Eat to exercise or exercise to eat: which describes you?

Jthanmyfitnesspal

The question about "eat to exercise" or "exercise to eat" is a good one. I guessing that big exercisers do a little of both. Which one describes you? How would you know if you had a problem?

kshama2001

Both! I love to be active and I love that it gives me more calories.

I'd know I had a problem if my partner was complaining I wasn't spending time with him due to exercise. (I have plenty of time these days - it's not like I'm working 12s and fighting to squeeze in exercise and couple time.)

kshama2001

This thread reminds me of another: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10839562/eating-back-exercise-calories/p1

So paging people involved in this same debate there: @wilson10102018, @rheddmobile, @wunderkindking, @glassyo

wunderkindking

Eat to exercise, most of the time,but some of both.

The truth is my daily activity is high enough just through life that my calories without additional activity are fine for me. The rest of the truth is, I don't exercise to be 'virtuous' or even to be more fit. The things I do as additional purposeful exercise are hobbies that I find to be an absolute BLAST and that involve movement - or things designed to improve my performance at those super-fun things that happen to be exercise.

I started weight loss with a desire to do more active things I always loved - horseback ride, paddleboards, climbing, trail running, harder hikes, swimming, etc and to have better fitness for dog agility.

I'm less 'exercising' for the sake of... anything than I am playing outside like an overgrown 12 year old on summer vacation.

I don't want to lose much more weight (i'm drifting downward but slowly and that's fine) and I DO want to play. So. I eat more. However, I also find cake delicious so that playing outside gives me room to eat more cake or cake more often? Absolutely a good thing.

wunderkindking

Oh, and for me I'd know I had a problem -for me - if I said "I am some small amount over my calories, and that is unacceptable and I must exercise to burn those off".

Basically if I was REACTING to what I'd already done, instead of making conscious decisions and taking deliberated actions without any sort of negative emotion (fear/panic/guilt/etc)

ninerbuff

Both.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

NorthCascades

I exercise because I enjoy moving my body through space and watching the landscape change around me as a result of my effort.

panda4153

I totally exercise to eat. I love food, meaning I like enjoying all types of food, and I have a big appetite. I know there would be no way for me to eat in the way I like go without some added exercise.

amusedmonkey

I'm firmly in the "exercise to eat" camp. I also like what it does for my mental and physical health.

I don't think the act of earning calories is problematic (at least for me). I think it can fit perfectly into a sustainable weight management strategy. It's only problematic when the way you mentally process it is problematic, just like calorie counting, weighing yourself, washing your hands, and just about any other activity that can be a symptom of something that is already an issue.

AnnPT77

To me, it's an odd question (I'm not saying others should feel likewise), so I'm not sure whether my answer should be "neither" or "both".

I "exercise" because that's just part of how I enjoy my life. I eat in a way that supports that total activity level, even when I have a deficit to lose weight, because that's the only strategy that makes sense to me, in my life. Level of exercise is fairly high, at least for my demographic, I think, though it varies seasonally. Now, in Summer, it's an hour or three of things like on-water rowing, cycling, walking; and usually ranges from 10%-25% or so of TDEE daily.

Is that "exercising to eat", "eating to exercise", neither, or both? Don't know, don't care, question doesn't really compute, for me.

I would know I had a problem if I lost weight too fast, had symptoms of overdoing/overtraining, got weak or fatigued for unexplained reasons (which I did at first while losing, briefly), or something like that.

Psychologically, it doesn't bother me to occasionally consider whether I have calorie room to fit in extra treat(s) without threatening my healthy weight (but that's more about overall behavior and weight trend now, vs. about individual treats). Frankly, I'd worry if I started *routinely* thinking about it as eating to exercise, or exercising to eat, because that would be a marked outlook change, for me. I'm not saying it would be problematic for others.

