exercise calories
mhig011975
Posts: 181
Why does everyone say, you "must" eat back your exercise calories? I'm currently doing P90X and for example I did Kenpo X and burned 376 calories. 3 hours later I played tennis and burned 865 calories. There is no way in heck that I will eat all those calories back, what's the point? Right now I'm at 1260 calories consumed and 19 net calories. As, long as, I'm consuming over 1200 - 1800 calories a day, I'm not worried about my "net" I've been losing about 1.2 pounds a week now.
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Replies
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Are you following the P90X meal guide? I know for me, I got way better results when I followed that.0
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Not only have I seen this topic posted before, as everyone else has, I'm pretty sure I've seen you post something similar. If you really think undereating is going to do it for you, be my guest. But stop acting like "what's the point?" is a sound argument.0
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There is no way in heck that I will eat all those calories back, what's the point?
What's the point of even exercising in the first place? And why bother eating any calories, let alone "exercise calories". AMIRIGHT?0 -
maybe because some of us are already at an extremely low weight. I am a college athlete, and I have a HUGE appetite, and an extremely fast metabolism. If I don't eat at least 2,000 calories a day, I will go insane. =] !
If I didn't watch out for my "net", i would be a walking sekelton in less than a month!
everyone is different! 0 -
just saying that i'm usually really not that hungry after I excercise.0
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just saying that i'm usually really not that hungry after I excercise.
That's not what you said. You said "what's the point?" The point has been explained by both sides of the argument. Now it's up to decipher the information.0 -
The point would be so that you don't drop dead while playing tennis. Just sayin'0
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yes, i know I said that...... but why eat all my exercise calories back? I tried that and I gained. is there some scientific equation going on that i'm not aware of?0
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yes, i know I said that...... but why eat all my exercise calories back? I tried that and I gained. is there some scientific equation going on that i'm not aware of?
You tried it for how long?
What kind of calories did you consume?
How much weight did you gain?
Were you weighing yourself at the same time of day?
There's so many factors that come into weight gain, and also you need to realize weight gain isn't always fat gain.0 -
yes, i know I said that...... but why eat all my exercise calories back? I tried that and I gained. is there some scientific equation going on that i'm not aware of?
yes. yes there is. it involves higher mathematics like addition and subtraction though.0 -
Just because you are not hunger means nothing. When you put the weight on did the fact that you were not feeling full stop you, it didn't for me. Your body's sense of hunger and fullness is messed up, you need to use your reasoning ability to come up with a reasonable amount of calories for the day and eat that whether hungry or not. Add to this that for many people exercise, especially long duration exercise, will suppress appetite meaning your sense of whether you have had enough food is compromised.0
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You are all under my power
you will all be assimilated 0 -
I shudder to think of what you will look like with only netting 19 calories a day.. IF you are losing doing that, it won't last long my friend. Like someone else said, the point is so you don't drop dead working out. You're creating too much of a deficit and while it may work for now, it won't last and you will most likely gain it all back plus some, that is if you don't die of organ failure in the meantime.0
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good for you? and you were so adamant about this and just oh so had to tell us why? whats good for you isnt always good for everyone else
*eyeroll*0 -
wow come on, a lot of you guys are being rude to the OP.
OP, no one can force you to eat your exercise calories back. That's the way MFP is designed to work and if you don't do it then you are simply not using the site the way it was meant to. But ultimately, like I said, it's up to you!
Yes, there is a mathematical formula like you asked, and you know it. When you net 0 calories or whatever, it literally means you are have taken 0 calories in that day. Even if you did eat them and burned them, it's as if you hadn't eaten them at all. Think of it this way, it's as if what you ate was used to give you energy for tennis. So that cancels out. Now imagine if you didn't play tennis, would you not eat anything? Your body needs energy just to keep you alive too. And if everything you eat goes into exercise efforts, your body won't have enough energy to do what it needs to do to keep you alive.
Doing this might help you lose weight for some time, but your energy won't be even near where it would be if you ate at least most of your exercise calories back. Yes, you might lose incredible amounts of fat weight at first as opposed to what you would lose doing it the MFP way. But doing what you are doing for a prolonged time is not sustainable. Your body cannot live on 100 net calories or whatever your net is currently every day.
I already tried it. I have "dieted" netting nearly zero or negative numbers for months. I got very sick. And I put on all the weight I lost even faster than it took me to lose it.
