NOT eating exercise calories
Replies
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That's the thing though, not eating exercise calories back creates an unhealthy deficit.5
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I really don't understand this not eating exercise calories bit. There are two reasons I exercise. One is for fitness and the other is so I can eat more food in a day.9
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I've found not eating exercise calories only works of you aren't logging your food accurately and are grossly underestimating your intake while simultaneously overestimating your burn. People doing that can skip eating exercise calories. Everyone else winds up with unpleasantness in the long term.12
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My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
Lol. I'm 5'1" and 104 lbs and can eat 2900 cals in a day easy peazy. I have faith you can too.11 -
I've found not eating exercise calories only works of you aren't logging your food accurately and are grossly underestimating your intake while simultaneously overestimating your burn. People doing that can skip eating exercise calories. Everyone else winds up with unpleasantness in the long term.
This is exactly why I wouldn't advise EVERYONE to eat back all their exercise calories. If you're not going to weigh your food, or if you are relying on gym machines or the mfp database for your calorie burns, then not eating them back may make up for the errors. I think that applies to more people than will admit it.
In the end, people should use their results as a guide. Are you losing weight at a healthy rate? Then keep doing what you are doing. Are you losing too fast (more than 2 pounds a week)? Then eat more calories. Your results are really the only way to truly know.2 -
I use Fitbit to get my "exercise" calorie bonus and I eat them all back usually. I'm losing at the projected rate for my deficit. (I get some bonus for an especially active day even without intentional exercise.)
The exception is bicycling calories. A 30 mile ride gives me around 900 bonus calories which I don't generally eat all of. I eat and drink enough during the ride not to bonk. Otherwise I eat normally the rest of that day.
Strangely I find bicycling calories have the magical property of having no effect whatsoever on my weight loss. They just give me fresh air, sunshine and vitamin D. Bicycling actually suppresses my appetite so I have a large deficit that day, but it gives me no detectable weight loss boost at all.1 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »I really don't understand this not eating exercise calories bit. There are two reasons I exercise. One is for fitness and the other is so I can eat more food in a day.
I only exercise for the first reason. Not everyone is interested in eating "the most" they can in a day. I'm not a volume eater.I've found not eating exercise calories only works of you aren't logging your food accurately and are grossly underestimating your intake while simultaneously overestimating your burn. People doing that can skip eating exercise calories. Everyone else winds up with unpleasantness in the long term.
I log accurately, and I make no specific effort to eat back any exercise calories. If there's a day I've done a particular lot of exercising and I want more food, I eat it and log it, but generally I don't. I've been doing things my way for about 2.5 years and in that time have increased my running distances and just set two new personal records in 5K and 10K in back to back races on the same day last week. So as far as it hurting my performance, it certainly has not.1 -
I try not to eat them all back but I'm sooo hungry when I exercise. I eat them all back0
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My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
I can pretty easily get in 2900 calories if I eat low volume, calorie dense foods.
Are you currently losing? What happens when you get to maintenance and have to eat even more so as not to eventually die from not eating enough to maintain your weight?2 -
My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
Of course you can - the trick is to eat while you ride.
Which also then opens the way to ride further. A virtuous circle if you like.4 -
I've found not eating exercise calories only works of you aren't logging your food accurately and are grossly underestimating your intake while simultaneously overestimating your burn. People doing that can skip eating exercise calories. Everyone else winds up with unpleasantness in the long term.
Yeah, under the MFP method, I generally think that's the case too. The exception are people who really don't exercise much anyway, so it doesn't make that much difference, or who have a not very aggressive calorie goal (and good for them!). If you are at a weight where 1.5-2 lb per week can be reasonable, set MFP for 1 lb per week, and then exercise for an average of 300 calories per day and don't eat it back, that's totally fine and reasonable, but it's probably the exception, not the norm. If you aim for 2 lb/week, exercise 500 calories and don't eat it back, and actually lose 1 lb/week, I don't worry about that either, since the exercise is making up for sloppy logging, probably, which is a perfectly fine way to do it.Lillymoo01 wrote: »I really don't understand this not eating exercise calories bit. There are two reasons I exercise. One is for fitness and the other is so I can eat more food in a day.
