Ok stillllll confused about eating workout calories

Hummmingbird

From my local health expert here on base:


Weight loss basics
Your weight is a balancing act, and calories are part of that equation. Fad diets may promise you that counting carbs or eating a mountain of grapefruit will make the pounds drop off. But when it comes to weight loss, it's calories that count. Weight loss comes down to burning more calories that you take in. You can do that by reducing extra calories from food and beverages and increasing calories burned through physical activity.


So look at line number 3.....if that is the case, why are we eating our work out calories?

melrae675

I truly just started intergrating excercise and do not use my workout calories...Friend me and we will see at my weigh in on Monday if the results are worth it. I bet they are. You are creating more of a calorie deficit so you should see more results, Melanie

laurabeth02

I stopped eating mine and I finally started losing weight. I stuck to 1200 this week (exercised daily) and I lost 1.8 lbs. I ate a lot of healthy low cal foods and I was hardly ever hungry. But this is just my personal experience.

sharonuk10

What i have read it should be like this "You can do that by reducing extra calories from food and beverages OR increasing calories burned through physical activity. " You should try and cut 500 calories a day from your diet. By which means is up to you. You can do 500 less food/drink intake OR 500 via exercise OR half and half. MFP does the 500 (250 if half pound a week) in calorie intake. So when you exercise you then get what you exercise as extra calories.

eillamarie

Here we go again: When you signed up for MFP you told the site how active you are and how many pounds you wanted to lose. MFP then subtracted 500 (1 pound a week) or 1,000 (2 pounds a week) from your estimated daily burn (based on how active you are in your job, etc). For ex, I am lightly active, so MFP says I burn about 2,450 calories a day. I told MFP I wanted to lose 2lbs a week, so the site subtracted 1,000 from 2,450. I am given a daily calorie alowance of 1450. HOWEVER, if I exercise it means I am subtracting even more calories from the already factored in 1,000 and I need to replinish those calories otherwise I'm @ a daily calorie deficit of more than 1,000.

Make sense?

PokenStick

Because MFP already gives you a big calorie deficit to lose weight. If you're trying to lose 2lbs a week, that means with diet alone you're cutting out 7000 calories a week from your diet. If you exercise on top of that, you're going to lose more than 2lbs a week which this site/community deems unhealthy.

Listen to the community when they give advice, however more importantly listen to your body. I sometimes eat my exercise calories, sometimes I don't. If my body (not my brain!) is saying it's hungry and I'm not in the red because of it, I eat them. If I'm not hungry or feel weak, I don't eat them.

Listen to your body, everyone is different.

MattAxtell

I believe that consuming less calories than you burn includes the calories you burn all day without physical activities.

If you wear a heart rate monitor at work will sitting at your desk, you will see that your body still is burning calories while doing nothing.

Those calories are included as "calories burned" in this case, they just are not "workout calories"

That is just my 2 cents weather right or wrong

PeachyKeene

Yes, I agree! Why do we workout so hard to burn those nasty calories, just to eat them up? To me it seems CRAZY!

WrenLynn

Because you should always strive to not go under 1200 net calories. If you tell MFP you want to lose one pound a week it tells you how many calories to eat to make that happen. It doesn't count on you exercising to get that deficit. It is only through your food intake. So if you do exercise that is a bonus for your body but if you don't eat the exercise calories you may go under the 1200 net calories which could eventually put you at risk for a plateau or starvation mode. So say to maintain your weight you could eat 1700 calories a day but you want to lose one pound a week so MFP tells you to eat 1200. That is a 500 calorie deficit per day so 500 x 7 days is 3500 calories which is one pound. If you exercise and burn 500 calories and do not eat them then your body is running on 700 net calories a day and that is not healthy. 1200 -500 = 700 net
Hope this helped you.
Wren

amyrc12

Here we go again: When you signed up for MFP you told the site how active you are and how many pounds you wanted to lose. MFP then subtracted 500 (1 pound a week) or 1,000 (2 pounds a week) from your estimated daily burn (based on how active you are in your job, etc). For ex, I am lightly active, so MFP says I burn about 2,450 calories a day. I told MFP I wanted to lose 2lbs a week, so the site subtracted 1,000 from 2,450. I am given a daily calorie alowance of 1450. HOWEVER, if I exercise it means I am subtracting even more calories from the already factored in 1,000 and I need to replinish those calories otherwise I'm @ a daily calorie deficit of more than 1,000.

