[Phoenixflame]

I recently joined My Fitness Pal, mainly for the food logging. However, a feature of it is that it calculates your calorie intake (and subsequent deficit) for you based on BMR. Therefore, when you enter exercises, it adds more calories for you to eat.

There is a big debate on the website if you should eat your exercise calories or not. What do y'all think?

[bethbeth]

I think you need to listen to your body. Try different things and monitor how hungry you are and how much weight you lose.

I don't think that there are always hard and fast rules in this weight loss game. Our bodies work different and need different things. We need to learn to listen and watch and see what works!

[Iconised Ghost]

my opinion is pretty much the same as beth's. Personally, i dont go out with a view to eat what i've burnt. I might eat a little extra if its a hard workout and im hungry. But if i can stay within my calories for the day AND exercise then i do that.

[quiddkidd06]

Like the others said, it depends on what kind of workouts you are doing and what you want to accomplish.

When I'm working out, like running on the treadmill or on the elliptical, I don't ever eat back those calories because the entire point there was to burn off calories for weightloss. However, I also row for my university's rowing team. If I didn't eat back some of the calories from a 10k row, I'd probably pass out! So yeah.... ditto what the others said. Listen to your body and do what works for you. And don't be scared to play around with your calories! I found that I lose more when I upped my calories 200-300 calories a day!

[PhotoChick]

I don't eat my calories back when I workout. To me that's counter productive.

I have a set range of calories I eat based on my BMR and wanting to lose about a pound a week from diet.

Then I exercise and consider those calories burned a bonus.

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[aphil]

I think that it is counterproductive to eat back ALL of your calories from working out....so if you burned approximately 100 calories walking a mile, you wouldn't want to come back in the house and eat that 100 extra calories back.

On the other hand, if you exercise often, and very strenuously, you WILL want to eat more than someone of the same stats, who is very sedentary. You will still be creating a calorie deficit, but you simply will need more energy than someone who doesn't exercise.

On regular days, I don't add back in extra calories for working out...but on some days I travel for dance intensives (training workshops). On those days I might be dancing for 4-8 hours. I HAVE to eat extra calories on those days, simply to make it through the day-but I am still not eating back every calorie that I burn that day. I might add 200-300 more calories than I would normally eat on days that I travel for the trainings. (But I am burning a LOT more than that....)

[Phoenixflame]

Ok, whew, that's what I've been doing: I' add some calories if I've worked out, but not everything I've burned. After spinning class, I NEED FOOD!

[PhotoChick]

On the other hand, if you exercise often, and very strenuously, you WILL want to eat more than someone of the same stats, who is very sedentary. You will still be creating a calorie deficit, but you simply will need more energy than someone who doesn't exercise.

Oh true. I distribute my calories a bit differently on days that I work out. And usually immediately after a really solid workout, I'll have a scoop of protein powder in either water or juice because otherwise I'll be starving to death by dinner time!

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[fattgirl]

Yeah I definitely would try to not eat all the calories I burn off. But if your body is saying it is hungry, by all means eat a healthy snack.