calorie intake question...

yellowpieceofpaper

Ok, so my friend who is also doing my fitness pal (and loving it;) and I are having a bit of a debate; she does not understand why you are encouraged to eat back the calories you burn during exorcise from day to day. I keep telling her that she has her goal and her calorie intake/day is created in order to achieve that goal and if she eats too little it may have a negative effect on the losing. Let's say that her recommended caloric intake in order to lose a pound and a half per week is 1390/day but she goes to the gym and burns 500 calories. Why should she then later on in the day eat those 500 calories to get back up to a total 1390? I don't know, I think she is concerned that eating them all back negates all of the hard work she puts in at the gym

Can someone please clarify this for us?

wewon

Because 1390 is already a deficit, lower than that and she is going into starvation mode.

I think that people get caught up in the fact that they are being told to eat more food, the way MFP works, the deficit is already calculated in and you're essentially trying not to drop below that.

MrsCon40

think of your metabolism as a fire. you need to keep adding fuel to it otherwise it will go out (starvation mode)!

beastmode_kitty

And let them know if they don't, your body can go into starvation mode and it will store the fat