Why you should eat your exercise calories

Jenniferlynn212

Can you save them for a cheat day once per week?

ingfit

I posted this a while ago, but I have been seeing more and more new members asking whether or not they should be eating them back.

Short answer: YES!

Here is why: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

MFP has already created a deficit for you. When you don't eat your exercise calories back you are creating an even larger deficit which can cause you to stop losing. I strongly suggest you to read the link I provided for details!

After reading this article, I realized that my biggest problem is my all or nothing approach to fitness and weight loss. Over the last year (2011) I have lost and gained the same 6 or so lbs, hovering between 174 and 180 - all year. I'm female, 5' 7", 47, muscular, physical job (constuction). I restricted on and off my calories, and did intense periods of working out (P90X - 9 weeks, ended up really sick, high fever etc. then took a break for 10 weeks, then Insanity 7 weeks - no weight loss). As you can see I have rollercoastered with my on again, off again approach and it has got me no where! And very stressed out.

I have restarted the New Year doing an Insanity/P90X Hybrid and am concerned that I don't repeat the over-training and clearly undereating I was doing before. I am not working right now so have set my activity to slightly active on MFP. I use a HRM for all my workouts but reduce the total burned by 20% to allow for normal base and errors. Should I focus on my net calories? Make sure they are between 1200 and 1500 a day? Its so hard. About 5 years ago, I ran 3 miles, 3 x a week and ate normally and lost 40 lbs over 4 months. Why is it so much harder now?

ninerbuff

I posted this a while ago, but I have been seeing more and more new members asking whether or not they should be eating them back.

Short answer: YES!

Here is why: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

MFP has already created a deficit for you. When you don't eat your exercise calories back you are creating an even larger deficit which can cause you to stop losing. I strongly suggest you to read the link I provided for details!

Good article sunshine! One of the biggest obstacles I have with clients is eating back calories that were exercised. Unless I explain it to them in simple terms, then it doesn't make sense. Here's how I do it:

Think of a dam. When rainfall is consistent, the dam's valves are left open so that water can freely let water out. If you eat at maintenance, this is the scenario. If there is too much rainfall and the dam valves aren't opened up more, then the dam will overflow. This is when you overeat, and not compensate with exercise thereby gaining weight. If there's a drought, then the dam's valves are closed down more for conservation of water. If you don't eat enough, your body WILL slow it's metabolism and start to reserve energy.
Unlike a dam though, WE control the amount of "rainfall" that goes into that dam. So make sure to do it right.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

kelseyessex

@Sunshine

I think I get this post - I have just read the first 2 pages of comments and had a quick look at the article.

So when I joined MFP they gave me a reading of 1200 calories per day - which was a deficit of 500 calories from my normal daily intake to maintain my current weight - therefore the 1200 calories per day is to lose 1-2lb per week, right?

If I do a workout and burn 300 calories in the gym - which is not necessarily accurate (even when using HRMs) - I should eat them back?

I only put down 50% of my calories burned in MFP so if I burn 300 I would only put down 150 and eat back that amount because I don't think the burnt estimate is correct. Would you agree with me?

Also, if you are losing weight really fast, your body will think "woooo slow down you need fat to protect yourself, but muscle can go that's okay"...This is why aneroxics/bulimics get heart failure but still have (sometimes) normal body fat percentages because their body is starving and it needs calories to it starts to burn the muscles, the heart is a muscle!

Obviously, bigger people will be able to lose at a faster rate than smaller people because they have more weight to lose and when they do exercise they will burn more cals etc.

I think I've got this now and thanks for the post it was very interesting

natalieg0307

MFP calculated 1200 calories per day for me. I HAVE to eat my exercise calories back.....otherwise I'm hungry. And when I'm hungry, I get angry......and when I'm angry.....no one in my house is happy. ) So I definitely eat my exercise calories.

psuLemon

I posted this a while ago, but I have been seeing more and more new members asking whether or not they should be eating them back.

Short answer: YES!

Here is why: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

MFP has already created a deficit for you. When you don't eat your exercise calories back you are creating an even larger deficit which can cause you to stop losing. I strongly suggest you to read the link I provided for details!

After reading this article, I realized that my biggest problem is my all or nothing approach to fitness and weight loss. Over the last year (2011) I have lost and gained the same 6 or so lbs, hovering between 174 and 180 - all year. I'm female, 5' 7", 47, muscular, physical job (constuction). I restricted on and off my calories, and did intense periods of working out (P90X - 9 weeks, ended up really sick, high fever etc. then took a break for 10 weeks, then Insanity 7 weeks - no weight loss). As you can see I have rollercoastered with my on again, off again approach and it has got me no where! And very stressed out.

I have restarted the New Year doing an Insanity/P90X Hybrid and am concerned that I don't repeat the over-training and clearly undereating I was doing before. I am not working right now so have set my activity to slightly active on MFP. I use a HRM for all my workouts but reduce the total burned by 20% to allow for normal base and errors. Should I focus on my net calories? Make sure they are between 1200 and 1500 a day? Its so hard. About 5 years ago, I ran 3 miles, 3 x a week and ate normally and lost 40 lbs over 4 months. Why is it so much harder now?

