Repost: Because I got ZERO response the last time.

CaptainGordo

Though i must ask is it really overkill when you are considered morbidly obese? (which, at 235 lbs I am)

I certainly isn't necessary.

significance

When I have a very large burn (e.g. I rode my bike 120 km on Saturday), I find I'm not really any hungrier that day, but I get very hungry the next day or the day after. What counts is the average over the course of the week. If you aren't hungry on the day of your burn, don't eat the extra, but do allow yourself extra when you are hungry later in the week.

CoraGregoryCPA

Are you absolutely positive you are burning that many calories?

You don't have to eat them back. If you arent' hungry, I'd advise not eating them back. Nobody is 100% sure what they are burning during a workout, even when/if you have the best HRM in the world. If you aren't hooked up to a vo2 machine, then you can't be 100% sure.

crazyellybean

Though i must ask is it really overkill when you are considered morbidly obese? (which, at 235 lbs I am)

I certainly isn't necessary.

exactly.. it's overkill if your 135lbs, but at 235 or even higher, its not overkill... Eat less = lose weight, Exercise More = Lose Weight... Eating MORE and Exercising LESS is what got us all here in the first place!

sullyboo

If you try to lose too quickly it won't work and you may lose but will possibly gain it back again ... If you feel you have a lot to lose then you should be looking long term really .. And your body does need a certain amount of nutrients daily to function .. Don't believe the stuff peddled on here that you shouldn't eat exercise calories .. The deficit is built in,, so if your set to lose however much a week you will. Good luck.

Snap355

Like the others said, try a HRM (heart rate monitor) and see how accurate the workouts are.

If it's true and you're not hungry, then perhaps see a doctor. Metabolism or other health related problems might come into play.

If I workout as much as you did, burning that much calories, I'll be eating meat all day due to hunger

Aprillsmith

You don't need that much. Eat your bmr or approx. 1800 cals a day. Have a weekly spike day of 3500 and you will lose.

What do you mean by spike day? Is that a day where i should eat 3500 in that day??

GaiaGirl1992

you don't need to eat all of your exercise calories back.....that would ruin the idea of exercising to lose weight. You could eat some extra to help your body refuel after the work out, but otherwise you'd be WAY overeating!

Aprillsmith

Like the others said, try a HRM (heart rate monitor) and see how accurate the workouts are.

If it's true and you're not hungry, then perhaps see a doctor. Metabolism or other health related problems might come into play.

If I workout as much as you did, burning that much calories, I'll be eating meat all day due to hunger

As odd as it may sound, after I workout I find that Im not as hungry. I grab a smoothie after my workout because they say to put something in your system within the hour after and well because i just cant resist the doggone things. And now that I think about it I alway get DIET DOWN in my smoothie which I think has an appetite suppresant! Hmm that never dawned on me until now! Maybe thats why Im not hungry.

calimari

My starting weight on 5/26 was 235, and I have lost 38 lbs since then. My exercise for the most part: recumbant bike, 10 minute aerobic videos, wii boxing, walking around my office, and yoga. In the warmer months, I swam nearly every day & rode my bike a lot (11 miles on weekends), and did some hiking. No massive 2 hour workouts. Now, maybe you are looking to lose weight faster, but I'm 48 so it doesn't come off quite so fast. And I get enough exercise calories from that to give me enough calories to eat back so I feel satisfied. Some days I'm a little under; rarely over.

mrsvatitagain

*bump*

CaptainGordo

Eat less = lose weight, Exercise More = Lose Weight...

I disagree.

Ironically, Dr. Powers (USF psychiatrist Dr. Pauline Powers) said, while the debate about obesity grabs the headlines, increasing numbers of people are also engaging in excessive exercise – spending hours a day at the gym or training for ultramarathons that tax their endurance in extreme temperatures and terrain.

Some people erroneously believe “if some exercise is good, then more must be better,’ much like ‘if thin is good, thinner is better,’” Dr Powers said. But, among even competitive athletes who train more intensively than the average American, too much exercise may lead to “overtraining syndrome” or “staleness” – a condition marked by fatigue, weight loss, depression, and even a decrease in sports performance.

“More exercise does not necessarily improve athletic performance, nor does reducing weight or body fat,” she said. “It might if an athlete is not training enough, or if they’ve become overweight. But, usually that’s not the case, and it’s factors like genetics and personality traits that make the competitive difference.”

Most people (who are not competitive athletes) need to set reasonable and realistic goals for health and fitness, taking into account physical factors, such as their body type and muscle mass, and life circumstances like age and health status, Dr. Powers said. “My neighbor, who is a triathlete, wants me to run a marathon with her. Well, I’ll never be able to run a marathon. I can run 2 miles, but not a marathon.”

http://hscweb3.hsc.usf.edu/health/now/?p=459

twolilbeans

I'm not a nutritionist but I think you're overloading on sugar in the morning, which makes you hungrier the rest of the day. Smoothies are loaded with sugar and so is granola. Check the label - the amount of protein per serving should be more than the sugars per serving. Or, skip the granola and just eat a handful (count them - 17) of almonds. Also try eating something really light, maybe half a cup of plain yogurt, before you work out. That will fuel your workout and it will also keep you from eating too much at your "real" breakfast. Hope that helps.

I completely agree with this. Smoothies are a horrible choice, they're loaded with sugars. The insulin load you're placing on your body with that smoothie is insane.

