Why do you have to eat back exercise calories?

CourtDines1

Heya,

Why is it important to eat back exersise calories? if i eat them back what was the point in working out?

also if i dont eat 1200 calories per day why is that so bad? and how will that sto me from loosing weight?

musetle

well for starters, working out preserves muscle while you're losing weight, so its ideal to avoid that 'skinny fat' look people bang on about. Secondly, a lot of people work out for the sole purpose of eating /more/ and still losing weight in a sustainable way. IMO I would rather lose weight eating 1700 calories (including those back from exercise, say I burned 500) than being restricted to just 1200 (and no exercise).

FredSetToGetFit

It also goes to sustainability. It would be very hard to keep to any eating plan, if it was leaving you hungry all the time. This is why most diets don't work, because you will not be able to do it for the rest of your life.

liv0512

Its hard for me sometimes to not eat over my cals. I exercise and then I know that the extra food I did have which put me over is now okay due to exercise. Alot of diets dont work I agree with the others but hey I went to a wedding stuffed myself and was dancing heaps but still managed to lose weight this week. It does work if you drink plenty of water and not think of it as a diet but a lifestyle change and yes you can still eat chocolate and ice cream but watch the portions. Weigh everything. I have a scale, measuring cups and spoons and measure most of my snacks. It helps to look at the packet servings of things too.

Railr0aderTony

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

read this and learn a little something.

jdad1

the answer to this is about basic levels of nutrition. If you don't eat you don't get nutrition.

arrseegee

You need a certain net intake of calories to meet your basic energy requirements (e.g. breathing, sleeping, walking around). If your daily calorie allowance is 1500 and then you burn 1500 calories in a day through exercise without eating any of it back then your net calorie intake will be zero, which is equivalent to starving yourself.

If you are very active then your daily calorie allowance should be higher than if you are sedentary. If your net calories are based on you being sedentary and then you exercise over and above that and don't eat the calories back you will definitely lose weight, but as you are taking in no net calories the weight you lose will be 'good weight', e.g. muscle and lean mass, and you're going to have a bad time. Your total net intake should never be lower than 1200, so if your net calorie calculation is 1500 per day and you burn 1500 through exercise then you are doing to need to be eating 1500+1200 calories per day.

For me one of the main motivations for doing exercise is that I get to eat the calories back, so I am not having to eat a very restrictive diet.

FirecrackerJess

I too had this same question a few months ago. In the end, I looked at it like this. You workout, you get to eat more. To me, thats a plus sometimes. I don't over analyze it anymore, I just go with it.

ksteinbeiser1

You dont want to look it as eating back what you have worked off. The porportion that most dieting is based off is more excerise less food. The way i look at it is a healthy diet for my age and sex is 1800-2000 calories a day, thats with little to no workouts, that would allow me to maintain where im at now. To lose weight i need to drop my calorie intake and increase my exercise. Its all basic math.... your body still needs 1800-2000 calories to sustain, however you if you are generally over weight you have enough stored calories you can use. Aprox 3500 calories is equal to 1lb, so to lose weight in a healthy way, you intake 2/3's the normal calories with exercise and you are burning off stored fat instead of only what you had intaken that day. So essentially you need all the calories for that day for your body to function and have a healthy body and not just a thin body. Thats why crash dieting rarely works and you put back on the weight within a few weeks after.

ie: you burn off 2000 calories a day just doing normal routine daily activities, you cut calorie intake to 1200, essentially you are already burning off 800 extra calories that you havent eaten that day, you add exercise burning off say another 600 calories, that puts you at 600 calories for the day, your starving your body at this point, and will quickly become exhausted and irritable. So you eat another 600 calories to remain functional, your still burning off 1400 calories a day, so you are losing weight at a healthy rate!

glreim21

MFP already has a deficit built into the goal that it gives and is designed so you eat back your exercise calories. If you follow the calorie goal from other sources, they may give you a higher daily goal and you don't eat back those calories.

auddii

You eat fewer calories, you workout to improve your fitness (and likely look better at the lower weight). Eat plenty of protein and lift weights to maintain muscle mass. Do cardio if you like it and/or to eat more (mmm, all the foods).

waldo56

Loosing wait iz teh ezee pahrt.

Think beyond the first two weeks. Chances are you will be doing this a while. At some point you are going to have to move toward maintenance. Both of these will be much easier if you "eat back" your exercise calories.

MFP was designed with a a daily floating TDEE, if you are not eating exercise cals, you are using it wrong UNLESS you change the calculation for daily calorie needs (which will just build in the exercise cals).

Koldnomore

This post is a nice explanation:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

cwolfman13

MFP gives you a calorie goal that includes a weight loss deficit already that is NET of exercise...meaning exercise is unaccounted for in the formula...you don't include it in your set up and activity level...it is extra activity. The MFP goal basically assumes you're not going to do any exercise whatsoever and you just eat to that goal and lose weight.

Other calculators include some estimate of your exercise activity in calculating your total daily calorie needs and then cuts from that number for weight loss...either way, you're "eating back" exercise calories. With MFP you are deliberately doing it and treating exercise as an exercise activity when you log your exercise..with other calculators it is simply included in the equation.

Also, you exercise for fitness...the point of exercise has nothing to do with losing weight...burning calories and getting to eat more is just a nice side effect of getting your fitness on...but fitness goes far beyond just wanting to lose some weight.

All that said, calorie counting requires precision...if you're neglecting to weigh and measure your foods/portions then you're probably eating more than you think you are...and it's really easy to overestimate calorie burn...you simply don't burn as many calories as you think you would...you should compare what you think your burn is to a few different sources...eventually you start to get a feel for how much you're truly burning and what level of effort you're truly working at.

TeaBea

MFP already has a deficit built into the goal that it gives and is designed so you eat back your exercise calories. If you follow the calorie goal from other sources, they may give you a higher daily goal and you don't eat back those calories.

This!^

What are your goals?

1. I want the "number" on the scale to be xxx .....I don't really care what I look like ...it's the number that is most important to me

OR

2. I want to look slim & fit.

You will look slim & fit by eating "just enough" to maintain your current muscle mass ....while still losing weight.