Earning calories with exercise: to eat or not to eat...?

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13

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  • rassha01
    rassha01 Posts: 534 Member
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    I eat mine back. It's important to keep your NET calories at or above your BMR.
    Why is this, if I may ask?

    Your BMR (basal metabolic rate) .... are the calories required if you were in a coma. Your heart, lungs, kidneys, etc. are using calories all day long.

    Eating very low calorie is very taxing on the body. When you are eating very few calories maintaining existing muscle mass is secondary to the basic bodily functions above. There is "healthy" weight loss that spares muscle tissue .... and fast weight loss.
    hDC5A5D9D
  • erikkmcvay
    erikkmcvay Posts: 238 Member
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    The only thing that motivates me to exercise some days is wanting more food. I eat mine back.

    haha Love it! That's me sometimes too! Usually after dinner when my wife makes brownies ;)
  • superfox12082
    superfox12082 Posts: 512 Member
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    In order to lose weight, aren't you supposed to have a calorie deficit? I am also confused on this issue. Sometimes I end up eating (or drinking) them back and sometimes I don't. :frown:
  • superfox12082
    superfox12082 Posts: 512 Member
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    I save them and cheat on weekends.....

    I like this idea.
  • jessdunn27
    jessdunn27 Posts: 6 Member
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    I save them and cheat on weekends.....


    Aren't these calorie goals a daily thing and not something you can save up to cheat on weekends?
  • beelanc
    beelanc Posts: 71 Member
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    bump...great explanations without referring me to "the roadmap" string. That sucker can get pretty darn confusing. LOL
  • zinatara
    zinatara Posts: 76 Member
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    I don't always eat all of them, but I eat some and if I'm hungry or want a treat I can eat them all. I'm not one of the people that love working out, so for me it's a motivator.
  • DenyseMarieL
    DenyseMarieL Posts: 673 Member
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    Hell yes, I eat them. I earned them, after all.
  • erikkmcvay
    erikkmcvay Posts: 238 Member
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    In order to lose weight, aren't you supposed to have a calorie deficit? I am also confused on this issue. Sometimes I end up eating (or drinking) them back and sometimes I don't. :frown:

    Yes of course but eating back calories you burned does not negate the deficit.

    If your BMR times activity level gives you 2000 calories per day and you reduce that to 1500 per day (a 500 cal deficit) then you should be able to lose about 1lb per week. This is what you do when you set your goals, you tell MFP to tell you how much to eat.

    So now you're eating 500 less per day and go out and walk for 3 miles and burn 300 calories....if you don't eat them back your deficit would be 800 -- the same as if you only ate 1200 calories and didn't exercise.

    If you are already down to 1200 a day -- which is VERY LOW -- and exercise for an hour and burn 500 calories that would be like eating 700 and not exercising....you would be starving.

    Eating back what you burn just brings you UP to your deficit goal.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,306 Member
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    I was just thinking about this.. being able to eat my exercise calories back makes doing this bearable...or easy. . For me, it is diet survival to eat them back. I'll see how it goes.
  • jessdunn27
    jessdunn27 Posts: 6 Member
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    The only thing that motivates me to exercise some days is wanting more food. I eat mine back.

    haha Love it! That's me sometimes too! Usually after dinner when my wife makes brownies ;)

    Totally understand this concept. Before I got confused on the issue and asked the question, I always ate the calories. When I first started the diet, the drastic calorie reduction was so difficult for me that exercising was the only way I earned calories to be able to eat something for dinner!! :) That only lasted about a week, though, before my body adjusted.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
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    I don't eat mine back, when I do I DO NOT lose, when I don't, I lose!!! That's just MY body... it doesn't like the whole "eat more to weigh less" philosphy!!

    I'm not entirely sure that 'eating back your exercise calories' is part of Eat more to Weigh less so much as "The Way The Website Is Set Up To Work"


    That said I use TDEE-20% and custom set my calories, so no I don't eat them back. I am slowly upping them tho. It seems that if I work out 4-5 hours a week that makes me moderately active when means Moar Food. And I will take an excuse for more food.
  • erikkmcvay
    erikkmcvay Posts: 238 Member
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    I was just thinking about this.. being able to eat my exercise calories back makes doing this bearable...or easy. . For me, it is diet survival to eat them back. I'll see how it goes.

    Yup :) probably for most of us.

    I used to eat 2800 calories per day on average....today I try to eat half that!!! Yikes! Talk about a fight. But each time I go out and ride 13 miles or walk 4 I know I get more calories so I eat some or all of them back -- my daily deficit is 1000 calories so if I burn 600 and eat 600 more then normal I'm still doing fine :) and I'm full :D
  • superfox12082
    superfox12082 Posts: 512 Member
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    Thanks Erik.
  • girlnherdog
    girlnherdog Posts: 9
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    i like your thinking! i'm going to try it. thanks!
  • erikkmcvay
    erikkmcvay Posts: 238 Member
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    That said I use TDEE-20%

    Using MFPs calculators my level is equivalent to using a TDEE calculator and doing about TDEE-25% when I eat back what I burn.
  • manique45
    manique45 Posts: 99 Member
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    i do not eat the calories i earn. i only eat the normal daily intake and this speeds up my fatloss


    Speeds up your muscle loss as well......................


    MFP as DESIGNED expects you to eat your calories back. The calorie deficit is built in BEFORE exercise. When you exercise you increase the deficit...... too large a deficit speeds up weight loss ..... fat PLUS muscle = weight.

    Also (look up VLCD)..... when your deficit is large you are prone to plateaus also.

    Just be careful not to eat too many calories back .... machnes & MFP are "guesstimates" .... one of the key factors is exertion level.... no way MFP or machines can know that.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^ Great explanation!! I am living proof.... plateaus here its aweful
  • erikkmcvay
    erikkmcvay Posts: 238 Member
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    Good luck!

    I prefer to not starve so I'm willing to work hard to gain back the right to eat a little more :D:D (Big cheesy grin)
  • erikkmcvay
    erikkmcvay Posts: 238 Member
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    plateaus happen anyway. Fact is the human body isn't going to lose perfectly the way we want it to every week. Sure some do see mechanically accurate losses but most don't. Drop 5 one week and stabilize for two then drop 5 more and drop 3 and then gain one and sit there for a week or two before losing 4 a week 3 in a row! lol

    That's been my experience for the last 45 pounds I've lost!
  • AlyssaJoJo
    AlyssaJoJo Posts: 449 Member
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    The only thing that motivates me to exercise some days is wanting more food. I eat mine back.

    This is me - every day. But between doing my "real" work out, my evening walk, and my fitbit I never eat them all back. But I also eat anywhere between 1600 and 1900 calories a day depending on my activity level.

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