Back story, as explanation:

I was active routinely for about a dozen years, while staying obese, even competing as a masters athlete (on water and machine rowing - where "masters" just means "people over 23"). I started being active in my mid-40s after the full 9 yards of cancer treatment, realizing that if I ever wanted to feel strong/good again, I was going to have to work at it. Then I found things I truly enjoyed, and it transformed my life in so, so, many ways. Big quality of life improvement!

After that roughly dozen years, I lost weight with MFP, obese to healthy weight, and did pretty much the same active things I'd been doing for over a decade. I used the MFP method (add exercise separately, eat those calories back), and just focused on finding a sensible but satisfying weight loss rate. I did try to be more consistent about strength training during weight loss, vs. my typical previous on-again/off-again lifting, but lifting wasn't new to me. Reaching a healthy weight was also a big quality of life improvement.

glassyo

Exercise to eat! I'm short, old, don't weigh much in the grand scheme of things (altho no one told my stomach that), and have a desk job. I actually do spend a lot of time between purposeful exercise and trying to up my NEAT but I only walk for exercise and not all that fast because I have balance problems.

And all the extra calories supports my cookie habit.

Fflpnari

I finally fixed my mindset to food is fuel. Ive been in maintenance for about 2 months and my exercise is getting so much better. I got a PR on my Overhead squat, ran my fastest mile, box jumps are getting faster etc. Proper nutrition is everything. I workout because I love it. Fat or skinny I enjoy it 😄

Luv2eatSweets

I do it purely for health reasons (Crohn's) to be honest, however seeing as that wasn't really the question, I believe it would be exercise to eat.

yweight2020

Neither, I have to control my calories to lose weight then maintain. And I really don't care for exercise although I know the value of it and I do it as much as I can, but I don't use it to get extra calories to eat and I don't worry about exercising off anything I eat, I don't have that much time or energy. So I'll stay in a deficit for weight loss and when I exercise I will do it for the benefits of my health such as controlling my blood sugar numbers.

Plasicage

I was exercise to eat, but I do like to exercise too. Would go easier on the running though, if I didn't want to lose the lbs.

Actually this pandemic put me to test as I didn't have cardio machines at home, so I just lifted my limited weights, and still lost 8lbs in a month before going back to running.
So I have proved to myself that I don't need to exercise to eat.

If we go back to lockdown during the 4th wave, I hope I can use my gained knowledge to transition back to no cardio. Just weights, but I don't add it to my exercise calories. 😊
(Also live where it's winter 7 months a year)

Gisel2015

I also exercise for health reasons, to fuel my body, and because I like it and enjoy it. I don't care about the calories, I only log the time that I spent exercising, not the calories. If I am hungry I will eat more, otherwise I more or less stay around my TDEE. I have been in maintenance for over 11 years, and my approach has been working well.

nooshi713

Exercise to eat

MargaretYakoda

I sometimes forget to eat. So I can’t say I eat to exercise.
And I exercise because I need to to live, although I do fondly remember unicycling, mountain climbing, running, and other outdoor activities. I will never be able to do those things again.

GummiMundi

I guess I'm somewhere in between. I exercise mostly to improve my health (20 years of excess weight and a sedentary lifestyle have taken a toll), and I know the exercise that I do needs to be fueled. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the extra calories that I've earned have been very welcome, especially in the desserts/sweets department.

ythannah

I'm more in the "exercise for my future health as I age" camp but I'm more on the eat to exercise end of things. Specifically, I'm trying to feed these muscles so they'll grow, I'm gonna need them.

NorthCascades

NorthCascades wrote: »

I exercise because I enjoy moving my body through space and watching the landscape change around me as a result of my effort.

Also, on the same note, I wound up here because I enjoy eating too. 🙃

corinasue1143

I eat to exercise. I need the energy!

