Just another reason to NOT exercise...

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  • emAZn
    emAZn Posts: 413 Member
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    Plan your day better... if you are eating 1200 and have 800 left over at dinner then there is another problem in itself.. I generally don't like eating too large of a dinner so I only leave about 400-500 for dinner but the rest of my meals have about the same calories
  • jerryvo
    jerryvo Posts: 66 Member
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    Dont stress about leaving some calories on the table. MFP does calculate the defect for you so it expects you to eat some of your calories back but don't force yourself to eat if you are not hungry. MFP puts me around 1500 calories with my defect and I work out about 500 calories a day but I only eat 1800 total on avg leaving 200 calories on the table. I don't do it to lose more I am just not that hungry and if I eat just for the sake of eating it leads to bad things. It has worked well for me.
  • rhondatime2chg
    rhondatime2chg Posts: 92 Member
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    Don't stress about not eating back all your calories. I've read numerous articles and reports that most of us over-estimate how many calories we are burning, and we under-estimate how many calories we are eating.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    I refuse to eat for the sake of eating, I eat whatever exercise calories I feel the need to and the rest add to my deficit.

    I do not go into starvation mode as a result I just end up with a bigger deficit, probably the same as eating TDEE and not eating exercise calories.

    I have looked into the diaries of several people who had their diaries open when they have started spouting how I should eat them all and no surprise many evening binges of cakes and puddings, which cannot be a good idea!

    And that's all well and good, unless you're netting an extremely low amount of calories, like OP is.
  • rlinaresv
    rlinaresv Posts: 108
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    Maybe is just me, but I really don't get when people say they can't eat 300 calories more. Man, a spoontable of Nutella is 100 cal, give me a break. I think is all BS. I wonder how they got fat, seriously
  • bekahlou75
    bekahlou75 Posts: 304 Member
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    Plan your day better... if you are eating 1200 and have 800 left over at dinner then there is another problem in itself.. I generally don't like eating too large of a dinner so I only leave about 400-500 for dinner but the rest of my meals have about the same calories

    Today's lunch was not normal. For example, yesterday I had a bfast of 200 calories, lunch of 265 calories, and dinner of 393. I had snacks (including wine) that was 424. I still had 148 leftover.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,065 Member
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    You can borrow my dog to walk. He's a stubborn Scottish terrier and you'll be lucky to walk a quarter of a mile with him in one hour.

    Just walk your dog and don't worry about the calories.

    Sounds like my dog, but he is a stubborn English Bulldog. He usually needs a nap halfway through his "walk".
  • 33Freya
    33Freya Posts: 468 Member
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    You don't need to eat back all of your calories. Just make sure you're getting at least your daily allowance, and eat as desired beyond that (up to the extent of your exercise calories). You shouldn't limit your exercise because you dont want to eat!
  • emAZn
    emAZn Posts: 413 Member
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    Plan your day better... if you are eating 1200 and have 800 left over at dinner then there is another problem in itself.. I generally don't like eating too large of a dinner so I only leave about 400-500 for dinner but the rest of my meals have about the same calories

    Today's lunch was not normal. For example, yesterday I had a bfast of 200 calories, lunch of 265 calories, and dinner of 393. I had snacks (including wine) that was 424. I still had 148 leftover.

    Nothing wrong with having 148 left over that's a reasonable buffer and I agree with the person that says you shouldn't ever force yourself to eat but if you have 800 (accurately counted with a heart rate monitor) exercise calories left over and you aren't saving them for something special then by all means drive yourself to dairy queen and have a pumpkin pie blizzard and post pictures so the rest of us can drool...
  • silken555
    silken555 Posts: 478 Member
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    MFP tend to seriously overestimate calories burned. A walk with a dog definitely ain't burning 300 calories. If you're going to eat back exercise calories, only eat back actual exercise...the everyday activities aren't exercise...they're part of daily living. Also only eat back about 60% of the amount MFP gives you due to said overestimate.

    If you don't want to worry about having to track exercise, try the TDEE-20% method.
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Maybe is just me, but I really don't get when people say they can't eat 300 calories more. Man, a spoontable of Nutella is 100 cal, give me a break. I think is all BS. I wonder how they got fat, seriously

    Because they believe that they have to eat 'clean'. I get it though, I overdid it at first too, no sweets, nothing, heck I was buying plain yogurt and adding my own fruit (which isn't a bad thing really, I just can't justify it with the price of berries now). It's easy to get full with 1200-1300 calories really. After a couple months I came back to my senses and I rarely have more than 30 leftover calories now, but I'm enjoying my treats.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Maybe is just me, but I really don't get when people say they can't eat 300 calories more. Man, a spoontable of Nutella is 100 cal, give me a break. I think is all BS. I wonder how they got fat, seriously

    I see how this can happen. I was from the "old school" ...eating fat made me fat. It took awhile to wrap my head around the fact that fat is necessary, that fat is a healthy part of my diet.

    I think there are still a lot of people out there who think dieting is eating "rabbit food" with fat free salad dressing. If this was your regular diet....you'd have trouble adding 300 calories (in greens) too.
  • jzou91
    jzou91 Posts: 27 Member
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    The issue is you're thinking of food as a "reward" for your exercise!

    Try to change the idea of food! Food = fuel.

    Everything you eat is broken down into small particles which are then used by your body as fuel. This fuel is to help you make it through the day and your workouts.

