Why you shouldn't eat back excercise calories.

I eat ~1200 calories a day, exercise 6 days a week, and do not eat back my calories. I do not get the "You are eating too few calories!" warning, and I am losing a steady 2 pounds a week. Maybe this is just different for everybody? I'm 5'4", and I've read height can affect things such as this. I went from ~185 to ~165 in about three months-- two of those wherein I was exercising. I haven't felt a negative effect yet, but maybe if I plateau or start gaining weight I will begin slowly eating back my exercise calories. We'll see?

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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 am both enlightened and confused...why is it giving me the option to log my exercise if it's already taking these calories into account?

This would make sense as far as my fitness goes...rats.

Well said.

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.

Bingo. I am set to lightly active which doesn't take into account 3 days a week of hardcore strength training or cardio days. That's why it resets when you enter exercise. I'm already set at a deficit so If I increase that deficit I won't be eating enough. Now if you are set to very active, then no you shouldn't eat them back.

what about the eat more weigh less idea?

http://www.barbellsandbeakers.com/2012/07/04/people-tend-to-overestimate-the-amount-of-calories-they-burn/

I personally dont eat back my exercise calories but i know that it works for some people and not others. Try both for a week and see what works best for your body. However this article above was very interesting and is probably why eating back calories doesnt work for me

This is part of it. I eat back some of calories, but not all. IMO, MFP overestimates a lot of the exercises and calories burned.

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.

Except that your body doesn't work on a 24 hour clock, and it doesn't do math. Your body just knows surplus calories vs. deficit calories.

Here are some additional thoughts on why you should not eat ALL of your exercise calories back:

1) the estimate daliy burn that MFP is missing a component if you ask me. A 300 lb man with a fair amount of lean muscle mass will burn more calories doing nothing than a 300 lb man that has very little lean muscle mass. (Muscle burns more calories than Muscle) There is no accounting for your body composition when they calculate your daily burn. Just because someone is 5'11, 300 lbs and has a sedentary life style does not mean that they have a high body fat % with little lean muscle mass.

2) unless you are using a very good monitor, you are assuming that your calorie "burn" is accurate. Lets face it, a lot of times it is an estimation. I have run for 30 minutes at a 5mph pace and my "map my run" app tells me one amount of calories burnt and MFP tells me something else.

3) you are assuming your caloric intake is recorded correctly. Unless you make the food yourself and are very percise in what you do, the calories could be off. Especially if you go out to a resturant, subway for instance, and order a sub that you used their calculator online to come up with the calories for. Who is to say that the yahoo behind the counter is measuring anything right.

4) when do you eat your extra calories? After you burn them? well what happens if I go to the gym and don't get out till the gym until 6:30 and home at 7. I have 500 calories left for the day plus an additional 700 calories from exercise. If I eat all those calories at once, some of that the body is going to store as fat anyway, but is it wise for me to eat 1200 calories for dinner when I am going to be sedentary for the next 10-12 hours? Now, if you plan ahead and spread your calories through out the day in anticipation of what your burn is going to be and then don't have as good of a day at the gym or end up missing the gym, you have now over eaten.

I think there is a happy medium of eating back some of your calories but not them all. Keep in mind that this theory of eating back your calories is to prevent your body going into starvation mode. Everybody is different so starvation mode is a different point for everyone. it is not a magic #. As much as some people hate to hear this, you have to figure out what works with your body.

As a side note, I am living proof that you can lose weight with out eating back your calories. There are very few days that I eat back any of my exercise calories much less ALL of them and yet I have lost 98 lbs so far!

I can understand if you are logging calories for cleaning house or folding clothes and then eating them all back that it wouldn't work... I only count a burn if it is something I have specifically set out to do for the purpose of burning calories, and that helps.

I just don't understand how someone can come on here, saying "This is the one true way" despite HUNDREDS of testimonies otherwise. I don't think there IS "one true way" - I work with horses... my favourite saying is "not every thing works for every horse" and it is 100% true - MANY things work for MOST horses, but every once in a while, you have to think outside of the box. I think it's a good practice to read and learn all you can, pick and choose what works for you to keep in your "toolbox" and move forward. It's an individual journey - but if you're here on MFP and ignoring the entire premise of the site (which is, essentially, eat back your exercise calories - now what actually SHOULD you log as burnt calories is a whole other ballgame), you're not really making any sense at all, are you?

Oh, so we're all HORSES now? Thanks a lot!!!!