I can't eat back my exercise calories

littlemili

I have a problem that some days it is literally impossible to eat back even half my exercise calories. It makes me feel physically sick to try and I don't exactly have an issue with appetite. The problem is I walk 40 minutes (quickly) each day to college, sometimes twice, and when I get there my degree is in violin performance so I would usually practice 800 calories worth in a day (5 hours). Then if I also do 30-40 minutes of a workout that day I can end up needing to eat over 2000 calories - to put it in context I am meant to be eating 1200 without exercise and trying to lose 1lb a week. Other days I will literally do no exercise at all and those days I tend to hit bang on 1200 or there abouts.

I am worried about this starvation mode I have read about but I can't see that it can be an issue for me...? I have a BMI of 25.7 and on days when I burn a lot of calories I do eat more, but I just can't see the point of making myself feel ill from eating just to get those calories back on. Besides, I am trying to lose weight and I worked hard for those burnt calories! Should I change my aim to lose 2lb a week so it allows me fewer calories, or is it ok to accept that if I am burning 800 calories on violin practice that I don't eat them back (as it's not proper exercise, just a side effect of studying)?

Thanks for any feedback. I am a bit at a loss here and new to dieting and calories so any help is really appreciated.

lnelson88

I need to know the answer to this too.

lcheese1984

I didnt know that we were supposed to eat back the exercise calories.......

terri0702

I need to know to...

katcornwell

I agree with you! I don't understand the science of it either. It seems counterproductive to keep eating to balance out at 1200 calories. Today is my 4th day of doing this and I'm usually under my calorie count once i put my exercise in, and by that time of day, the thought of sitting down and eating a bunch of food just to lift the calories seems goofy. If someone can explain the logic behind it, it would help. I think starvation mode would only kick in if you are only eating maybe 500-600 calories a day and doing no exercise, but I could be wrong.

kaitimae

I would not count whatever you are doing as far as practicing as exercise. Yes, it's physical (I have a degree in music, so I trust me I know!), but I would just consider that part of your everyday routine - and when you go into your settings to set up your calories for MFP, check the box that says you are "moderately active." Right now I have a desk job, but before this job, I was working in childcare. I didn't count all the running around I did after kids as exercise though - that was just part of my job.

DO count your walking to class and whatever purposeful workouts you do at the gym, outside, etc.

PlanetVelma

Here's a really great post on exercise calories....


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

bhb301

Not a expect , but if you do violin practice alot, change your activity to heay, or don't count them at all. Does it burn that many, do you wear a HRM?

meggonkgonk

1) Starvation mode absolutely can be an issue for you, precisely BECAUSE you are so close to a healthy weight range and are burning so many calories. Starvation mode is triggered when your body tries to protect its fat stores (its version of an emergency back up for possible starvation)

2) What are you eating? If you open your diary we can likely help you pick out places and foods you can bulk up to reach your goals.

3) Don't do a workout on top of everything else? I mean you already lead an active lifestyle and are getting a consistent burn.

4) 1200 is as low as the site will let you go. If you changed your goals to .5 lbs per week you likely won't see much of a deficit.

5) Try bulking up your meals throughout the day- eat 4-500 cals at breakfast, lunch and dinner and the remaining should be easy enough to fit in through snacks.

mynameiscarrie

Your net calories need to be the 1200 you have. I usually try to get there but some days I can't. Try to add things--cheese, condiments etc. to your food. Instead of having chicken with veggies have garlic bread instead or something. Obviously don't eat something terrible for you to make those up, but just add things onto your usual meals to make up for some of that. Or drinks. Like milk or something.

Brittney24

You need to net around 1200 calories.
The site already puts you at a deficit of 1200 calories, so when you exercise and burn say 800 calories all your body has left for the other functions it needs to carry out for the day is 400 calories. That's WAY too little.

Your body will go into starvation mode by doing that since you aren't letting it function properly. Also you're body will start to recruit from body stores, mainly protein which 1. you're going to lose protein mass and 2. even if you do lose weight you'll be "fat-skinny" since you still will have a lot of fat stores but little muscle stores.

I'd say as long as you reach a net of 1200 calories you should be alright, but don't go under than consistently or you'll go into starvation.

CFAITH_WARD

Have you been doing this voilin practice before starting this program?....It maybe that you to mark yourself in the setting as being an active person.

Newfiedan

plan ahead, on the days you workout spread the cals out over the day that way you are not trying to eat so many post workout.

otr12

I started eating (most of) my exercise calories back and stopped losing weight. I hear this happens and I should just press on. It will eventually improve, or so they say. I haven't seen evidence of this yet. I'm starting to wonder if it's alll just a cruel joke. But I'm impatient and it's only been a week.

ejmcam

Holy Moly! 800 calories for practicing Violin! Dont get me wrong, I'm not saying its not tough, because I wouldnt even know, as I have never played....but seriously, I thk I will take that up! I spend 45 minutes in the elliptical sweating like a pig and I burn less than 500!!!

