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Why should I add calories after exercising?

sthartmann
sthartmann Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
This doesnt make sense to me, Im working out to lose weight, however, after I added in my work out, FitnessPal says I earned more calories...why would I want to add them? Im trying to burn them ! How will I lose weight doing that?! Help !!!

Replies

  • jessieinblue
    jessieinblue Posts: 287 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • shadowofnature
    shadowofnature Posts: 27
    This doesnt make sense to me, Im working out to lose weight, however, after I added in my work out, FitnessPal says I earned more calories...why would I want to add them? Im trying to burn them ! How will I lose weight doing that?! Help !!!

    So many people ask this question and I think a lot of the answers other people give are rubbish because each person is different. MFP tells me my metabolic rate burns X amount of calories, other websites tell different things. I think you should talk to your doctor about it and do what works best for you!
  • resptech97
    resptech97 Posts: 147
    It doesnt make sense to me either! Its crazy! Its science. Less calories + exercise= weight loss But if you put the calories back into your body then what good did the exercise do. I have heard of the starvation mod. But I think that only applies to people who dont have alot of weight to lose. Me, I still have a good bit of weight to lose. So I dont think my body is going to hold on to this much fat! I have been consistantly under my calories since the beginning and I am NOT in starvation mode! When I start to platuea I will add more calories into my diet. If you are just wanting to maintain the weight loss then sure eat your exercise calories. Other than that...it just doesnt make sense to eat them!
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
    It doesnt make sense to me either! Its crazy! Its science. Less calories + exercise= weight loss But if you put the calories back into your body then what good did the exercise do. I have heard of the starvation mod. But I think that only applies to people who dont have alot of weight to lose. Me, I still have a good bit of weight to lose. So I dont think my body is going to hold on to this much fat! I have been consistantly under my calories since the beginning and I am NOT in starvation mode! When I start to platuea I will add more calories into my diet. If you are just wanting to maintain the weight loss then sure eat your exercise calories. Other than that...it just doesnt make sense to eat them!

    First, for someone who has a large amount to lose (at least 100 lbs or more), they can afford a much larger deficit than most people. However, creating that large of deficit is not necessarily desirable for even those who have a lot to lose. Because the larger the deficit, the more deprived most people will feel. And the more deprived they feel, the more likely they are to end up binging (especially if they have the overeating habits to begin with.) And the more likely they are to quit and gain back even more weight.

    Yes, less cals does mean more weight loss. But that doesn't mean it will be healthy weight loss. You can cut cals down to 0...and you'll lose weight...but is that a good idea? Of course not. The body needs fuel. The calculations used by MFP are a pretty good estimate of what is safe and healthy for most people. That's not to say an individual will not ever need to tweak the numbers. But it is a guideline that is pretty successful.

    I'm glad what you're doing is working for you. But it doesn't apply to everyone.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
    It adds in calories to compensate for the calories you burned and keep the built-in deficit that you start with, before exercise.

    Anyway, the thread Jessie suggested is an excellent one. Here are a few more that also discuss how MFP works and metabolism, and why you try to at least get close to cal goals (with or without exercise).

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/153704-myth-or-fact-simple-math-3500-calories-one-pound-eat

    If you read these, I think you'll understand much better. Good luck to you!
  • mountainwoman98
    mountainwoman98 Posts: 182 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    Thanks! I was searching for that link to post :wink:
  • mariasheehan
    mariasheehan Posts: 335
    hi there,

    I'm quoting another MFP member here (stroutman81)

    see this question asked all the time here. There's obviously a lot of confusion with the concept of eating your exercise calories back and to be honest, there isn't a universally accepted answer.

    Probably because it truly does depend.

    Let's try to make this real simple:

    Maintenance is where calories in = calories out, right?

    We know that a calorie deficit is required if fat is to be lost, so calories in < calories out.

    Large deficits can have negative effects such as increased cravings, muscle loss, irritability, unsustainability (I made that word up), etc.

    So we want a moderate deficit, which I'd label as 20-35% off of your maintenance.

    So if your maintenance is 2000 calories, anywhere from 1300 to 1600 calories would be realistic for fat loss.

    That's a deficit of 400-700 calories per day.

    Said deficit, in theory, could come from many, many combination of factors.

    On one end of the spectrum you could simply eat 400-700 calories less per day.

    On the other end of the spectrum you could keep eating 2000 calories but increase calories expended via exercise to 400-700 calories per day.

    If you went with this later scenario, you wouldn't have to eat back your exercise calories because the expended calories from exercise put you in the sweet spot, calorically speaking.

    Now if you cut calories by 400-700 AND increased activity by 400-700, then you'd be running too large a deficit unless you ate back your exercise calories.


    for more of his wisdom check out his blog....http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/stroutman81
  • mcontarsy
    mcontarsy Posts: 1
    This made a lot of sense, thank you so much!:happy:
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    MFP sets you a calorie deficit to begin with. If you don't exercise at all...you're still at a deficit. If you exercise (and you should) now you have a double deficit. Not good. Hard to properly nourish an active body at those levels. Plus..you can make your weight loss slow or stall because your metabolism can slow down in response to not enough food. No, that doesn't happen in a couple of days, but it can happen. Be aware that the MFP calorie chart for exercising tends to run very generous, so maybe eat back half of those numbers....or get a HRM. If you understand why MFP tells you to eat more...it makes perfect sense...and you get more calories to enjoy. Win!
  • madrose0715
    madrose0715 Posts: 463 Member
    This doesnt make sense to me, Im working out to lose weight, however, after I added in my work out, FitnessPal says I earned more calories...why would I want to add them? Im trying to burn them ! How will I lose weight doing that?! Help !!!

    OP - Given that you have lost 84 pounds, I would say you know what approach works for you.

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