why you should eat your exercise calories ( for dummies)

Jade_Butterfly

I tend to disagree and my gut feeling on this was somewhat confirmed last week. I had posed this question to a couple nutritionists and the one that replied actually holds a PhD and his pro body builder card, so his opinion is good enough for me and I just figured I'd share it with you.

"Hi Jay,
After being in Vegas without internet for a few days (bashing anti-protein lunatics), I just saw your question in Chris' Livespill.

This is what I always say to students: although important, calorie balance is the BEGINNING not the END of body comp change. 99% of the time one must keep some eye on how many kcal are consumed vs. burned. But counting calories too anally doesn't work well and is unhealthy for the psyche.

I actually start cutting phases by simply eliminating junk foods and most carbs from my dinners. Meanwhile I start 4-6 bouts of bike sprints or eliptical "sprints" after workouts. That handles the energy balance: less in, more out. I surely would NOT eat an extra 100-200 kcal to make up for the bike sprints!

Hope that helps; the threaded discussion closed on me, so I'm PM-ing.

Best,
Lonnie "

Take it for what it's worth but he's a pretty well respected individual in the nutrition and body building industry.

Amen to that!!! Yes yes yes!

registers

MFP ALREADY HAS A CALORIE DEFICIT BUILT IN.

Did you tell your nutritionist that?
Did you tell them what the net calories are after you burn off 700 calories?

Most weight loss plans have you reduce calories slightly in addition to working out to create THE SAME DEFICIT THAT MFP AUTOMATICALLY GIVES YOU when you set your goals. So that you can lose weight without working out. So it will work for everyone.

Eating your exercise calories back does NOT work nearly as well if you over estimate your exercise calories or if you underestimate your food intake or you're mistaken in your activity level. But if you follow the MFP plan and do it accurately, it does work. Very, very effectively. So effectively that the site is recommended by fitness professionals and physicians quite frequently.

Yes, I am going to say it another way, but I am saying the same thing you are. When MFP calculates your calories, it already removed calories... lets say to maintain your body weight you need "2500 calories" MFP would set you a caloric limit of about "1500 calories" this is a deficit of 1000 calories what you need to lose 2lbs a week. So lets say you go and exercise and burn 300 calories... this will be a new deficit of "1200 calories" so if you eat back 300 calories you will be at "1500 calories" which is 2lbs a week.

macenro

Isn't this argument kinda pointless? I mean as long as you body isn't telling you it is hungry you should not have a problem with "starvation mode".

Also HRM are not a perfect instrument either. There is way too much going on in our bodies for a HRM to accurate calculate your calories burnt.

seasonalvoodoo

Isn't this argument kinda pointless? I mean as long as you body isn't telling you it is hungry you should not have a problem with "starvation mode".

Also HRM are not a perfect instrument either. There is way too much going on in our bodies for a HRM to accurate calculate your calories burnt.

Not entirely true...your body can adapt to a high caloric deficit and you may no longer receive hunger signals as you have adapted to eating at a high deficit.

HRMs may not be perfect, but I believe they are mostly accurate and are definitely more accurate than machines and MFP.

For instance, I just logged 54 minutes of jogging. MFP said I burned 700+ calories when, in fact, I burned 446 according to my HRM.

macenro

Isn't this argument kinda pointless? I mean as long as you body isn't telling you it is hungry you should not have a problem with "starvation mode".

Also HRM are not a perfect instrument either. There is way too much going on in our bodies for a HRM to accurate calculate your calories burnt.

Not entirely true...your body can adapt to a high caloric deficit and you may no longer receive hunger signals as you have adapted to eating at a high deficit.

HRMs may not be perfect, but I believe they are mostly accurate and are definitely more accurate than machines and MFP.

For instance, I just logged 54 minutes of jogging. MFP said I burned 700+ calories when, in fact, I burned 446 according to my HRM.

All that proves is that they are different. For all you know you actually exercised 200 calories worth or 1000 calories worth.

JNick77

MFP ALREADY HAS A CALORIE DEFICIT BUILT IN.

Did you tell your nutritionist that?
Did you tell them what the net calories are after you burn off 700 calories?

Most weight loss plans have you reduce calories slightly in addition to working out to create THE SAME DEFICIT THAT MFP AUTOMATICALLY GIVES YOU when you set your goals. So that you can lose weight without working out. So it will work for everyone.

Eating your exercise calories back does NOT work nearly as well if you over estimate your exercise calories or if you underestimate your food intake or you're mistaken in your activity level. But if you follow the MFP plan and do it accurately, it does work. Very, very effectively. So effectively that the site is recommended by fitness professionals and physicians quite frequently.

Yes, I was very specific.

SHBoss1673

Someone asked a moderator to answer so here you go.

This has all been gone over to death guys, there's no need to rehash this subject. Go to the "Home" link above, click on the "General" link, and you'll see a couple of sticky posts, click on them and read the posts they refer to, it explains everything. Here are a couple
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

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


And yes, MFP does in fact recommend you eat your exercise calories. BUT in order for it to be successful you must have set a correct goal for your current situation (I.E. someone with 20 lbs to lose can't expect to lose 2 or even 1 lb per week)

PM me if you want a more specific answer, or if you have specific questions.

