Why don't people eat their exercise calories?

anwscott

I am glad the question was asked. I have been wondering what to do about this myself. I want to burn my body fat% down then try to add more lean muscle mass.

DzyIzy

Thanks for asking this, I had been wondering this too.
Not because I was judging others, but because I thought maybe I was confused with how the MFP calculations worked.

I appreciate the calculation explanation. It verifies that how I thought the site works is coprrect.

FWIW I almost always "eat" my exercise calories. But I look at it in the reverse, I tend to eat a somewhat constant amount of calories, which requires me to exercise so much to be able to eat that level. (If we have some paricularly tasty treat or are going/went out to eat I try to work in some extra exercise) I exercise off my extra calories. I nevr have had the problem of forcing mysekf to eat them.

If I get a chance to exercise "extra" (I am home with a preschooler and toddler so my opportunities to do enjoy a long run are sporadic) then I know I can eat more and am, usually much hungrier and try to push some protein.

However if I am keeping track of what I am eating and exercising most days, my bigger concern is when I lose weight too fast. I always seem to gain weight back + if I lose more than 1-2 pounds in a week. Of course i have never been more than 50 lbs overweight so I may have a different POV than someone who has an urgent need to drop 100 lbs.

AH2013

i think you'll find i said in my post 'each to their own' which means the same thing as 'we are all different and have different requirements' which is no more or less supportive than you were!

So please share those requirements with me? Is it perhaps losing weight in a healthy manner? Or destroy your body in the quickest possible way?

You do realise when exercising your putting your CNS(Central Nervous System) under stress, you are eating the muscle away if not catering for that additional protein in order to prevent catabolism. Do you ever take the time to read any of those medical studies or do you think you know of better? That you have a unique body that only works in a certain way?

Yes you are different but your body works in a very similar way than mine and the same ****ing rules apply to you...your not special in that regard.

Do as you please...I won't be assisting you on your journey

Why should I eat them back, if I am not hungry and my body doesn't ask for more food? Just because the MFP Number tells me to?

Do as you please...your body, your life.



For the both of you, you are pretty much on your own mission so good luck and enjoy the bumpy ride...

Yes, I've read reports - for both sides!

No, I never ever starve myself, I get more than enough protein (my personal recommended amount)

I lose between 1 & 2lbs a week (recommended amount)

I didn't suggest I was special

I don't remember ever asking for your assistance on my journey, you're too sensitive and easily offended for me

You're now attacking people who agree with you.......

carrie_eggo

I can see both sides here. Some people don't realize that the amount of calories they are burning isn't always accurate (unless you have a HRM --correct?). So if your exercise calorie calculation is inaccurate and you eat ALL of your exercise calories back, you may not end up with that much of a deficit at the end of the day/week. Maybe that's why some people do better not eating them back......eating them doesn't work for them because their exercise calorie allowance is off for whatever reason.

I lost my weight by not eating the exercise calories unless I felt I needed to. I usually have a day or two of going over my daily caloric allowance though. Now I'm getting into maintenance/toning mode and will definitely have to eat more.

skinnybearlyndsay

Why are people on here so concerned with what everyone else is doing?

Everyone is different...find what works for YOU. For me, I am starving after working out and eat back most of my calories so my stomach doesn't eat me alive in my sleep. Others swear by not eating back their exercise calories. I recommend playing around with it over the course of several weeks (say 3 for each option) and see what works best FOR YOU.

foxxysox

I am not going to eat the calories I just burned, just because I can, if I want to lose weight! Don't want all that hard work to go to waste. : )

Scoobies87

If I'm hungry, I'll eat. Why would I eat back exercise calories when I dont want it?

Agreed. I eat them back if I am hungry but most of the time I am not. I have been on here for 6 months now and I have learnt to listen to my body, even if I am over for that day. I will never let my body go hungry, however eating just to hit a number seems daft. It's just one more thing to worry about.

LorinaLynn

I have (had ... I'm in maintenance now) a calorie deficit to lose weight. I exercised to be stronger, more fit, and have nice firm muscles under my skin instead of bone like I had when I was just skinny. And to eat more.

nadiB

i dont eat mine 9/10 simply because im just not hungry, if i am i will though.

Same here, I have no problem eating them I just usually don't because I am not hungry

PBJunky

Yes, I've read reports - for both sides!

No, I never ever starve myself, I get more than enough protein (my personal recommended amount)

I lose between 1 & 2lbs a week (recommended amount)

I didn't suggest I was special

I don't remember ever asking for your assistance on my journey, you're too sensitive and easily offended for me

You're now attacking people who agree with you.......

I didn't attack you, said what I had to say and walked away..sorry if it seemed that way.

Sublog

The whole aim of having a goal calorie limit and earning calories, is that you eat them?
I don't understand, and I know that I'm not perfect at eating all of mine, but some days I go over, so it kind of balances out.

If I'm exercising, I need to put more fuel in my body, don't other people?