If you are not hungry after working out, I understand. I'm not, either. I can't eat anything for at least an hour or more after working out. But usually after that, I am able to eat. You don't have to eat huge amounts of food to fill your calorie deficit. I'm sure there are some delicious calorie-dense foods that will do the job (Example: nuts, nut butters, avocados, anything cooked with olive oil, etc).
You mentioned you gained weight after trying the eating back the calories things. I have three things to say about that:
1) Maybe when you weighed in you hadn't completely flushed out the extra amount of waste that all that food generated. If you tried to eat 800 calories worth of vegetables, that would weight a lot, but it would mostly go down the toilet soon after. If you tried eating 800 calories worth of peanut butter, that's a different story! You can get there so quickly with so little peanut butter!
2) Maybe the food you ate was rich in sodium. It happens when you eat more amount of food. So along with more food, you have to drink a ton more water to keep a balance, and try your sodium to be under the recommended 2500mg a day.
3) Make sure you are burning as much calories as you think you are burning. If you don't use a HRM and just go by the amount of calories MFP tells you you burned, the number of exercise calories MFP tells you to eat might be too much.
However, you said you were eating around 1200 calories a day. That's a lot less than a lot of guys here on MFP. But, you should lose weight even if your NET is only 1200. I mean, I do, and I'm a small girl.
I'm not trying to convince you to do anything. I'm just trying to fill you in, since you asked, what was the point. I hope you end up making the right decision.0 -
wow come on, a lot of you guys are being rude to the OP.
OP, no one can force you to eat your exercise calories back. That's the way MFP is designed to work and if you don't do it then you are simply not using the site the way it was meant to. But ultimately, like I said, it's up to you!
Yes, there is a mathematical formula like you asked, and you know it. When you net 0 calories or whatever, it literally means you are have taken 0 calories in that day. Even if you did eat them and burned them, it's as if you hadn't eaten them at all. Think of it this way, it's as if what you ate was used to give you energy for tennis. So that cancels out. Now imagine if you didn't play tennis, would you not eat anything? Your body needs energy just to keep you alive too. And if everything you eat goes into exercise efforts, your body won't have enough energy to do what it needs to do to keep you alive.
Doing this might help you lose weight for some time, but your energy won't be even near where it would be if you ate at least most of your exercise calories back. Yes, you might lose incredible amounts of fat weight at first as opposed to what you would lose doing it the MFP way. But doing what you are doing for a prolonged time is not sustainable. Your body cannot live on 100 net calories or whatever your net is currently every day.
I already tried it. I have "dieted" netting nearly zero or negative numbers for months. I got very sick. And I put on all the weight I lost even faster than it took me to lose it.
If you are not hungry after working out, I understand. I'm not, either. I can't eat anything for at least an hour or more after working out. But usually after that, I am able to eat. You don't have to eat huge amounts of food to fill your calorie deficit. I'm sure there are some delicious calorie-dense foods that will do the job (Example: nuts, nut butters, avocados, anything cooked with olive oil, etc).
You mentioned you gained weight after trying the eating back the calories things. I have three things to say about that:
1) Maybe when you weighed in you hadn't completely flushed out the extra amount of waste that all that food generated. If you tried to eat 800 calories worth of vegetables, that would weight a lot, but it would mostly go down the toilet soon after. If you tried eating 800 calories worth of peanut butter, that's a different story! You can get there so quickly with so little peanut butter!
2) Maybe the food you ate was rich in sodium. It happens when you eat more amount of food. So along with more food, you have to drink a ton more water to keep a balance, and try your sodium to be under the recommended 2500mg a day.
3) Make sure you are burning as much calories as you think you are burning. If you don't use a HRM and just go by the amount of calories MFP tells you you burned, the number of exercise calories MFP tells you to eat might be too much.
However, you said you were eating around 1200 calories a day. That's a lot less than a lot of guys here on MFP. But, you should lose weight even if your NET is only 1200. I mean, I do, and I'm a small girl.
I'm not trying to convince you to do anything. I'm just trying to fill you in, since you asked, what was the point. I hope you end up making the right decision.
I truly don't believe that calories eaten are the same as calories burned. I don't think the statment that if you ate 1500 a day and burned 1500 would be as if you ate nothing There is no freaking way! The body is much more complicated than that and is not mathematical. Unfortunately there is absolutely no one answer to this. Some people eat them back and it works, some don't and it works. I was told by a trainer and a nutritionist that eating back calories was the most backwards thing they've ever heard, and that the only way to train your body to find the energy from FAT stores is to not eat back exercise calories, at least during weight loss. So, you need to talk to someone professional about it. On here, we make up things to justify what we're doing. We are not professionals. I think the main thing is to make sure you are getting enough fuel to exercise and if you feel tired and hungry after working out, then eat more. If you don't feel hungry or tired or you go t bed right away like me, then don't eat!
anyway, this topic is ridiculous because none of us know what we're talking about lol0 -
wow come on, a lot of you guys are being rude to the OP.
