eating to fuel your body (very long)

hiddensecant

Bump the jam, bump get the parhty started.

Now if I could get one of my 750 calorie a day buddies to read this.

Good work.

oh I'll bet they read it, denial AIN'T just a river in Egypt you know!

750? :sad:

iplayoutside19

750? Sound like breakfast.

sandy429

Food = Fuel

Oh Jess, if we had a nickel . . .

Banks: Excellent post!! Thank you!!

jennylynn84

Thank goodness, Banks. I keep trying to figure out why people think there is such a huge difference between the calories they burn in daily activity and the calories they burn working out. I mean, if you have to eat one, you have to eat the other. Why even eat your BMR? Why eat any of them if our bodies don't need it?! Good grief! :noway:

Thank goodness for your posts of rational, polite, scientific explanations.

kspeach

750? Sound like breakfast.

LOL! You must love breakfast as much as I do!

And LOOOOOVE this thread.

ladybug1620

Thank you for this! Especially the part about weight gain when increasing calories after starving yourself for a while. I lost a lot of my weight through not good ways like drastic calorie cutting. I'm on week two of trying to eat right and work out to get to a healthier place, and to lose the remaining few lbs. I have been a bit discouraged because I've actually gained 1lb. I expected it, but it's nice to hear it from a professional.

sherry_80

bump

lisawest

Bump!

SHBoss1673

Thanks for all the kind words guys. It's a pleasure doing this stuff for you folks.

abricklin

amen!

I am guilty of not eating all of my exercise calories. Usually I get 1650 with exercise and eat 1400-1500.... thoughts?

Here's a great thread to check out! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/108362-eating-to-fuel-your-body-very-long?page=1#posts-1494332 Taking time to read the ENTIRE post will give you just what you're looking for:drinker:

I read it ....

SHBoss1673

amen!

I am guilty of not eating all of my exercise calories. Usually I get 1650 with exercise and eat 1400-1500.... thoughts?

not really sure what you're looking for. Could you be more specific?

mamaDaisyJ

I'm a lurker, and you are always so clear in your explanations ~ Thanks so much!

Mande_G

Banks,

So, what's the best way to transition to eating all of your exercise calories for someone who started out in the obese/over 40% body fat range? Would I still need to gradually increase to maintenance, hold there for 3-4 weeks, then resume a reasonable deficit including eating back all exercise calories? Or can I just gradually increase to eating back all of the exercise cals without going up to maintenance first?

My info.: I'm female, 30 years old, 5'2", medium frame, started out at 205 lbs and somewhere around 40-45 % body fat (according to the body fat scale at my gym -- I am aware that this is not the most accurate assessment of body fat %). I joined MFP in December of 2009, changed my eating habits (more fruits, veges, whole grains, lean dairy, at about 1400 cals per day) and exercised about 20 minutes per day, eating back none to 1/2 my exercise calories. Got an HRM in February, started exercising longer (30-45 minutes) and was eating back about 1/2 my exercise cals. My diary is publicly viewable.

Currently I'm 170 -- down almost 40 lbs from where I started. My base calories according to MFP are 1290, I exercise 60-90 minutes a day, 7 days a week with 3 days devoted to strength, 6 days of moderate to moderate-high intensity cardio (heart rate at about 85% of max) and one "rest" day where I do an hour of yoga. I eat back 1/2 of my exercise calories and lose about a lb per week or less (I got off track through May and June, didn't gain, but didn't really lose, and I'm struggling to get back ON track. I've lost 1 lb per week for the last 2 weeks, so things seem to be normalizing). I do not know my current body fat %. If I go by BMI, I'm still in the "obese" category, but I'm getting closer to crossing the line into "overweight".

My current goal is to get down to 125-135, then reassess my situation once I'm there.

Am I on the right track, or do I have adjustments to make?

so, from what it looks like, you're kind of in a gray area. I don't know what your deficit is at (although I assume it's 2 lbs a week) you're probably right on the edge of needing to go down a little.

It's hard to tell whether you're in what most people would call "starvation mode" because you're losing at a decent clip, although not spectacular for your situation. I guess, what I would do is what you said, a little tweaking and checking. So I'd probably bump up your calories by maybe 100 or 150 and give that 3 solid weeks while maintaining all your other activities. Either that or just eat back more of your exercise calories. If that doesn't do you right, I'd try the other direction (not all at once, I'd put a middle zone for a week or two where you lower your calories about 1/2 way, then go down another 100 to 150) and see if that helps. For some of us it's just a game of tweak this, tweak that. Unfortunately, since you ARE losing it's not so easy to figure out how to speed up the process. Well, I guess that's not the right way to put it, it's not really difficult to fathom, it's just a long process. I know for me, once i dropped out of the obese range, I had to experiment for almost 2 full months where I didn't lose hardly any weight before I found the right calories and exercises to continue.

