What is the purpose of eating back your exercise calories
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Ericnutrition wrote: »soon2beeskinny wrote: »I'm not understanding the purpose of eating back your exercise calories. It defeats the purpose of exercising if you are using it to burn more calories. If you eat them back you don't burn more calories. Your're in the same place you were before you started. Am I missing something here?
I don't get it either. You ate dinner, and you did not exceed your goal of let's say 1,400 calories.
Later you go to the gym, work really hard, and burn 500 calories, so you are net 500 calories. You get home at 9:30 PM, and now you have to chow down on 500 calories, even if you are not particularly hungry?
Very strange indeed. Believe me, nothing bad is going to happen to you if you don't eat anymore.
MFP will give me a calorie target of 1900 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week without any exercise...I burn over 1,000 calories on a 30 mile bike ride...so my net calorie intake would be about 900 calories...and that sounds healthy to you?
Plenty bad would happen if I didn't account for that activity on a regular basis...3 -
Ericnutrition wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »FYI - Those calorie counters on exercise machines are notoriously inaccurate on the high side, for obvious reasons.
Yes, which is why you will see virtually everyone in these threads stress the importance of estimating exercise calories accurately and using their real life results to make adjustments.
All of this.
Everyone has explained many of these points before, about how to best utilize the MFP approach to accurately tracking and logging calories in and calories out to achieve their individual goals. Time and again, eric has suggested that things are so difficult and daunting that new users will be turned off and ultimately unsuccessful, and ignoring the fact that so many of us have achieved our goals using this very tool and find it to be completely manageable and helpful.
I am convinced that eric is soon going to reveal his own site or method for weight loss that he believes is far superior to MFP. That's the only end game I can envision here that makes sense - why someone would continue to ignore the comments of people successfully using this site and trying to downplay the positive results that so many have had.
How many people do you personally know that have tracked and log calories for the long term? If it were so easy, we would all be thin.
There are actually quite a few such people on this site...1 -
Cindy01Louisiana wrote: »BUT, if you do that day after day after day, you are only taking in 900 net calories a day. If your body doesn't rebel in some way, consider me baffled.
I've seen this basic math error a few times in this thread, and I think correcting it may help us look at this differently.
Burning 300 calories with exercise after eating your 1200 calories goal does not put you at 900 calories net. Just eating your target calories without extra activity puts you at a net of *negative* 250-1000 calories depending how you set up your goal. Burning 300 calories in exercise brings you to negative 550-1300, depending what your weight loss rate goal is. Look at that number and your status and goal and how your body feels to determine whether the resulting calorie deficit is healthy and sustainable.5 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »FYI - Those calorie counters on exercise machines are notoriously inaccurate on the high side, for obvious reasons.
Yes, which is why you will see virtually everyone in these threads stress the importance of estimating exercise calories accurately and using their real life results to make adjustments.
All of this.
Everyone has explained many of these points before, about how to best utilize the MFP approach to accurately tracking and logging calories in and calories out to achieve their individual goals. Time and again, eric has suggested that things are so difficult and daunting that new users will be turned off and ultimately unsuccessful, and ignoring the fact that so many of us have achieved our goals using this very tool and find it to be completely manageable and helpful.
I am convinced that eric is soon going to reveal his own site or method for weight loss that he believes is far superior to MFP. That's the only end game I can envision here that makes sense - why someone would continue to ignore the comments of people successfully using this site and trying to downplay the positive results that so many have had.
How many people do you personally know that have tracked and log calories for the long term? If it were so easy, we would all be thin.
There are actually quite a few such people on this site...
I'm about to go into my eleventh year logging food on this site. Not every day for that whole eleven years, but I'd say at least half of that, and for the past two years I've logged everything.
3 -
Ericnutrition wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »FYI - Those calorie counters on exercise machines are notoriously inaccurate on the high side, for obvious reasons.
Yes, which is why you will see virtually everyone in these threads stress the importance of estimating exercise calories accurately and using their real life results to make adjustments.
All of this.
Everyone has explained many of these points before, about how to best utilize the MFP approach to accurately tracking and logging calories in and calories out to achieve their individual goals. Time and again, eric has suggested that things are so difficult and daunting that new users will be turned off and ultimately unsuccessful, and ignoring the fact that so many of us have achieved our goals using this very tool and find it to be completely manageable and helpful.
I am convinced that eric is soon going to reveal his own site or method for weight loss that he believes is far superior to MFP. That's the only end game I can envision here that makes sense - why someone would continue to ignore the comments of people successfully using this site and trying to downplay the positive results that so many have had.
How many people do you personally know that have tracked and log calories for the long term? If it were so easy, we would all be thin.
