Working out-Gaining more calories

kristle00

Just want to make sure I have this right and I'm correctly understanding. When we set up what our calorie goals are for the day, and we exercise, we get to add more calories, so we can eat more, or eat higher calorie foods. And that is okay for the diet world? I've been going by this theory the last few weeks and have lost weight, and I'm excited about it. I just feel like I'm cheating sometimes. For example, I try to do 1240 calories a day. And if I work out, I get more calories to eat, If i don't, I stay at that level. I worked out in the am, adding 300+ calories. And at softball last night, we played an awesome team, ran our butts off and played extended times and I burned about 1100 calories. So I decided to treat myself to a mcdouble and a pop, knowing i'd still be way under my calorie intake for the day, considering how many calories I burned. I've been avoiding pop at all costs, as well as fast food, unless it's subway. It tasted amazing but afterwards I felt kinda gross and like I cheated. Like even tho I had the calories to do it. I shouldn't of. Adding all the calories from working out my goal was 2659 and my total was 1888. Substancially lower, but considering my daily without working out is 1240, is it weird to go that much over? I guess any inforation, or advice or even just reassurance would be great thanks

Mokey41

As long as it's working for you then great. Just be careful with estimating calorie burns. Without a HRM it's pretty hard to be accurate and something like baseball won't even work that way because you are standing around a good part of the time and a HRM will only be accurate for steady state cardio. Like you say you did, I'd be cautious on eating all the exercise calories you think you've burned.

kristle00

Ok Thanks! That's why I've been trying not to use all of them, at least when it comes to softball. I'm the pitcher so i'm constantly moving on the field, and even when i'm not on the field waiting to bat i'm making sure i'm still moving to keep my muscles warm. I used the MFP calorie calculator for it so I figured It'd be at least somewhat close. Just feels weird to me to go over so much in comparison to what I'm set to get.

amsipub

When I started out last year, I didn't want to eat my activity gained calories and it ended up making me not lose weight and I didn't feel good. Once I started eating those calories that I was allotted then I started losing the weight much more easily. It's not tons of calories that you gain, but it does help

conniemaxwell5

At 1240 you're already at a defict and would lose weight with no activity. When you add activity you have two choices - eat more calories to fuel the activity or go into greater deficit, which can have bad results such as hair loss, skin problems, decreased metabolism, etc.

It is good to fuel your activities. The diet world has conditioned us to think it's bad. We need to change our thinking. You can fuel it with 'healthy' food or 'junk' food. Personally I've come to hate feeling like crap after eating fast food so I hardly ever eat it anymore.

ksy1969

Yes!! MFP calculates your daily intake based on data you input and those calories are set to lose an estimated amount of weight each week. If you are working out you are increasing that deficit and you need to fuel your workout because MFP is not giving you enough calories for it.

wilsoje74

Ok Thanks! That's why I've been trying not to use all of them, at least when it comes to softball. I'm the pitcher so i'm constantly moving on the field, and even when i'm not on the field waiting to bat i'm making sure i'm still moving to keep my muscles warm. I used the MFP calorie calculator for it so I figured It'd be at least somewhat close. Just feels weird to me to go over so much in comparison to what I'm set to get.

1100 seems high but if its working go for it!!! Be careful of fast food, tons of sodium and may cause water weight. I try to stay away from McDonald's just because I find it gross!!

kristle00

Ok i'm feeling better now! Minus the Mcdonalds part! Ha I used to eat McDonalds alllll the time (hence me needing to lose weight!) I just was wondering about the added calories and if it's something I needed to do or not. And if I burn a lot of calories if I should be replacing close to all of them, or what's comfortable etc.. 1100 For softball seemed a little high as well but knowing how hard I played, and that we played for 2 1/2 hours straight, It's probably not too far fetched. But thankyou all for your input!

Doone33

Years before when I never worked out... I just didn't have the appetite.. Now that I jog and exercise... now lift weights... I think I would pass out if I did not eat regularly.. I believe my metabolism burns faster when I am working out.... yes you get to eat more calories... For example... My husband is 260 pounds.. with only 20 percent t body fat... he has his share of muscle... he has to eat regularly.. more often than a man who does not have the muscle mass he has! I know his calorie intake is somewhere around 3500 calories a day! INSANE HUH? I wish mine was that.. I would never put on weight! LOL... My point is... if you set your calorie intake at lets say 1400... and you work out adding 400 ... and then your eating up to 1800 a day and loosing weight... that's better than just eating 1400 because the muscle and the fact that your revving your metabolism will benefit you later down the road! I am not a pro at this... LOL.. I have soo much to learn and lots of questions and stuff I don't do right.... But this part I understand because I have seen my husband do it... and it has been proven to me in the flesh!

kristle00

Thanks! I was thinking I would need more calories. I can tell after I've worked out or played softball or done some sort of physical activity I'm more hungry. I just didn't know how much more I should be allowing myself. If i work out and burn 800 calories throughout the day and only eat 400 of them, if that gonna affect my weight loss, is it necessary to eat close to the total you burn? Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. I guess it depends on the day and the workout! Just seems weird to me after counting my calories for a few weeks and trying to keep them low that i'd be consuming so much more if I have a good workout day.

Doone33

I am going to ask.. beens your asking our advice.. how did you come up with 1100 calories burned..
I agree with the above statement.. that seems excessive.. Eating back some of those calories may cause you too loose weight.... but eating back 1100 calories .. may not reap you the same result... because I know baseball burns calories.. but it is not a steady burn .. maybe you could get you a heart rate monitor... so that you will know for sure... that was recently suggested for me and I soon plan to invest in one!

