Why would I eat more cause I exercise?

remlaw06

I am new to this site. I am supposed to be eating 1200 calories a day, but when I put in my exercise, it bumped up my calories by the amount that I am burning off at the gym. Why would I be eating more? Wouldn't I want that deficit to be burned?

Any help would be great! I want to lose 70 pounds by next year and keep yo-yoing. I have been overweight all my life and can't stand it anymore. Any help would be appreciated!

aquanet2

Great question!! I would like to know the answer to that also!!

LorinaLynn

You already have a deficit, whether you exercise or not. If you exercise, it's like driving your car extra miles. You'll need more fuel.

Exercise isn't for losing weight. It's for improving your health... your heart, your lungs, your muscles. It keeps you from losing muscles while you lose fat. But you need more fuel when you exercise more.

julwills

www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

take a look at this website, it provides links to topics on MFP that discusses whether or not you should eat back the calories you burn while exercising. I found it to be really helpful!

marianne_s

Hi,

Have a read of the link (some mfp basics) in my signature.... that should explain it better.

jrueckert

Search eating exercise calories in the forums. There are WAY too many answers to this there.

RNewton4269

Food is the way we fuel our body. If you exercise you need more fuel to keep going. Also, are you sure you are eating enough calories to lose weight?? 1200 is the minimum and awfully low. I found that once I started working out and eating right..I needed to up my calories to actually lose weight. 31 pounds later...I still find that to be true. Good luck to you!

kikiallain

Your calorie goal is what you should be eating if you don't do any exercice at all! That's the amount of food it needs to be healthy! If you exercice and burn 300 calories it adds it to your goal because you now need 300 more calories to keep going. Your initial goal of 1200 calories takes into consideration that you want to loose 1-2 pounds a week (whatever you set it to) with just the calories you burn by living. If you add other workouts, then your body needs more fuel. If you don't eat enough food, your metobolism will slow down and it will actually slow down your weight loss!! I try to stay at 100 calories of my goal!!

KittMahan

You have to replenish the extra calories burned or your body will suffer. It's that simple, everything has an outcome, and extra calories need to be replenished or you'll go into starvation mode....

TiffanyW1014

When I started I had 111 pounds to lose to reach my goal. I have lost 70+ in the past year. At first I didn't eat back my exercise calories but now I found that it helps me to lose weight eaiser if i eat them back. Bu tnow i only eat back half of my workout's.

aristel

This link can help you


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition

tiffanepiphany

If you don't eat enough calories, your body can eventually go into starvation mode where its holding on to as much fat as possible to use for energy. You might initially drop weight, but after a while, your body may come to a point where the weight loss slows or even comes to a stop. It will be very hard to lose/burn actual fat when you are overly restrictive with calories. It's hard for most people to grasp the concept, but it's scientifically true. It's better to fuel your body with all the energy it needs in order to power through good workouts, lose fat and get lean.

icerose137

The answer is, it depends. If you have a very large amount of weight to lose, try both. Try eating back your excersize calories and see how you do. Then for two weeks try eating back only half your calories and see how you do. Then try not eating back any and see how you do. Some people do best bouncing between them and call it zig zagging their calories, I do this to a very small extent usually with only about 200 calories to spare but it works.

As for me I have a fair bit of weight to lose and after being an undiagnosed celiac for years I have a miserable metabolism. I cannot eat back my excercise calories or I will gain weight. What they claim in maintenance for me is gain. For years I have eaten healthy and reasonable portions but have gained weight faithfully most of the time due to my undiagnosed celiacs disease. Now that it's cleared up with diet, I am losing weight but very slowly but steadily.

So there is no one size fits all when it comes to weight loss. You have to experiment to see what works for you and your metabolism. Some people can just bump in excercise and shed like crazy, others have to go with a pretty strong deficit and excercise like crazy and still only see minimal progress. If bodies were simpler and it was a pure numbers game it would make this whole deal a heck of a lot easier, but it isn't.

Good luck.

mikeyrp

There are two views on this and you will see both on this site... I'll summarise for you and you will need to make your own judgement:

1) As long as you eat your regular allowance of calories, you don't need to eat your exercise calories. The exercise calories will mean that you loose weight more quickly.

2) You need to eat your exercise calories as your body will need the additional nutrients to recover properly.


I actually think it's more complicated than this: it depends on your goals and the type of exercise you are doing. if your goal is purely to loose weight and you are doing low-impact workouts (e.g. doing an hour of walking on a tread mill with a gradient) I would not eat the calories - however bear in mind if you do eat them you will be fitter AND you will still loose weight at the same rate as if you had not worked out.

On the other hand if you are trying to build muscle or doing high impact work outs (5K + running at 7mph +) then you are going to want to consume at least some of the extra calories as protein and carbs.

Personally I try and eat approximately 50% of my work out calories.

yanicka

Why would you want to put more gas in your car if you drive more? Same thing.

Mixmode

I personally do NOT eat my exercise calories. However, I do eat something within every 3 hours from wake up to bed time so I do not enter starvation mode. It has provided great results for me so I am sticking to what works, for me.

Dornroschen

Personally I find it to be a bit of sticker shock. MFP suggests I eat 1360 calories per day to stay on track just being me. I play sand volleyball for 45 minutes tonight and walked 3 miles this morning at a steady pace. That's a burn, according to MFP, of over 1000 calories. After entering my exercise, it's suggesting that I eat 2400 calories today. That just seems like an INCREDIBLY LARGE amount. It's scary because I definitely don't want to see the scale go up...but I do want to do this right.

I think I'll see how 1800 calories treats me on days when I am similarly active...

Thank you for all this feedback, it was helpful to me.

marianne_s

Personally I find it to be a bit of sticker shock. MFP suggests I eat 1360 calories per day to stay on track just being me. I play sand volleyball for 45 minutes tonight and walked 3 miles this morning at a steady pace. That's a burn, according to MFP, of over 1000 calories. After entering my exercise, it's suggesting that I eat 2400 calories today. That just seems like an INCREDIBLY LARGE amount. It's scary because I definitely don't want to see the scale go up...but I do want to do this right.

I think I'll see how 1800 calories treats me on days when I am similarly active...

Thank you for all this feedback, it was helpful to me.

Do you use a HRM to calculate your calorie burn, because the amounts MFP suggest aren't always accurate.

MZNIKKIBOO

bump

MZNIKKIBOO

bump

LorinaLynn

Do you use a HRM to calculate your calorie burn, because the amounts MFP suggest aren't always accurate.

The amounts are pretty good for certain exercises and activities, but some just make me wonder what orifice they pulled those numbers out of. :laugh:

It has me nearly burning as many calories in an hour playing beach volleyball as I would running for a full hour. Granted, I'm a terrible volleyball player, and haven't played in literally decades, but a lot of it seems to be standing around, with random jumps and lunges every so often.

The number for an hour of "Volleyball, noncompetitive; 6-9 member team" is a lot more believable.