Calories In vs. Out + Exercise Debate!! HELP!!!
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Alright so me and my girlfriend have been debating on this topic for a few weeks now and I would love to get some sort of confirmation on it from some of you folks. I've been dieting for almost a month now and I've been seeing great results and weight loss. I put my target calorie intake goal at 1,200 (I know its far below the standard male intake). I also have been jogging and lifting every other day. Since the start of the diet I have lost 20 pounds. I have had cheat days on which my weight will go up a couple lbs for a day or two then it drops right down. My girlfriend on the other hand has lost some weight but not as fast and not as much as shes's wanted.
Here's the debate/disagreement/headache me and my girlfriend have been having since the start:
I've been saying that if my calorie intake goal is hit, that's it. Whether I've exercised and earned more calories is immaterial. I shouldn't eat more or use exercise as an excuse to eat more. For instance if my calorie intake goal is 1,200 and I burn 600 calories jogging, MFP tells me I've "earned" 600 calories extra for the day. Keep in mind there's an asterisk next to that announcement when MFP places it. But I've been telling her not to eat back the calories shes been burning because having that deficit is really important. She says that she should eat the calories back because more exercise = more nutrients and calories needed for the body.
Bottom line/question: should you eat calories back that you burn from exercise? Or are those calories burned essential to weight loss? Once you've hit your calorie intake goal should you stop whether you've exercised or not?
Answers please!! Friend requests as well please! I need more motivation!!
Depends on how you come up with your caloric numbers
Do you go w/ MFP or TDEE
If you calculate using TDEE method, then your exercise calories are part of that number
So you don't eat them back
If you go w/ MFP, it gives you your baseline numbers as if you did no exercise.
Then when you exercise, it adds those calories to your baseline number.....
So you "could" eat them back.....or eat half of them back, or none
Your call.
Regarding if you exercise or not, see above.
Your call.
With MFP, if you have not exercised, then you have no calories added to your base number.0 -
You should eat your exercise calories back, yes. If you're netting 600 calories a day you'll definitely lose weight and fast, but it's not going to be sustainable. Once you start trying to maintain your body'll freak out and you'll gain it all back. That's what I've seen happen to people I know, anyway. If in a year you've been able to maintain your loss then maybe you have a point but I side with your girlfriend.0
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So, please let me ask all of you. My calories that I can eat each day, is 1900. I am very active all day and I cycle, and I can exercise and burn up to 2500 calories a day in addition. Are you saying that I should be eating the 1900 calories and whatever I exercise, in order to retain my muscle and burn fat? That would be over 4000 calories some days. Please explain
This is what I'm talking about
If you are accurately tracking your calories burned then yes you would eat 4000 calories a day. I would question the accuracy of your burn calculation though if you think you are burning 2500 calories from exercise daily.0 -
My goal is to be in the 220's. I did so in high school. I've tried so many times to do the diet of 1,500 to 1,800 per day and i didn't ever get nearly the results that I'm finally getting now. I'm now seeing the results as well as feeling them. I run for longer periods (2 miles straight on average). My arms are more ripped, my stomach is flat and I'm seeing my abdominal muscles clearly. Am i really dieting wrong even with these seemingly great results?
Then you were never in a caloric deficit0 -
I may be out of the loop... but what is VLCD?What you're advocating is a VLCD, you're not going to find much support for that around here. In fact, it's against the community guidelines.0
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Are you getting adequate protein to maintain your LBM (0.8-1g per lb of LBM) and enough fat to maintain proper hormone regulation (the recommendation I've seen is .4g per lb of body weight)? Are you getting your RDA of all necessary vitamins and enough minerals?
Let's just play with some numbers. Say you're 240lbs and 20% body fat. (Pretty sure that's not accurate for you, but I'm making things up). That means you have 192 lbs of LBM.
You need 153-192g of protein per day, which accounts for 612-768 calories. You have 588-432 calories left over, allowing you 48-65g of fat.
