why eat your calories back

boopsiegrl

I keep hearing if you burn calories with exercise you shoudl eat them back isn't that exercising for nothing?

mycrazyturtles

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/160477-exercise-calories

erickirb

No, if you don't exercise you will become "skinny fat". Out of shape but small. If you don't eat your exercise calories you risk burning off muscle instead of fat as your body may go into survival mode and store fat and burn anything else.

Put another way if you are set by MFP at 1200 cals to lose 2 lb/s/week you have a daily caloiric deficit of 1000 cals. To keep this goal of 2 lbs intact you must eat the exercise cals or your deficit will become larger. If you burn 600 cals and don't eat them your new deficit would be 1600 (1000+600) MFP recommends no more than a 1000 deficit and not to go below 1200 NET cals.

If you eat 1200 and burn 600 and don't eat them your body will function as if you only at 600 cals (1200-600) so to get you to the 1200 net you must eat the 600 burned for a total of 1800, which is 1200 net (1800-600)

NikkiJ17

This MFP member really helped me understand the whole concept: erickirb

mandypizzle

Your body needs those calories to build muscle. And you can go into starvation if your body is not getting what it needs. I don't eat all my exercise calories but I eat most. And when you exercise, those calories are subtracted from your daily intake. So if you have eaten 1200 calories for the day and burn 500 exercising, your net calories that day is only 700. That's not enough for your body to live off of.

SunLove8

No, if you don't exercise you will become "skinny fat". Out of shape but small. If you don't eat your exercise calories you risk burning off muscle instead of fat as your body may go into survival mode and store fat and burn anything else.

Put another way if you are set by MFP at 1200 cals to lose 2 lb/s/week you have a daily caloiric deficit of 1000 cals. To keep this goal of 2 lbs intact you must eat the exercise cals or your deficit will become larger. If you burn 600 cals and don't eat them your new deficit would be 1600 (1000+600) MFP recommends no more than a 1000 deficit and not to go below 1200 NET cals.

If you eat 1200 and burn 600 and don't eat them your body will function as if you only at 600 cals (1200-600) so to get you to the 1200 net you must eat the 600 burned for a total of 1800, which is 1200 net (1800-600)

Very good explanation!!

simplyquely

You have to eat part of it otherwise you will be putting yourself into famine mode. If you don't eat the calorie you burn, yes, initially you will burn calories after calories and you will see dramatic weight lose. But, eventually, once your body realizes that it's calorie store is running low, which is the famine mode, it's first instinct is to store all the calorie you have left for "future" use. This is when you don't see the scale move or even, your weight increases.

beck733

I have heard that if you go below 12-1500 cals. your metabolism will slow causing your body to hold on to food..i.e.fat. So if you exercise and don't replace the calories your body may go into to starvation mode. Not sure if this is true..but I could swear I read it somewhere lol.

grouch201

Yes and no. We all know the weight loss formula is to burn more calories than you consume. Everybody has a BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) that is needed to maintain their current weight and keep their body functioning doing things it does every day like keeping your heart beating, your brain functioning, your lungs breathing, etc. The (RDA) recommended daily allowance of calories is usually about 2,000. So let's assume your BMR is set right at that magical 2,000. In order to lose weight, you would need to eat fewer than 2,000 calories a day. There are two ways to achieve this: 1) Eat less, 2) Exercise more. So let's say your goal is to lose one pound each week. There are ~3,500 in a pound of fat. This means you'd want a deficit of 500 calories a day. You can do this by eating 500 under 2,000 or 1,500 calories a day. Or you could exercise to burn that 500 calories. Or you could mix it up and eat 200 fewer calories and exercise 300. You get the picture. It's really your call as to how you work it out. By this equation, eating back your exercise calories negates the work you put in.

The thing about exercise is it not only boosts your calorie burn while you're exercising, but stokes the fires and keeps them burning for longer throughout the day. Although your heart rate may return to normal, your metabolism continues burning calories. Also, muscle burns more calories than fat, so by building muscle mass, you are increasing your BMR. Exercising also increases your cardiovascular function, which means you increase your stamina to engage in physical activity. Exercising has also been shown to increase the production of feel-good endorphins.