    Also, change your workouts! Running does not produce the results that weightlifting does! My hour of weightlifting burns ~600 calories not to mention the calories you burn in the next 24-48 hours while your body is rebuilding the muscle! Additionally, one pound of lean body mass burns ~50 calories a day just from your normal activity! 10 pounds of muscle (which is a very realistic goal) increases your TDEE by roughly 500 calories!
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
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    So to me it sounds like you're using having to eat back your calories as a reason not to exercise? Seriously? If you don't want to exercise then don't.

    Or better yet, find an exercise that you like, something that makes you feel good, that you enjoy and do it for fun or the challenge or the sweat or whatever. Me, I hate running but I like sprinting intervals and I love to lift heavy - so that's what I do.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    The issue is you're thinking of food as a "reward" for your exercise!

    Try to change the idea of food! Food = fuel.

    Everything you eat is broken down into small particles which are then used by your body as fuel. This fuel is to help you make it through the day and your workouts.

    Also, change your workouts! Running does not produce the results that weightlifting does! My hour of weightlifting burns ~600 calories not to mention the calories you burn in the next 24-48 hours while your body is rebuilding the muscle! Additionally, one pound of lean body mass burns ~50 calories a day just from your normal activity! 10 pounds of muscle (which is a very realistic goal) increases your TDEE by roughly 500 calories!

    Um......sorry to burst your bubble. 1 lb of muscle does NOT burn 50 calories a day.

    http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/news/cals.htm

    http://weightology.net/?p=192

    How did you come up with a measure of 600 calories (HRMs are unreliable for this activity)?
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    The way I see it:

    Exercise if you want to. Eat back at least a portion of your exercise calories but eat them all if you are truly hungry.

    I can never eat them ALL back but I do eat a good deal back. I didn't eat them Back ht first, but learned to do so by eating higher calorie foods instead of more food.
  • lucan07
    lucan07 Posts: 509
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    I refuse to eat for the sake of eating, I eat whatever exercise calories I feel the need to and the rest add to my deficit.

    I do not go into starvation mode as a result I just end up with a bigger deficit, probably the same as eating TDEE and not eating exercise calories.

    I have looked into the diaries of several people who had their diaries open when they have started spouting how I should eat them all and no surprise many evening binges of cakes and puddings, which cannot be a good idea!

    And that's all well and good, unless you're netting an extremely low amount of calories, like OP is.

    I just looked at the diaries and I nett below the OP, her nett is not that low, mine is around 800-1000 but I am under medical supervision and exercising quite a bit!
  • jzou91
    jzou91 Posts: 27 Member
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    The issue is you're thinking of food as a "reward" for your exercise!

    Try to change the idea of food! Food = fuel.

    Everything you eat is broken down into small particles which are then used by your body as fuel. This fuel is to help you make it through the day and your workouts.

    Also, change your workouts! Running does not produce the results that weightlifting does! My hour of weightlifting burns ~600 calories not to mention the calories you burn in the next 24-48 hours while your body is rebuilding the muscle! Additionally, one pound of lean body mass burns ~50 calories a day just from your normal activity! 10 pounds of muscle (which is a very realistic goal) increases your TDEE by roughly 500 calories!

    Um......sorry to burst your bubble. 1 lb of muscle does NOT burn 50 calories a day.

    http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/news/cals.htm

    http://weightology.net/?p=192

    How did you come up with a measure of 600 calories (HRMs are unreliable for this activity)?

    You are forgetting that the 6kcals/hr is for 100% sedentary. That means if you were sleeping for 24 hours a day the one pound of muscle mass would burn 6kcals/hr.

    Are you sleeping for 24 hours a day? The number drastically increases when you consider the oxygen uptake of the muscles when they are in use. Think about how much you walk a day! Your leg muscles are almost constantly using oxygen/glycogen to maintain adequate ATP/ATP-PC levels used for exercise (unless you're walking long distances which instead this would change to more aerobic pathways such as glycolysis).

    Not to mention the extra calories needed to rebuild the microtears that occur from day to day activities.

    50kcals a day is a generous estimate, you would definitely need an active daily lifestyle to reach this amount. I would say at LEAST 30kcals/pound for each day as long as you aren't sedentary.
  • leannems
    leannems Posts: 516 Member
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    I also use the TDEE method. I didn't like eating back my exercise calories. It messed with my noggin (it felt like I was rewarding myself with food, which just sort of fed into all the other junk regarding my relationship with food). The TDEE method builds them in, and if I miss a workout, I just eat a little bit less that day.

    You could also try using weekly calories instead. Maybe then you'd have one day where you had more because you felt like eating more.

    Honestly, I exercise because it makes me look better, feel better, and my doc says I'm healthier now (despite having not lost a lot of weight, but inches) because of it. So "earning" food isn't the only reason to work out (although I do understand a lot of people like to earn more calories with their work outs, and it's awesome that it works for them).
  • lucan07
    lucan07 Posts: 509
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    Maybe is just me, but I really don't get when people say they can't eat 300 calories more. Man, a spoontable of Nutella is 100 cal, give me a break. I think is all BS. I wonder how they got fat, seriously

    Cancer, Steroids, Surgery and inactivity during recovery was the way for me!

    Why would I want to eat rubbish just for the sake of it?

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