Make sense?

Very well said... I think this is a topic that I see posted EVERY day. It IS confusing - but some people don't explain it this well.

Caper88

What i have read it should be like this "You can do that by reducing extra calories from food and beverages OR increasing calories burned through physical activity. " You should try and cut 500 calories a day from your diet. By which means is up to you. You can do 500 less food/drink intake OR 500 via exercise OR half and half. MFP does the 500 (250 if half pound a week) in calorie intake. So when you exercise you then get what you exercise as extra calories.

Waite am I reading the original question wrong? I thought he said "AND" in his statement not "OR" like you pointed out in your quote. "AND" implies to do both and "OR" implies to just pick the one you would sooner do. The way I take his original post is that we should not eat back work out calories.

LLeBrun

From what I understand, MFP has already calculated a reduction on daily calorie intake based on your wanted weight loss per week. While excersicing burns those calories, not eating the calories back can make your weight loss stagnent. You have to feed the machine. If you have a large decrease in calorie intake, your body shuts down and begins to store the fat (such as starving yourself & not eating). It doesn't hurt to not eat ALL of the excercise calories as MFP is set up to only allow you a 2 pound weight loss per week, but having a large amount of calories left over means your body isn't getting the fuel it needs to keep burning fat.

erickirb

From my local health expert here on base:

Weight loss basics
Your weight is a balancing act, and calories are part of that equation. Fad diets may promise you that counting carbs or eating a mountain of grapefruit will make the pounds drop off. But when it comes to weight loss, it's calories that count. Weight loss comes down to burning more calories that you take in. You can do that by reducing extra calories from food and beverages and increasing calories burned through physical activity.

So look at line number 3.....if that is the case, why are we eating our work out calories?

Because losing too fast can cause health issues as well as muscle loss. MFP gives you a calorie goal to reach your weekly goal. Lets say your maintenance calories are 1800, and your goal it to lose 1 lb/week. To lose 1 lb/week MFP gives you a caloric deficit of 500 cals, so you now have a total of 1300 (1800-500) to lose 1 lb/week.

If you want to stick with your goal of 1 lb/week but you exercise one day and burn 400 calories, your deficit for that day is now 900 (500+400), and you goal is only to have a 500 cal deficit, therefore in order to reach (not exceed) your goal you must eat those 400 back to keep your caloric deficit at 500/day. So you would eat 1700 which would be like eating 1300 and not working out. MFP is set up so that you reach your goal whether you workout or not. Just remember you chose the goal for a reason MFP is just doing the calculation to get you there. Also if you only eat 1300 and burn 400 your body will be living on 900 cals (1300-400), which would be like eating 900 and not workout out. Your body needs fuel to run at its best, burn more calories, and have more energy.

MFP is all based on math and if you set your goal MFP will calculate for you how to get there, just eat the calories it tells you to.

SHBoss1673

Because MFP already gives you a big calorie deficit to lose weight. If you're trying to lose 2lbs a week, that means with diet alone you're cutting out 2600 calories a week from your diet. If you exercise on top of that, you're going to lose more than 2lbs a week which this site/community deems unhealthy.

it's actually 7000 calories a week you're cutting out in order to lose 2 lbs a week.

and it's not that anyone on MFP deems 2 lbs a week healthy, it's just that 2 lbs a week is considered, by most nutrition experts, to be about the maximum safe amount people can lose without needing expert care. That doesn't mean it's safe for everyone, that's just the top end.

but others who posted are correct. When you set your goals at MFP they give you a deficit. Exercise calories should be a zero sum game. In other words because you're already at a deficit whether you exercise or not, exercise and eating the calories from exercise should net to 0 calories. Thus the deficit remains predictable and in the range you expected when you created it.