OP, no one can force you to eat your exercise calories back. That's the way MFP is designed to work and if you don't do it then you are simply not using the site the way it was meant to. But ultimately, like I said, it's up to you!
Yes, there is a mathematical formula like you asked, and you know it. When you net 0 calories or whatever, it literally means you are have taken 0 calories in that day. Even if you did eat them and burned them, it's as if you hadn't eaten them at all. Think of it this way, it's as if what you ate was used to give you energy for tennis. So that cancels out. Now imagine if you didn't play tennis, would you not eat anything? Your body needs energy just to keep you alive too. And if everything you eat goes into exercise efforts, your body won't have enough energy to do what it needs to do to keep you alive.
thankyou, enough said.
Doing this might help you lose weight for some time, but your energy won't be even near where it would be if you ate at least most of your exercise calories back. Yes, you might lose incredible amounts of fat weight at first as opposed to what you would lose doing it the MFP way. But doing what you are doing for a prolonged time is not sustainable. Your body cannot live on 100 net calories or whatever your net is currently every day.
I already tried it. I have "dieted" netting nearly zero or negative numbers for months. I got very sick. And I put on all the weight I lost even faster than it took me to lose it.
If you are not hungry after working out, I understand. I'm not, either. I can't eat anything for at least an hour or more after working out. But usually after that, I am able to eat. You don't have to eat huge amounts of food to fill your calorie deficit. I'm sure there are some delicious calorie-dense foods that will do the job (Example: nuts, nut butters, avocados, anything cooked with olive oil, etc).
You mentioned you gained weight after trying the eating back the calories things. I have three things to say about that:
1) Maybe when you weighed in you hadn't completely flushed out the extra amount of waste that all that food generated. If you tried to eat 800 calories worth of vegetables, that would weight a lot, but it would mostly go down the toilet soon after. If you tried eating 800 calories worth of peanut butter, that's a different story! You can get there so quickly with so little peanut butter!
2) Maybe the food you ate was rich in sodium. It happens when you eat more amount of food. So along with more food, you have to drink a ton more water to keep a balance, and try your sodium to be under the recommended 2500mg a day.
3) Make sure you are burning as much calories as you think you are burning. If you don't use a HRM and just go by the amount of calories MFP tells you you burned, the number of exercise calories MFP tells you to eat might be too much.
However, you said you were eating around 1200 calories a day. That's a lot less than a lot of guys here on MFP. But, you should lose weight even if your NET is only 1200. I mean, I do, and I'm a small girl.
I'm not trying to convince you to do anything. I'm just trying to fill you in, since you asked, what was the point. I hope you end up making the right decision.
I truly don't believe that calories eaten are the same as calories burned. I don't think the statment that if you ate 1500 a day and burned 1500 would be as if you ate nothing There is no freaking way! The body is much more complicated than that and is not mathematical. Unfortunately there is absolutely no one answer to this. Some people eat them back and it works, some don't and it works. I was told by a trainer and a nutritionist that eating back calories was the most backwards thing they've ever heard, and that the only way to train your body to find the energy from FAT stores is to not eat back exercise calories, at least during weight loss. So, you need to talk to someone professional about it. On here, we make up things to justify what we're doing. We are not professionals. I think the main thing is to make sure you are getting enough fuel to exercise and if you feel tired and hungry after working out, then eat more. If you don't feel hungry or tired or you go t bed right away like me, then don't eat!
anyway, this topic is ridiculous because none of us know what we're talking about lol0 -
I truly don't believe that calories eaten are the same as calories burned. I don't think the statment that if you ate 1500 a day and burned 1500 would be as if you ate nothing There is no freaking way! The body is much more complicated than that and is not mathematical. Unfortunately there is absolutely no one answer to this. Some people eat them back and it works, some don't and it works. I was told by a trainer and a nutritionist that eating back calories was the most backwards thing they've ever heard, and that the only way to train your body to find the energy from FAT stores is to not eat back exercise calories, at least during weight loss. So, you need to talk to someone professional about it. On here, we make up things to justify what we're doing. We are not professionals. I think the main thing is to make sure you are getting enough fuel to exercise and if you feel tired and hungry after working out, then eat more. If you don't feel hungry or tired or you go t bed right away like me, then don't eat!
anyway, this topic is ridiculous because none of us know what we're talking about lol
Okay.. I'm not saying that the sandwich you ate literally goes into the energy you use to exercise 30 minutes later. But considering that recently eaten meals are stored as glycogen as a short term source of energy, they are very likely the ones you use to for your daily activities. I am talking here about the NET effect of his method, not that literally he has eaten nothing because he burned it off. Just saying glycogen storage from recent meals is way more available than fat from everywhere else in his body.
