Need to eat back calories burned...Really?

FoxAmber

I'm new to this site and I've been doing really good since I have kept within the 1200 calories and exercising throughout the week. But I keep hearing that you have to eat the calories you burn working out. Is this true? That would mean someday’s I would be eating over 2000. How would I lose weight then? I have noticed that I'm losing energy during the day. Some answers would be great


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angelamuse

To lose weight you can not eat back the calories you burned. Try to keep your calories between 1200-1400. (1200 on the days you don't exercise and 1400 on the days you hit it really hard.)

I had this SAME question when I started and I asked my friend who is a PT.

Good luck and congrats on starting the site!

meggonkgonk

Hi- this is true you need to "eat" those calories back- the number you should be focused on is your NET calorie in take.

The basic idea is that MFP works a bit differently than most calorie/point counters. Most nutrition plans incorporate workouts into your overall activity level- ie I have a desk job, but if I workout 5 days a week most plans would put me at "lightly active". This would figure into my daily calorie goal - so most nutritionists would probably recommend that I eat 1500-1800 calories everyday, regardless of my workout. MFP has you manually account for specific workouts or anything outside your normal level of activity, so you get a lower "starting goal" everyday (so you continue to lose regardless of whether or not you workout), but when you workout more, you should be eating more.

This is where NET calories come into play. There is an equation on your homepage:

GOAL FOOD -(minus) EXERCISE =(equals) NET

Your goal, as far as MFP is set up, should be to get your NET calories to match your GOAL calories. The NET calories are a way of taking exercise into account, so that you eat enough to fuel your workout.

This has in turn become known as "eating your exercise calories" and is highly controversial because people believe that less calories = higher weight loss. But for many, if you do not eat enough on a daily basis, your body begins to shut down your metabolism so as to stave off possible hunger/starvation not only effectively stopping loss but also causing gains anytime one goes even minimally over on calories.

Check out the boards (specifically the "NEWBIES PLEASE READ ME" if you need more info or any clarification.

meggonkgonk

To lose weight you can not eat back the calories you burned. Try to keep your calories between 1200-1400. (1200 on the days you don't exercise and 1400 on the days you hit it really hard.)

I had this SAME question when I started and I asked my friend who is a PT.

Good luck and congrats on starting the site!

Most trainers who are familiar with this site do NOT recommend this low of a calorie in take. The site was designed to be used as I outlined above. 1200-1400 is a great calorie goal for NET (so it is OK on days you don't workout), but is too low to support you if you are indeed "hitting it hard"- these days you often burn 300-600 or more right? That can leave you with as low as 900 calories for your body and that's just not enough for it to power things like organs without setting off some bells.

Hope this clarifies.

daliberti

Eating the 1200 calories a day already is calculating in what you need to eat to lose weight. If you work out, you CAN eat back those calories and still be able to lose weight. I don't think you NEED though, unless, like you said, you are low on energy. Your body might need at least SOME more calories so you can push yourself like you need to in your workouts. I think it's more of eat it you need/want to, but you don't have to restrict youself because you should still lose weight with the deficeit that MFP already accounts for.

janelle1993

You have to eat back the calories you burn because then it would be like you only ate the calories you didn't burn. Doing that is only hurting your body because your body naturally burns about 75 calories an hour (for girls) so if it doesn't have those calories by you eating your food it slows down your metabolism and explains why you feel like you have less energy. For example if your eating 1200 calories then you burn 300 doing exercise its like you only ate 900 calories that day which isn't enough for your body to function properly. Also you'll still lose weight because during exercise you burned your extra sugar in the first 40 minutes and fat in the last 20 minutes of exericse. Hope this helped.

staciekins

You do not have to eat all the calories, but it is recommended. Your deficit shouldn't go under 1200 cals per day (or for you 1500), but as long as you eat SOME of your earned calories to suffice your body, it's OK. Maybe you should eat a little more during the beginning of the day if you know you will be working out later on so you don't have as much to eat.

The reason why eating them still works is that you are more than likely eating less calories than you were before you started working out. For example. My goal is 1200 without working out. When I work out, I try to eat around a third to half my earned calories, unless I am full, cause you should never force yourself to eat unless you have to. When I look back at what I was eating before I started to keep track, I was eating 2500+ cals a day with absolutely NO exercise. So, now I eat my 1200 and burn 600+ in a workout, I usually eat anywhere between 200 and 300 of those cals and I am still eating WAY less than what i was before. (I know I am not sticking to the deficit completely, but it's only because I get full really quickly and tend to get sick if I eat when not hungry.)

Celo24

To lose weight you can not eat back the calories you burned. Try to keep your calories between 1200-1400. (1200 on the days you don't exercise and 1400 on the days you hit it really hard.)

This is not accurate. Read the links in my signature (especially the second one) and they will hopefully clarify why you need to eat those extra calories. Good luck!!

jrt9999

You will probably get many different answer but here is how I use this and it does work for me. My wife follows the same plan as me and is also losing at the same rate as me.

I need to eat 2,400 calories to maintain my weight.

MFP has me at 1,500 calories per day. a 1,000 calorie day deficit regardless of working out or not.

I eat 1,500 per day 6 days a week and each Friday I eat at maintenance of 2,400. I lose 1.5 to 2 pounds every single week consistently.

I eat at 1,500 calories per day and then exercise and burn an additional 500 calories. I eat ALL of those back, sometimes more. I still lose the exact same amount. 1.5 to 2 pounds per week.

The way I look at it. I eat to lose and gain weight. I exercise to build muscles and cardiovascular strength. So in order to build strength I need to eat back those calories to keep my energy levels high.

Good luck to you.

PJilly

To lose weight you can not eat back the calories you burned. Try to keep your calories between 1200-1400. (1200 on the days you don't exercise and 1400 on the days you hit it really hard.)

I had this SAME question when I started and I asked my friend who is a PT.

Good luck and congrats on starting the site!

Actually you can, and the way MFP is set up, you should. The number of calories someone needs to lose weight is very individual. It may be between 1,200 and 1,400 for you. For me, it was 1,700 to 1,800. MFP calculates your daily calories without taking exercise into account, so if you entered any kind of a weight loss into your goals, you're eating at a sufficient deficit to lose that amount of weight before you work out. To maintain that deficit and, more importantly, to fuel your workouts, the formula is set up for you to eat those extra calories.

atomdraco

Take some time to read this blog to help you understand better how MFP works:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ladyhawk00/view/mfp-basics-78491

Mandakat17

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