Do I eat back exercise calories?

alligray4

sijomial wrote: »

alligray4 wrote: »

lowendfuzz wrote: »

whats your height/weight and activity level?

I'm 40, weigh 190, 5'8" tall and I'm doing cardio 5-6 days a week and strength training 3-4 days.

With that amount of exercise 1200 is completely insufficient.
Eat them back the way this site is designed.
Would seriously consider setting a less aggressive rate of weight loss too.

Beware there are a load of people who seem to believe fast weight loss is good weight loss - wonder if they will think the same when (or if) they get to goal and are disappointed with how they look?

Thank you!

sijomial

RaeBeeBaby wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

alligray4 wrote: »

lowendfuzz wrote: »

whats your height/weight and activity level?

I'm 40, weigh 190, 5'8" tall and I'm doing cardio 5-6 days a week and strength training 3-4 days.

With that amount of exercise 1200 is completely insufficient.
Eat them back the way this site is designed.
Would seriously consider setting a less aggressive rate of weight loss too.

Beware there are a load of people who seem to believe fast weight loss is good weight loss - wonder if they will think the same when (or if) they get to goal and are disappointed with how they look?

So is what you are saying that with slower weight loss your body will look better when you reach goal? Is there a scientific reason for this? Sorry, I seriously don't know and am curious.

Your body has limits on how much fat it can oxidise to make up for the calorie deficit. The fatter you are the larger the deficit you withstand before your body has to take those calories from your lean mass.
With an already large deficit making that deficit even larger with up to 10 exercise sessions could see more muscle being lost than necessary.
Apart from that it's going to be hard to get sufficient nutrition to support that level of exercise and recovery from exercise - a good recipe for burn out.

People talk about weight loss when really they should aim for fat loss and lean mass retention.

People select a deficit (often too aggressive) which doesn't account for exercise and then instead of trying to hit that goal try to undercut it.

Well worth reading....
community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

SweatLikeDog

If 1200 calories represents a calorie deficit to lose weight, eating back exercise calories will keep you from losing lean mass (muscle, etc). Figure that if you ran a marathon and ate only 1200 calories, you'd drop dead.

cwolfman13

sijomial wrote: »

RaeBeeBaby wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

alligray4 wrote: »

lowendfuzz wrote: »

whats your height/weight and activity level?

I'm 40, weigh 190, 5'8" tall and I'm doing cardio 5-6 days a week and strength training 3-4 days.

With that amount of exercise 1200 is completely insufficient.
Eat them back the way this site is designed.
Would seriously consider setting a less aggressive rate of weight loss too.

Beware there are a load of people who seem to believe fast weight loss is good weight loss - wonder if they will think the same when (or if) they get to goal and are disappointed with how they look?

So is what you are saying that with slower weight loss your body will look better when you reach goal? Is there a scientific reason for this? Sorry, I seriously don't know and am curious.

Your body has limits on how much fat it can oxidise to make up for the calorie deficit. The fatter you are the larger the deficit you withstand before your body has to take those calories from you lean mass.
With an already large deficit making that deficit even larger with up to 10 exercise sessions could see more muscle being lost than necessary.
Apart from that it's going to be hard to get sufficient nutrition to support that level of exercise and recovery from exercise - a good recipe for burn out.

People talk about weight loss when really they should aim for fat loss and lean mass retention.

People select a deficit (often too aggressive) which doesn't account for exercise and then instead of trying to hit that goal try to undercut it.

Well worth reading....
community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

RaeBeeBaby

Thanks for the detailed info! I certainly don't wish to lose lean mass, so slow and steady is the way to go.

I thought perhaps it had something to do with the elasticity of the skin and ability to "snap" back to where it used to be (should be). I've seen people with a great deal of weight loss having a lot of loose skin, while others with similar amounts of loss just look amazing without that skin issue.

Roxiegirl2008

I typically don't unless it is a long run day. I will however listen to my body. If it is truly giving me hunger signals and not boredom then I may eat back some.

stephenrhinton

I've used multiple online 'exercise calculators' to compare my exercise and MFP is consistently one of the most 'generous' for the number of calories burned. So I'd be very cautious about 'eating them back'.