Of course, assuming that he is eating balanced meals, he is doing way better than if were not eating anything at all because he is getting all the other necessary nutrients from food (asides of those needed to be degraded for energy, like fats and sugars) - that he wouldn't get if he didn't eat anything
But I have to disagree with what was said that "not eating exercise calories is the way to train the body to burn stored fat". Our bodies are not stupid. Our bodies will still find the fat to burn it when it needs energy. Unless you have some sort of genetic disorder that affects the fat burning pathways, or any other condition that won't allow you to burn fat, the body will do it by itself without the need of us starving it.
I know our bodies are complex. I've taken enough biochemistry in my life (I'm a medical student...), to know that our bodies are very complex. And as complicated as our bodies are, I also know that enough of it is understood to know that certain mathematical approximations can be made. It's not perfect, but it's a good guide. And zero net calories, will never be near enough.0 -
personally I feel that eating back exercise calories is a joke - but I knowabout 90% of people on here would disagree with me.
to me you eat your calories, and you exercise to undo some of those cals.
"Oh I exercised so I better go and eat" would be an AWESOME diet but I don't see how it would be effective.
diet is simple calories in, calories out.
very basic logic that you want more cals out than i to lose weight!
but again, most people on here disagree with me0 -
personally I feel that eating back exercise calories is a joke - but I knowabout 90% of people on here would disagree with me.
to me you eat your calories, and you exercise to undo some of those cals.
"Oh I exercised so I better go and eat" would be an AWESOME diet but I don't see how it would be effective.
diet is simple calories in, calories out.
very basic logic that you want more cals out than i to lose weight!
but again, most people on here disagree with me
Then change your activity level because you're obviously not sedentary if you're working out 5-6 days a week. What's a joke is that people still try to tout VLCD as if they yield long-term results.0 -
This is like beating a dead horse, but....MFP is set up with a calorie deficit. You could follow the plan and not excercise and still loose weight. If it is set for a 500 cal deficit and you go excercise off 500 cal you are now at a 1000 calorie deficit. Get it? So you eat back 500 cal that you burned excercising to make it only a 500 cal deficit again.
a 1000 calorie deficit may be ok if you are VERY over weight but for most people this is way too much.0 -
"Oh I exercised so I better go and eat" would be an AWESOME diet but I don't see how it would be effective.
It is an awesome diet and I have lost 57 pounds so far.0 -
Initially I found it hard after very intense periods of exercise to eat those cals back....1000 cals at the end of the day is sometimes impossible especially after some intense workouts you arent hungry. This calls for proper planning....instead of eating for a 1200 cal day that day I increase every meal or snack a little to compensate for what I know I am going to burn. That way at the end of the day I only have a few hundred left. I leave those because I dont have a HRM and am not 100% sure that what I am logging is correct. This does work longterm. Your deficit will work for a little while and then you will reach a plateau.0
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personally I feel that eating back exercise calories is a joke - but I knowabout 90% of people on here would disagree with me.
to me you eat your calories, and you exercise to undo some of those cals.
"Oh I exercised so I better go and eat" would be an AWESOME diet but I don't see how it would be effective.
diet is simple calories in, calories out.
very basic logic that you want more cals out than i to lose weight!
but again, most people on here disagree with me
with regard to the "you eat cals and then exercise to burn them off" - only problem with that is you arent taking into account what your body already burns on a daily basis with no extra exercise. That is why MFP has a 500 cal deficit built in....based on the fact that our bodies already burn cals on a daily basis...which will be different depending on a persons body0 -
"Oh I exercised so I better go and eat" would be an AWESOME diet but I don't see how it would be effective.
It is an awesome diet and I have lost 57 pounds so far.
Yep and Ive lost 51lb so far doing the same diet
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OP, if you're not hungry, don't eat. No one is putting a gun to your head.0
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Ok well turns out 100% the people that have replied disagree with me lol
still maintain that you just need to find whatever is right for you live and let live etc 0 -
Just eat them back when you are hungry or need them and don't if you are not hungry... time to move on now!0
This discussion has been closed.
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