Pros/Cons of Eating Exercise Calories?

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AliciaBeth78
AliciaBeth78 Posts: 437 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Here is my dilemma:

4-5 days a week I am at the gym and I usually burn anywhere between 350+ calories to 1000 calories during my workout routines. While yes, eating back 350 calories is pretty easy - eating back 1000 calories is not.

What are the pros and cons of just setting a caloric goal and sticking to it regardless of it I am working out or not?

PS: I'm not sure if this will help, but this is my TYPICAL calorie burn per week
Monday - 600+ calories
Tuesday - if I'm not to sore from the personal trainer from hell on Monday, 350+ calories
Wednesday - 350+ calories
Thursday - off
Friday - 600+ calories
Saturday - 1000+ calories
Sunday - off
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Replies

  • koosdel
    koosdel Posts: 3,317 Member
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    Pro- You will be much healthier.

    Con- There aren't any.

    The diet must support the excersize.
  • Gee45
    Gee45 Posts: 171
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    I suppose since you burn 2900 a week, you could set your calories at about 100 less than maintenance and you should get your 1 pound a week loss. Then you dont' have to worry about eating exercise calories back. Sounds like that might suit you better.
  • docHelen
    docHelen Posts: 198
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    you've earnt the calories so eat them! no point in not as you#ll send your body into starvation mode. but make sure your exercise calories are accurate! some sources vastly overestimate the amount burnt
  • sc1572
    sc1572 Posts: 2,309 Member
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    I try to eat my exercise calories back, but if I'm not hungry, I won't eat!
  • unicornassassin
    unicornassassin Posts: 141 Member
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    If you eat some pretty calorie dense, but healthy foods, you can eat back 1000 calories pretty easily. Nuts and beans do the trick for me.
  • SarabellPlus3
    SarabellPlus3 Posts: 496 Member
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    I am not a slave to the logging, but I generally log, and I eat my exercise calories back. The way I look at it, if I didn't eat them back (but didn't create TOO big a deficit, unhealthily), I suppose I would lose ever so slightly faster. But in eating my calories, I'm enjoying life so much more.

    So I suppose that's the biggest, and the determining, pro for me. It makes everything so much better. :)
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    You can figure your TDEE including average exercise, subtract a calorie deficit and hit that target every day on average w/o "eating exercise calories".

    Or you can follow MFP, which separates out the exercise from the equation. The deficit is taken from your TDEE sans exercise, and the exercise calories are added back in.

    Both ways will get you to the same place. But be aware of what you're doing. If you follow the MFP number, you're expected to eat the exercise calories. If you do it the first way I mentioned, you will need to do a little number crunching and manually set a calorie target.

    Do whichever way is easier for you to manage the accounting of. But be aware of which way you're doing it.
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
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    today i burned close to 1900 calories in an hour and a half run. can i eat all those exercise calories back?? maybe. maybe not. but i'm going to enjoy trying!!
  • AriannaTiyen42
    AriannaTiyen42 Posts: 86 Member
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    I concur:smile:
    Pro- You will be much healthier.

    Con- There aren't any.

    The diet must support the excersize.
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
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    Here is my dilemma:

    4-5 days a week I am at the gym and I usually burn anywhere between 350+ calories to 1000 calories during my workout routines. While yes, eating back 350 calories is pretty easy - eating back 1000 calories is not.

    What are the pros and cons of just setting a caloric goal and sticking to it regardless of it I am working out or not?

    PS: I'm not sure if this will help, but this is my TYPICAL calorie burn per week
    Monday - 600+ calories
    Tuesday - if I'm not to sore from the personal trainer from hell on Monday, 350+ calories
    Wednesday - 350+ calories
    Thursday - off
    Friday - 600+ calories
    Saturday - 1000+ calories
    Sunday - off

    i'd rather know what kind of work out you're doing, rather then how much you burn.
  • AriannaTiyen42
    AriannaTiyen42 Posts: 86 Member
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    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

    This article was posted on the forum last night. It is pretty good.
  • ksloop00
    ksloop00 Posts: 144
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    I don't eat mine back. In order to lose weight, U need to burn more than U consume. U exercise to get rid of calories, why eat them back? I'm under Dr. care and have a dietician and that's what they have told me. I find it interesting when people on here say eat your calories back and their ticker shows 0 pounds lost. I wonder why?
  • Lainn
    Lainn Posts: 281 Member
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    I do not eat my calories back. I try to stick to the calorie goal before exercise.

