Do I have to eat the extra calories?
Michellekutz1
Posts: 122
Ok so I started Insanity which is helping me to burn 280-300 calories a day, that makes my calories for the day go up, if I don't eat those calories will I lose weight faster? Or will it hurt my weight loss? Thanks for any info new at this and trying to learn the right way to do it....
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Replies
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probably hurt your progress, you may see changes at first but you will most likely stall.. its best to follow the nutrition guidelines for the program that your doing.0
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What are you in some sort of hurry for? You should be hitting your net target every day, and not eating those back does not achieve that.0
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I would like to lose as much as possible by September when I am going on a cruise, but I don't plan on killing myself either, so I will follow the guidelines, I just wondered what my best bet was,thanks!0
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The longer your workout, the more your body starts raiding its carb stores which it expects to be replenished afterward and will pitch a fit if they're not. Put the carbs back.0
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Your body needs fuel. Eat back the exercise calories - that's how MFP was designed to work.
And why would you not want more food to eat???? Food is delicious and tasty and filling and wonderful.0 -
Ok so I started Insanity which is helping me to burn 280-300 calories a day, that makes my calories for the day go up, if I don't eat those calories will I lose weight faster? Or will it hurt my weight loss? Thanks for any info new at this and trying to learn the right way to do it....
Your calorie goal is the bare minimum. Yes, eat the calories back.
You are creating too large of a deficit, and while you may lose quickly in the beginning, you will stall, get hungry, lose muscle mass, be cranky, cold.... all the fun stuff that comes with not fueling your body properly for your workouts.0 -
More than likely, you'll lose weight faster... especially short term.
How large is your calorie deficit after the exercise? How long have you been dieting?
On a related note, don't forget to consider sustainability. Big deficits can lead to faster weight loss, but they also tend to lead to more cheating. Often times that cheating can undo some/most of the progress made to that point.0 -
When I first got on MFP I didn't trust it enough to eat back my excercise calories. I ate 1200-1400 regardless of how much I worked out, and I was consistently working out. All was going well and I was dropping pounds. Then, as everybody keeps saying, it all came to a screeching halt! I'm still trying to figure out how to get back into fat burning mode.0
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If I'm hungry, I will eat back the calories that I earned from working out but I refuse to force feed myself if I'm not hungry just to comply with MFP guidelines.0
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It is basically up to you. Everyone has their own personal opinion about eating exercise calories back. Listen to your body. If you are hungry...eat!0
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Most of the replies so far are bro science. You don't have to eat the calories back. Your diet should give you all the nutrients you need. If you have a little extra deficit, it will just burn off a little faster. Your body fat can deliver 31.4 calories per day for each pound of fat. Take your BF% and your weight and you can calculate the amount of deficit it can support. If you were burning 1000+ calories per day I would have more concern. The idea of net calories is mostly an MFP thing; the minimum suggested calories per day from dietitians is not based on that - it is just total consumption without regard to burn.0
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It is basically up to you. Everyone has their own personal opinion about eating exercise calories back. Listen to your body. If you are hungry...eat!
Seriously? "listen to your body"... that's the advice you give on a board full of people with terrible eating habits and poor relationships with food?
What an idiotic thing to say.0 -
It's not bro-science, it's not just an opinion, it's the way MFP is set up and designed to work.
Your daily goal has a deficit built in already - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. Exercising burns more cals and creates a larger deficit, which sounds better, right - bigger deficit, bigger weight loss, yeah? Maybe at first, but can end up losing lean muscle as well as fat, and over time become grouchy, exhausted, with no energy for workouts, and end up just plain burnt out.
Over and over I've read and experienced that a small deficit is best for fat loss. MFP knows this too, which is why they add your exercise cals back into your daily goal. You are supposed to eat them so that your net cals for the day are at or near goal. Some will argue that if you're using MFP's exercise calorie burn estimates, which are notoriously high in many instances, you may be eating back too much. Possibly, but use your best judgement, eat at least half to 75%, or eat them all and see how you do for a month. If you gain or don't see results, cut back a bit. Or invest in a HRM to get a better track on your exercise burns.
Knowing how the program you're using works is a good thing. Food is fuel. Gotta feed that furnace if you want it to burn. Eat well, exercise, drink plenty of water, get good rest and be patient - results will happen!0 -
It's not bro-science, it's not just an opinion, it's the way MFP is set up and designed to work.
