get "more" calories b/c of exercise

Rmorris89

So when I work out I burn 300-600 cals and then my food diary says I've earned that amount of calories to eat. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of working out? Should I go over my 1200 or eat what it says I can, I've lost over 50 so far, and I was staying close to 1200 a day and working out twice a day, but I still have 40 to go and I fell off the wagon for a few weeks.

JoJo__Fit

yes it would defeat the purpose but why are you consuming 1200 and working out 2x a day. That's really low especially if you have 40lbs to go. Whats your TDEE?

JenzL13

I'm interested in the reply to this also, as I see eating back the exercise calories as kind of defeating the purpose

geekyjock76

First, understand TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is the total amount of energy your body burns throughout the day including all physiological activities.

Your body burns energy from four principle areas:
Resting Metabolic Rate
Thermic Effect of Food
Exercise Activity
Non-Exercise Activity

MFP does not include exercise activity into the equation. It was designed for people who cannot exercise or choose not to. Thus, a calorie deficit is automatically created for everyone by selecting a certain weekly weight loss goal - eg: 1000 calorie deficit below maintenance calories for a 2 lb per week goal. Since you are an exerciser, you have to consider those -300 to -600 calories of energy. By not eating back any, you are actually increasing the deficit beyond your intended goal - a potential deficit now of 1300 to 1600.

ThickMcRunFast

MFP includes a calorie deficit in your daily goal. Chances are, you wanted to lose 2lbs/week (which is often too aggressive), so you have to have a deficit of 7,000 calories a week.

To do this, MFP gave you the 1200/day. This is what you would have to eat to create a 7,000 cal/week deficit if you did no exercise and only laid in bed all day. If you burn a further 600 calories with exercise, you are now 1) essentially trying to work on 600 calories a day, which is no bueno; and 2) You have also increased your deficit by 600, to 7,600 per week. Do this every day, and you're at a deficit of 10,600 calories/week and in theory losing 3lbs per week. this might sound great, but you're also not meeting your nutritional goals at 600 cals/day. It will work for a time. You will lose weight. However, you will lose muscle (conventionally you need 0.8-1g protein per pound of lean body mass to maintain, at 4 calories per gram). You will then start to lose hair and have brittle nails. You will lose energy.

So its up to you. You can do it this way, lose a lot of weight, not look the way you want, and become another person back here in 4 months complaining about how they are at their goal weight but still look fat, or you can more slowly, and get the results you want.

AllonsYtotheTardis

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

Rmorris89

thanks for the input! the answers are helpful!

billsica

This is like saying. I just upgraded to a sports car but I'm not going to go over 20 miles and hour, so I don't waste gas.
Rundown, your the car. you need more gas to go.
I wanted to put some car pictures up... just eat moar! burn moar. be awesome, if its green eat!!

LiftAllThePizzas

The reason for doing exercise is that it improves your health.

But if you exercise and create too big of a deficit by not eating back those calories, you aren't helping your health. So you have it backwards:not eating back your exercise calories defeats the purpose of exercising.

quiltlovinlisa

I exercise for fitness.

I am losing weight counting calories.