Please note that MFP doesn't guide you through what is an appropriate weekly weight loss. And just because the 2 lbs per week option is available, doesn't mean it's appropriate for everyone. Your deficit should be based on how much fat you have, and how much you are looking to lose. I.E. a p30 year old woman who is looking to lose 20 lbs of fat should NOT be trying for 2 lbs a week, it's probably not safe to try as your body can't support that large of a deficit over the long term.

CraftyGirl4

From my local health expert here on base:


Weight loss basics
Your weight is a balancing act, and calories are part of that equation. Fad diets may promise you that counting carbs or eating a mountain of grapefruit will make the pounds drop off. But when it comes to weight loss, it's calories that count. Weight loss comes down to burning more calories that you take in. You can do that by reducing extra calories from food and beverages and increasing calories burned through physical activity.


So look at line number 3.....if that is the case, why are we eating our work out calories?

Ok, whoever you talked to is right. If you create a calorie deficit, you will lose weight.

When you signed up for MFP, you told the site how much weight you wanted to lose and how quickly, correct? You said "I weigh 150 now. I want to weigh 130, and I want to lose it at a rate of about a pound a week" or whatever numbers are appropriate. The site took that information and other information you told it about you, and it figured out what your calories deficit should be to lose weight. If you just ate the calories it recommended, you would lose weight.

Sooooo...when you work out, you're burning a lot of calories. Let's say MFP recommends 1200 calories, which is the lowest amount recommended by all sorts of health/nutrition experts to still be able to get all of the nutrition your body needs. You go out and have an awesome workout and burn 600 calories. So, effectively, you only consumed 600 calories today. That's not enough for your body to function right. Your body will go into a starvation mode because you're telling it "I'm not eating enough, and I'm putting a lot of stress on you." We're hard-wired for survival. Your body kicks into ancient "programming" and tries to hold on to as much as possible. Now, if you eat those exercise calories back, you're back up to 1200 calories for the day. You're body now gets the message "I'm putting a lot of stress on you, but it's ok because there is enough food/fuel/energy in the environment that we aren't starving." Does that make sense? Please, let me know if I can help explain further.

hpsnickers1

Please read links in signature. You might stop and lose weight briefly but then it will slow, then stop and you could possibly start gaining as your body starts holding onto fat and storing what you eat.

I upped my calories last week from 1250 to 1500. I was losing in .2 increments before that (I weight every morning so I can see my fluctuation patterns). I dropped a full pound by increasing my calories. 1250 wasn't enough for my body. And I'm small.

polar5554

Here we go again: When you signed up for MFP you told the site how active you are and how many pounds you wanted to lose. MFP then subtracted 500 (1 pound a week) or 1,000 (2 pounds a week) from your estimated daily burn (based on how active you are in your job, etc). For ex, I am lightly active, so MFP says I burn about 2,450 calories a day. I told MFP I wanted to lose 2lbs a week, so the site subtracted 1,000 from 2,450. I am given a daily calorie alowance of 1450. HOWEVER, if I exercise it means I am subtracting even more calories from the already factored in 1,000 and I need to replinish those calories otherwise I'm @ a daily calorie deficit of more than 1,000.

Make sense?

Agreed...Very well said and makes perfect sense!!

erickirb

Yes, I agree! Why do we workout so hard to burn those nasty calories, just to eat them up? To me it seems CRAZY!

