Eating Exercise calories?

Nattiejean57

Do you guys eat your exercise calories? I am contemplating whether or not I should. I have like 60 pounds to lose. it just seems kind of pointless to workout if you are just going to eat those calories? What is everyone's thoughts?

MaraDiaz

I eat mine. I work out so I will have enough calories to eat so I'm not a rampaging, hungry b*tch. Plus, when this fat finally goes, I want to have some muscle under it, muscle I can use, and muscle that continues to burn calories, and hey, muscle that also looks pretty darn good.

dewybuttercup

... I work out so I will have enough calories to eat so I'm not a rampaging, hungry b*tch. ...

I just wanted to say that a- I agree with your entire post and b- that quote totally made my day, thank you!!

MaraDiaz

... I work out so I will have enough calories to eat so I'm not a rampaging, hungry b*tch. ...

I just wanted to say that a- I agree with your entire post and b- that quote totally made my day, thank you!!

CoraGregoryCPA

I don't eat all of them back, but my calorie setting is at 1450 instead of 1200. I don't recommend it because what if your exercise calories are incorrect. It's like a big flashing neon sign saying "weight gain, weight gain". Too scary of a thought for me.

Nattiejean57

I don't eat all of them back, but my calorie setting is at 1450 instead of 1200. I don't recommend it because what if your exercise calories are incorrect. It's like a big flashing neon sign saying "weight gain, weight gain". Too scary of a thought for me.

this is what I was thinking too, My calorie intake that they recommend is a little high too

CoraGregoryCPA

You could always try it.. and see what works for you. When I started here, that is what a lot of people recommended, "eat your exercise calories". I did that.. I maintained my weight-no loss. I decided to stop doing that and I've been losing ever since (as long as I eat properly).

I encourage you to try it. Try it for a week of eating them back, then one week of not eating them back. But still workout Working out is great for your body and other health reasons! Good Luck

I don't eat all of them back, but my calorie setting is at 1450 instead of 1200. I don't recommend it because what if your exercise calories are incorrect. It's like a big flashing neon sign saying "weight gain, weight gain". Too scary of a thought for me.

this is what I was thinking too, My calorie intake that they recommend is a little high too

SassyCalyGirl

I do NOT eat back burned calories. Seems pointless to me-no offense to anyone who does.

psych101

MFP is set up for you to eat back most, if not all your exercise calories

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390145-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories

sunleigh

i eat them back if my calorie intake for the day gets really low, it should never drop they say below 1200. i also set mfp at 1450 for the day 1200 was not working for me and it is very rare that i eat all the calories back into my day, i take back in maybe a 100-300, so usually half of them.

Jessyrabbit

I only have 1220 calories a day. On days I DO NOT workout I do NOT go over that! but on a day I work out i give myself a 50- 100 calorie window cause you need to replenish the energy you burned. I don't think you should eat back ALL your calories or use it as an excuse to splurge on somehting bad for you. But If you want a extra tbsp of cheese or a few extra chips as a snack I let myself if I worked out.

smileeangel

I've read other posts on this. I didn't use to eat my exercise calories back, but now I will eat some of them back. One person put it like this: If you take in 1200 calories and burn 600 calories, that only leaves your body with 600 calories for fuel to get you through the day. For whatever reason that made sense to me. Good Luck with whatever you decide to do!

taso42

i do it because i'm logical

Nattiejean57

smileeangel i think that is what I am going to try, I obviously don't want to be going under 1200 calories so I am going to try to stay in that area and see if i need to eat my workout calories or not

ilovemyhorse

This is a huge debate on here. MFP suggests you DO eat your exercise calories back. I did and lost 30 pounds.
Second time around on MFP & I think I will eat about 50-60% of them back. But not all of them

Nattiejean57

GuruMeditatio Is this an answer or an insult. This place is for help and support not snyde comments. Take them elsewhere

CMmrsfloyd

I eat mine and its working out quite nicely. But I also have my activity level set to 'sedentary' and I use a HRM during workouts so I have a really good estimate of my actual calorie burn.

