the same time, but I did this and lost muscle mass and gained more fat instead. I lost my lean body and definition. My body is even flabbier than before. I was doing Bodyrock and I think I over trained as well. Not good. So for someone like me, I might be safer building muscle first and then lose the layering off fat once I rebuild my lost muscles.
  • squidgely
    squidgely Posts: 29 Member
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    Hi, I have lost almost 2 stone eating back my exercise calories. I have programmed it to know that I exercise 3 times a week. After what you said, I took the exercise out of my goals to see how it changed my calorie intake. Not the slightest difference. Therefore, I will continue to eat back my exercise calories. I have lost weight nicely on that method.
  • urfitnesspal2
    urfitnesspal2 Posts: 62 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
    right on!

    A. Try logic...the program has no idea how many calories you burn just because you say you are going to work out x many times a week.... my wife's 15 minutes of stretching will come nowhere near what i burn with strength training.

    B. Try math... Start with the premise... you need 1200 calories to maintain normal cognitive and body functions. Then add factors of age, weight, and daily activity levels. You now have MFP's unseen estimate of how many calories you burn. (This DOES NOT include exercise because of reasons stated under "Logic"). Now based on your weekly goal of how many pounds you want to lose, MFP subtracts the caloric deficit you need to achieve that. If you excercise, you will need additional calories to offset the energy(aka calories) burnt during excercise so that you willl not be cutting into those 1200 calories we talked about earlier...

    C. [politely] :) Please.... If you dont know what you are talking about... dont. You are going to discourage sincere people who are trying by telling them something ignorant like" go get a protein shake."

    Have a great day:)
  • superpapa16
    superpapa16 Posts: 244 Member
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    Exactly. It's not hard or confusing at all if you follow what MFP sets up for you. It only gets confusing when people needlessly complicate things.

    ^This. I never thought this was confusing to begin with and then I started visiting the forums to discover most people over-complicate it.
  • alexis831
    alexis831 Posts: 469 Member
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    Popcorn.... ;)
  • aplusgeek
    aplusgeek Posts: 49
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    I'm not really going to argue with anyone here, if you are seeing success there's no reason to change what you're doing.

    What I wrote still applies, it may not apply if you work out once or twice a week but if you choose a lifestyle other than sedentary it applies. And you will be more successful.

    I'm not bashing mfp, so there is no reason to bash me. Mfp is a great tool for logging, and will aid people with their weight loss.

    Peace out.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    It's quite simple really. Burn more calories than you consume and you'll lose weight. I don't know where the confusion is.

    Burn how many more?
    How many more is no longer realistic and will backfire?

    The consume is halfway easy with MFP being great at food logging.

    How do you know how many you burned?

    Confusion is simply expected with half your equation full of unknowns and uneducated guesses many times.
  • patchesgizmo
    patchesgizmo Posts: 244 Member
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    well I kinda disagree for me because in 1.5 months I have lost about 20 lbs. MFP says I should consume 1840 calories, I have manually set that to be 200 calories less so 1640. When I exercise I do not eat all my calories back, but I do eat some calories back. Since my activity level is set to sedentary I sit on my duff 9 hours a day at work, that is a fact, and any exercising I do is above and beyond what I normally do. So even though I am eating some fo the calories back I am still losing weight. I think it is a very personalized option.
  • aplusgeek
    aplusgeek Posts: 49
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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
    right on!

    A. Try logic...the program has no idea how many calories you burn just because you say you are going to work out x many times a week.... my wife's 15 minutes of stretching will come nowhere near what i burn with strength training.

    B. Try math... Start with the premise... you need 1200 calories to maintain normal cognitive and body functions. Then add factors of age, weight, and daily activity levels. You now have MFP's unseen estimate of how many calories you burn. (This DOES NOT include exercise because of reasons stated under "Logic"). Now based on your weekly goal of how many pounds you want to lose, MFP subtracts the caloric deficit you need to achieve that. If you excercise, you will need additional calories to offset the energy(aka calories) burnt during excercise so that you willl not be cutting into those 1200 calories we talked about earlier...

    C. [politely] :) Please.... If you dont know what you are talking about... dont. You are going to discourage sincere people who are trying by telling them something ignorant like" go get a protein shake."

    Have a great day:)

    Had to respond to your last point. Getting people to have a protein shake after a work out is ignorant? I think you need to study medical and sport science literature because you are obviously ignorant of the benefits of a properly composed protein shake after a workout, when your body is primed for taking protein and fast absorbing nutrients. I think you should take your own advice.
  • Tricialew32
    Tricialew32 Posts: 96 Member
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    EAT ALL OF THE CALORIES ALL OF THE TIME!

    failing to do so causes me to binge and that is worse than eating back exercise calories.
    Feed dat body.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I'm not really going to argue with anyone here, if you are seeing success there's no reason to change what you're doing.

    What I wrote still applies, it may not apply if you work out once or twice a week but if you choose a lifestyle other than sedentary it applies. And you will be more successful.

    I'm not bashing mfp, so there is no reason to bash me. Mfp is a great tool for logging, and will aid people with their weight loss.

    Peace out.

    Please look at the multipliers if you have any desire to educate yourself, because you are flat out wrong on being able to even select an activity level that includes exercise - UNLESS you workout infrequently, then you can get close.
    Just the opposite of your statement.

    Anyone working out 3 or more hours is tapped out on MFP levels and they don't go high enough.

    Please don't go around ignorantly giving people false info when it's so easily in your power to know what you are talking about.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 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! :)
    I want a fit bit so bad! But the are so expensive!
    It is so worth it. It is my best friend. I didn't wear it on vacation last week because I was around or in water most of the time and I was lonely without it!
  • tony2009
    tony2009 Posts: 201 Member
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    I'm not really going to argue with anyone here, if you are seeing success there's no reason to change what you're doing.

    What I wrote still applies, it may not apply if you work out once or twice a week but if you choose a lifestyle other than sedentary it applies. And you will be more successful.

    I'm not bashing mfp, so there is no reason to bash me. Mfp is a great tool for logging, and will aid people with their weight loss.

    Peace out.

    No, what you wrote doesn't apply if you follow the directions. What happens on days that you don't workout? Do you still eat the calories back? Because I would then say that you automatically going over on your calories on a "Normal" day. Which is kind of build into your logic.
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    If I did not eat back mine I'd be trying to fuel my healthy, active, 35 year old body with only 760 calories for the day. Not going to happen.
  • laurengrayy
    laurengrayy Posts: 4
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    I too am sedetary and already get 1500 calories a day without adding back the exercise calories. I typically burn 600-700 each day at the gym and could not imagine eating 2100+ calories a day. I've lost my 32lbs not eating them back.
  • FrugalMomsRock75
    FrugalMomsRock75 Posts: 698 Member
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    Here's why you don't have to put gas in your car after your first fill up:

    You'll spend less money if you don't ever put more gas in the tank.

    Of course, you'll be walking because said car will be dead and can't work without REFUELING properly, but hey... you didn't waste your time and/or money on more gas, right?
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 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.

    The rule is that ANYONE that has a desk job (versus say a factory job where you are on your feet 8/9 hrs/day) is considered sedentary. Even those that workout EVERY day.
  • tamtamzz
    tamtamzz Posts: 142
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    Why is this such a tricky thing to grasp?!

    As long as you're using MFP you have to eat your calories back!

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