PM me if you have more detailed questions.

congrats on the 40 lbs by the way. good job!

-Banks

I think I am going to work on getting up to eating 100% of my exercise cals, give it 3-4 weeks to see how my body responds, then reassess after that.

Thank you for your input -- it helped!

tres1967

posting so I can have this thread in my topics, no time to read it all right this minute :yawn:

abricklin

amen!

I am guilty of not eating all of my exercise calories. Usually I get 1650 with exercise and eat 1400-1500.... thoughts?

not really sure what you're looking for. Could you be more specific?

Sorry, should have given you details. I am 5'3, 26yrs old 195 on a good day. I am set to lose 1.5lbs on MFP per week, which is 1240 calories daily. I work out 5-6 days a week and burn anywhere from 400 (midweek) to 700 (Saturday 3 mile run) calories. Mid week, I eat about 1450 calories a day, more on weekends. I am definitely not losing 1.5 lbs per week, and honestly, not even half that. One week I dropped 3 lbs, then .2, then up a bit, then down, and so on and so forth. This has been going on for several weeks on MFP and prior to that, 5 months on WW. I just can't seem to get back under 190 and keep going.

So the question is, would you suggest setting MFP goal to 1 lb per week and eating ALL of my exercise caloris, or closer, as now I am eating only half (not intentionally). I know all the healthy ways to add calories without bad food, nuts, PB, avocado, etc. Like you said, it takes tweeking, so I am wondeirng what your advice would be.

tiarapants

Interesting reading

SHBoss1673

amen!

I am guilty of not eating all of my exercise calories. Usually I get 1650 with exercise and eat 1400-1500.... thoughts?

not really sure what you're looking for. Could you be more specific?

Sorry, should have given you details. I am 5'3, 26yrs old 195 on a good day. I am set to lose 1.5lbs on MFP per week, which is 1240 calories daily. I work out 5-6 days a week and burn anywhere from 400 (midweek) to 700 (Saturday 3 mile run) calories. Mid week, I eat about 1450 calories a day, more on weekends. I am definitely not losing 1.5 lbs per week, and honestly, not even half that. One week I dropped 3 lbs, then .2, then up a bit, then down, and so on and so forth. This has been going on for several weeks on MFP and prior to that, 5 months on WW. I just can't seem to get back under 190 and keep going.

So the question is, would you suggest setting MFP goal to 1 lb per week and eating ALL of my exercise caloris, or closer, as now I am eating only half (not intentionally). I know all the healthy ways to add calories without bad food, nuts, PB, avocado, etc. Like you said, it takes tweeking, so I am wondeirng what your advice would be.

Well, I don't want to turn this thread into "guess my deficit" but I'll do yours. If anyone wants me to speculate, please PM me so we don't do this via the forum (not really the place for it).

Anyway,

You're BMI is about 34, which is a bad way to do this, I admit (BMI's not a good measurement tool), but I don't have anything else to go on so this is what I'll say. Most likely you can go a little larger on your deficit. But you should still be eating most of your exercise calories. 34 isn't that bad, depending on how hard you're working. I'm not surprised that your losses fluctuate, everyone's losses fluctuate, my wife will lose 3 lbs 1 week and nothing the next 2 weeks, then 3 lbs the next week. I've seen a lot of that. Not to say that that's what should happen, it's just not all that surprising. My advice, if you're averaging 1 lb per week over a month, then that's what you should take it as. Don't worry to much about the week over week totals, that's far to short to draw any conclusions from. The shortest time span I feel confident in using is a month, and 2 months is preferred. I KNOW everyone wants the loss to be consistent and fast, but that's just not how our bodies work.

To sum up, tweak your calories if you feel like you can get more, go up a little, go down a little, that's no problem. But make sure you give your body enough time to adjust to the new calorie levels. 1 to 2 weeks is too short to notice a change. The fact that you're losing somewhere around 3/4 lb per week means you're doing it right, now you just need to fine tune the numbers.

cardigirl

Bumping to keep in my queue. Thank you Banks!

hiddensecant

bump

IsMollyReallyHungry

Wonderful information! Thanks for clearing this up so nicely!! It was long but very useful information. HUGE thanks for sharing it because many of us was confused but it makes too much sense not to be accurate and I am going to put it in to use for me!

hiddensecant

Others tout that no other site counts calories this way ... But that's the reason Mike created this site in the first place! And the reason it's become so popular is because it works.

SHBoss1673

Others tout that no other site counts calories this way ... But that's the reason Mike created this site in the first place! And the reason it's become so popular is because it works.

true enough g! it does work. But the best part of this site is the fact that because you track everything, you can make minor tweaks and really see the changes as they happen, as long as you are focused and persistent.

lilmissy2

Great post... I especially agree with the eating only when you are hungry thing, people are always so surprised when they start eating breakfast and suddenly ARE hungry in the morning!