You do realize that stored FAT is fuel, correct? - approximately 3500 calories per lb, and most of us have tens of thousands to maybe even hundreds of thousands of stored calories.

'jus saying

PBJunky

The whole aim of having a goal calorie limit and earning calories, is that you eat them?
I don't understand, and I know that I'm not perfect at eating all of mine, but some days I go over, so it kind of balances out.

If I'm exercising, I need to put more fuel in my body, don't other people?

You do realize that stored FAT is fuel, correct? - approximately 3500 calories per lb, and most of us have tens of thousands to maybe even hundreds of thousands of stored calories.

'jus saying

That is why you are in a deficit with your exercise calories included...

cptnjck0209

Just saying here, but in reference to the 'to each their own' the article someone nicely posted on the first page did casually point out that if you've got the extra fat to spare your body will most likely just use that, only people nearing 'normal' weight really need to worry about their muscles being used when their body is to lazy to hunt out the spare fat. Mine's pretty available.

I'm 'obese' so I think I'll let my body eat my fat and when there is less of it I'll start worrying about making sure it doesn't go all cannibal on me.

I think this qualifies as a 'requirement'. I do not 'require' those exercise calories for the extra energy, I have stores of it already!

"If the bomb shelter is already stocked, why raid the supermarket?'

=D

cptnjck0209

You do realize that stored FAT is fuel, correct? - approximately 3500 calories per lb, and most of us have tens of thousands to maybe even hundreds of thousands of stored calories.

'jus saying
[/quote]

This.

jellybaby84

For me personally it's because I'm worried that the food I eat has more calories than the nutritional info I've found for it says it does and because I'm worried that I'm not really burning the exercise calories I estimate that I am (No HRM)

So I'd rather undereat than overeat.

I'm also in recovery from anorexia and bulimia so I still have a sad little addiction to the little warning sign that pops up when you are under 1200. I make sure I get at least 1100 most days but still, I like to have it there for some pathetic kind of security or something!!

hypotrochoid

Because I don't have a heart rate monitor and don't trust the estimated calorie burn. I have the feeling that the calories are overestimated; if I eat all of them back then I'll probably end up not burning anything.

cptnjck0209

MFP's stance:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

sammys1girly

I HAVE to eat back at least half of my exercise calories or I get a headache and feel sluggish. It's definitely fuel for me.
The days I go to the gym, I get to eat extra...a big incentive for me to go work out!

wolfchild59

For everyone saying skinny fat, I (as previously posted) don't eat my exercise calories as a general rule. I do lift heavy twice a week on a full upper and lower body workout. When I first started my strength workouts I could barely do five reps of 25lbs on the shoulder press (I have a basic universal machine in my apartment fitness center). As of my last strength session I did 10 clean reps at 40lbs on the shoulder press. And that's just one example of increase that I've seen since I started my strength routine. I try to follow the rule of it you can do more than eight reps, you should be adding more weight. So in my workout tonight, I'll be upping weight on at least four of the exercises based on my last two workouts.

So I may not be bulking up or building lots of of new muscle, but monthly measurements are showing my body fat percentage going down and my strength increasing. All without eating more than maybe 1/4 of my exercise calories every now and again.

But, again, I also use a BodyMedia Fit so I can track my actual consumption vs. burn and resulting deficit more precisely than MFP allows, so I can be more exacting about my choices. But, I also used three different BMI calculations, three different TDEE calculations and a couple more equations and found that when I averaged the results out I got numbers pretty equal to what my BMF gave me when I entered my stats. (and I adjusted my MFP calories to match that average amount cuz it was off by almost 200 calories a day) so I implicitly trust the numbers I'm working with and am seeing nothing but positive results on the scale, my body fat measurements, my increased strength, and the way I look/my clothes feel.

Biggipooh

Hey, Mr. I know everything PB Junky, relax.....

PBJunky

Hey, Mr. I know everything PB Junky, relax.....

You talking to me Miss self proclaimed expert?

Biggipooh

Aha, someone is pissed.... Have a great day.

TooTatToTrot

I lost 50 pounds in 6 months without MFP, just excersing and eating healthy foods when I was hungry. I didnt even calculate how many calories I ate a day. Now that I'm on MFP, I do the same thing. Eat when I'm hungry, workout before bed. And it turns out I almost never eat my excersice cals. Ive lost 20 pounds in 8 weeks. Cardio everyday, strength train 3 times a week, and i can now lift 100 pounds for 25 reps doing the lat pulldown. It all depends on what works for you.

wellbert

Sometimes I just plain can't. I try to eat at least half of them. On days where I need to eat 2600+ cals I just can't eat that volume of (healthy) food without getting sick.

Throw fast food in there with soda, candy, no problem, but I'm trying to get away from it. I used to eat 1200 calories a day in food then 800 calories in soda. You can probably guess how I felt day to day.

I've also been slowly raising my calorie deficit so I don't feel so guilty about not eating them...

I'm short 360 calories to meet a 1000 calorie deficit and the thought of eating anything right now makes me nauseous.