I do eat back my calories burned... I have too lost each week... anywhere from 1-4 pounds.... But like I said... earlier.. MY husband lifts weight... heavy duty like, boxes and other calisthenics.... He does not burn 1100 calories in one and half hours of heavy work outs and he is 260 pounds! Not trying to discourage you... but don't want to encourage you to eat back all 1100!

kristle00

Oh no i didn't eat back all that calories, that seemed quite excessive! I punched it in to MFP, searched softball, and it asked how many minutes you played and it calculated it. I may have to get HRM to see how that works out with it. I just went to health discovery as well, asked how much you weigh and how many minutes you played and under softball for me playing for 2 1/2 hours it shows 1164 calories burned? So Idk!?

kestrels

hi. reading this now makes sense to me, I think, ive been trying to work out how many calories im suppose to have to lose a few pounds, im nearly 60 quite fit and young, im 5ft 1and weigh 132lbs, ideally I want to go to 126, here it says goal 1340 food what I ate that day was 1232 exercise was 298 net 934 remaining406. so is it my goal and exercise added together is what I have to eat or a bit lessin order to loose weight. and does goal mean that is what I burn just by doing nothing. ive seen other sites where my goal is less, ive been eating more to no avail and eating less to no avail, ive no underlying medical probs, would appreciate some help

cdjs77

Oh no i didn't eat back all that calories, that seemed quite excessive! I punched it in to MFP, searched softball, and it asked how many minutes you played and it calculated it. I may have to get HRM to see how that works out with it. I just went to health discovery as well, asked how much you weigh and how many minutes you played and under softball for me playing for 2 1/2 hours it shows 1164 calories burned? So Idk!?

Like others have suggested, I would say to get a heart rate monitor. Many people have found that the calorie counts on MFP overestimate calories. Calorie counts on places like MFP are generally calculated for doing a certain activity at a continuous level of effort. So, for example, it may have taken you two hours to clean your house, but not all of that time was probably spend cleaning at a vigorous effort (i.e. you have have scrubbed the bathroom vigorously, but then done some light dusting for a bit, etc), however, MFP will assume you exerted the same vigorous effort for the whole two hours. On top of that, estimates are made based on how others burned calories doing that exercise and one can not always be sure that they are exerting the same amount of effort in the same way as those who were used for the estimates. Heart rate monitors are not always perfect, but they are more tailored to your experience.

As a side note, 1100 calories does seem like a lot for softball, that's about 440 calories per hour. I don't know how much you weigh, but for me it came to just over 300 calories per hour for softball, which would be the equivalent of walking/jogging for an hour at 4 mph. That means you would have to be putting in the same effort in one hour as a brisk walk/slow jog, which seems slightly high. So, again, a heart rate monitor could help figure this out. As a plus, my heart rate monitor actually showed that I was burning significantly more calories doing some exercises than I thought.

aquiva33

I've experienced the same thing but I'm finding out that the fast food doesn't taste as good as it used to taste. And it makes me want to go to sleep as soon as I eat it. Not worth the cheat.

Doone33

If you can understand this.. I will try and explain the way I believe it works.. I am loosing weight.. and have been steadily.. but Also.. I am trying to do it healthy for a long term goal... I know some people just want to loose 10 pounds .. for here and now and eat as little as they can to drop it.. that to me is not a good long term goal.. it will hurt your long term goal... but anyhow.. here is what I understand....

After you give MFP all your info.. such as activity.. pounds you want to loose.. how fast... ect.... then they give you a number of calories to eat each day, that is a healthy number for you to loose weight but not starving your body. Then you can add to this number by exercising... and if your exercising
(exercise means different things to different people.. so I wanna make it clear that my definition of exercise is not any normal day activities... it has to be a special time set aside that your keep your heart rate up and are working hard to achieve a goal.)
so if you add to the number say your daily goal is 1200... and you exercise and put the info in to MFP and they will raise your daily goal to 1400.... well then that is your goal for the day.. the 1400. You can go under some occasionally or even skip eating the extra calories if you want once in a while (so I have read) But its not a good idea to do it often. If you do it often your body will not repair correctly and rebuild so that your building muscle and getting stronger like it would if you ate what you needed. Also... the part I am not so good at... Some people buy pretty pricy food items from health markets and what not... I have not done this... I don't know what the outcome would be or the benefits... But I do know the calories you eat on a day to day basis should be healthy... need to meet your goal for protein, carbs, iron and fiber (get those mastered and you can move on to master more of the diet part!) try not to eat processed foods... fast foods... etc.... I am no nutrionalist.. so this is just my advice.. I have seen this work as my husband is what I call a fit freak... LOL.. I am trying.. but need to work on all this myself! I have not mastered all this part yet! Thanks to MFP for having the numbers right in front of me.. cause I could not keep up like my husband does!


Hope this was not too much rambling... I try to help others and hope they might share what they have learned in return!

kestrels

hi Doone33, thanks for that, made sense well put, however ive changed my activity to light and that has adjusted my calories, which is what I have been eating, but when I complete the entry at end of day it says I should be 125 or 126lbs in 5 weeks but its not happening, thats what I cant understand, I eat healthy home made food and occassionally take away twice a month.Are you able to highlight that, the only difference ive found with my body is my love handles they are more toned and smaller, when I was at 127lbs they looked big and wobbly, now im 132lbs toned and an inch bigger on waist.thanks for your help.