I do have to disagree with you on one thing. I don't think it is ok for obese people to eat less than non-obese people just because they have more fat to fuel them. Sure, they will have calories to use as energy but they won't be getting the nutrition they need, which to me is the difference between a crash diet and a lifestyle modification. The whole point is to not put yourself at unnecessary risk and to stay healthy while you are losing weight.

Also as a side note, I completely agree with some of the people on the site who say they eat only some of their exercise calories but that is purely because I think exercise calories are very difficult to estimate and often overestimated. If you were able to accurately count them then I would agree with eating them all.

SHBoss1673

Great post... I especially agree with the eating only when you are hungry thing, people are always so surprised when they start eating breakfast and suddenly ARE hungry in the morning!

I do have to disagree with you on one thing. I don't think it is ok for obese people to eat less than non-obese people just because they have more fat to fuel them. Sure, they will have calories to use as energy but they won't be getting the nutrition they need, which to me is the difference between a crash diet and a lifestyle modification. The whole point is to not put yourself at unnecessary risk and to stay healthy while you are losing weight.

Also as a side note, I completely agree with some of the people on the site who say they eat only some of their exercise calories but that is purely because I think exercise calories are very difficult to estimate and often overestimated. If you were able to accurately count them then I would agree with eating them all.

Aha! Notice I never said to go below the 1200 calorie limit unless you are a very small person who's total body footprint could support it. Just because I say that obese people can sometimes not eat back their exercise calories, doesn't mean they can go so low that they are not getting the micro nutrients they need. I was very specific about not saying that, on purpose. And in fact, I'm glad you brought it up. I didn't want to go to deep into the micro nutrient topic because it would confuse some people and my post was already super long, but none-the-less there it is.

For the record (and this is for everyone, not specifically you lilmissy2), the 1200 calorie limit is a number that, in the 80's, the World Health Organization came to after an exhaustive study involving thousands of people around the globe. The number 1200 with regards to calories, was deemed the number that WOMEN should consume as a minimum average to avoid malnutrition. Notice that I said malnutrition, which in large part means micro nutrient deficiency. While your body can make up for much of the macro nutrients (calories) with body fat, it can't produce many of the micro nutrients needed, which can lead to many health issues and long term problems. Which is just another reason to keep yourself at the 1200 calorie low point. Unless, of course, you are under the care of a qualified physician. You may not see the negative effects of a sub-1200 diet right away, it may take years for it to show up, but if you do this long term, eventually it will catch up with you. So please, be smart about your diet. And no, supplements can't make up the difference, they just don't digest the same way food does.
Incidentally, for males the average was 1800 as a minimum average.

hope this helps.:drinker:

-Banks

Kamila02

bump

mskimberlee

Bump for my "Biggest Loser Sister's". Thanks so much for this!

lilmissy2

1200 cals per day will not be enough to meet your micronutrient requirements but it may be enough to just sustain you temporarily until you are eating more. Even a highly concentrated feed with vitamins added is usually only nutritionally complete in 1500cals so I have my doubts that food would be complete in 1200. Also, obese people will actually require more micronutrients than healthy weight people... that was kind of my point. I don't think that a very obese person needs to eat 1200cals per day to lose weight, in fact they could probably eat 2000cals per day and lose weight and I would be all for that.

recipe4success

1200 cals per day will not be enough to meet your micronutrient requirements but it may be enough to just sustain you temporarily until you are eating more. Even a highly concentrated feed with vitamins added is usually only nutritionally complete in 1500cals so I have my doubts that food would be complete in 1200. Also, obese people will actually require more micronutrients than healthy weight people... that was kind of my point. I don't think that a very obese person needs to eat 1200cals per day to lose weight, in fact they could probably eat 2000cals per day and lose weight and I would be all for that.

Exactly.

I"m obese, i'm eating an average of 2000 cal/day and losing weight (over 2 lbs/week). I highly doubt I would meet my micronutrient needs with 1200 calories.

Also I disagree with the whole 1200 calorie thing in general, it is just an arbitrary number. Your calorie and nutrient needs are based on your weight, not just on whether you are female or male.

amy1612

Great post.
I dont always eat all of my exercise calories as I struggle sometimes to find the time, however, not eating enough is general is NOT good. Last thursday I had a really busy day, and then went for my workout in the evening. Alltogether that day (before exercise calories were added) I consumed around 1000 calories. Fruit and veg,pasta, egg whites,brown toast. When I got home I felt so tired, and a little crappy. I usually eat to support the exercise I do, and not doing it hit me quite hard....theres a reason your body needs it.

Jaymie

another great post

THANK U BANKS :flowerforyou: