Why you shouldn't eat back excercise calories.

From what I can work out there are two basic ways to do it:

1. Set your activity level to what it normally is without "extra" exercise (taking into account whether you have an active job or not, etc.). Then add in any exercise above and beyond that. Then eat back those exercise calories.

2. Set your activity level to include your average amount of "extra" exercise. (For instance, if you have sedentary job, but cycle to work and go to the gym in the evenings you might count yourself as active). You don't need to log any exercise and you don't need to eat back any extra calories because they are included in your daily calorie allowance.

In both cases YOU ARE EATING BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES. The difference is whether you're logging them individually or going by an estimate of daily activity.

Now, the activity descriptions imply that you should do the first option, as they are about the type of work you do, rather than how much physical activity you do outside of work. I'm not saying that the first option is the correct way to do it, but it's the one that seems most obvious, and the one that I have chosen. I have described myself as sedentary, so I log my exercise and add those calories to the allowance for a sedentary person. I eat back those calories (not necessarily within the same 24 hours as the exercise).

If we really weren't supposed to eat back exercise calories then that would mean that EVERYBODY should set their activity at sedentary. Those calories that are added for being active are exercise 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.

And to answer the "sedentary" questions, change it from sedentary to what closer resembles your workout routine. If you choose sedentary and then eat extra only on days you workout, you would still be priming your body for fat storage mode.

Let's say you are eating 1200 on non workout days (as an example only), and then eating 2200 calories on workout days. The message your body is getting is that on non-workout days you are starving and should store fat and cut energy expenditure. I'm sure that you can argue that this approach has worked for 2 weeks, but your body will very quickly adapt and you will start struggling and weight will start going up.

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?

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.

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.