Your daily goal has a deficit built in already - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. Exercising burns more cals and creates a larger deficit, which sounds better, right - bigger deficit, bigger weight loss, yeah? Maybe at first, but can end up losing lean muscle as well as fat, and over time become grouchy, exhausted, with no energy for workouts, and end up just plain burnt out.
Over and over I've read and experienced that a small deficit is best for fat loss. MFP knows this too, which is why they add your exercise cals back into your daily goal. You are supposed to eat them so that your net cals for the day are at or near goal. Some will argue that if you're using MFP's exercise calorie burn estimates, which are notoriously high in many instances, you may be eating back too much. Possibly, but use your best judgement, eat at least half to 75%, or eat them all and see how you do for a month. If you gain or don't see results, cut back a bit. Or invest in a HRM to get a better track on your exercise burns.
Knowing how the program you're using works is a good thing. Food is fuel. Gotta feed that furnace if you want it to burn. Eat well, exercise, drink plenty of water, get good rest and be patient - results will happen!
I have an honest question for you then - I'm still trying to figure this out myself. Based on how I've set up my MFP I have 1360 calories per day with 5-6 1hr workouts a week. This is how I've been working out consistently for the last month. (i've been losing way more inches than weight btw). if i already have it set up that way, should i not be logging the exercise since that is what i'm doing? or should i set up with zero exercise and log the exercise after? i eat a very nutrient dense diet - 80% veggies. at the end of the day i am just not hungry enough to eat back the nearly 800 cals i burn daily.0 -
It's not bro-science, it's not just an opinion, it's the way MFP is set up and designed to work.
Your daily goal has a deficit built in already - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. Exercising burns more cals and creates a larger deficit, which sounds better, right - bigger deficit, bigger weight loss, yeah? Maybe at first, but can end up losing lean muscle as well as fat, and over time become grouchy, exhausted, with no energy for workouts, and end up just plain burnt out.
Over and over I've read and experienced that a small deficit is best for fat loss. MFP knows this too, which is why they add your exercise cals back into your daily goal. You are supposed to eat them so that your net cals for the day are at or near goal. Some will argue that if you're using MFP's exercise calorie burn estimates, which are notoriously high in many instances, you may be eating back too much. Possibly, but use your best judgement, eat at least half to 75%, or eat them all and see how you do for a month. If you gain or don't see results, cut back a bit. Or invest in a HRM to get a better track on your exercise burns.
Knowing how the program you're using works is a good thing. Food is fuel. Gotta feed that furnace if you want it to burn. Eat well, exercise, drink plenty of water, get good rest and be patient - results will happen!
I have an honest question for you then - I'm still trying to figure this out myself. Based on how I've set up my MFP I have 1360 calories per day with 5-6 1hr workouts a week. This is how I've been working out consistently for the last month. (i've been losing way more inches than weight btw). if i already have it set up that way, should i not be logging the exercise since that is what i'm doing? or should i set up with zero exercise and log the exercise after? i eat a very nutrient dense diet - 80% veggies. at the end of the day i am just not hungry enough to eat back the nearly 800 cals i burn daily.
Amy... if I'm stepping on your toes here, just hit me.
Yes, you should still be logging them and eating them back.
When you tell MFP how long you want to work out for and how many days a week, it doesn't factor those workouts into your calorie goal (t's really more of a reminder/plan for you), so your daily calorie goal isn't impacted by those numbers. You'll get 1360 regardless of your workout plan.
However, if you change your weight loss goal (say, go from 2lbs per week to 1lb per week) then that WILL change the number MFP gives you.0 -
It's not bro-science, it's not just an opinion, it's the way MFP is set up and designed to work.
Your daily goal has a deficit built in already - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. Exercising burns more cals and creates a larger deficit, which sounds better, right - bigger deficit, bigger weight loss, yeah? Maybe at first, but can end up losing lean muscle as well as fat, and over time become grouchy, exhausted, with no energy for workouts, and end up just plain burnt out.
Over and over I've read and experienced that a small deficit is best for fat loss. MFP knows this too, which is why they add your exercise cals back into your daily goal. You are supposed to eat them so that your net cals for the day are at or near goal. Some will argue that if you're using MFP's exercise calorie burn estimates, which are notoriously high in many instances, you may be eating back too much. Possibly, but use your best judgement, eat at least half to 75%, or eat them all and see how you do for a month. If you gain or don't see results, cut back a bit. Or invest in a HRM to get a better track on your exercise burns.