veganbaum

The point of working out is to get fit and healthy and preserve what muscle mass you can while losing weight. If your calorie allotment is 1200, it's likely you have your goals set to 2lb/wk which means that MFP has already given you the highest calorie deficit that is considered safe, and theoretically you should be able to lose around 2 lbs/wk (really depends on your size). When you exercise, you are creating a larger deficit and that deficit may be larger than is healthy. MFP gave you calories to fuel your basic daily activities while still losing weight, if you take away that energy by exercising not only are you not fueling your body for exercising, you aren't fueling your body properly for your normal activities. So, the point of exercising is not to create a larger deficit - on MFP you can eat your given calories without exercise and should be able to lose weight - it's to get, or keep, your body healthy and strong and looking better than a flabby body.

jerber160

the fat lady ( the nutritionist ) who turned me on to mfp suggested I didn't record my exercise.... should I get the energy to do any...when I'm feeling ambitious and want to do a report i self add for 1 cal just so I can tell how often I actually get off my back side.

astrodog

I don't eat the "added" calories BUT I am eating 1800 calories a day: 5'6", 45 minutes of aerobics 5X a week and still losing weight steadily, 25 pounds lost since August 1. If I ate the calories I burned I would be eating an additional 5-600 a day, seems like I would maintain and not lose.

Cold_Steel

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo

Stop the madness....



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AriannaTiyen42

:laugh:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo

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AriannaTiyen42

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

Psychomasokism

... I work out so I will have enough calories to eat so I'm not a rampaging, hungry b*tch. ...

I just wanted to say that a- I agree with your entire post and b- that quote totally made my day, thank you!!

i second that! LOL. Short & simple. Couldn't have said it better myself xD

dad106

I don't eat the "added" calories BUT I am eating 1800 calories a day: 5'6", 45 minutes of aerobics 5X a week and still losing weight steadily, 25 pounds lost since August 1. If I ate the calories I burned I would be eating an additional 5-600 a day, seems like I would maintain and not lose.

No you wouldn't maintain.. and you would prob. still lose.

1800-500=1300.. which is prob. enough for your body to function on safely. The point of eating exercise calories is to refuel your body after a workout, so your not starving... cause I know that when I workout, I'm always looking for food after.

To OP:
Do what works for you... I've gone both ways.

Think about this though, if you weren't logging, wouldn't you eat your exercise calories without knowing it? You wouldn't say oh I need to eat X, and I burned X so I'm going to make sure I don't eat burned X. You'd prob. eat those(and then some extra) without even a second thought.. and still lose weight.

sister_bear

Eat them.

SDkitty

taso42

GuruMeditatio Is this an answer or an insult. This place is for help and support not snyde comments. Take them elsewhere

I beg your pardon? It was an answer.

Forgive me for not replying in great detail to a question which is asked several times a day, every single day.

More elaboration here.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits
http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/457-unofficial-mfp-faq
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390145-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories

EricMurano

More exercise = faster general metabolism = weight loss
More exercise = get to eat more = don't go out of your brain

Nattiejean57

More exercise = faster general metabolism = weight loss
More exercise = get to eat more = don't go out of your brain

.
I think this is good constructive advice. I think its going to take me some experimenting to see what works best for me but I am thinking I will be eating some but not all of my burn calories

katierrt

what I regret not doing initially was logging everything I eat for a whole month...then, just taper down from there...if I was eating 3000+ calories before then knocking it down to 2000 would have helped a bit...now, I'm just playing with the numbers here....I lost 12 lbs initially, and for the last month, I've not lost anything...and that is on 1390 calories....I don't know what I'm doing wrong here, eat back the calories, not eat back the calories...either way, I'm not losing anything currently...keep playing with the monthly 5 lbs on/off....I think I'm going to go see a dietitian or something, because what I'm doing isn't working...everyday, elliptical x 1 hr, I should be burning something right? I give...but at least I'm not gaining the 12 lbs back...