Sweet_Southern_Tea

I NEVER factor in my workout calories with my daily goal. It will cause you to overeat and it's defeats the purpose of you working out in the first place. If your daily calorie goal is 1700 and you gain 400 because you worked out do not factor in the 400. ONLY factor in what you have eaten and how many calories are left from the 1700 AFTER you log you meals ONLY!! I hope that makes sense.

The goal is to burn more than what you eat. NOT burn then eat those calories back.

rachelboddy

I haven't eaten 1600 calories, that's the issue. I have just been told that I should be eating my BMR, which is 1600 calories, to lose weight? That's what it sounds like people are saying on this post. I however eat anywhere from 1200-1400 calories per day. I have done this for a long time. In a year I have gained 40 lbs and two pant sizes. This is where my confusion is, since simple math tells me to burn more than I'm consuming, and 1200 is the bottom line-- your body needs at least 1200 to maintain normal functionality. So, where am I missing the step?

jsteffen80

I'd like to chime in here because you sound like you are doing what I did the last time I lost a bunch of weight. I went from about 350 to 225 in a matter of 7-8 months. I was gung-ho. I hit the gym HARD twice a day EVERY DAY (once on Saturday and Sunday). I could often burn 1500-2000 calories between my two trips (according to my HRM). I ate minimal amounts of food.. what I did eat was beans, rice, and turkey. I was at peak performance (I know this isn't true, but I really had a self-image that I could do anything), and the weight just melted off my body.

Then the problems came knocking. I moved and lost access to a gym. I lost scheduled workout time. Through all of it I hadn't taught myself anything about how to eat. Within 18 months I had put almost all of the weight back on.

You see, you can keep up a feverish pace for a while. You can really nail it to the wall, and do some really amazing things. But it's very likely that you can't maintain 2 trips to the gym forever... nor do you really want to.

I recommend really learning how to eat. Take your time getting it right, because you will have a lot of years to use what you've learned. Use your time in the gym wisely. Cut out your second trip, but destroy the place every time you're there.

Cliche alert: This isn't a get skinny quick program, it's a change in lifestyle.

agthorn

you don't need to eat all of your exercise calories back.....that would ruin the idea of exercising to lose weight. You could eat some extra to help your body refuel after the work out, but otherwise you'd be WAY overeating!

I NEVER factor in my workout calories with my daily goal. It will cause you to overeat and it's defeats the purpose of you working out in the first place. If your daily calorie goal is 1700 and you gain 400 because you worked out do not factor in the 400. ONLY factor in what you have eaten and how many calories are left from the 1700 AFTER you log you meals ONLY!! I hope that makes sense.

The goal is to burn more than what you eat. NOT burn then eat those calories back.

Completely wrong. MFP isn't set up for you to "exercise to lose weight" and she would NOT be overeating if she ate her exercise calories. Her 1500 per day already has a calorie deficit figured in for her to lose weight (I think she said she was set at 1.5 pounds a week - so that's a 750 calorie deficit per day). If she's exercising to the tune of 1500+ calories per day, her deficit is now 2250 per day. So she could eat some or all of those 1500 calories back and still have her original deficit of 750 calories per day, or more.

OP - it's really up to you to decide. You have a large goal, so you have more wiggle room in eating back all, some or none of your exercise calories. But at least make the decision based on correct information!

jskaggs1971

I'm going to throw this out there, because it's what works for me. I'm not a trainer or a fitness expert or anything like that. I'm a guy with a lot of great information on how to get fat, and I'm learning what works for me on getting not-fat.

In early September, I started MFP at 288 lb. Even for a 6'5" guy like me, that's fat. Since then, I've dropped 40 lb -- probably half of what I'd like to eventually lose. Here's what I did: Biking and eating better food.

My rules are simple: If I'm hungry, and I have calories left over in my "daily calorie" budget (including exercise), I eat. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat. If I'm hungry and over my daily calorie budget, I go to bed hungry.

On days when I get in a solid hour+ bicycling, I can burn 1000+ calories on exercise. While I'm hungry afterward, I'm not hungry enough to eat all those calories back, so I don't. Some days, that means I only net 800-1000 calories. Other days, I net more. Having dropped 40 lb in four months, or right around 2 lb a week, I can definitely tell you I haven't been in "starvation mode".

Huffdogg

1. Stop eating so much processed food and eat more proper whole foods. Fresh veggies, lean meat, nuts, berries.
2. You ARE overtraining. What is going to happen if you keep crushing workouts 6 days a week (?!) is that your body, starved of the proper nutrients (particularly protein), is going to start catabolizing muscle just as much as it burns fat. Possibly more easily. Never lift twice in one day, and never train the same muscle group two days in a row. Muscles HAVE to recover, or else you'll do more harm than good.
3. Be patient. This is a lifestyle change, not a race. If you try to do too much too fast, you'll burn out and you'll give up.
4. Odds are quite high that your calorie burn estimates are off. However, at your weight, it's possible that they are not. The only way to know will be an HRM. If you insist on doing so much cardio and racking up thousand-calorie estimated burns, you are giving yourself an incredible margin for error.

LorinaLynn

I agree on the overtraining. Plus, if you're exercising so much because you want muscle when you've finished losing weight, 2 hours of cardio especially without proper refueling is just going to eat your muscle.

Too much exercise doesn't help you lose weight faster, just like too much of a calorie deficit doesn't help, either. It's about finding the right balance, and if you're unable to refuel from your exercise, it's out of balance.