Knowing how the program you're using works is a good thing. Food is fuel. Gotta feed that furnace if you want it to burn. Eat well, exercise, drink plenty of water, get good rest and be patient - results will happen!
I have an honest question for you then - I'm still trying to figure this out myself. Based on how I've set up my MFP I have 1360 calories per day with 5-6 1hr workouts a week. This is how I've been working out consistently for the last month. (i've been losing way more inches than weight btw). if i already have it set up that way, should i not be logging the exercise since that is what i'm doing? or should i set up with zero exercise and log the exercise after? i eat a very nutrient dense diet - 80% veggies. at the end of the day i am just not hungry enough to eat back the nearly 800 cals i burn daily.
Amy... if I'm stepping on your toes here, just hit me.
Yes, you should still be logging them and eating them back.
When you tell MFP how long you want to work out for and how many days a week, it doesn't factor those workouts into your calorie goal (t's really more of a reminder/plan for you), so your daily calorie goal isn't impacted by those numbers. You'll get 1360 regardless of your workout plan.
However, if you change your weight loss goal (say, go from 2lbs per week to 1lb per week) then that WILL change the number MFP gives you.
thank you! and thanks for not being a superior know-it-all about it either lol! I've asked this before and got back 'oh you've ruined your metabolism!' and crap. sheesh!!
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I eat some of mine back sometime but not all the time and I try to stay 200 under goal that way if something wasn't put in right or something like that I still am under but sometimes I struggle to get 1200 calories in even without exercise0
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Most of the replies so far are bro science. You don't have to eat the calories back. Your diet should give you all the nutrients you need. If you have a little extra deficit, it will just burn off a little faster. Your body fat can deliver 31.4 calories per day for each pound of fat. Take your BF% and your weight and you can calculate the amount of deficit it can support. If you were burning 1000+ calories per day I would have more concern. The idea of net calories is mostly an MFP thing; the minimum suggested calories per day from dietitians is not based on that - it is just total consumption without regard to burn.
It's not BroScience. Do you even know the difference between the NEAT method and TDEE method? Do you even understand that MFP is a NEAT method calculator? Do you seriously advocate for people on a 1200 calorie plan to workout and burn 300-500 calories more and net 700 calories per day or whatever? ****, my 90 year old 4'11" grandmother can eat more than that.
I would agree that occasionally not hitting your calorie goal is no biggie. But it is a GOAL...a GOAL is something to be achieved. Why are so many people hell bent on being underachievers?0 -
It's not bro-science that calorie restriction slows metabolism. It's not bro-science that metabolism slows with prolonged restriction, and that it lowers more the more severe the restriction.
Yes, some people will point out that it just stalls loss, doesn't cause gain. Others will say "oh, if you eat less you'll create a deficit again."
The thing is, for a smaller woman, that simple "just decrease calories further!" becomes problematic, because you really can wind up chasing lower and lower goals just to keep losing at all. What calorie goal is sustainable and realistic? A woman whose BMR is 1400 and TDEE is 1700 can EASILY drop their TDEE to 1400 (a 15% drop, not unusual in studies) , and the 25% drop in BMR that some studies have found? Results in a TDEE of not much more than 1200 calories.
(the Minnesota experiments in the 50s found drops as low as 40%, which would result in a TDEE of about 1000).
So that person is looking at having to net something like 700 cals/day to keep up the pound a week loss rate.
So yeah, you can keep cutting and cutting -- but maybe, just maybe? You might be more likely to be able to stick with a plan that doesn't have you subsisting on 700-900 calories a day? Even if it means you lose a bit slower?
long story short: Creating a ginormous deficit may seem like a grand plan, but may ultimately backfire.0 -
The MN study found a 40% drop in an individual with 5% BF. Nearly all the findings in that study on starvation were done post diet with very low BF. It has very little relevance to discussions about weight loss in people with over 10% BF. Yes, all sorts of crazy things happened when they starved people way beyond that.
Please quote the source for a 25% reduction. The studies I have seen put it at between 4% to 10%. I think 15% is unusual.
Again, the guidelines established by dietitians do not use "net" they use total calories consumed, period.
What I am calling bro science is the earlier posts saying you must eat them back or you will stall, your metabolism will crash, etc. The OP is nowhere close to VLCD numbers and only has a small amount of burn.It's not bro-science that calorie restriction slows metabolism. It's not bro-science that metabolism slows with prolonged restriction, and that it lowers more the more severe the restriction.
Yes, some people will point out that it just stalls loss, doesn't cause gain. Others will say "oh, if you eat less you'll create a deficit again."