I would highly suggest adding your activity level into your TDEE calculation and create a small deficit (.5 lbs per week). I did p90x and ate 1800 and didn't lose anything. As a man that is way too few calories. I then did CLX and ate 2600 calories and lost 5 lbs (of my 10 i wanted), 3% body fat and 6" (hips, waist and abs; 2" in each area). I am now doing p90x2 and eating 2800-3000 calories and even after two weeks I can start to see some more definition as well as losing 4 lbs so far. Fueling the body is important, especially when you want to be fit and have a high metabolism. Doing a P90X and insanity hybrid will make you very active in terms of TDEE.

psuLemon

It is different for each person. Someone trying to soapbox how all people should do this one thing is pretentious.

I put in an hour of cardio every day 6 times a week. That's roughly 5-6 miles of running or eliptical a day, or 25-30 miles a week. My goal burn is 6000 calories a week.

If I eat my calories back, I don't lose weight.

If I don't eat my calories back, I lose what I'm supposed to lose.

If I eat some of my calories back, I may or may not lose weight depending on how my body feels at the time relational to saturn's axiom tilt compared with the cross nebula of EB192.

In short: I try not to eat my calories back because it gives me the best results and always has. There are some people who are the reverse of me. That's perfectly ok too.

Note: I do not starve myself. I eat 1700-2000 calories a day.

If you gain by eating them back then either you have a slow metabolism, are under estimating what you eat, or over estimating what you burn. If you are tracking everything with any degree of accuracy and your BMR and activity level on MFP are correct then you must eat 100% of your exercise calories back in order to lose your weekly goal amount of weight.

With the amount of cardio you are doing there is a good change you are burning a lot of lean muscle away which will further lower your metabolism. I eat 1900-2200 cals/day and don't gain and my maintenance is arount 1900, the extra 200-300 accounts for exercise.

For those that don't want to eat your exercise calories back you should be setting your activity level much higher to account for exercise that way. Instead of sedentary put in active, this will give you more cals to fuel your workouts and if you do this you should not eat the exercise calories back. This is the way nutritionist and doctors set your caloric intake and if you set the proper weekly weight loss goal for your stats you will always be higher than 1200 cals unless your are 5 foot nothing and 100 and nothing pounds.

My metabolism is 20% slower than normal and I have to account for that. This was confirmed after several months of study and finding what numbers work for me and involved using an HRM (MFP states I burn over 1000 calories if I run 6 miles but I actually only burn 750; MFP often times is wrong when it comes to calories burned and seems to use a base average)

My non-active BMR is 1900 calories. For a 220 lb guy it should be between 2200 and 2400.

In addition to my cardio I also do about 180-240 minutes of strength training per week.

I am a former wrestler/pro-wrestler so gyms and nutrionists etc are not new concepts for me.

There is a good chance that your BMR is low because you have been consistently under eating which hurts LBM as noted before. And since your metabolic rate is directly calculated by the amount of LBM, the less you have the slower the metabolism. This is very apparent in long distance runners since they burn so many calories during their runs. If you want to change your metabolism though, then you need to eat more and increase lbm, which actually means eating a surplus. But in the end, it's all about what you care about. Do you care about a metabolism or weight?

ingfit

I posted this a while ago, but I have been seeing more and more new members asking whether or not they should be eating them back.

Short answer: YES!

Here is why: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

MFP has already created a deficit for you. When you don't eat your exercise calories back you are creating an even larger deficit which can cause you to stop losing. I strongly suggest you to read the link I provided for details!

After reading this article, I realized that my biggest problem is my all or nothing approach to fitness and weight loss. Over the last year (2011) I have lost and gained the same 6 or so lbs, hovering between 174 and 180 - all year. I'm female, 5' 7", 47, muscular, physical job (constuction). I restricted on and off my calories, and did intense periods of working out (P90X - 9 weeks, ended up really sick, high fever etc. then took a break for 10 weeks, then Insanity 7 weeks - no weight loss). As you can see I have rollercoastered with my on again, off again approach and it has got me no where! And very stressed out.

I have restarted the New Year doing an Insanity/P90X Hybrid and am concerned that I don't repeat the over-training and clearly undereating I was doing before. I am not working right now so have set my activity to slightly active on MFP. I use a HRM for all my workouts but reduce the total burned by 20% to allow for normal base and errors. Should I focus on my net calories? Make sure they are between 1200 and 1500 a day? Its so hard. About 5 years ago, I ran 3 miles, 3 x a week and ate normally and lost 40 lbs over 4 months. Why is it so much harder now?

I would highly suggest adding your activity level into your TDEE calculation and create a small deficit (.5 lbs per week). I did p90x and ate 1800 and didn't lose anything. As a man that is way too few calories. I then did CLX and ate 2600 calories and lost 5 lbs (of my 10 i wanted), 3% body fat and 6" (hips, waist and abs; 2" in each area). I am now doing p90x2 and eating 2800-3000 calories and even after two weeks I can start to see some more definition as well as losing 4 lbs so far. Fueling the body is important, especially when you want to be fit and have a high metabolism. Doing a P90X and insanity hybrid will make you very active in terms of TDEE.