SHBoss1673
MyFitnessPal forum moderator

jeffpettis

Someone asked a moderator to answer so here you go.

This has all been gone over to death guys, there's no need to rehash this subject. Go to the "Home" link above, click on the "General" link, and you'll see a couple of sticky posts, click on them and read the posts they refer to, it explains everything. Here are a couple
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

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


And yes, MFP does in fact recommend you eat your exercise calories. BUT in order for it to be successful you must have set a correct goal for your current situation (I.E. someone with 20 lbs to lose can't expect to lose 2 or even 1 lb per week)

PM me if you want a more specific answer, or if you have specific questions.

SHBoss1673
MyFitnessPal forum moderator

Thanks!
This should automatically pop up everytime someone posts this question! LOL!!!

registers

I am sooooooooooooo full with 1800 calories, MFP says i need about 2800... i am going to eat up to yak up.

XxXstars9967XxX

lol ...so pointless to argue this people....Its about what your body allowwssss....some people it works for..soem ti doesnt...No one is ness ..a dummy or wrong.....if you doing one and it aint working for u..try the others..and i dont mean half assing one..but then complaining about it not working..i mean ..actually doing ittt


You eat your calories back..and you lose weight..then shid...lol keep it up


You eat your calories back and you maintain or gain..then dontttt keep eating em backk.....


Dadgumm people lol i swear peopel argue this point every other minute how bout..ask ur doctor and see what he or she says ....

and..another reason why people may be gaining weight back when they eat calories back is because..they dotn use a heart rate monitor and go strictly by mfp exercise calories..and are actually eating back all those calories but didnt even burnnn all of em...that could be to...

I actually think you are on something with this. If you are not wearing an HRM and accurately tracking exactly how many calories you are burning for your exercise then you do run the risk of eating back MORE then you actually burned. If it is accurately tracked, no one should have a problem.

But that's kind of the problem with tracking your calorie expenditure, the devices that "track" your calorie expenditure are not that precise. You can really only look at what the meter on the treadmill or HRM says as an approximation at best.

It's like one of the other posters said, if you setup your calorie deficit high enough to lose weight at a healthy rate then there's no reason to eat them back.

I'm not saying this to be argumentative but there seems to be a lot of "opinion" and "gut feeling" on this subject and there really is more fact base out there.

One gentlemen posted this article: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/173853-an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories
This website is run completely by nutritions and physiologists, this is another great read: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-g-flux

To both posters, i did a little experiment, I entered that i did 15 minutes of walking. It said I burned 75 calories, I reduced my weight by 100lbs, and entered i did 15mins of walking. It still said 75 calories. Some people say they didn't have that issue. Yes that's very true, the caloric expenditure is extremely high on this website. That's why I don't log my exercise, you should use a heart rate monitor if you enter your calories.

If you don't like MFP just leave...we don't need negativity like your's

RoadDog

Like any other subject you can look up on the internet. You can search any subject (i.e. "Eating Workout Calories" , "Spanking your child", "Weight Watchers", whatever) and you will find just as many pro opinions as con opinions.

I'm not eating my workout calories and you can't make me. Nyaaaaa! Nyaaaaa! Nyaaaaa!

registers

Like any other subject you can look up on the internet. You can search any subject (i.e. "Eating Workout Calories" , "Spanking your child", "Weight Watchers", whatever) and you will find just as many pro opinions as con opinions.

I'm not eating my workout calories and you can't make me. Nyaaaaa! Nyaaaaa! Nyaaaaa!

that's the best point of all, doesn't matter what people say or do, find out what works for you and stick with it.

xHelloQuincyx

lololololololololololololololol
some people...
"your just being rude by calling us dummies"
i thought of the series of books right away, not being insulted.

omg the "for dummies" series of books is actully being rude and insulting us???

lololololololololololololololol
get real


thanks for the info

HollyTsiaussis

"should" is such an inappropriate word in this context.

i gain weight when i eat back my "exercise calories" in whole. i maintain my weight when i eat back some (half) of them. i lose weight when i don't eat any of them.

fat fuels the body. if one has an excess of fat, the body will also use that. and, as you said, burned fat is measured in calories. if you already have calories to expend, why eat more?

that's not exactly a rhetorical question--but one for each individual to consider. i'll venture to conclude my little contribution by asserting that everyone is different--everyone's BODY is different--and so for SOME individuals, net intake should not necessarily be the focus of their diets.

some people have success doing what you suggest; others do not (among them, myself).
it's not black and white.

Totally agree.

stormieweather

fat fuels the body. if one has an excess of fat, the body will also use that. and, as you said, burned fat is measured in calories. if you already have calories to expend, why eat more?

Because living off your fat stores does not supply you with the nutrients your body needs to function. Your body isn't going to get vitamin C from fat. Your body isn't going to get adequate protein (to protect your muscles) from body fat. Your body isn't going to get any fiber from your body fat. Etc, et al.

If we could live off our fat and still be healthy, we'd all be able to stop eating for a month and lose all our fat. It doesn't actually work that way, now does it?

Our metabolism is quite a bit more complex than that.