If you went to a Personal trainer and told them you burn 400 cals/day at the gym and they gave you a daily caloric goal of 1700. That is the same that MFP would do but MFP says you need 1300 on days you don't workout (1700-400) and 1700 (1300+400) on days you do workout. MFP doesn't factor in your workout until you enter it whereas a trainer or nutritionist would factor those in, and if they are factored in and you miss a week of workouts, you either don't lose or you gain, MFP allows you to lose your goal amount/week whether you workout or not.

stormieweather

The deficit at MFP is built in to your goals. The idea is to maintain that deficit, not increase it to potentially unsafe levels. Below you can see what MFP estimates your TDEE to be (Maintenance) and what your goals are set to be. This does NOT include any workouts specifically for the purpose of fitness. So any calories burned for those get added to the "Calories Burned" total, thus increasing the Consumed goal, keeping the deficit of 460 calories (per my goals). This information can be seen by going to Home > Goals.

PokenStick

Because MFP already gives you a big calorie deficit to lose weight. If you're trying to lose 2lbs a week, that means with diet alone you're cutting out 2600 calories a week from your diet. If you exercise on top of that, you're going to lose more than 2lbs a week which this site/community deems unhealthy.

it's actually 7000 calories a week you're cutting out in order to lose 2 lbs a week.

I had a derp moment, no idea where I got the 2600 number from.

SHBoss1673

Yes, I agree! Why do we workout so hard to burn those nasty calories, just to eat them up? To me it seems CRAZY!

If you went to a Personal trainer and told them you burn 400 cals/day at the gym and they gave you a daily caloric goal of 1700. That is the same that MFP would do but MFP says you need 1300 on days you don't workout (1700-400) and 1700 (1300+400) on days you do workout. MFP doesn't factor in your workout until you enter it whereas a trainer or nutritionist would factor those in, and if they are factored in and you miss a week of workouts, you either don't lose or you gain, MFP allows you to lose your goal amount/week whether you workout or not.

yes, it's just a different way to do it. the results are essentially the same. As a trainer myself, I know this to be true. Most trainers assume an amount of exercise when they give you a plan, MFP just takes it a half step sideways and doesn't assume you exercise regularly. It's no better or worse, it's just a little different. It also allows you to track exercise a little more finely than not doing that. Which is a nice feature for some.

PeachyKeene

Well if your main focus is to lose weight, then, why not just eat less and not workout? It sure would make it a lot less painful. I know working out helps you to tone muscle, but some people are more worried about the SCALE. I don't eat my exercise calories, and I feel great and losing the weight. I think proof is in the pudding.

david081

I think we all vary a little in the way our bodies work, although calories in - v - calories burned is clearly the basic equation. I do a lot of exercise, and take a more relaxed attitude towards my calories, but never eat ALL the exercise calories. Some here complain the weight loss stops if they eat em all. Up to last week I lost 18lbs in 6 weeks, and never went into starvation mode. I try to eat something every 3 hours or so to keep the system ticking over... An apple, banana, biscuit, whatever...

rgds, David

erickirb

Well if your main focus is to lose weight, then, why not just eat less and not workout? It sure would make it a lot less painful. I know working out helps you to tone muscle, but some people are more worried about the SCALE. I don't eat my exercise calories, and I feel great and losing the weight. I think proof is in the pudding.

Be careful with not eating them as you may end up lose just as much muscle as fat in the long run. The closer you get to your goal the smaller caloric deficit you need to ensure muscle retention. Where you still have a lot to lose you may be able to get away with not eating them for now, but this will not last, once you hit a plateau try eating them back.

Hummmingbird

LOL I get it guys, and thank you. I forgot the site automatically puts you at a deficit. When he sends me emails im sometimes like...wait hold on....and then i remember this site does all that stuff for you..so i get confused. I forget that 1200 calories is restrictive for some, and for me it has become the norm LOL. (wow it really has! i guess thats progress). so eating the healthy foods to make up the calories makes sense bc your body needs it as fuel to help you not be sick, muscle regeniration etc. thanks again

PeachyKeene

Well if your main focus is to lose weight, then, why not just eat less and not workout? It sure would make it a lot less painful. I know working out helps you to tone muscle, but some people are more worried about the SCALE. I don't eat my exercise calories, and I feel great and losing the weight. I think proof is in the pudding.