So the bottom line: Eating back your calories burned from exercise may reduce your caloric deficit at the end of the day, but it creates a calorie burning engine that continues to burn calories even after the exercise is done. So the short answer to your question is, Absolutely not!

I was a little slow on the uptake and I concur with the above posts. While you do want to create a calorie deficit, you don't want that deficit to take you below that 1200 - 1500 net calories a day consumption.

erickirb

Yes and no. We all know the weight loss formula is to burn more calories than you consume. Everybody has a BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) that is needed to maintain their current weight and keep their body functioning doing things it does every day like keeping your heart beating, your brain functioning, your lungs breathing, etc. The (RDA) recommended daily allowance of calories is usually about 2,000. So let's assume your BMR is set right at that magical 2,000. In order to lose weight, you would need to eat fewer than 2,000 calories a day. There are two ways to achieve this: 1) Eat less, 2) Exercise more. So let's say your goal is to lose one pound each week. There are ~3,500 in a pound of fat. This means you'd want a deficit of 500 calories a day. You can do this by eating 500 under 2,000 or 1,500 calories a day. Or you could exercise to burn that 500 calories. Or you could mix it up and eat 200 fewer calories and exercise 300. You get the picture. It's really your call as to how you work it out. By this equation, eating back your exercise calories negates the work you put in.

The thing about exercise is it not only boosts your calorie burn while you're exercising, but stokes the fires and keeps them burning for longer throughout the day. Although your heart rate may return to normal, your metabolism continues burning calories. Also, muscle burns more calories than fat, so by building muscle mass, you are increasing your BMR. Exercising also increases your cardiovascular function, which means you increase your stamina to engage in physical activity. Exercising has also been shown to increase the production of feel-good endorphins.

So the bottom line: Eating back your calories burned from exercise may reduce your caloric deficit at the end of the day, but it creates a calorie burning engine that continues to burn calories even after the exercise is done. So the short answer to your question is, Absolutely not!

I was a little slow on the uptake and I concur with the above posts. While you do want to create a calorie deficit, you don't want that deficit to take you below that 1200 - 1500 net calories a day consumption.

You are confusing BMR with maintenance calories, if you only eat BMR you are already in a caloric deficit for the day as you burn more than BMR the moment you wake up. Even set at sedentary you maintenance will be around 400 cals higher than BMR, it is a deficit from maintenance that causes weight loss, and many experts suggest you don't eat below BMR to lose weight.

erickirb

double post

hpsnickers1

No, if you don't exercise you will become "skinny fat". Out of shape but small. If you don't eat your exercise calories you risk burning off muscle instead of fat as your body may go into survival mode and store fat and burn anything else.

Put another way if you are set by MFP at 1200 cals to lose 2 lb/s/week you have a daily caloiric deficit of 1000 cals. To keep this goal of 2 lbs intact you must eat the exercise cals or your deficit will become larger. If you burn 600 cals and don't eat them your new deficit would be 1600 (1000+600) MFP recommends no more than a 1000 deficit and not to go below 1200 NET cals.

If you eat 1200 and burn 600 and don't eat them your body will function as if you only at 600 cals (1200-600) so to get you to the 1200 net you must eat the 600 burned for a total of 1800, which is 1200 net (1800-600)

I can't believe I keep reading posts where people are saying that Starvation Mode doesn't exist! It is a scientific fact and has been hard wired into us through evolution. Our bodies were designed to adapt to changes and handles stresses on it. Not eating enough is stress on our bodies!

pyro13g

No it's a simple formula. Total calories consumed - calories burned = Net calories.

Let's use an example. I want to Net 1500 calories to promote 1lb weight loss per week. 1500 net per day gives me that 3500 per week deficit to drop the 1lb.

If I ate 1500 and burn 300 per day in exercise than my net is 1300 which for most men is dangerous.

So I need to eat 1500 + 300 = 1800 to net 1500 per day
I eat 1800, I burn 300, 1800 - 300 = 1500.