NOT eating exercise calories
Replies
-
cwolfman13 wrote: »Lashawn71188 wrote: »I'm so lost when people say they eat back the calories that they burn during exercise. My goal is to be in as much of a calorie deficit as possible ( as much that is healthy for me of course) Is this the norm? My goal is to burn even more calories through exercise not bring me back to my daily calorie goal by eating them back. Any else not eating their calories back and why?
This depends on where you're getting your calorie targets. If they are from MFP, exercise isn't included in your activity level...it's unaccounted for activity...your calorie target with MFP are based on the individual's NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogensis) and to account for exercise you log it after the fact and get additional calories to fuel that activity.
Other calculators assume exercise in the activity level...thus an estimate of the requisite calories are already included in the calorie target...if one were using this method, eating back calories would be double dipping because they are already accounted for.
It's all about understanding the methodology being used. I don't use the MFP methodology, but if I did I would be a wreck if I didn't eat back calories...To lose 1 Lb per week MFP gives me a pre exercise target of around 1900 calories...I regularly go out and ride 30 miles and can burn around 1,000 calories doing that which would leave me a mere 900 calories to fuel my existence and other daily activities and I'd essentially be starving my body of energy and nutrients.
I use the TDEE method which accounts for all of my activity including exercise and lose about 1 Lb per week eating 2500 calories...since exercise is included in that number I obviously wouldn't eat them back. Understanding the method is kind of important.
^This!
The mfp program is made for you to eat back exercise calories, that's why the goal they give you is so low in the first place.
1 -
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.0
-
Map my Ride is really overcalculating burn, unless you are doing a lot of hills or weigh a lot.
BlueSkyshoal - machines at the gym are not accurate, unless you can input your weight. My NordicTrack doesn't allow that, and it seems to assume I weigh 250 pounds, given the amount of calories it says I burn.3 -
I wonder if one of the reasons so many people consider not eating their exercise calories is because their exercise calories are so low.6
-
spiriteagle99 wrote: »Map my Ride is really overcalculating burn, unless you are doing a lot of hills or weigh a lot.
BlueSkyshoal - machines at the gym are not accurate, unless you can input your weight. My NordicTrack doesn't allow that, and it seems to assume I weigh 250 pounds, given the amount of calories it says I burn.
I expect you're right. On my ride today MMR said I burned 2449 cals. I also recorded the ride with a Polar HRM and watch and it shows 1242... almost half.0 -
When I started my weight-loss journey I didn't eat my exercise calories back. Original weight was 288 pounds set a goal of losing 2 pounds per week. My current weight is 208 and I've been maintaining that for approximately eight months.
One of the things you have to figure out is your goals if you just want to lose weight then I would not recommend eating back your calories it'll help the lose the weight faster. The only negative about that is that you're going to lose muscle mass dramatically. I was fixated on losing wait more than building muscle mass or maintaining my muscle. Now that I'm in maintenance my calorie goal is approximately 2400 calories a day but I'm probably eating three to four hundred more calories a day on average but not gaining any weight.
I think it's a combination of my exercise intensity period I do work out 4 to 5 times a week. You also have to remember that NFP is General guidelines and everybody's going to have a different tdee based on their lifestyle and their genetics. A good part of the weight loss process is educating yourself Health Food affects you and some of it is a trial-and-error process0 -
I would think if you didn't eat back exercise calories and tried to keep up intense exercising you'd be unable to do the workouts eventually. I was doing that some time ago, and just ran out of energy during a rather intense step workout. It kicked in then that food was necessary fuel, not the enemy that made me feel fat. If you can keep up high intensity exercise when supposedly not eating back exercise calories, it's likely you're underestimating calories in or overestimating calories burned.6
-
amusedmonkey wrote: »laahawn711 wrote: »I'm so lost when people say they eat back the calories that they burn during exercise. My goal is to be in as much of a calorie deficit as possible ( as much that is healthy for me of course) Is this the norm? My goal is to burn even more calories through exercise not bring me back to my daily calorie goal by eating them back. Any else not eating their calories back and why?
The bolded is why many people eat back exercise calories. Netting too low is not healthy for the body or the muscles.
I was doing the same thing, and I tanked my metabolism by doing it. NOT a good idea. it will end up stalling your weight loss. Once I started eating back about 1/2 of what I burned, I actually started dropping more weight, faster.4 -
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.1 -
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.0 -
That's the thing though, not eating exercise calories back creates an unhealthy deficit.5
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.9K Introduce Yourself
- 43.7K Getting Started
- 260.1K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.8K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 415 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.9K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.6K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.5K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions