Why I don't eat my exercise calories.

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13

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  • Alethea_OnAMission
    Alethea_OnAMission Posts: 29 Member
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    I just asked the question what do u do in this msg board... :smile: ... I totally understand your reasoning for why its probably best not to eat them. I am the same way. I try not to eat the earned calories because of the accuracy of total calories burned during a workout.
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
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    I burn a lot too. I do Insanity and weight train. If I didn't eat the extra calories that I am allowed...I WOULD STARVE. I'm already creating a 500 deficit so to burn up to 1000 more a day on top of that, just wouldn't work for me either. :)

    Yep. For me I only have a 200 deficit and usually burn under 300.
  • PBJunky
    PBJunky Posts: 737 Member
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    Eh?? How do you make that assumption based on the post?

    You will be more prone to catabolism....
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
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    Eh?? How do you make that assumption based on the post?

    You will be more prone to catabolism....

    I weight train and eat over 40% protein, and only aim for a 200 cal deficit. I had thought all weight loss involved some degree of catabolism.
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
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    Eh?? How do you make that assumption based on the post?

    You will be more prone to catabolism....

    I weight train and eat over 40% protein, and only aim for a 200 cal deficit. I had thought all weight loss involved some degree of catabolism.

    Given you go for a 200 cal deficit and you exercise to 300 calories, that means you'd be eating at lest 100 exercise calories back.

    But technically, if you have your weight loss set to 1lb a week (or similar), you could eat of them back and still lose 1lb per week. So while I understand why you don't eat your exercise calores "back", I dont' see why you are eating to a deficit in addition to your your orginal caloric allotment.
  • PBJunky
    PBJunky Posts: 737 Member
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    Eh?? How do you make that assumption based on the post?

    You will be more prone to catabolism....

    I weight train and eat over 40% protein, and only aim for a 200 cal deficit. I had thought all weight loss involved some degree of catabolism.

    =) Then I'm glad to see you have a fair understanding about nutrition and keeping your protein intake optimal. Makes my previous posts irrelevant.
  • PBJunky
    PBJunky Posts: 737 Member
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    Eh?? How do you make that assumption based on the post?

    You will be more prone to catabolism....

    I weight train and eat over 40% protein, and only aim for a 200 cal deficit. I had thought all weight loss involved some degree of catabolism.

    Given you go for a 200 cal deficit and you exercise to 300 calories, that means you'd be eating at lest 100 exercise calories back.

    No that would make her deficit 500 cals a day, 1lb loss a week.
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
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    I am actually set at about 0.4 lbs a week! As I am near goal I am ok with that.
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
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    Eh?? How do you make that assumption based on the post?

    You will be more prone to catabolism....

    I weight train and eat over 40% protein, and only aim for a 200 cal deficit. I had thought all weight loss involved some degree of catabolism.

    Given you go for a 200 cal deficit and you exercise to 300 calories, that means you'd be eating at lest 100 exercise calories back.

    No that would make her deficit 500 cals a day, 1lb loss a week.

    Her 1lb a week is already factored in to her daily calorie allotments
  • capriciousmoon
    capriciousmoon Posts: 1,263 Member
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    Most importantly FOR ME the reason I dont is that I know I would easily get into the trap of linking eating to having exercised, which is a slippery slope to "I haven't exercised today/haven't burned enough today so I have to eat less." etc etc. A

    :huh: how is this a slippery slope? if you don't exercise during the day, you should eat less....

    I think that would be because it can lead to feelings that you need to earn your food so you may reduce your calories lower or maybe not eat at all. It can lead to disordered thinking and behaviors for some people. There is a form of bulimia that uses exercise to make up for eating/binging.
  • Victoriav99
    Victoriav99 Posts: 260 Member
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    :smile: I like your reasons...I feel the same I don't want over guestimate my caloreies burned or under guestimate the calories I eat so I try not to eat them back, but sometimes I do because I'm hungry ands it okay with me.
  • amoffatt
    amoffatt Posts: 674 Member
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    I don't eat back my exercise calories, I don't even track my exercise. I exercise daily I go with the healthier food choices for the most part and I eat when I am hungry....simple as that. My first time around on MFP I was to obsessed with the numbers so this time around I am trying a different approach and so far so good :)

    This is so me!!! The numbers are so overwhelming sometimes and my life tends to run around, "Can I... But... Dont touch that..." and so forth. I watch what I eat, exercise (hard to count all calories burned at times) and I am loosing more now then before. But...This is what works for me.
  • PBJunky
    PBJunky Posts: 737 Member
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    I am actually set at about 0.4 lbs a week! As I am near goal I am ok with that.

    Actually no, the deficit of 200 cals alone would've been 0.4lbs loss a week
    3500 cals = 1lb
    200/500 (1400/3500 weekly calories)= 0.4 lbs a week

    Since you burn another 300 cals by doing exercise your deficit is 500 and not 200, so you'll continue losing 1lb a week.
  • mistresseeyore
    mistresseeyore Posts: 717 Member
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    I don't eat mine, because I don't eat when I'm not hungry. It's nice to have a buffer on days that are cheat days. When I was a teenager I loved to exercise, and after a month of working out again, I'm getting addicted to exercising. It's just a lot of fun.
  • killagb
    killagb Posts: 3,280 Member
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    I eat mine back...always. I am trying to fuel my body after a workout to repair itself and also I am not trying to make my calorie deficit so large that I start losing more muscle mass than desired. Feel free to look at my diary to see what I do, it's public. I've lost 26lbs since July doing exactly this(for the last month or so I've decreased my loss rate to .5lb a week, so it's much slower now).
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
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    I am actually set at about 0.4 lbs a week! As I am near goal I am ok with that.

    Actually no, the deficit of 200 cals alone would've been 0.4lbs loss a week
    3500 cals = 1lb
    200/500 (1400/3500 weekly calories)= 0.4 lbs a week

    Since you burn another 300 cals by doing exercise your deficit is 500 and not 200, so you'll continue losing 1lb a week.
    I can tell you now I am not losing a pound a week. More like a pound every 2 or 3 weeks max. Which may be due to the meds I am on that affect metabolism and fat oxidation. Which again is why I don't eat the exercise calories. And yes I am meticulous with logging food and drinks.
  • PBJunky
    PBJunky Posts: 737 Member
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    I am actually set at about 0.4 lbs a week! As I am near goal I am ok with that.

    Actually no, the deficit of 200 cals alone would've been 0.4lbs loss a week
    3500 cals = 1lb
    200/500 (1400/3500 weekly calories)= 0.4 lbs a week

    Since you burn another 300 cals by doing exercise your deficit is 500 and not 200, so you'll continue losing 1lb a week.
    I can tell you now I am not losing a pound a week. More like a pound every 2 or 3 weeks max. Which may be due to the meds I am on that affect metabolism and fat oxidation. Which again is why I don't eat the exercise calories. And yes I am meticulous with logging food and drinks.

    Ah but that is what this is all about, trial and error, learning and getting to understand your body =) You seem to be in control.
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
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    I am actually set at about 0.4 lbs a week! As I am near goal I am ok with that.

    Actually no, the deficit of 200 cals alone would've been 0.4lbs loss a week
    3500 cals = 1lb
    200/500 (1400/3500 weekly calories)= 0.4 lbs a week

    Since you burn another 300 cals by doing exercise your deficit is 500 and not 200, so you'll continue losing 1lb a week.
    I can tell you now I am not losing a pound a week. More like a pound every 2 or 3 weeks max. Which may be due to the meds I am on that affect metabolism and fat oxidation. Which again is why I don't eat the exercise calories. And yes I am meticulous with logging food and drinks.

    Ah but that is what this is all about, trial and error, learning and getting to understand your body =) You seem to be in control.
    not sure if I am in control or just given up trying to be controlling! Either way it is what it is and I am focusing on health, fitness and wellbeing and largely ignoring the scales, which I only dust off once a month anyway.
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
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    I'm glad you have found what works for you. That's the important thing. It's also nice to know that if what we are doing ever stops working, we always have something else we can try.

    I eat some of mine back, but never all because I don't fully trust the calorie burn my HRM gives me.
  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
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    I don't eat mine back, though I will have treats on days I've exercised as I know I've got calories spare, but won't eat the whole lot back.. eg if i burned 600 I might allow a small bar of choc that day (usually under 100 cals like small milky bar.. usually when I got my monthly cravings! ) in place of or on top of an apple snack or have some cheese with the apple, but still tend to eat same kind of thing for meals.. I wont go out and buy fish and chips cos i burned 600 extra cals i still prefer healthier fish without the batter and vegetables for dinner.

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