Be careful with not eating them as you may end up lose just as much muscle as fat in the long run. The closer you get to your goal the smaller caloric deficit you need to ensure muscle retention. Where you still have a lot to lose you may be able to get away with not eating them for now, but this will not last, once you hit a plateau try eating them back.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind.

Currently, the doctor I am seeing has a scale that tells you your lean body mass, water, and body fat. So, I do keep a close eye on that. Currently, I have 116.4 lean body mass. I step on this scale every four weeks.

givprayz

Here's an analogy that might help you think about exercise calories differently. When you exercise, you are breaking down muscle, and then during rest, you rebuild that muscle better and stronger. Now for the analogy: You are a builder asked to rebuild a cathedral torn apart by a tornado. Would you choose to rebuild using the scrap and debris from the storm, or would you buy new, quality materials to build a beautiful, lasting creation?
Now we are talking about your body here. Do you want to build muscle using junk, or high quality foods? If you don't fuel your body with enough calorie and nutrients to rebuild, it will start pulling those building blocks from lean muscle, bones and organs, like it does in anorexia. Others have said it already, you don't want to starve your body, but it isn't just about calories. Think of it as fuel and building blocks instead.

benitocereno

Another note on this topic - there are more reasons to exercise besides immediate fat-loss.

As you get closer to your goal it's going to be harder and harder to lose the pounds. The muscle you build with exercise helps you burn those calories. The less muscle mass, the less you burn. Not exercising is basically sabotaging yourself in the long-term.

Muscles are the "engines" of your body, the more you have, the more fuel you burn. That's why if you can only do one type of exercise for fat-loss (or only have time for one!), any 'in the know' trainer will tell you lifting weights or resistance training is more effective than cardio.

In that case, why do cardio? Cardio is cardiovascular health and burns a ton of calories, but it's not effective for building muscle (look at a professional runners body). So, while it may not build 'engines' for burning calories, it can help you meet daily calorie goals and has the real benefit of adding to your endurance. The better your heart and lung health, the more blood and oxygen you can get to your muscles, the longer you can work out and the more muscle growth you can support.

So, in short:

1) muscle building = long term calorie burning and weight loss
2) cardio = short term but extreme calorie burning, supports muscle building indirectly

A combination of both is your best bet . So, when you eat those exercise calories back don't be shortsighted! It's easy to look at every calorie when you're doing this and not want to put it back in your body, but you need to provide that fuel for long-term health and fat-loss.

erickirb

I truly just started intergrating excercise and do not use my workout calories...Friend me and we will see at my weigh in on Monday if the results are worth it. I bet they are. You are creating more of a calorie deficit so you should see more results, Melanie

Bad advice, a large deficit may lead to less weight loss, if you body thinks it is starving it will hold on to calories and store them as fat for the future. Why do you want to lose so fast, fast weight loss is not healthy and those that lose fast are more likely to put the weight back on.

ejsmith7

When you tell MFP how much you want to lose each week (.5, 1, 1.5, 2 lb/week), it sets you up with a caloric deficit. So when you work out, you want to eat back some or all of those calories so that you do not create too big of a defecit and hinder your weight loss.

With the statement you are reading, it is assuming you are eating your maintenance level calories where you are not gaining or losing. So if that were the case, you could work out and not eat those calories back and that would create your appropriate deficit.

Hope that helps

polar5554

Here's an analogy that might help you think about exercise calories differently. When you exercise, you are breaking down muscle, and then during rest, you rebuild that muscle better and stronger. Now for the analogy: You are a builder asked to rebuild a cathedral torn apart by a tornado. Would you choose to rebuild using the scrap and debris from the storm, or would you buy new, quality materials to build a beautiful, lasting creation?
Now we are talking about your body here. Do you want to build muscle using junk, or high quality foods? If you don't fuel your body with enough calorie and nutrients to rebuild, it will start pulling those building blocks from lean muscle, bones and organs, like it does in anorexia. Others have said it already, you don't want to starve your body, but it isn't just about calories. Think of it as fuel and building blocks instead.

Thanks for that!!!