Why do people eat back their exercise calories?
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Because all that exercise makes us hungry!
Its the beauty of this program, you get to choose and not feel deprived.0 -
Childfree1991 wrote: »I do. It has done more good than bad. After resistance training I'll either eat canned tuna, cottage cheese, quinoa, canned sardines, a protein bar, or eggs.
I'm sure it's worked fine for you but every study on the subject says the optimum post workout nutrition is 2:1 in favour of carbs to protein. Protein is required for synthesis but carbs are more important to replenish glycogen stores and stop even further protein breakdown.
Most people do not need this either, very few "regular" people deplete their glycogen stores during a workout.
As long as they don't workout for more than about 90 minutes, they probably wouldn't. But there are quite a few "regular" people who workout longer than that.0 -
I have been using a fitbit HR and have negative adjustments set on MFP. I have a fairly low metabolism (around 1300 on a moderate day -- walking 30 minutes, stair climbing, etc.) and closer to 1600-1800 on a more active day (cardio, some weights) and have been advised by many folks on this site not to eat back the exercise calories because I am no longer making progress (I haven't lost weight since last fall). I'm trying to tighten up my logging and stick to a net of around 1000 a day. But I'm also short, 5'1.5" and 56. I must admit that if I stick to 1200 or less on days when I work out, I tend to feel hungry at the end of the day and sometimes lightheaded arising the next day. Perhaps my body will eventually adjust.0
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I have MFP set to 1500 Calories a day. About 4 or 5 days a week I ride my bike to and from work and/or the gym for about 70 minutes total at 19-23 km/h, I stay on my feet for a six-hour shift, and then go to the gym to do a HIIT workout with some strength training. There have been days when I felt so exhausted that I needed to stop at the grocery store to get a banana or chocolate milk on the way home, but most days I get by just fine and I try to keep my Calories around 1500 anyway just to make sure I can maintain good food habits for the days when I don't exercise as much. So...should I not be doing that? I keep learning more and more about weight loss and it just confuses me more
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britishswenglish wrote: »I have MFP set to 1500 Calories a day. About 4 or 5 days a week I ride my bike to and from work and/or the gym for about 70 minutes total at 19-23 km/h, I stay on my feet for a six-hour shift, and then go to the gym to do a HIIT workout with some strength training. There have been days when I felt so exhausted that I needed to stop at the grocery store to get a banana or chocolate milk on the way home, but most days I get by just fine and I try to keep my Calories around 1500 anyway just to make sure I can maintain good food habits for the days when I don't exercise as much. So...should I not be doing that? I keep learning more and more about weight loss and it just confuses me more
So you are eating back your exercise calories?
I would up your calories... try 1800.0 -
I don't. EVER.0
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IsaackGMOON wrote: »So you are eating back your exercise calories?
I would up your calories... try 1800.
Thanks for the tip. Today I didn't work but I did bike to the gym and worked out for 45 minutes, then ran some errands this afternoon. I ate around 1800 Calories today and I'm not feeling hungry before bed, so that seems like a manageable amount.
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britishswenglish wrote: »IsaackGMOON wrote: »So you are eating back your exercise calories?
I would up your calories... try 1800.
Thanks for the tip. Today I didn't work but I did bike to the gym and worked out for 45 minutes, then ran some errands this afternoon. I ate around 1800 Calories today and I'm not feeling hungry before bed, so that seems like a manageable amount.
Yeah, it does...0 -
The deficit is built in. When I first started MFP I wanted to lose 5 lbs before a beach vacation and I had five weeks to do it in, so a pound a week for a short time. Well I am very active and didn't log my exercise and eat calories back. I don't weigh myself often because I don't want to get obsessed with it but when I weighed at the end of 5 weeks I ended up losing from 112 ish to 97 lbs and now trying to gain a bit back now.
So yeah if I didn't log and eat back my exercise calories, I would start withering away pretty quickly. I switched to maintenance for awhile and try to eat most of my calories back and have been able to gain a pound or two. I've been injured and unable to do anything other than run comfortably and that kills my appetite but I've managed to get up to 99-100 range logging my exercise and eating back the calories.0 -
I assume people exercise soley to loose weight because that's what I AM doing and there is nothing wrong with this lol.
Maybe this question should be directed to the people who are approaching weight loss like I am.
Thankyou
1) Why would you assUme that everyone has the same motivation for exercising that you have?
2) So... you are saying that you only want people to answer your question who agree with what you have decided is the one and only right answer? What was the point of asking a question if you can't be open to a variety of answers which might make you think about your own choice .and whether or not it is the best way to go.
I don't exercise to lose weight. I live a physically active life and have work, hobbies and practices that I enjoy greatly and which also happen to contribute to my overall good health. have done those activities for years before I ever started to try to lose weight. To lose weight I track CICO. To fuel my active life I make sure to eat back the calories that MFP as adjusted by Fitbit, says I should eat. I don't see the need to get drastic about cutting calories to the point that what I am doing is going to fail because at some point I break down and binge or just give up and go back to what I was doing before... which wasn't working. This is working. It might take a while but because what I am doing is not making me miserable, and I am committed to doing this every day for the rest of my life, I expect to have long term success.
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I only eat back a few hundred kj of my exercise calories (when I'm hungry) because:
-My exercise kilojoules are earned using my iPhone Health step counter which I carry all the time. I earn around 10,000 steps, half of which are already counted by MFP in my sedentary activity level. (1700 kj all together)
- I only eat back half of those because of errors in burn estimates.