I honestly think a lot of it comes from not understanding how MFP sets goals differently from other ways of doing it. Before MFP I assumed a calorie goal would be "cut about 500 and then increase exercise" for a max of about 2 lb (as I had enough to lose that that was reasonable). The calculators look at total activity and then give a goal that doesn't change with exercise (it is assumed upfront). If used to those kinds of plans, the idea of eating more when you exercise (which is a sensible approach IMO for people who aren't consistent about exercise) seems weird.
This is especially true since MFP asks you to estimate exercise, so people don't always realize it's not part of the goal. I only realized it because I was annoyed at getting 1200, so kept increasing my exercise minutes and stayed at 1200. I made exercise minutes 0 and stayed at 1200. Then I looked into it more and realized exercise minutes didn't affect anything and looked at some calculators that estimated my TDEE with my planned exercise.2 -
My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
What are your stats? How much are you losing?
Looking at a TDEE calculator with some random stats (60, 220, 5'10), it tells me that guy would burn about 2200 being sedentary, so if he ate about 1700, that would be a loss of 1 lb/week while sedentary. With an additional 1200 of exercise daily, that would be over 3 lb/week. That's extremely aggressive (and more than the 1% of body weight that is normally the cap), and risks muscle loss, which for my hypothetical man who cares about muscle maintenance (more important as we age -- as a woman in my 40s it's something I'm really concerned about) and athletic performance, is likely not a great idea. If he's losing 2 lb/week with the specified exercise, chances are he's really eating closer to 2400, so of course that's fine. Similarly, if exercise is only a few times per week I personally prefer to average it across the week. I'm currently running 12-16 miles on my long run day, and don't eat a lot more that day, but I average the calories across the week into my total.
Anyway, if my maintenance calories were 3400, I can't imagine it would be difficult to eat 2900 (although depending on stats and actual maintenance a deeper deficit could well be fine).2 -
My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
There's no rule that says you actually have to eat back the calories on the day you burned them. If you have a big bike ride once or twice a week, you could easily take the TDEE approach and eat an appropriate average amount of calories daily. Or save the calories for the next day; I'm usually way more hungry the day after exercising than the day of. Your body doesn't have a reset button that goes off at midnight.2 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »I've found not eating exercise calories only works of you aren't logging your food accurately and are grossly underestimating your intake while simultaneously overestimating your burn. People doing that can skip eating exercise calories. Everyone else winds up with unpleasantness in the long term.
Yeah, under the MFP method, I generally think that's the case too. The exception are people who really don't exercise much anyway, so it doesn't make that much difference, or who have a not very aggressive calorie goal (and good for them!). If you are at a weight where 1.5-2 lb per week can be reasonable, set MFP for 1 lb per week, and then exercise for an average of 300 calories per day and don't eat it back, that's totally fine and reasonable, but it's probably the exception, not the norm. If you aim for 2 lb/week, exercise 500 calories and don't eat it back, and actually lose 1 lb/week, I don't worry about that either, since the exercise is making up for sloppy logging, probably, which is a perfectly fine way to do it.Lillymoo01 wrote: »I really don't understand this not eating exercise calories bit. There are two reasons I exercise. One is for fitness and the other is so I can eat more food in a day.
I honestly think a lot of it comes from not understanding how MFP sets goals differently from other ways of doing it. Before MFP I assumed a calorie goal would be "cut about 500 and then increase exercise" for a max of about 2 lb (as I had enough to lose that that was reasonable). The calculators look at total activity and then give a goal that doesn't change with exercise (it is assumed upfront). If used to those kinds of plans, the idea of eating more when you exercise (which is a sensible approach IMO for people who aren't consistent about exercise) seems weird.