The thing is, for a smaller woman, that simple "just decrease calories further!" becomes problematic, because you really can wind up chasing lower and lower goals just to keep losing at all. What calorie goal is sustainable and realistic? A woman whose BMR is 1400 and TDEE is 1700 can EASILY drop their TDEE to 1400 (a 15% drop, not unusual in studies) , and the 25% drop in BMR that some studies have found? Results in a TDEE of not much more than 1200 calories.
(the Minnesota experiments in the 50s found drops as low as 40%, which would result in a TDEE of about 1000).
So that person is looking at having to net something like 700 cals/day to keep up the pound a week loss rate.
So yeah, you can keep cutting and cutting -- but maybe, just maybe? You might be more likely to be able to stick with a plan that doesn't have you subsisting on 700-900 calories a day? Even if it means you lose a bit slower?
long story short: Creating a ginormous deficit may seem like a grand plan, but may ultimately backfire.0 -
Not at all! I'm glad you did answer because I was off to work and didn't see the question until just now. Thanks! :drinker:Amy... if I'm stepping on your toes here, just hit me.0 -
I don't eat back the calories all the time. If I incorporate all my fruits, veggies, carbs, protein, etc. and it only amounts to 1400 calories or so and I am satiated and not hungry, then I am not going to force feed myself for the sake of eating more. If I do create a calorie deficit, and I am hungry, I will eat. It's not an exact science-some weight loss plans only want you to eat 1200 and still burn a whole lot of calories working out-when I went to see nutritionists, they only wanted me to eat a certain amount of calories a day based on the food pyramid. it is all about what works for you. As long as you make the choice to get healthier, you will get results. If you stall, then fine tune it. I look at the food diary as a work in progress.0
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What I am calling bro science is the earlier posts saying you must eat them back or you will stall, your metabolism will crash, etc. The OP is nowhere close to VLCD numbers and only has a small amount of burn.
I understood you perfectly.0 -
I totally agree that it shouldn't be set in stone whether you do or don't. If your hungry go for it. If your not that's fine.0
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Eat back the calories. When I first started using MFP it told me to consume 1200 calories which is what I did and I didn't eat back any excerise calories, I go to the gym 6 days a week and for the first 4 months I lost 10 pounds a month then the next 2 months I lost about 5 pounds and then it stopped no matter what I did I was not losing weight. I increased my calories to 1800 and after 3 weeks of doing this and gaining back 8 pounds I'm now losing. If I would have done this in the beginning I would be at my goal weight by now but I was determined to lose at least 2 pounds a week and lose it fast, its very frustrating to count every calorie you eat work your butt off at the gym and see no weight loss.0
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If I'm hungry, I will eat back the calories that I earned from working out but I refuse to force feed myself if I'm not hungry just to comply with MFP guidelines.
agreed. I get the concept but really...if I am not hungry I am not eating.0 -
First of all that is a Pretty nasty way to act on a board that is supposed to be for supporting one another. Second, I try really hard not to eat back the calories I have burned. I burn 200-400 calories everyday when I exercise. I would be sick if I just ate it all back. I would feel like I just wasted all that time exercising. I try to stay at or under 1200 calories and work out everyday and I am consistently losing weight. Hope this helps.It is basically up to you. Everyone has their own personal opinion about eating exercise calories back. Listen to your body. If you are hungry...eat!
Seriously? "listen to your body"... that's the advice you give on a board full of people with terrible eating habits and poor relationships with food?
What an idiotic thing to say.0 -
First of all that is a Pretty nasty way to act on a board that is supposed to be for supporting one another. Second, I try really hard not to eat back the calories I have burned. I burn 200-400 calories everyday when I exercise. I would be sick if I just ate it all back. I would feel like I just wasted all that time exercising. I try to stay at or under 1200 calories and work out everyday and I am consistently losing weight. Hope this helps.It is basically up to you. Everyone has their own personal opinion about eating exercise calories back. Listen to your body. If you are hungry...eat!
Seriously? "listen to your body"... that's the advice you give on a board full of people with terrible eating habits and poor relationships with food?
What an idiotic thing to say.
First, this isn't the support/motivation forum, so the goal here isn't to support people. It's to help/inform/educate. Second, how is giving bad advice supportive? Third, you're doing it wrong. You obviously don't understand the bigger picture of healthy weight loss. That's not to say it won't work for you, but at some point you'll need to make adjustments. What are you going to do then? And do you even know why you're doing what you're doing?0
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