Do you "eat back" any exercise calories?

[5foot418stone]

I know MFP and Fitbit are very generous in their calories burned count so I try not to eat them on regular days and just stick to my daily goal.

But on days like today, where it says I've earned another 1000+ would it be so bad to eat say, 300 of those? So 1,800kcal instead of my daily limit of 1,500kcal.

I haven't eaten a lot of protein today so was thinking of having some eggs and cottage cheese.

I asked this a few weeks ago and was told no. I’ve been eating 1,200 a day for the last three weeks with an hour long walk a day and not eating what I’ve burnt and have lost 6 pounds so far so it’s working.
I’m only 130lbs anyway so don’t have loads to lose so I was worried it would be a lot slower than it is.

Also what are you using to track? 1,700 seems a lot to burn through exercise a day. I can do an hour long body pump class and generally burn around 400-500

I'm using a fitbit versa 2 and my TDEE (sedentary) is approx. 2,100kcal due to being so fat. Today I walked 8 miles and climbed 40 flights of stairs after that. Typically fitbit says I earn an extra 900-1000 calories and I don't eat those back.

I wouldn't. Just take it as a nice bonus. Maybe a hundred if I were famished.

Exercise doesn't help with weight loss, so no don't eat them.

@Titsinknicks

Exercise doesn't help with weight loss, so no don't eat them.

It does but not as people think.

It helps you get fitter and move around mlre generally, it works as good motivator and it does certainly help mentally! When you feel better you can stick diet out better. It can still amount to what, 20% weight loss extra? It's still calories burned at the end of the day.
Cardiovascular health is important too. Not just weight.

Overall exercise is super healthy and if physically possible should be a part of weight loss --> building good habits for future.

But yeah. Don't eat it back

Of course exercise helps with weight loss. It’s just important to be clear about how many Cals have been used, and not overestimate.

Very interesting study and evidence suggests it doesn't help at all with weight loss. If you burn say 200 calories exercising your body just diverts burning 200 calories from something else it would do, like create cortisol/stress. So it is good for physical and mental health of course. It just doesn't help weight loss. Lots of info out there if you Google.

Also no technology or Fitbit knows how many calories you are burning. It's an activity tracker, not calorie measure. TDEE is estimated. Everyone's metabolism is different and some people need 1200 calories a day and some 2200.

How many Olympic rowers, for example, maintain weight on 2000 Cals a day, I wonder?

Or to put it another way, why don’t Olympic rowers get fat on 6000- 10,000 Cals a day?

Not sure the diets of athletes who do astronomic levels of training are comparible to ordinary people. You could Google it - you'll find articles stating they only do this when competing, other articles saying these super high calorie diets are a myth. Of course some people can eat more than others just like loads of us can eat relatively little and still struggle with our weight.

It's usually standard that if someone mentions an interesting study, they link it🙈

@Schroedingersimmigrant here's a news article. You can find the study if you want more info. This chap has just released a book, too. Was on radio 4 recently inews.co.uk/news/health/metabolism-myth-why-exercise-wont-make-you-thinner-burn-author-herman-pontzer-894794

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

How many Olympic rowers, for example, maintain weight on 2000 Cals a day, I wonder?

Or to put it another way, why don’t Olympic rowers get fat on 6000- 10,000 Cals a day?

if you were to do 7 hours a day of high intesity exercise you need extra calories. but 'normal' people come to 1-2 hours (or even less) of activity a day of which only a small part is high intestity, i.e. sweating and out of breath.

I have had some success with eating back exercise calories, and here’s why it’s been a success to me... I am enjoying food and don’t feel restricted AND I’m losing weight. Possibly for the first time!

So I’ve been losing weight since January and am just half a pound off a stone. Only in the last month have I tracked religiously, as in everything even when I feel I’ve “lost control for the day”. I have been eating back calories, not all of them but I’ve been averaging 1800 a day I would say.

Not to mention the week before period I am SUPER hungry. So I decided I was going to eat almost to maintenance on this week to give myself a break. I was burning 2500-3000 a day (according to Fitbit) and was eating 2000-2,700! Back and I still lost half a pound! I think my body is actually doing better from eating more? - don’t get me wrong, I exercise pretty consistently and get a lot of steps too.

The app I use is Lose it. It is linked to Fitbit and I feel it’s really working for me.

I lost almost 8 stone before but I didn't track my calories properly/use a Fitbit until the last 3 stone by which point the exercise calories were minimal. I've been consistently losing 3.5lbs a week with an estimated deficit of 12k calories.

My deficit this week is already at 10k calories and I've been feeling really weak and tired so I was just wondering if an extra 300 calories of protein would help me feel better.

While I agree with him that the metabolic differences between people are not as big as many make out (unless someone has a serious metabolic desease)
The Although the Hadza people are far more active than the average Westerner, walking miles every day, they burned no more calories than we do – around 3,000 per day.
There is no way you or I or anyone burns 3000 calories a day without exercise or some serious activity, like walking for miles😱

Whether exercise helps you lost weight or not, if definitely changes the way your body looks. When I had a pt I lost almost no weight but two dress sizes and I looked the best I ever have because of all the tone.

I wouldn’t eat the exercise calories, partly because I think a lot of Fitbit type devices overestimate how much you burn.

I've been feeling really weak and tired so I was just wondering if an extra 300 calories of protein would help me feel better.

Eat the extra protein.

I used to but it's an actual snare as I always tend to think I burned much more than I did in fact. It's easy to overestimate these numbers, so now I try not to eat it back. There are other ways to reward yourself and that's what works better.

I don't eat back my calories, but I do listen to my body. If I'm feeling like I need more fuel then I allow myself to go over my calorie allowance with something sensible.

This is irrespective of exercise done or not.

I have at least 5 stone to lose, if I want this to be a long term change that sticks it has to flex with what I need. Since last summer I've dropped 4 BMI points and 3 dress sizes. It's working slowly but I'm in control...and plan to stay that way.

@Schroedingersimmigrant 'theres so way we burn 3000 calories a day' If you actually look further into work that guy has done and the study into that tribe you will find out that YES actually, us westerners burn the same calories sitting on our arses doing fuck all all day as that tribe does. That is the point.

I've read articles on this, heard the guy speak. It's really interesting.
A lot of people don't burn 3000 but some will.

Huge conflation and back and forth in that article between calorie use and metabolism.

Yeah it's about both

I try not too but if I am really hungry then I will have less than half of them.

I’m eating them back, and losing. I don’t include any cals from steps, unless we do a 5 mile walk or something substantial but I cycle a lot and wouldn’t be able to not eat more on those days. I can cycle for 4 hours and burn 1000-1500 cals in that time. If I didn’t eat back some calories I would collapse! I was sceptical about adding back but I’m losing weight so I’m going to go with it! Maybe I would be losing more if I didn’t eat back(I’m sure I would) but I don’t know how sustainable or manageable I would find that.