There are actually quite a few such people on this site...
I'm about to go into my eleventh year logging food on this site. Not every day for that whole eleven years, but I'd say at least half of that, and for the past two years I've logged everything.
Based on everything you've learned about appropriate eating through calorie counting, wouldn't it be a lot easier not to log, weigh yourself everyday, and start logging again if you gain a pound or two?
Chances are you will rarely gain weight because you know what to eat and not eat.
Not logging does not mean going to Burger King and ordering a triple cheeseburger with a large fries and a large Coke. It means eating what you've been eating.
I don't know about you, but I personally find it much easier to maintain my weight than it is to lose weight.
I don't know what you mean by knowing what to eat and what not to eat. Well, I know, but it's not a concept that I would enjoy. I lost weight by counting the calories of things I was eating anyway, I just hit my specific calorie goal. Sometimes that included french fries or a soda so the category of "what not to eat" wasn't part of my weight loss and it isn't part of my life now.
Some people do lose weight and maintain successfully by having a category of "foods not to eat" and if it works for them, that's great. But many people, like me, prefer to lose and maintain by just eating a variety of foods and hitting a calorie goal.4 -
Cindy01Louisiana wrote: »BUT, if you do that day after day after day, you are only taking in 900 net calories a day. If your body doesn't rebel in some way, consider me baffled.
I've seen this basic math error a few times in this thread, and I think correcting it may help us look at this differently.
Burning 300 calories with exercise after eating your 1200 calories goal does not put you at 900 calories net. Just eating your target calories without extra activity puts you at a net of *negative* 250-1000 calories depending how you set up your goal. Burning 300 calories in exercise brings you to negative 550-1300, depending what your weight loss rate goal is. Look at that number and your status and goal and how your body feels to determine whether the resulting calorie deficit is healthy and sustainable.
If you eat 1200 calories and burn 300, your net calories are 900...it's not a math error. Eating 1200 and burning 300 is the same as just eating 900 calories.6 -
Ericnutrition wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »FYI - Those calorie counters on exercise machines are notoriously inaccurate on the high side, for obvious reasons.
Yes, which is why you will see virtually everyone in these threads stress the importance of estimating exercise calories accurately and using their real life results to make adjustments.
All of this.
Everyone has explained many of these points before, about how to best utilize the MFP approach to accurately tracking and logging calories in and calories out to achieve their individual goals. Time and again, eric has suggested that things are so difficult and daunting that new users will be turned off and ultimately unsuccessful, and ignoring the fact that so many of us have achieved our goals using this very tool and find it to be completely manageable and helpful.
I am convinced that eric is soon going to reveal his own site or method for weight loss that he believes is far superior to MFP. That's the only end game I can envision here that makes sense - why someone would continue to ignore the comments of people successfully using this site and trying to downplay the positive results that so many have had.
How many people do you personally know that have tracked and log calories for the long term? If it were so easy, we would all be thin.
There are actually quite a few such people on this site...
I'm about to go into my eleventh year logging food on this site. Not every day for that whole eleven years, but I'd say at least half of that, and for the past two years I've logged everything.
Based on everything you've learned about appropriate eating through calorie counting, wouldn't it be a lot easier not to log, weigh yourself everyday, and start logging again if you gain a pound or two?
Chances are you will rarely gain weight because you know what to eat and not eat.
Not logging does not mean going to Burger King and ordering a triple cheeseburger with a large fries and a large Coke. It means eating what you've been eating.
Perhaps because she finds it easier to keep track through the process of logging.
Again, logging suits some personality types particularly well.
I understand that you don't get that some people actually enjoy it.
No one has said that people HAVE to log. You've constructed that straw man and are trying to convince people who are perfectly content with logging that they don't have to for some reason.
Why does this matter so much to you?
I could foresee a time where I might not necessarily log but would still weigh foods while occasionally still using the recipe builder because I'm familiar enough with calorie amounts, but I'd likely keep a running tally in my head and compare it against my Fitbit, making adjustments as the scale dictates.
Then again, those times wouldn't last for longer than a few weeks. I don't like uncertainty that much. I just get lazy every now and then.8 -
NorthCascades wrote: »If you want to lose weight slow. Get depressed when you plateau etc then go ahead and have twinkie to eat back all that hard work you did today. I do not. Losing and loving it here.
That's a really interesting theory. Is it real?
I lost about 75 pounds, and I've kept it off for years now.
Last night I had a heaping plate of tacos for dinner. About 1,200 delicious calories worth. It was a yummy protein bomb.
Also yesterday I biked 27 hilly miles in 2 hours. And walked 14k steps over the course of the day. A walk to get coffee, a walk at lunch.
