Eating Exericise Calories

pounce73

I am a returned newbie to MFP. I know that they give you ur recommened calorie intake, but when you exercise they give you back those caloires to eat. In the last week since I have started again I have not ate those calories just had a bigger defeict for those days. I am wondering if I am eventually going to do harm to my body, thinking it is going into starvation mode or will I be okay. In the past when I have started the journey before I go two weeks get discouraged and quit.

ZyheeMoongazer

From my rreading everyone does this a little differently.

I think it really depends on what your calorie goal is. Mine for example is 1200 if I eat any less than that it will give me warnings that I'm not eating enough and risk starvation mode. Depending if you are male or female that level is different. If your goal is higher than a reasonable cushion for the minimum calorie intake, not eating back your excerise calories may be fine.

SKHaz1

I try to stick to 1,200 calories a day whether thats dipping into my exercise calories or not. The rest stays as a deficit. So, if I burn 1,000 calories, and somehow i get 2,000 calories as my goal. I only eat 1,200. Hope that makes sense.

LorinaLynn

Too big of a calorie deficit isn't good for you. Not only could it stall your progress, but you'll be burning a lot of lean muscle instead of body fat. The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism, not to mention that you won't look as toned.

I ate mine since I started, and had great progress while I was losing weight.

The best part is that I never trained my body to survive on a minimal amount of calories, so at 39, I have the metabolism of a teenager and can eat pretty much whatever I want. Well, maybe that's the second best part. The real best part is that since I fueled my body properly, the majority of my weight loss has been from fat, and I've kept my lean muscle. So I'm about 130# and wearing clothes I last wore twenty years ago when I was 110#.

There were times that I didn't think it was possible for me to lose weight because when I reduced calories a lot, it was so hard for me to drop the pounds. I thought it was simple matter of "the less you eat, the more you lose." Not so. I now know that I have to eat enough for my body to feel comfortable ditching the excess fat.

taso42

I try to stick to 1,200 calories a day whether thats dipping into my exercise calories or not. The rest stays as a deficit. So, if I burn 1,000 calories, and somehow i get 2,000 calories as my goal. I only eat 1,200. Hope that makes sense.

That's a net of 200 calories. Frightening.

MaximalLife

I am a returned newbie to MFP. I know that they give you ur recommened calorie intake, but when you exercise they give you back those caloires to eat. In the last week since I have started again I have not ate those calories just had a bigger defeict for those days. I am wondering if I am eventually going to do harm to my body, thinking it is going into starvation mode or will I be okay. In the past when I have started the journey before I go two weeks get discouraged and quit.

You are sabotaging yourself.

Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.

MaximalLife

I try to stick to 1,200 calories a day whether thats dipping into my exercise calories or not. The rest stays as a deficit. So, if I burn 1,000 calories, and somehow i get 2,000 calories as my goal. I only eat 1,200. Hope that makes sense.

^^^^^^^
NOT THIS!

The above is a sure path to failure.
No offense, but again, the starvation route cuts into lean body mass, stifles metabolism and causes weight gain once normal eating resumes.

Be smart and lose the fat in a healthy way.

kristilovescake

You are sabotaging yourself.

Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.

This is how MFP works and how a lot of people (including me) do it, but really you need to figure out what works for you.

My vote is to eat your exercise calories! You need to make sure you're eating enough to fuel your workouts.

lcteaches

I have had the same question but decided to base it on whether or not I am actually HUNGRY. If I take a brisk walk and burn 300 calories, I might not really be hungry so I might not eat those 300 exercise calories. But on days like today when I did a body pump class and burned 500+ calories, I AM more hungry so I eat some of the exercise calories. Like you, I don't want to lose motivation, so I'm trying to approach this now the way I think I should approach eating and exercise over the long haul!

MelissaJ20

I try to stick to 1,200 calories a day whether thats dipping into my exercise calories or not. The rest stays as a deficit. So, if I burn 1,000 calories, and somehow i get 2,000 calories as my goal. I only eat 1,200. Hope that makes sense.

I am not trying to be rude...but how do you live off of 200 calories per day?

skierxjes

You want to NET at least 1200. AT LEAST 1200. Don't worry too much of how many your burned. Watch the number that you net.

chubbybunnee

Eat your exercise calories if you are hungry! Your body needs fuel to burn and protein to rebuild the muscle you tear during strength training. Just like everyone is saying, you want to lose fat, not muscle! The more muscle you have, the quicker you burn the fat. Eat those exercise calories. If you are off by 100 or so it won't hurt you so bad. DO NOT exercise and eat a net less than 1200 calories. You may feel ok in the beginning but in the long run you will get tired and not be able to work out as hard! It will come back to bite you when you go into maintain mode and you can't eat as much later on because you are getting your body used to surviving on fewer calories!

Pebble321

I think you answered your own question there - you say that after a few weeks you get discouraged and give up. I think this happens for most people because you are eating an unrealistically low amount and you can't see how it can possibly sustainable - this makes me give up too, I've done it before (but never lasted 2 weeks).

I found MFP nearly a year ago (356 days and counting!) and I've always eaten most of my exercise calories back. For me, this made the difference between "going on a diet" which is something short term and doomed to failure and "eating healthy" which is what I know I need to do. I've lost weight and kept it off eating my exercise calories, and so have lots of others. Why not give it a go?

MaximalLife

I think you answered your own question there - you say that after a few weeks you get discouraged and give up. I think this happens for most people because you are eating an unrealistically low amount and you can't see how it can possibly sustainable - this makes me give up too, I've done it before (but never lasted 2 weeks).

I found MFP nearly a year ago (356 days and counting!) and I've always eaten most of my exercise calories back. For me, this made the difference between "going on a diet" which is something short term and doomed to failure and "eating healthy" which is what I know I need to do. I've lost weight and kept it off eating my exercise calories, and so have lots of others. Why not give it a go?

^^^^^^
And THIS!

Don't be one of those who flashes out like a shooting star - big, quick results followed by big, quick regression.
EAT!