Eating Calories?

BobinNC66

OK guys, another question! I have a few posts on here and one where someone is having a lot of trouble loosing weight even though they are below their calorie goal, and several people are suggesting to make sure he/she is eating their calories. Are you meaning if you work out, exercise and burn calories beyond your normal daily routine burning of calories to make sure you eat those? And why?

Thanks,
Bob

Jeanine_Colavecchi

You do not want to eat the calories burned from working out.

fteale

You do not want to eat the calories burned from working out.

I do! I get shaky and dizzy if I don't.

Ruchell

You do not want to eat the calories burned from working out.

Not always true! You have to experiment a little and find out what works for you...my weight plateaus very quickly if I do not eat my exercise cals back. It will work for some and not for others

Genem30

You're probably going to get quite a few different answers, but I think there probably is no "right" answer for everyone. I tend to not all of eat my exercise calories back, but I've read posts on here from people who plateaued or even gained when they avoided eating back their exercise calories. I think the best answer is try it each way for a week, see what the result is on weigh-in day, and do what works best for you until it stop working best, and then shake it up a bit.

Good luck!

haeden

When u start out on here it gives you lets just say 1200 calories (like mine) that means that if you were to do no exercise at all and just eat the 1200 calories you will lose weight.but if you exercise and burn calories they add that amount back.Theres a lot of debate over eating back the calories.Just search for it and you will see pages upon pages of people debating back and forth.but to me,i always eat mine back and typically stay within the original 1200 calories.i would look at the net calories to see how much you are eating

erickirb

You do not want to eat the calories burned from working out.

Yes you do, this is actually fundamental to the way MFP is set up. The reason you eat them is MFP sets your calorie goal assuming you will not do any exercise. Once you exercise you burn more calories than MFP though when giving you your caloric intake to lose your goal amount of weight and as such you must eat them back or you risk burning lean muscle, not just fat.

Professionals (trainers, doctors, etc) will take into account exercise when giving you a caloric intake, and will always give you more than the base MFP caloric intake.

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1750 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 12,250 (1750*7) almost the same number of cals for the week. The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFP do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1750/day above.

twinkietigress

I agree with others, it depends. I think a good rule of thumb is you must at least eat all the calories you get in a day. I'm at 1200 so I must eat at least 1200. But if i burn over 1000 calories without a meal I feel like I'm going to pass out so I'll eat at least some of that back. Don't worry about it too much as long as your eating somewhat healthy and learning to listen to your body you are doing it right!

TT

Egger29

You do not want to eat the calories burned from working out.

Think of your body like a Car. You start with a full tank of gas and go for a long drive. You have to put gas back in the tank in order to keep the car running effectively.

Your body is the same way. You exercise (burn fuel) you need to put gas back in the tank in order to keep your body running effectively.

MFP already gives you a deficit in your daily intake, so eating less than that only hinders your progress

jdhosier

Yes, you want to eat the calories you burn in exercise.

If you have completed the goals on this site and it comes up with a recommended daily calorie intake for the day to lose up to 2 lbs per week, then any calories you burn will put you in a greater calorie deficit. If you do not consistently eat the calories you burn, your body, thinking that it is starving, will go into starvation metabolism mode and do everything it can to preserve your reserves (fat). Your body will do this without consulting your brain, which wants to lose the weight. If you regularly feed your body, it will turn loose of the fat reserves. It may seem counter-intuitive, but that is how our physiology works.

BobinNC66

Wow again so many quick replies, thank you. I understand and get the idea behind the meaning now.

Genem30

Yes, you want to eat the calories you burn in exercise.

If you have completed the goals on this site and it comes up with a recommended daily calorie intake for the day to lose up to 2 lbs per week, then any calories you burn will put you in a greater calorie deficit. If you do not consistently eat the calories you burn, your body, thinking that it is starving, will go into starvation metabolism mode and do everything it can to preserve your reserves (fat). Your body will do this without consulting your brain, which wants to lose the weight. If you regularly feed your body, it will turn loose of the fat reserves. It may seem counter-intuitive, but that is how our physiology works.

I tried this for a few weeks based on a recommendation on MFP and gained 12lbs in the process that I had to lose again. I think it depends a lot on how much you have to lose and your own body chemistry. People warned me that if I didn't eat back my calories I would have less energy and my body would seize up and stop burning. Less than 3 months later, sticking to a restrictive diet of 1500 calories/day and sometimes dipping into my exercise calories, but not always, I've dropped almost 45lbs, consistently losing 2-4lbs every week. Plus I have twice as much energy as I had when I started, so I guess so far that hasn't panned out either.

Everybody's a bit different, and what true for one isn't going to be true for the next guy. Trying to plug everyone into the same hole is almost always a bad idea in my opinion.

Jeanine_Colavecchi

Whatever, then eat them.

dad106

Whatever, then eat them.

Yes, Eat them.. now you got the idea.

Op:
You have to do what works for you.. wether that is eating them, not eating them or eating half of them.

If you eat say 1200 and burn 600, thats 600 calories your body has to use for all of it's functions.. and I don't know about you, but I'd be starving.

If you eat healthy things and not just 600 calories of junk, you shouldn't have any problem with eating them back.

Rae6503

MFP creates a calorie deficit based on no exercise. Theoretically you could lose your weekly goal weight by eating what MFP tells you to and not exercising.

When you exercise you increase that deficit so you need to eat back those calories in order to return to the original deficit. Having "too big" of a deficit MAY have negative effects like increased hunger, decreased energy, slow and or completely stalled weight loss.

And honestly, I like to eat. Food is yummy.

Jeanine_Colavecchi

Whatever, then eat them.

Yes, Eat them.. now you got the idea.

Op:
You have to do what works for you.. wether that is eating them, not eating them or eating half of them.

If you eat say 1200 and burn 600, thats 600 calories your body has to use for all of it's functions.. and I don't know about you, but I'd be starving.

If you eat healthy things and not just 600 calories of junk, you shouldn't have any problem with eating them back.

No **** LOL

HMonsterX

I tried this for a few weeks based on a recommendation on MFP and gained 12lbs in the process that I had to lose again. I think it depends a lot on how much you have to lose and your own body chemistry. People warned me that if I didn't eat back my calories I would have less energy and my body would seize up and stop burning. Less than 3 months later, sticking to a restrictive diet of 1500 calories/day and sometimes dipping into my exercise calories, but not always, I've dropped almost 45lbs, consistently losing 2-4lbs every week. Plus I have twice as much energy as I had when I started, so I guess so far that hasn't panned out either.

Everybody's a bit different, and what true for one isn't going to be true for the next guy. Trying to plug everyone into the same hole is almost always a bad idea in my opinion.

Haven't agreed with a post this much for a long time. :drinker:

marcibar

I agree with people who say you have to experiment a bit. I had a hard time with the calories in/out thing after having my third child. I went to the doctor, who reminded me that my body isn't a perfect machine, and that there are other factors. My problem was hormonal, it didn't matter what I was doing, my hormones were working against me. After getting that fixed, my calories in/out worked as it should.

Just remember there are a lot of physiological things that go on inside your body. Try seeing what works best for you, and remember a lot of it has to do with how much physical activity you are getting. If you are burning an extra 1000 calories through your workout then you will probably start using some of your lean muscle mass, but if it's only 150 calories, chances are it's not going to make you hungry and your body won't feel starved.

JMO