    However there have been times that about an hour after exercising that I am very hungry. In those cases I will have a low calorie snack. Something with good protein in it. If your body is hungry then it NEEDS the food. Not giving it the food will make it think it is starving and it will start storing the calories you do consume.

    Listen to your body...it will tell you when it needs food. Don't just eat back calories cause you burned them. Eat because you are hungry (not bored, but actually hungry).
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    I don't eat mine back. In order to lose weight, U need to burn more than U consume. U exercise to get rid of calories, why eat them back? I'm under Dr. care and have a dietician and that's what they have told me. I find it interesting when people on here say eat your calories back and their ticker shows 0 pounds lost. I wonder why?

    Your deficit is already built into your calorie goal...

    When you exercise you increase the deficit you already have, and while that SOUNDS like a good thing, for active people it is NOT. You need to fuel your workouts and eating too little is horrible for you.



    To answer the original question:
    Pros = everything
    Cons = none
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    U exercise to get rid of calories, why eat them back?

    Do you?
    That's nice.
    I exercise to get faster, stronger, healthier...etc.

    If exercise was only to "get rid of calories" then everyone who was fit and healthy would stop exercising and get fat and lazy. They KEEP exercising after reaching goal because it has many many benefits other than "getting rid of calories". In fact some people greatly enjoy eating the 2000+ calories they get to eat every day, thank you very much!:drinker:
  • aregensb
    aregensb Posts: 239 Member
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    You NEED to fuel your body properly. I don't know what your caloric restrictions are for each day, but if it's low (I feel like most people on MFP are on 1200 or 1300 cal diets), it's absolutely necessary. If you exercise a lot and don't eat enough, your body will go into starvation mode and you will stop losing weight.

    Some people say that they lose weight just fine on 1200-1300 cal diets and don't eat their cals back... but what they're doing is slowing their metabolism. As they get closer to their target weight, the WILL plateau. What may work when one has more weight to lose is not necessarily what will work as one gets closer to their target weight.

    Treat your body right - give it the proper nutrients and you will be rewarded.
  • AliciaBeth78
    AliciaBeth78 Posts: 437 Member
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    Here is my dilemma:

    4-5 days a week I am at the gym and I usually burn anywhere between 350+ calories to 1000 calories during my workout routines. While yes, eating back 350 calories is pretty easy - eating back 1000 calories is not.

    What are the pros and cons of just setting a caloric goal and sticking to it regardless of it I am working out or not?

    PS: I'm not sure if this will help, but this is my TYPICAL calorie burn per week
    Monday - 600+ calories
    Tuesday - if I'm not to sore from the personal trainer from hell on Monday, 350+ calories
    Wednesday - 350+ calories
    Thursday - off
    Friday - 600+ calories
    Saturday - 1000+ calories
    Sunday - off

    i'd rather know what kind of work out you're doing, rather then how much you burn.

    Usually Mondays I'll train with my psycho trainer and we will box and or do a circuit strength training session that has me sweating bullets after 30 minutes, and then I'll do 30 minutes on the elliptical (usually at level 5-6)
    Tuesday - like I said If I'm not hella sore - I'll try for 30 minutes on the elliptical again
    Wednesday is strength training followed with 30 minutes on level 7-8 on the elliptical
    Friday - 5 mile walk or run followed by at least 45minutes to an hour of strength training
    Saturday - Circuit strength training session and an hour of cardio spred out between 2 sessions.

    I should also mention that I'm not one of those girls that believes in light weights/high reps!
  • rhce40
    rhce40 Posts: 201 Member
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    I agree with this. It is important to still eat the right calories even if they are extra ones.
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
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    If your not hungry, don't eat them. I maintain if I eat them back. I lose when I don't eat them back.
  • westcoastSW
    westcoastSW Posts: 320 Member
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    I don't eat mine back. In order to lose weight, U need to burn more than U consume. U exercise to get rid of calories, why eat them back? I'm under Dr. care and have a dietician and that's what they have told me. I find it interesting when people on here say eat your calories back and their ticker shows 0 pounds lost. I wonder why?
    From my experience and understanding, it becomes more crucial to eat your exercise calories back when you are closer to your goal weight. When you have 200 lbs to lose, you can create a huge deficit and your body will be happy to get rid of poundage. But when you're down to 10-15 pounds left to lose, your deficit will be smaller and the difference from exercise becomes more important.

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