Why you shouldn't eat back excercise calories.

"Why you should research your TDEE/BMR and do whatever makes sense for you personally"

lol this.

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.

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

It's quite simple really. Burn more calories than you consume and you'll lose weight. I don't know where the confusion is.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.