In the last week I've done 120 bike miles. Just got some new wheels, having a lot of fun riding them. New toys are the best motivators.
So I can't agree that eating your exercise calories makes you a fat and depressed loser. It just means you understand math.
I’m curious, how many hours a week does that total? Biking and Walks (intentional choice to use walking to get someplace others would likely choose a different form of transportation so count walk from office 2 blocks to coffee shop but don’t count parked a bit farther away in the grocery store parking lot)?
I could be way off, but I’m guessing that amounts to 20 or 30 hours a week?
Your body doesn't know whether a particular expenditure of energy is "intentional." All that matters is whether the total expenditure of energy is more than, less than, or the same as the amount of energy you consumed.4 -
You've expressed my thoughts better than I could. I just don't get why this poster cares so much about what others do. I like logging personally. I gives me a plan to hit my targets that facilitate my workout and weight goals. He should do him and I'll do me.GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »FYI - Those calorie counters on exercise machines are notoriously inaccurate on the high side, for obvious reasons.
Yes, which is why you will see virtually everyone in these threads stress the importance of estimating exercise calories accurately and using their real life results to make adjustments.
All of this.
Everyone has explained many of these points before, about how to best utilize the MFP approach to accurately tracking and logging calories in and calories out to achieve their individual goals. Time and again, eric has suggested that things are so difficult and daunting that new users will be turned off and ultimately unsuccessful, and ignoring the fact that so many of us have achieved our goals using this very tool and find it to be completely manageable and helpful.
I am convinced that eric is soon going to reveal his own site or method for weight loss that he believes is far superior to MFP. That's the only end game I can envision here that makes sense - why someone would continue to ignore the comments of people successfully using this site and trying to downplay the positive results that so many have had.
How many people do you personally know that have tracked and log calories for the long term? If it were so easy, we would all be thin.
There are actually quite a few such people on this site...
I'm about to go into my eleventh year logging food on this site. Not every day for that whole eleven years, but I'd say at least half of that, and for the past two years I've logged everything.
Based on everything you've learned about appropriate eating through calorie counting, wouldn't it be a lot easier not to log, weigh yourself everyday, and start logging again if you gain a pound or two?
Chances are you will rarely gain weight because you know what to eat and not eat.
Not logging does not mean going to Burger King and ordering a triple cheeseburger with a large fries and a large Coke. It means eating what you've been eating.
Perhaps because she finds it easier to keep track through the process of logging.
Again, logging suits some personality types particularly well.
I understand that you don't get that some people actually enjoy it.
No one has said that people HAVE to log. You've constructed that straw man and are trying to convince people who are perfectly content with logging that they don't have to for some reason.
Why does this matter so much to you?
I could foresee a time where I might not necessarily log but would still weigh foods while occasionally still using the recipe builder because I'm familiar enough with calorie amounts, but I'd likely keep a running tally in my head and compare it against my Fitbit, making adjustments as the scale dictates.
Then again, those times wouldn't last for longer than a few weeks. I don't like uncertainty that much. I just get lazy every now and then.
9 -
soon2beeskinny wrote: »I'm not understanding the purpose of eating back your exercise calories. It defeats the purpose of exercising if you are using it to burn more calories. If you eat them back you don't burn more calories. Your're in the same place you were before you started. Am I missing something here?
Yes, you are missing something. MFP is designed to give you a constant calorie deficit. By exercising you get to eat more and still lose weight. Exercise also does more for your health than weight loss.2 -
Ericnutrition wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »FYI - Those calorie counters on exercise machines are notoriously inaccurate on the high side, for obvious reasons.
Yes, which is why you will see virtually everyone in these threads stress the importance of estimating exercise calories accurately and using their real life results to make adjustments.
All of this.
Everyone has explained many of these points before, about how to best utilize the MFP approach to accurately tracking and logging calories in and calories out to achieve their individual goals. Time and again, eric has suggested that things are so difficult and daunting that new users will be turned off and ultimately unsuccessful, and ignoring the fact that so many of us have achieved our goals using this very tool and find it to be completely manageable and helpful.
I am convinced that eric is soon going to reveal his own site or method for weight loss that he believes is far superior to MFP. That's the only end game I can envision here that makes sense - why someone would continue to ignore the comments of people successfully using this site and trying to downplay the positive results that so many have had.
How many people do you personally know that have tracked and log calories for the long term? If it were so easy, we would all be thin.
There are actually quite a few such people on this site...
I'm about to go into my eleventh year logging food on this site. Not every day for that whole eleven years, but I'd say at least half of that, and for the past two years I've logged everything.