Safari_Gal_

Eat to exercise here.

penguinmama87

Fflpnari wrote: »

I finally fixed my mindset to food is fuel. Ive been in maintenance for about 2 months and my exercise is getting so much better. I got a PR on my Overhead squat, ran my fastest mile, box jumps are getting faster etc. Proper nutrition is everything. I workout because I love it. Fat or skinny I enjoy it 😄

I don't know; I think I want to push back on this a bit. I absolutely think it's true that many of us need to learn to appreciate food as fuel rather than merely as pleasurable, but I don't think the correction is to ignore the pleasure - that seems disordered too, just in the opposite direction. Imagine if we did that with sex or sleep, or even exercise (which can also be engaged in in a disordered way). These things have a fundamental purpose for the benefit of our body/species, sure, but arguably that's a big part of why we find them pleasurable, to make sure we do them.

I like "both/and" over "either/or," which I think describes my answer to the general OP, too - I eat both to exercise and exercise to eat, and both need to inform each other. At times one or the other may be more in the forefront of my mind, which is OK. I probably started with "exercise to eat," so maybe it matters a little bit where you hop on the loop, but as long as I'm still on it, then that's really the important thing.

Lietchi

Exercise (and activity in general!) to eat: absolutely, because without it my calorie goal would be too low. Especially the last few months - my body has ramped up my appetite, probably in reaction to my weight loss. The last few lbs are definitely the hardest.

Eat to exercise: not so much, because my exercise goals aren't particularly lofty or intense. I have increased my protein intake though, in light of my recomp/strength training goals.
When burning very high amounts of calories (e.g. training for a marathon, or simply a hiking holiday), I would/do prioritize eating sufficient calories to avoid an excessive deficit, since I'm aiming to gain muscle mass, not lose it.

It becomes problematic when I overeat and then worry about burning off those calories before the end of the day (or even the next day) telling myself I 'need' to do a long run/take x steps/... to compensate, especially if it starts to impede other activities. I'm aware that I sometimes have some 'borderline' thoughts, which I need to pay attention to. In my case, I would argue that I would be better off actually increasing my exercise and getting away from a certain fixation on my daily step count, which is contributing much less to my fitness goals and also inhibiting to a certain extent other meaningful activities in my life.

Aside from that, I obviously don't ONLY exercise to eat, I also want to increase my fitness level, increase my muscle mass and strength,... and I do exercise that I enjoy or at the least contributes to my goals. If I dislike a certain type of exercise, I won't do it, even if it burns 1500 calories an hour (or not frequently/for very long )

MaltedTea

Aiming to be @Gisel2015 when I grow up but, for now, I "eat to exercise" because that's what works for me.

I first heard of this concept - or a version of it - over a decade ago when I was marathon training and reading everything the Runners' World magazines had to offer. The question of whether to eat to run or run to eat has stuck with me since then.

janejellyroll

When I started with MFP, I was pretty inactive and I was in the "exercise to eat" camp. As I lost weight and being active felt better, I began to recognize the other rewards (like improved mood, better sleep, increased energy). I moved into the "eat to exercise" camp, which is where I still am today.

That said, I absolutely APPRECIATE all the extra calories I get to eat. I'm never going to be in the "food is just fuel" camp. Food is a pleasure, it's just that now exercise is also a source of pleasure.

I would consider myself to have a "problem" if I felt obligated to exercise more to "burn off" calories or if activity became joyless.

lx1x

When I started .. it was exercise to eat.. currently.. both.. but then again been slacking lately . 😐

Onedaywriter

Definitely started as exercise to eat. Now it’s both.

My maintenance calories without exercise are just not enough for me to enjoy life to its fullest! Exercise was a big effort because I was used to inactivity. But now that I’m working out a lot I’m really enjoying that as well.

heybales

Eat better to exercise well.

Every blue moon while doing a workout or starting a workout, I'll give a thought to how many calories I'd like to burn because of something with food later.

But usually my constraint is time, so I do what I wanted to do in time available, calories burned is merely one of the results and not the major one.

And then I eat to either help the workout the next day, or truly benefit from the workout I just did.

Dnarules

Exercise to eat!