This is especially true since MFP asks you to estimate exercise, so people don't always realize it's not part of the goal. I only realized it because I was annoyed at getting 1200, so kept increasing my exercise minutes and stayed at 1200. I made exercise minutes 0 and stayed at 1200. Then I looked into it more and realized exercise minutes didn't affect anything and looked at some calculators that estimated my TDEE with my planned exercise.
As someone who is vertically challenged it didn't matter what activity level I set MFP to, except the last. It didn't matter what goals I set for how quickly I wanted to lose weight. My calorie intake remained at 1200. When losing I ate back half of my exercise calories to give me a sufficient deficit to lose quicker than a pound every month or so. Now at maintenance my NEAT is only 1350 which will tell you why it stayed always stayed at 1200. Even now, if I don't exercise there is no room for treats ever, while meeting all nutritional needs. To be able to eat closer to 1600 calories a day is so much better which can only be achieved by exercise.3 -
My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
What are your stats and goal? Weight loss?
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WinoGelato wrote: »My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
What are your stats and goal? Weight loss?
I'm 64, 5'10". I just reset MFP stats from losing 1.5/week to 1/week. My calorie goal just went from 1500 to 1650. Weight went from 218 in mid-January to 205. Was at the point where I was fairly comfortable with the 1500 and hadn't exceeded it in quite a few weeks. Now I have the cram in a little extra food late in the day to make to the 1650 on some days. Shoving in more for exercise cals just makes me feel overstuffed.0 -
My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
You're capable of riding a bike 30 miles in a sitting, but you're not capable of eating 3,000 calories? That doesn't make sense.
In my experience, the hunger takes a day or two to come on after a big ride. Yesterday my power meter measured 1,260 kCal for a 40 mile loop, I'll eat them back over the next few days. Eating a little bit during the ride can be pretty helpful, too.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
What are your stats and goal? Weight loss?
I'm 64, 5'10". I just reset MFP stats from losing 1.5/week to 1/week. My calorie goal just went from 1500 to 1650. Weight went from 218 in mid-January to 205. Was at the point where I was fairly comfortable with the 1500 and hadn't exceeded it in quite a few weeks. Now I have the cram in a little extra food late in the day to make to the 1650 on some days. Shoving in more for exercise cals just makes me feel overstuffed.
You must have chosen a sedentary activity setting ,which you clearly are not. And how much more weight are your trying to lose?
I'm a 5'2 female with a TDEE of 2200 and have no problem eating that amount. I find it really hard to believe that you can't eat 1650 calories, or 2000 calories, or 2900 calories for that matter - if you are cycling that way.3 -
WinoGelato wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
What are your stats and goal? Weight loss?
I'm 64, 5'10". I just reset MFP stats from losing 1.5/week to 1/week. My calorie goal just went from 1500 to 1650. Weight went from 218 in mid-January to 205. Was at the point where I was fairly comfortable with the 1500 and hadn't exceeded it in quite a few weeks. Now I have the cram in a little extra food late in the day to make to the 1650 on some days. Shoving in more for exercise cals just makes me feel overstuffed.
You must have chosen a sedentary activity setting ,which you clearly are not. And how much more weight are your trying to lose?
I'm a 5'2 female with a TDEE of 2200 and have no problem eating that amount. I find it really hard to believe that you can't eat 1650 calories, or 2000 calories, or 2900 calories for that matter - if you are cycling that way.
I don't do it every day. A couple of days a week I only do 45-minute spinning classes or elliptical machine sessions. Other days I just walk a couple of miles at lunch. One or two days a week I don't work out at all. I only get to ride much on weekends.0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
You're capable of riding a bike 30 miles in a sitting, but you're not capable of eating 3,000 calories? That doesn't make sense.
In my experience, the hunger takes a day or two to come on after a big ride. Yesterday my power meter measured 1,260 kCal for a 40 mile loop, I'll eat them back over the next few days. Eating a little bit during the ride can be pretty helpful, too.
I didn't say I wasn't actually capable, I'm just comfortable not doing it so why should I?0 -
Now that you've explained you are talking about a 1-2x/week ride it makes more sense.
I don't eat back all my calories from my long run the day I do it, but I do eat more over the course of the week that accounts for the running miles I do.
(I could eat 3000 calories in a day no problem, but when I eat really high on one day it messes me up for the week. I had this problem marathon training one time. Of course, with marathon training or half ironman training I find it tough to lose, as I end up feeling way more hungry. Never had that issue with doing a weekly long bike ride or half marathon training.)1 -
WinoGelato wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
What are your stats and goal? Weight loss?
I'm 64, 5'10". I just reset MFP stats from losing 1.5/week to 1/week. My calorie goal just went from 1500 to 1650. Weight went from 218 in mid-January to 205. Was at the point where I was fairly comfortable with the 1500 and hadn't exceeded it in quite a few weeks. Now I have the cram in a little extra food late in the day to make to the 1650 on some days. Shoving in more for exercise cals just makes me feel overstuffed.
You must have chosen a sedentary activity setting ,which you clearly are not. And how much more weight are your trying to lose?
I'm a 5'2 female with a TDEE of 2200 and have no problem eating that amount. I find it really hard to believe that you can't eat 1650 calories, or 2000 calories, or 2900 calories for that matter - if you are cycling that way.
I don't do it every day. A couple of days a week I only do 45-minute spinning classes or elliptical machine sessions. Other days I just walk a couple of miles at lunch. One or two days a week I don't work out at all. I only get to ride much on weekends.
But even if you aren't cycling long distance more than once a week, the other activity you are doing suggests you are not sedentary, and as such, the 1600 calorie goal that you are aiming for (which is a NET goal, not sure if you are saying 1600 is what you are eating or what you are NETTING) is for a sedentary lifestyle.
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WinoGelato wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »My plan is 1650 cals/day. If I ride a bike for 30 miles Map My Ride shows a 2500 calorie burn. To eat that all back means consuming over 4000 cals. Get real. That ain't happening.
@don9992
I tried MMR very briefly and the calorie estimates were comically high, 2500 sounds a ludicrous number TBH!
For 30 miles I would expect somewhere around 950 - 1000 for me.
Strava seems much closer to reality.
Going back to my original point, even after rejecting the very high calorie number from MMR and using the 1249 from Polar, that still gives me about 2900 calories to consume in a day. There's no way I can eat that much.
What are your stats and goal? Weight loss?
I'm 64, 5'10". I just reset MFP stats from losing 1.5/week to 1/week. My calorie goal just went from 1500 to 1650. Weight went from 218 in mid-January to 205. Was at the point where I was fairly comfortable with the 1500 and hadn't exceeded it in quite a few weeks. Now I have the cram in a little extra food late in the day to make to the 1650 on some days. Shoving in more for exercise cals just makes me feel overstuffed.
You must have chosen a sedentary activity setting ,which you clearly are not. And how much more weight are your trying to lose?
I'm a 5'2 female with a TDEE of 2200 and have no problem eating that amount. I find it really hard to believe that you can't eat 1650 calories, or 2000 calories, or 2900 calories for that matter - if you are cycling that way.
I don't do it every day. A couple of days a week I only do 45-minute spinning classes or elliptical machine sessions. Other days I just walk a couple of miles at lunch. One or two days a week I don't work out at all. I only get to ride much on weekends.
But even if you aren't cycling long distance more than once a week, the other activity you are doing suggests you are not sedentary, and as such, the 1600 calorie goal that you are aiming for (which is a NET goal, not sure if you are saying 1600 is what you are eating or what you are NETTING) is for a sedentary lifestyle.
I was talking about cycling 30 miles. That's hardly long distance!0
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