Anyway, I struggle with the same thing. Never know what to do. I think its becomes more of an issue when you have less to lose and you hit that plateau......

jeffrodgers1

I am going to say that if you are used to doing 5 hours of violin practice everyday... it likely isn't exercise anymore. It's something you would be doing anyways. I wouldn't worry about consuming calories for this. Is it work... Absolutely. But because it is something you do daily and not muscle building or cardio... I wouldn't count it.

I would however count the brisk walk that you do as that likely leads to an elevated heart rate.

hyper_stitch

Hmmmmmm I'm not too sure about this either. I don't drive so I walk alot and carry heavy bags etc I don't even add any of this activity because I've always done it, so the way I see it I put the weight on doing it and my body's already used to it if that makes sense?!

If you're losing at a rate you're happy with I wouldn't get too hung up on it.

SHBoss1673

so, I agree with Newfiedan that you should make every attempt to spread your calories out throughout the day, if you know you are doing the extra calorie burn, plan for that. 2000 calories isn't that much to eat in a day if you plan out right.

And no don't raise your deficit, not where you are, in fact I would lean more towards lowering your deficit (I.E. raising the amount of calories you eat) as 1 lb a week for someone at a healthy BMI is generally difficult to accomplish and even harder to maintain for any length of time. Assuming, that is, that you don't have an inordinate amount of muscle mass or some other reason that your BMI would be off.

otr12

...Instead of having chicken with veggies have garlic bread instead or something. Obviously don't eat something terrible for you to make those up...

?
Can I get that garlic bread recipe?

foxylady8098

I wouldn't even count the calories you burn from the violin practice because your body is already accustomed to that type of exercise on a regular basis. It's like if you have a job where you are on your feet all day; you wouldn't count that time on your feet as exercise, you would just count it as a high exertion job when you enter it into MFP. The only time I would reccomend to add it is if you practice longer than you do in a normal day, or if you are playing a concert or something.

Hope this helps.

Newfiedan

I started eating (most of) my exercise calories back and stopped losing weight. I hear this happens and I should just press on. It will eventually improve, or so they say. I haven't seen evidence of this yet. I'm starting to wonder if it's alll just a cruel joke. But I'm impatient and it's only been a week.

caloric imbalance if you have not seen weight loss in 2 weeks. Either to much or to little, my guess is that you are making a simple mistake somewhere.

jsteras

I saw this yesterday some one posted it on their visit to a nutritionist. I agree with everyone that you shouldn't be counting the violin practice, I am a nurse and don't count any of the walking I do while at work.

1) POST WORKOUT NUTRITION

after any workout, whether cardio or strength training, it is important to refuel our body with the right nutrients. this way, we can recover more effectively, replace our muscles with glycogen, build muscle mass and burn more body fat, and see results faster.

he recommended:
- something that's easy to digest (NO fat or animal meats, and ideally liquid)
- carbs are most important - a food with a high-glycemic index (GI) is best, so it can be absorbed quickly
- easy-digesting protein - he recommended whey

examples are:
- a 20-oz orange/fruit punch gatorade with one scoop of whey powder (whey protein is most easily digested) - supposedly, it will taste like a creamsicle
- milk/yogurt (e.g., chocolate milk)
- fruit

his top pick was a mixture of gatorade/whey protein - which is absorbed most quickly. after exercise, you want a spike in insulin from simple sugars, because it will cause the body to revert to an anabolic state and help you gain muscle. in contrast, you do NOT want a high GI food during other parts of the day, because the spike in insulin will make cells more sensitive to fat absorption. so if you do eat a fruit during the day, be sure to accompany it with a handful of nuts, an ounce of cheese, etc. to avoid the insulin spike

the TIMING of post-workout nutrition is also critical. he said the "window of opportunity" is 45 minutes (reference is a study by Drs. John Ivy and Robert Portman), and ideally it should be taken within 15-30 minutes post-workout. beyond the 45-min window, your muscles become less sensitive and efficient at replenishing glycogen stores. ryan also recommended a full meal within 60-90 minutes post-workout.

i know the topic of EATING BACK EXERCISE CALORIES is hugely debated on MFP! , but he agrees it is very important, and suggested that i eat 75% back right during post-recovery nutrition so that it can be used directly for muscle building. the TIMING of eating back exercise calories is also important. he said many people might think they can eat a huge bowl of cereal much later in the day, given they burned a lot of calories.. but if you eat them back during other parts of the day and it is a large number of calories, the excess calories will be converted into fat. so eating them back during the post-workout window is ideal.

robertf57

I am really concerned about your estimates of calorie burn. I thinkthey are WAY high. That may be your problem

donicagalek

Eat them back, don't eat them back...there are arguments to both sides and some people actually will eat part of them back as a way to compromise. It's a personal choice. This website seems to find value in eating them back and since I'm *not* a nutrition and exercise guru I'm making no argument either way.

