Eating exercise calories? What's YOUR opinion?

agibsonky

I was on a plateau for a while...really didn't lose much of anything from the end of November to the middle of February...I tried eating all my exercise calories, I tried not eating any of them, I tried everything. I finally called a dietician/nutritionist and we went over some things...what is working for me (finally broken the plateau) is on the days I exercise (burning 400-600 calories), I eat an extra 150 or so calories of good, nutricious food, leaving me with a calorie intake of 1350-1450 on those days. The dietician was very specific to say don't think of it as eating your exercise calories, just think of it as on the days you exercise heavily, eat a little extra for fuel. It won't work for everyone, but it is working for me!!!

stormieweather

Okay, you guys made me feel better. There are days that I do eat some of them, and days that I don't even touch them. How will I know if my body is beginning to go into starvation mode? Will I just stop losing weight? The reason I ask is that I am generally not hungry, but I am all but forcing myself to eat to make it to the 1200/day. My diet has gone from ridiculous (Fast food 5-7 times per week) to extremely healthy (1 trip to mcds in 60 days). and I have lost 17 lbs. Now i have a step aerobics video that kicks my butt, and according to my HRM, burns over 1000 calories in the hour I am working out. So that means that I am keeping about 200 calories of what i ate for the day, and that is not counting the amount that I burn just by living...Am i doing okay, or should I be eating more?

Your body cannot function for any lengthy period of time on 200 calories a day. It simply cannot, and we're talking physics here. You won't just keel over however, what will happen is that you will have less energy, be sleepier, feel less alert, be grumpier, be unable to do as much physically as you used to, and you will stop feeling hungry. Fat loss will slow way down (although not stop) and you will probably find that at some point, your cravings are so powerful that you give in and binge. Then you'll feel guilty and unhappy and frustrated and physically ill. How long does this take? Oh...that's the part that varies depending on how much fat you have stored and what types of food you're eating when you DO eat and how efficient your body is at conserving. Eventually, you could develop diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension, gallstones, liver problems, and uh oh....energy-metabolism adaptation (aka starvation mode). It might be weeks or months. WHo knows? But why risk it?

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/VLCD-Research.html

GiGi76

Okay, you guys made me feel better. There are days that I do eat some of them, and days that I don't even touch them. How will I know if my body is beginning to go into starvation mode? Will I just stop losing weight? The reason I ask is that I am generally not hungry, but I am all but forcing myself to eat to make it to the 1200/day. My diet has gone from ridiculous (Fast food 5-7 times per week) to extremely healthy (1 trip to mcds in 60 days). and I have lost 17 lbs. Now i have a step aerobics video that kicks my butt, and according to my HRM, burns over 1000 calories in the hour I am working out. So that means that I am keeping about 200 calories of what i ate for the day, and that is not counting the amount that I burn just by living...Am i doing okay, or should I be eating more?

Your body cannot function for any lengthy period of time on 200 calories a day. It simply cannot, and we're talking physics here. You won't just keel over however, what will happen is that you will have less energy, be sleepier, feel less alert, be grumpier, be unable to do as much physically as you used to, and you will stop feeling hungry. Fat loss will slow way down (although not stop) and you will probably find that at some point, your cravings are so powerful that you give in and binge. Then you'll feel guilty and unhappy and frustrated and physically ill. How long does this take? Oh...that's the part that varies depending on how much fat you have stored and what types of food you're eating when you DO eat and how efficient your body is at conserving. Eventually, you could develop diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension, gallstones, liver problems, and uh oh....energy-metabolism adaptation (aka starvation mode). It might be weeks or months. WHo knows? But why risk it?

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/VLCD-Research.html

I agree!!!

GiGi76

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/VLCD-Research.html

going to borrow this for another forum!!!! ;-)

SHBoss1673

5'6" 120 lbs at lightly active you're resting metabolic rate is about =1850

at sedentary (I highly doubt this, 120 lb 19 year olds are rarely sedentary) it would be about 1625

both of these mean that 1200 is lower than I would ever recommend as a trainer. a deficit of 400 AND not eating exercise is far to much IMHO.

susanswan

My jury is still out. I have set my activities as Sedentary so on days that I am glued to my home office, I don't go over. Some days I am out running errands. I've honestly tried to eat most of my exercise calories - my base is 1200 (5'6" 54 y/o female). I usually burn a good 300+ calories a day and eating some of those have made the difference between me watching the clock for my next feeding like a dog, and feeling satisfied and able to go through my day without daydreaming and checking the clock every 10 minutes. My weight loss is slow, but maybe that is to be expected at my age. I have a hard time eating them with all of the whole grains, fruits and veggies that I eat! I am ususally stuffed at dinner. I'm still not sure if I am eating too much or not enough! I suppose over time I will figure that out! I usually walk the dog once or twice a day for 30 - 40 minutes and do maybe 30 minutes of strength training with 3, 5, and 8 pund dumbbells 5 days a week which includes abdominal crunches, too. SO hopeuflly I am slowly building muscle or at least not losing any. I just started up with the dumbbells again a couple of weeks ago and already feel stronger!

chauncyrenayCHANGED

For me, the scale moves a whole lot more when I don't eat them back.
But if I do eat them, I don't stress over it at all. I earned them.

robin52077

Okay, you guys made me feel better. There are days that I do eat some of them, and days that I don't even touch them. How will I know if my body is beginning to go into starvation mode? Will I just stop losing weight? The reason I ask is that I am generally not hungry, but I am all but forcing myself to eat to make it to the 1200/day. My diet has gone from ridiculous (Fast food 5-7 times per week) to extremely healthy (1 trip to mcds in 60 days). and I have lost 17 lbs. Now i have a step aerobics video that kicks my butt, and according to my HRM, burns over 1000 calories in the hour I am working out. So that means that I am keeping about 200 calories of what i ate for the day, and that is not counting the amount that I burn just by living...Am i doing okay, or should I be eating more?

Your body cannot function for any lengthy period of time on 200 calories a day. It simply cannot, and we're talking physics here. You won't just keel over however, what will happen is that you will have less energy, be sleepier, feel less alert, be grumpier, be unable to do as much physically as you used to, and you will stop feeling hungry. Fat loss will slow way down (although not stop) and you will probably find that at some point, your cravings are so powerful that you give in and binge. Then you'll feel guilty and unhappy and frustrated and physically ill. How long does this take? Oh...that's the part that varies depending on how much fat you have stored and what types of food you're eating when you DO eat and how efficient your body is at conserving. Eventually, you could develop diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension, gallstones, liver problems, and uh oh....energy-metabolism adaptation (aka starvation mode). It might be weeks or months. WHo knows? But why risk it?

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/VLCD-Research.html

I agree!!!

I "third" this!
WAY WAY too many people are underfeeding and it is SO bad for you. Especially people who have little to lose, You need to be eating very close to maintenance.

I also am a firm believer that MFP estimates people's maintenance too low, as it told me 1500 and I am actually 1800-2000 a day. When I bumped up to 1500 I lost more than I did at 1300!