Based on everything you've learned about appropriate eating through calorie counting, wouldn't it be a lot easier not to log, weigh yourself everyday, and start logging again if you gain a pound or two?
Chances are you will rarely gain weight because you know what to eat and not eat.
Not logging does not mean going to Burger King and ordering a triple cheeseburger with a large fries and a large Coke. It means eating what you've been eating.
Logging just isn't the huge burden that you seem to find it for a lot of people. Srsly, not difficult.
Example:
Breakfast - place bowl on scale, turn on, add yoghurt, tare, add LSA, tare, add fruit (varies depending on season). Then go to MFP diary (usually whilst eating, or straight after), click 'add food' under breakfast, tick boxes for yoghurt, LSA, and whatever fruit (along with the coffee and milk I've already had), adjust weight for fruit if necessary (yoghurt and LSA are precisely weighed to the same amount every day), click 'add checked'. Done.
Same with lunch and dinner. Everything is there in my recent/frequent foods list, I just have to tick the boxes and adjust weights if necessary. And I keep those weights in my head usually between preparing my food and logging it (unless it's something with heaps of ingredients), cos it's good for my brain.
As Jane said, it's a lot easier to maintain your weight than to have to lose 2 lb of fat again. If I'm logging, I know that any fluctuations on the scale are just natural and I don't need to worry about them.6 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Ericnutrition wrote: »FYI - Those calorie counters on exercise machines are notoriously inaccurate on the high side, for obvious reasons.
Yes, which is why you will see virtually everyone in these threads stress the importance of estimating exercise calories accurately and using their real life results to make adjustments.
All of this.
Everyone has explained many of these points before, about how to best utilize the MFP approach to accurately tracking and logging calories in and calories out to achieve their individual goals. Time and again, eric has suggested that things are so difficult and daunting that new users will be turned off and ultimately unsuccessful, and ignoring the fact that so many of us have achieved our goals using this very tool and find it to be completely manageable and helpful.
I am convinced that eric is soon going to reveal his own site or method for weight loss that he believes is far superior to MFP. That's the only end game I can envision here that makes sense - why someone would continue to ignore the comments of people successfully using this site and trying to downplay the positive results that so many have had.
How many people do you personally know that have tracked and log calories for the long term? If it were so easy, we would all be thin.
There are actually quite a few such people on this site...
I'm about to go into my eleventh year logging food on this site. Not every day for that whole eleven years, but I'd say at least half of that, and for the past two years I've logged everything.
Based on everything you've learned about appropriate eating through calorie counting, wouldn't it be a lot easier not to log, weigh yourself everyday, and start logging again if you gain a pound or two?
Chances are you will rarely gain weight because you know what to eat and not eat.
Not logging does not mean going to Burger King and ordering a triple cheeseburger with a large fries and a large Coke. It means eating what you've been eating.
Logging just isn't the huge burden that you seem to find it for a lot of people. Srsly, not difficult.
Example:
Breakfast - place bowl on scale, turn on, add yoghurt, tare, add LSA, tare, add fruit (varies depending on season). Then go to MFP diary (usually whilst eating, or straight after), click 'add food' under breakfast, tick boxes for yoghurt, LSA, and whatever fruit (along with the coffee and milk I've already had), adjust weight for fruit if necessary (yoghurt and LSA are precisely weighed to the same amount every day), click 'add checked'. Done.
Same with lunch and dinner. Everything is there in my recent/frequent foods list, I just have to tick the boxes and adjust weights if necessary. And I keep those weights in my head usually between preparing my food and logging it (unless it's something with heaps of ingredients), cos it's good for my brain.
As Jane said, it's a lot easier to maintain your weight than to have to lose 2 lb of fat again. If I'm logging, I know that any fluctuations on the scale are just natural and I don't need to worry about them.
This is such a good point. Because I'm logging, I don't have to worry when I see the scale jump up from water retention or whatever. I can be confident that it's not actual weight gain.
In the 2+ years I've been maintaining through logging, I can honestly say I've thought about my weight less than I have at any previous point in my adult life. It's completely removed the drama for me around my weight and my food choices. Eating is just a thing I do for pleasure, energy, and nutrition now, all the baggage has been stripped away (I'm not saying it has this result for everyone, but it's the result it's had for me).3 -
Oh, that is such a good point.
I remember the first time I hit a stall. Three weeks.
You know what? I was not stressed at all.
You know why? I knew my logging was on point and it had served me well and I trusted the math.
I came on the forums and learned all about the "stall and whoosh" pattern of weight loss and sat tight. That's eventually what happened.
Every road bump I've hit over the last year has happened when I've had days I haven't logged and then wondered what was water weight, what was actual weight.4
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