That being said, if you want to up your calories easily while still being healthy I'd look into getting some peanut butter. Have you seen how many calories are in a couple tbsp? Surely you can eat a few out of the jar without problem and chase it with some milk.

Lots of protein there. Also I had a friend who was underweight that actually had to see a legitimate nutritionist. She recommended it as a healthy addition of calories.

JenabeeRose

You need to net around 1200 calories.
The site already puts you at a deficit of 1200 calories, so when you exercise and burn say 800 calories all your body has left for the other functions it needs to carry out for the day is 400 calories. That's WAY too little.

Your body will go into starvation mode by doing that since you aren't letting it function properly. Also you're body will start to recruit from body stores, mainly protein which 1. you're going to lose protein mass and 2. even if you do lose weight you'll be "fat-skinny" since you still will have a lot of fat stores but little muscle stores.

I'd say as long as you reach a net of 1200 calories you should be alright, but don't go under than consistently or you'll go into starvation.

this explains the eating back exercise calories pretty well

littlemili

2) What are you eating? If you open your diary we can likely help you pick out places and foods you can bulk up to reach your goals.

I will do that right now And would appreciate feedback on it.
By the way I can't eat cows milk or meat so that makes it quite hard to get calories in easily. It also isn't great for me to eat too much carbs because of IBS.

3) Don't do a workout on top of everything else? I mean you already lead an active lifestyle and are getting a consistent burn.

I work out because violin elevates my heart rate only to about 120 max if I am playing certain things. Usually like 70-90. Enough that I break a small sweat within about 15 minutes but not enough that I need to take a shower at the end! Also I have a heart condition so I think it's really important I give it a good workout regularly, and walking/violin can't (I imagine) be enough to ensure things like boosting metabolism, keeping my blood pressure good etc. Also helps my IBS and boosts my mood so I'm not wanting to quit "proper" high intensity exercise at all.


The reason I don't want to set my daily activity level as "heavy" is that my practice at the moment varies hugely as I am recovering from a wrist injury. It is at the moment between 1-3 hours only a day, but will soon be back to 5. I also take Saturdays off completely most weeks.

So maybe I will stop counting those violin practice calories, as it is only a small elevation of HR and also my muscles are very used to it as I've been doing it for years...

littlemili

I am really concerned about your estimates of calorie burn. I thinkthey are WAY high. That may be your problem

I am just using the MFP calculator and I have checked a lot of sources on violin practice. I think people would be surprised how physically hard it is. If you watch a soloist on any instrument at a high level you will generally see sweat running down their face pretty quickly!

donicagalek

I am really concerned about your estimates of calorie burn. I thinkthey are WAY high. That may be your problem

I am just using the MFP calculator and I have checked a lot of sources on violin practice. I think people would be surprised how physically hard it is. If you watch a soloist on any instrument at a high level you will generally see sweat running down their face pretty quickly!

Do you play those types of demanding pieces often? And is it consistent? Your heart rate needs to be elevated consistently for the duration of your time playing to burn that many calories. Now, if you are at that high level of energy for 15-30 seconds and then slow down for the next minute before you're back at it again you could probably assume that your heart rate didn't have enough time to lower too much. But if you are working the violin hard for five consecutive minutes but then don't play again for another ten minutes - that's PLENTY of time for your heart rate to drop. Make sense? :-/

nolachick

I am really concerned about your estimates of calorie burn. I thinkthey are WAY high. That may be your problem

agree. unless u are wearing a HRM that reads out these numbers these numbers are crazy high.

even with a HRM u shud subtract the amount of calories that u wud be burning from normal activity anyway. example, rule of thumb i take off 10cals for every min i'm exercising cuz i wud be burning calories just sitting down breathing anyway. make sense?

nolachick

I didnt know that we were supposed to eat back the exercise calories.......

wow, PLEASE read the link at the bottom of my signature

littlemili

Do you play those types of demanding pieces often? And is it consistent? Your heart rate needs to be elevated consistently for the duration of your time playing to burn that many calories. Now, if you are at that high level of energy for 15-30 seconds and then slow down for the next minute before you're back at it again you could probably assume that your heart rate didn't have enough time to lower too much. But if you are working the violin hard for five consecutive minutes but then don't play again for another ten minutes - that's PLENTY of time for your heart rate to drop. Make sense? :-/

Yeah I will often do 1hr without more than 15 seconds break at a time on high intensity. To the point where my irregular heart rhythm will kick in esp in summer when it's a bit warm. Sometimes I will have an hour where I don't get above 85 but rarely.

Do you guys think the solution is to simply not log practice as exercise? I mean my body is very used to it and I don't get out of breath even if my HR is 120, my muscles never hurt etc like in a regular workout or even walking fast...I have been doing 5h+ a day for 5 years now so maybe I should not count it and just try harder to hit 1200 every day.