Exercise Points

nellajane24

Hey guys, I was wondering if eating my exercise points would slow down my weight loss? I usually try not to

Help!

Thanks!

maxolivia

I am not a fitness expert but what I have read on here and other sites is that you should. If you dont eat them you are not taking in enough calories which causes the body to go into starvation mode. I eat mine. 1200 calories a day is really not that much.

Bzbear2

I think you definitely should - that's one of the things I like so much about this site - it really motivates me to do exercise because I can "earn" more food - (and of course there are lots of other benefits too...)

erickirb

No it will not slow your weight loss down. MFP gives you a 500 calorie deficit/day for each pound you want to lose in a week. if you take in 1400 and are at 1 lb/week lose goal, then if you exercise for 300 calories you get to eat those to keep your caloric deficit at 500/day. Maintenance of 1900 with a 500 cal deficit is 1400, with the exercise your maintenance would increase by the amount you burned and would then be 2200 to keep a 500 deficit you would have to eat 1700 (2200-500).

In other words 1400 is the same as 1400-300 for exercise + 300 extra eaten to account for exercise 1400+300-300 = 1400

arp1217

A lot of people say that you should but I only eat maybe 100 to 300 of my exercise calories because it slows down my weight loss. It is pretty much whatever works for you and how much you are trying to lose in one week. But make sure you eat when you are hungry because if you don't, then whatever you eat next, you're body will hold onto.

Good luck!

MisdemeanorM

depending on how much you have to lose, it might slow it down a little, but don't let that stop you. Say you eat so little your body drops a lot of weight right away. If you keep this up you will plateau very hard and also lose all your energy and stamina because your body is not getting enough nutrient to function properly. This is damaging to your health and your metabolism. It will also eventually make you put weight back on because it slows your metabolism. Do a search on here for "eating exercise calories" and read it all. It may seem counterintuitive, but it works to eat them, or at least some of them - find what works best for your body, but don't let the temptation of a quick weight loss up front entice you - it will be short lived and unhealthy. Long term, eating more will actually make you lose more and more consistently.

Note, my overall point is - it will not slow down your weight loss - starving yourself (which is what you are doing if you have a large deficit due to exercise cals) might speed it up for a short while - but that is unhealthy. Eating more will not slow it down.

CakeFit21

I never lost weight until I started eating exercise cals. I generally try to eat about 75% of them.There is a post here in the newbie section, I think, that says the closer you get to a healthy BMI or if you are in the healthy range but not yet at your goal it is more important to eat your exercise cals. Personally, I think it is VERY important to eat them, but it seems to be a very HOT topic on the boards here.

Beth720

Only speaking from my experience... Not only am I hungrier if I don't eat them back (at least most of them), the weeks I've lost the least amount of weight were the weeks where I hardly ate any of them back at all.

I vote for eating them back.

nellajane24

thanks everyone! i did some reading up on it here in the forums, and i am going to eat them. (reluctantly!), but i totally get it now. Thanks!