Eating back the calories you burned?

[Junoc]

When I do cardio, I burn at least 300+ calories. I eat 1700 calories a day. Is it a good idea to eat them back? People say I will lose muscle if I don't eat up to 1700 calories. So by doing cardio, I burn 300 calories off my 1700 calories a day crap, so I'm left with 1400 calories. Should I eat back the calories I lost or just no..

[BeginnerLiftin]

1700 calories isn't enough to gain muscle properly. On average u should get around 2000- 2500 depending on ur stats this can change. If you're looking to build muscle bro i suggest u lay off cardio for a while. Don't worry about losing dat der cardiovascular excercise it'll shoot back up later as soon as u finish building ur mass + when you workout u get a cardiovascular excercise anyways. So eat more i'd say 2500 and that way if u wanna do cardio u can still gain muscle with 2200 cals left

[PoRco]

No reason to do cardio at all unless:

1) You love doing it
2) You're training for endurance.

If your PRIMARY goal is fat loss and aesthetics, cardio is not necessary (I'd personally discourage it)

[JaredPunch]

No reason to do cardio at all unless:

1) You love doing it
2) You're training for endurance.

If your PRIMARY goal is fat loss and aesthetics, cardio is not necessary (I'd personally discourage it)

Unless your TDEE is so small that you need to eat like a 4 years old boy in order to lose weight. After all weight lifting burns a very small amount of calories and it's not even daily and EPOC is nonsense, so cardio is the only way to increase your TDEE

[mavajo]

Oye, some of the responses in here...

OP, don't eat back exercise calories. Calories burned from exercise are notoriously difficult to calculate, and most people suck at tracking their calorie intake to begin with - the combination of the two is typically a recipe for failure.

This doesn't mean you can't do it. Some people do it and have success. But in my experience, 99% of the people that start threads like this usually don't have everything so finely tuned that they can start taking "risks" like this. Play it safe and don't eat back your exercise calories.

[sevenhm]

When I do cardio, I burn at least 300+ calories. I eat 1700 calories a day. Is it a good idea to eat them back? People say I will lose muscle if I don't eat up to 1700 calories. So by doing cardio, I burn 300 calories off my 1700 calories a day crap, so I'm left with 1400 calories. Should I eat back the calories I lost or just no..

A 20 year old male its very odd that you're only consuming 1700 and when it comes to calories burned during cardio it is never accurate if you're measuring it based off what a machine says. However, if you are consistent in the duration/distance and or calories burned and see the desired goal from it then its fine. If you're trying to lose weight you would obviously not eat the calories back..

[Junoc]

Guys, I'm sorry it says I'm 20 years old but I am actually 17. Some glitch happened when I made an account. And also I am cutting down for summer, that is why I am eating 1700 calories

[dirtbikeguy]

1700 calories is too low. You shouldn't even need ANY cardio, to be cutting weight, at that.

Lifting weights burns as much, if not MORE calories than cardio. Cardio is good to throw in, because it doesn't task the body as much, making it easier to continue past the point that your muscles give up.

As others have said, you don't need cardio to cut up.

I drop to around 9-10% bodyfat in contest preps without doing ANY cardio, or even carb cycling. This can be done by just watching your calories/nutrients.
Only when I hit a sticking point, I add in cardio to get lower in bodyfat. Most of the time, someone's sticking point is lack of energy spent actually LIFTING!
When you get lower, you will need to throw in carb cycling, macro resets, and then throwing in cardio.

[Junoc]

1700 calories is too low. You shouldn't even need ANY cardio, to be cutting weight, at that.

Lifting weights burns as much, if not MORE calories than cardio. Cardio is good to throw in, because it doesn't task the body as much, making it easier to continue past the point that your muscles give up.

As others have said, you don't need cardio to cut up.

I drop to around 9-10% bodyfat in contest preps without doing ANY cardio, or even carb cycling. This can be done by just watching your calories/nutrients.
Only when I hit a sticking point, I add in cardio to get lower in bodyfat. Most of the time, someone's sticking point is lack of energy spent actually LIFTING!
When you get lower, you will need to throw in carb cycling, macro resets, and then throwing in cardio.

Where do I find out how much calories do I need then? I've been eating healthy for 5 weeks so far, I went from 155 pounds to 142 pounds.

[upchuck1383]

If you are 17 don't cut for summer. Just eat a good amount of protein and fat and lift. You will waste the best muscle building years of your life by trying to diet. Just be active/lift/eat. I regret wasting my late teens. Don't let it be you!

[Junoc]

If you are 17 don't cut for summer. Just eat a good amount of protein and fat and lift. You will waste the best muscle building years of your life by trying to diet. Just be active/lift/eat. I regret wasting my late teens. Don't let it be you!

Can I still lose some chest fat and get a six pack just by eating healthy continuosly?

[anxietybrah]

Lifting weights burns as much, if not MORE calories than cardio.

It absolutely does not in any way or form unless you jog around like a 60 year old woman. 1 hour of hard cardio such as rowing machine, stationary bike or running can burn 800 cals depending on your weight. Unless you're doing olympic lifting for an hour there is no way you come close to that with lifting.

[Junoc]

Can I still lose some chest fat and get a six pack just by eating healthy continuosly?

My BMR is 1703 calories/a day
My TDEE is 2491 calories a day.
Which one do I follow to lose weight?

~The BMR and TDEE is based of Harris Benedict~