If you get adequate protein on your 1200 calories, you can't meet a reasonable fat macro and still be able to eat any carbs at all. So no, you're not giving your body what it needs to function at its best at 1200 calories.0 -
So, please let me ask all of you. My calories that I can eat each day, is 1900. I am very active all day and I cycle, and I can exercise and burn up to 2500 calories a day in addition. Are you saying that I should be eating the 1900 calories and whatever I exercise, in order to retain my muscle and burn fat? That would be over 4000 calories some days. Please explain
4000 is a lot
So just make sure you are accurate in the calories burned area.....
Cause if you aren't, and you pound down 4000 calories.....that could be bad0 -
I may be out of the loop... but what is VLCD?What you're advocating is a VLCD, you're not going to find much support for that around here. In fact, it's against the community guidelines.
Very Low Calorie Diet.0 -
Alright so me and my girlfriend have been debating on this topic for a few weeks now and I would love to get some sort of confirmation on it from some of you folks. I've been dieting for almost a month now and I've been seeing great results and weight loss. I put my target calorie intake goal at 1,200 (I know its far below the standard male intake). I also have been jogging and lifting every other day. Since the start of the diet I have lost 20 pounds. I have had cheat days on which my weight will go up a couple lbs for a day or two then it drops right down. My girlfriend on the other hand has lost some weight but not as fast and not as much as shes's wanted.
Here's the debate/disagreement/headache me and my girlfriend have been having since the start:
I've been saying that if my calorie intake goal is hit, that's it. Whether I've exercised and earned more calories is immaterial. I shouldn't eat more or use exercise as an excuse to eat more. For instance if my calorie intake goal is 1,200 and I burn 600 calories jogging, MFP tells me I've "earned" 600 calories extra for the day. Keep in mind there's an asterisk next to that announcement when MFP places it. But I've been telling her not to eat back the calories shes been burning because having that deficit is really important. She says that she should eat the calories back because more exercise = more nutrients and calories needed for the body.
Bottom line/question: should you eat calories back that you burn from exercise? Or are those calories burned essential to weight loss? Once you've hit your calorie intake goal should you stop whether you've exercised or not?
Answers please!! Friend requests as well please! I need more motivation!!
Depends on how you come up with your caloric numbers
Do you go w/ MFP or TDEE
If you calculate using TDEE method, then your exercise calories are part of that number
So you don't eat them back
If you go w/ MFP, it gives you your baseline numbers as if you did no exercise.
Then when you exercise, it adds those calories to your baseline number.....
So you "could" eat them back.....or eat half of them back, or none
Your call.
Regarding if you exercise or not, see above.
Your call.
With MFP, if you have not exercised, then you have no calories added to your base number.
Honestly when you go with TDEE you ARE eating your exercise calories back because your exercise calories are part of the calculation to determine your goal based on your desired deficit. You just don't eat back your exercise calories again on top of that because that would be double dipping.0 -
I may be out of the loop... but what is VLCD?What you're advocating is a VLCD, you're not going to find much support for that around here. In fact, it's against the community guidelines.
Very Low Caloric Diet
I believe0 -
Thank you
I may be out of the loop... but what is VLCD?What you're advocating is a VLCD, you're not going to find much support for that around here. In fact, it's against the community guidelines.
Very Low Calorie Diet.0 -
So, please let me ask all of you. My calories that I can eat each day, is 1900. I am very active all day and I cycle, and I can exercise and burn up to 2500 calories a day in addition. Are you saying that I should be eating the 1900 calories and whatever I exercise, in order to retain my muscle and burn fat? That would be over 4000 calories some days. Please explain
4000 is a lot
So just make sure you are accurate in the calories burned area.....
Cause if you aren't, and you pound down 4000 calories.....that could be bad
Agreed. I mean I would doubt your burn calc there but to directly answer your question if you burned 2500 calories in exercise and your goal was 1900 calories then that day you should eat 4400 calories yes.0 -
Alright so me and my girlfriend have been debating on this topic for a few weeks now and I would love to get some sort of confirmation on it from some of you folks. I've been dieting for almost a month now and I've been seeing great results and weight loss. I put my target calorie intake goal at 1,200 (I know its far below the standard male intake). I also have been jogging and lifting every other day. Since the start of the diet I have lost 20 pounds. I have had cheat days on which my weight will go up a couple lbs for a day or two then it drops right down. My girlfriend on the other hand has lost some weight but not as fast and not as much as shes's wanted.
Here's the debate/disagreement/headache me and my girlfriend have been having since the start:
I've been saying that if my calorie intake goal is hit, that's it. Whether I've exercised and earned more calories is immaterial. I shouldn't eat more or use exercise as an excuse to eat more. For instance if my calorie intake goal is 1,200 and I burn 600 calories jogging, MFP tells me I've "earned" 600 calories extra for the day. Keep in mind there's an asterisk next to that announcement when MFP places it. But I've been telling her not to eat back the calories shes been burning because having that deficit is really important. She says that she should eat the calories back because more exercise = more nutrients and calories needed for the body.
Bottom line/question: should you eat calories back that you burn from exercise? Or are those calories burned essential to weight loss? Once you've hit your calorie intake goal should you stop whether you've exercised or not?
Answers please!! Friend requests as well please! I need more motivation!!
Depends on how you come up with your caloric numbers
Do you go w/ MFP or TDEE
If you calculate using TDEE method, then your exercise calories are part of that number
So you don't eat them back
If you go w/ MFP, it gives you your baseline numbers as if you did no exercise.
Then when you exercise, it adds those calories to your baseline number.....
So you "could" eat them back.....or eat half of them back, or none
Your call.
Regarding if you exercise or not, see above.
Your call.
With MFP, if you have not exercised, then you have no calories added to your base number.
Honestly when you go with TDEE you ARE eating your exercise calories back because your exercise calories are part of the calculation to determine your goal based on your desired deficit. You just don't eat back your exercise calories again on top of that because that would be double dipping.
Isn't that what I said?0 -
Alright so me and my girlfriend have been debating on this topic for a few weeks now and I would love to get some sort of confirmation on it from some of you folks. I've been dieting for almost a month now and I've been seeing great results and weight loss. I put my target calorie intake goal at 1,200 (I know its far below the standard male intake). I also have been jogging and lifting every other day. Since the start of the diet I have lost 20 pounds. I have had cheat days on which my weight will go up a couple lbs for a day or two then it drops right down. My girlfriend on the other hand has lost some weight but not as fast and not as much as shes's wanted.
Here's the debate/disagreement/headache me and my girlfriend have been having since the start:
I've been saying that if my calorie intake goal is hit, that's it. Whether I've exercised and earned more calories is immaterial. I shouldn't eat more or use exercise as an excuse to eat more. For instance if my calorie intake goal is 1,200 and I burn 600 calories jogging, MFP tells me I've "earned" 600 calories extra for the day. Keep in mind there's an asterisk next to that announcement when MFP places it. But I've been telling her not to eat back the calories shes been burning because having that deficit is really important. She says that she should eat the calories back because more exercise = more nutrients and calories needed for the body.
Bottom line/question: should you eat calories back that you burn from exercise? Or are those calories burned essential to weight loss? Once you've hit your calorie intake goal should you stop whether you've exercised or not?
Answers please!! Friend requests as well please! I need more motivation!!
Depends on how you come up with your caloric numbers
Do you go w/ MFP or TDEE
If you calculate using TDEE method, then your exercise calories are part of that number
So you don't eat them back
If you go w/ MFP, it gives you your baseline numbers as if you did no exercise.
Then when you exercise, it adds those calories to your baseline number.....
So you "could" eat them back.....or eat half of them back, or none
Your call.
Regarding if you exercise or not, see above.
Your call.
With MFP, if you have not exercised, then you have no calories added to your base number.
Honestly when you go with TDEE you ARE eating your exercise calories back because your exercise calories are part of the calculation to determine your goal based on your desired deficit. You just don't eat back your exercise calories again on top of that because that would be double dipping.
Isn't that what I said?