- I feel fine, and am losing at a gradual pace (this week's whoosh excepted).0 -
Because most people follow the MFP method on MFP which is designed to give you a defecit without exercise..so when you exercise you burn more calories and get to eat moreI've never understood this, I've always worked out to burn calories in order to loose weigh.. It seems so obvious not to eat them back - what was the point in the first place?
I'm assuming it's so people can eat more food?
Can someone shed some light on this, thanks!
Because it is motivating to move more in order to expand your diet
Because we need to fuel our bodies appropriately for life and fitness
Because I don't want to burn through more LBM than necessary as I lose weight
Because food is delicious and it's not an exercise in deprivation
Because the wider the diet the less chance of crashing and burning
Because it sets you on a good path for maintenance
Because at the end of the day the one who achieves their goals and eats the most wins
Because I can
Cosign0 -
Isn't is the point of doing exercises? Then you can eat as much as you want? I eat cake and ice cream everyday and still manage to get a calories deficit because I pay the price at burning them (between 1.5hr to 4hrs or 800 to 2000 cal burned). What life is all about if you can pleased yourself with nice food ;-)0
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I have been using a fitbit HR and have negative adjustments set on MFP. I have a fairly low metabolism (around 1300 on a moderate day -- walking 30 minutes, stair climbing, etc.) and closer to 1600-1800 on a more active day (cardio, some weights) and have been advised by many folks on this site not to eat back the exercise calories because I am no longer making progress (I haven't lost weight since last fall). I'm trying to tighten up my logging and stick to a net of around 1000 a day. But I'm also short, 5'1.5" and 56. I must admit that if I stick to 1200 or less on days when I work out, I tend to feel hungry at the end of the day and sometimes lightheaded arising the next day. Perhaps my body will eventually adjust.
@rosebette
If that was your take away from that thread, I'm sorry. Probably 95% of the people suggested that you should tighten up your logging. Probably half suggested that if you're using mfp to calculate calories burned from exercise they would be too high; you should probably log half to two thirds or just use your fitbit. There were maybe 2 or 3 that suggested you need to net very low, and one who is convinced there's something wrong and you should see a doctor.
I would tighten up your logging for a month and see what happens. No reasons to make 5 different changes at once, especially when one of those drastically reduces your intake.0 -
I have been using a fitbit HR and have negative adjustments set on MFP. I have a fairly low metabolism (around 1300 on a moderate day -- walking 30 minutes, stair climbing, etc.) and closer to 1600-1800 on a more active day (cardio, some weights) and have been advised by many folks on this site not to eat back the exercise calories because I am no longer making progress (I haven't lost weight since last fall). I'm trying to tighten up my logging and stick to a net of around 1000 a day. But I'm also short, 5'1.5" and 56. I must admit that if I stick to 1200 or less on days when I work out, I tend to feel hungry at the end of the day and sometimes lightheaded arising the next day. Perhaps my body will eventually adjust.
If that was your take away from that thread, I'm sorry. Probably 95% of the people suggested that you should tighten up your logging. Probably half suggested that if you're using mfp to calculate calories burned from exercise they would be too high; you should probably log half to two thirds or just use your fitbit. There were maybe 2 or 3 that suggested you need to net very low, and one who is convinced there's something wrong and you should see a doctor.
I would tighten up your logging for a month and see what happens. No reasons to make 5 different changes at once, especially when one of those drastically reduces your intake.
Nailed it.
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Because I'm hungry.
I don't always eat them back, but when I do, that's the reason.0 -
[
If that was your take away from that thread, I'm sorry. Probably 95% of the people suggested that you should tighten up your logging. Probably half suggested that if you're using mfp to calculate calories burned from exercise they would be too high; you should probably log half to two thirds or just use your fitbit. There were maybe 2 or 3 that suggested you need to net very low, and one who is convinced there's something wrong and you should see a doctor.
I would tighten up your logging for a month and see what happens. No reasons to make 5 different changes at once, especially when one of those drastically reduces your intake.[/quote]
Well, today was a typical less active day. Had a mammogram scheduled so missed my workout, met a friend for lunch, spent the day working with a student and correcting papers at home, did a 30 minute walk later which burned about 135 calories. My total for the day -- 1282. This means that if I ate 1200 calories, I'd have only an 82 calorie deficit. So on a non-heavy exercise day, not only tighten logging, but lower threshold if I want to see any loss. There's no point in "eating back" that 135 calories. This probably wouldn't be true for a 30 year old who is 5'5", but it's true for someone of my age and size.
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If that was your take away from that thread, I'm sorry. Probably 95% of the people suggested that you should tighten up your logging. Probably half suggested that if you're using mfp to calculate calories burned from exercise they would be too high; you should probably log half to two thirds or just use your fitbit. There were maybe 2 or 3 that suggested you need to net very low, and one who is convinced there's something wrong and you should see a doctor.
I would tighten up your logging for a month and see what happens. No reasons to make 5 different changes at once, especially when one of those drastically reduces your intake.
Well, today was a typical less active day. Had a mammogram scheduled so missed my workout, met a friend for lunch, spent the day working with a student and correcting papers at home, did a 30 minute walk later which burned about 135 calories. My total for the day -- 1282. This means that if I ate 1200 calories, I'd have only an 82 calorie deficit. So on a non-heavy exercise day, not only tighten logging, but lower threshold if I want to see any loss. There's no point in "eating back" that 135 calories. This probably wouldn't be true for a 30 year old who is 5'5", but it's true for someone of my age and size.
So you have mfp set to maintain and you're creating your deficit with only exercise?
This is becoming more relevent to the current thread. If you have 85 calories "earned" that's not your only deficit, that's on top of how much you put into mfp that you wanted to lose. So unless your goal is maintenance, you have a bigger deficit than you think.0
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