Eating Back Your Calories (from MFP- explained)

for my own records, eating back your calories as explained on MFP by RAZIQUE:

The whole vodoo behind this, simply put :
You want to lose weight :
#1 - You eat less in order to create a deficit (usually way too big, anyway)
#2- You exercice, you make the deficit even bigger
#3 - Maintaining a too big deficit is dangerous - useless - slows down the weight loss
#4- eating em back maintain the main deficit

In fact, it depends on the way you setup your goals. If u have a daily intake without having calculated ur TDEE, in most cases, you should eat em back. If you have calculated it, so your deficit - you don’t need to eat em back - since the TDEE calculation uses your activity level as a base of calculation

Here is a tool (excel sheet) I created to manage my stuff :
http://interzone.kicks-ass.net/Calculating_calories.xls

ADDED BY HEIDI1990:

MFP already has a deficit. For example: 500 calories a day to lose 1lb a week.

If you exercise and burn 1000 calories you have increased that deficit to 1500. This might seem good at first: Bigger deficit = bigger weight loss, but it’s not always healthy and you may find at some point that your weight loss stalls until you eat more again.

Also, the smaller deficit you have, the less likely you are to have excess skin (if you have quite a bit to lose), you’re more likely to stick to it, as it is more manageable, and you will lose less muscle mass. (you naturally lose muscle as you lose weight)

Exercise is beneficial in many other ways than just burning calories. Find something you enjoy doing, and you can enjoy the benefits of greater cardiovascular health / better fitness, the ability to eat more yet still lose weight, and you may even find a new hobby in the process :)

Missykay1970:

This is how i see it…
Lets say you are saving money for a new car and you need $1000 
You make $1000/month. Ideally, you could save up for the car in only one moths time. But u still have to pay rent and buy food, so that “spends” some of your money, lets say $500. This means you will have to work extra (work out) to “earn” money toward your savings. Even if you only earn back part of the deficit, you are still going to eventually get to your savings goal.