What you said was correct I was just attempting to clarify because a lot of people get confused when they here that "Using TDEE method you don't eat your exercise calories back" because they think that means they aren't eating their exercise calories back using TDEE...and they are.0 -
Personally, I think everybody has an individual fuel mix. This 'fuel mix' includes Total number of calories as well as what the fuel consists of. That said, when you set up your Goals in MFP. Read what it says on the screen. I took it to mean that the 1200 calories, was the total that I should end up with as a minimum after I've backed out my exercises calories. To me, that meant, NO LOWER THAN 1200 calories.
Now to my fuel mix theory. We're all different. Some of us might get stuck at 1200 Net calories. Some of us may find out at some point that our magic number for weight loss is actually higher than that. If you don't log what you eat, and don't log your exercise, or take a look at the Reports once in awhile you'll never notice this. The 1200 calories a day is a safe starting point, but be open that your number could be different.
Another note on the fuel mix. The Calories in/Calories out crowd will defend themselves to the death. Again, log your food and check out the Reports once in awhile. You might just discover that your fuel mix for weight loss may consist of more veggies vs. starchy carbohydrates. That's the beauty of logging what you eat. When you've had a good week, you can repeat that week because its recorded! To some extent you can eat what you want and lose as long as there's a calorie deficit. The trick is moderation! Personally, I don't want to be the one that tries to live off of brownies and donuts to see if I can lose weight that way!0 -
What you said was correct I was just attempting to clarify because a lot of people get confused when they here that "Using TDEE method you don't eat your exercise calories back" because they think that means they aren't eating their exercise calories back using TDEE...and they are.
Rgr that0 -
I cycle and track my calorie burn with a heart rate monitor. It typically varies from 360-540 calories per hour over a long ride depending on terrain and how hard I push myself. A day when I really work on speed or hill climbing could be more than 540/hour but still would not equal the burns you're estimating.
Sorry forgot to use the quote - this was for Nancytyc0 -
I may be out of the loop... but what is VLCD?What you're advocating is a VLCD, you're not going to find much support for that around here. In fact, it's against the community guidelines.
I didn't understand this either0 -
MFP calculates it for me. I use a stop watch on my bike odometer to count the time cycling. I also use a cycling website that has a calculator based on your speed, time, and weight. Both are within 25 calories of each other (the two sites, that is). www.bicycling.com says 75 minutes at 16 - 20 mph at my weight is 1735 calories. I also walk and do other exercises some days. I am a truck driver and when I am out for three hours lugging around 100 pound tarps to tap a load, I add that in too. There are days that I actually have very high exercise numbers (according to MFP). So, I am supposed to eat all those calories, the 1900 and the (whatever I burn). How could I possibly do that? I could barely get in 1500 calories today.Generally 60 - 75 minutes cycling at 16-18 mph, current weight is 254. Please tell me what that burns according to your figures. Please. Thanks.So, please let me ask all of you. My calories that I can eat each day, is 1900. I am very active all day and I cycle, and I can exercise and burn up to 2500 calories a day in addition. Are you saying that I should be eating the 1900 calories and whatever I exercise, in order to retain my muscle and burn fat? That would be over 4000 calories some days. Please explain
Assuming your numbers are correct, yes. But I am guessing that your exercise calories may be inflated
I can't tell you what your burns are. But 2500 calories in 75 minutes is about 33 calories a minute. That is pretty extreme.
What are you using to estimate these?0 -
OP here is my take on this.
To lose weight you eat at a caloric deficit. That is it.
To get fit (cardiovascular and strength) you exercise which requires fuel for intensity and repair.
These are two separate goals with two separate requirements. Weight loss requires you control your intake and ensure you are eating below your caloric need. Exercising to be fit requires that you provide your body with sufficient fuel to maintain a level of intensity during exercise.
These are separate goals but you can do both at the same time provided that you eat back calories burned from exercise to maintain your deficit at a constant level while supplying extra fuel for your exercise to keep up the intensity and repair necessary. If you don't eat them back you short-change the benefits of exercise while making your caloric deficit much larger than your target deficit. Neither of these things are good.
Most people don't actually want to simply lose weight. They want to lose fat and get fit to look and feel better. You do not accomplish that by trying to make your caloric deficit as large as you possibly can.0
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