Thank you. I shall adjust my MFP to moderately active, and should I resume my normal work, to highly active. Also the .5 lbs a week too instead of the 2 lbs I have now. I'm also planning to try spiking one day a week.

tboothgenthe

I'm so glad I logged on and read a bit. I've been going at this 2 weeks and only have lost 1 lb but I've done exactly what youu described. Cut my calories way back and started doing 30-45 minutes of cardio 5days/week. And I've been so proud that I haven't eaten not only my exercise points but I wasn't eating my daily allowance either!

Ok - I'll eat more. Sounds crazy on a diet - but I'll eat more.

berry_nice579

yay!! I hope this helps me! I have been stuck at the SAME WEIGHT for a WHOLE YEAR!!!! I think this is my problem! =] I had lost 15 pound and then nothing! It's been EXTREMELY disappointing! I hadn't been eating back my calories so let's hope this works!!! =]

auticus

There is a good chance that your BMR is low because you have been consistently under eating which hurts LBM as noted before. And since your metabolic rate is directly calculated by the amount of LBM, the less you have the slower the metabolism. This is very apparent in long distance runners since they burn so many calories during their runs. If you want to change your metabolism though, then you need to eat more and increase lbm, which actually means eating a surplus. But in the end, it's all about what you care about. Do you care about a metabolism or weight?

My metabolism was at the same level of efficiency when I was overeating as well.

I care more about body fat % which right now translates into weight.

psuLemon

I posted this a while ago, but I have been seeing more and more new members asking whether or not they should be eating them back.

Short answer: YES!

Here is why: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

MFP has already created a deficit for you. When you don't eat your exercise calories back you are creating an even larger deficit which can cause you to stop losing. I strongly suggest you to read the link I provided for details!

After reading this article, I realized that my biggest problem is my all or nothing approach to fitness and weight loss. Over the last year (2011) I have lost and gained the same 6 or so lbs, hovering between 174 and 180 - all year. I'm female, 5' 7", 47, muscular, physical job (constuction). I restricted on and off my calories, and did intense periods of working out (P90X - 9 weeks, ended up really sick, high fever etc. then took a break for 10 weeks, then Insanity 7 weeks - no weight loss). As you can see I have rollercoastered with my on again, off again approach and it has got me no where! And very stressed out.

I have restarted the New Year doing an Insanity/P90X Hybrid and am concerned that I don't repeat the over-training and clearly undereating I was doing before. I am not working right now so have set my activity to slightly active on MFP. I use a HRM for all my workouts but reduce the total burned by 20% to allow for normal base and errors. Should I focus on my net calories? Make sure they are between 1200 and 1500 a day? Its so hard. About 5 years ago, I ran 3 miles, 3 x a week and ate normally and lost 40 lbs over 4 months. Why is it so much harder now?

I would highly suggest adding your activity level into your TDEE calculation and create a small deficit (.5 lbs per week). I did p90x and ate 1800 and didn't lose anything. As a man that is way too few calories. I then did CLX and ate 2600 calories and lost 5 lbs (of my 10 i wanted), 3% body fat and 6" (hips, waist and abs; 2" in each area). I am now doing p90x2 and eating 2800-3000 calories and even after two weeks I can start to see some more definition as well as losing 4 lbs so far. Fueling the body is important, especially when you want to be fit and have a high metabolism. Doing a P90X and insanity hybrid will make you very active in terms of TDEE.

Thank you. I shall adjust my MFP to moderately active, and should I resume my normal work, to highly active. Also the .5 lbs a week too instead of the 2 lbs I have now. I'm also planning to try spiking one day a week.

Also, keep in mind with this approach you don't eat back your exercise calories. If you do want to validate your number and discuss further, hit me up on private message.

psuLemon

There is a good chance that your BMR is low because you have been consistently under eating which hurts LBM as noted before. And since your metabolic rate is directly calculated by the amount of LBM, the less you have the slower the metabolism. This is very apparent in long distance runners since they burn so many calories during their runs. If you want to change your metabolism though, then you need to eat more and increase lbm, which actually means eating a surplus. But in the end, it's all about what you care about. Do you care about a metabolism or weight?

My metabolism was at the same level of efficiency when I was overeating as well.

I care more about body fat % which right now translates into weight.

Do you know your weight and body fat now? Also, are you trying to increase LBM and decrease BF%?

myoldselfback

Makes sense to me and why would you complain about eating more if you've burned it off.
I guess it's the fear we all have about gaining.

Have you read any of his books? It looks like he knows what he's talking about.

NamiraWilhelm

this is all really interesting, and could be my problem. I've been doing an hour exercise a day and only eating 1200 kcals a day on average and seen no progress; i even came off the pill in case that was having an effect.

I'm still not entirely sure how many kcals i should aim for, sorry i'm a bit of a thicko with technical stuff like this. So we're saying eat BACK what you've exercised, on top of what? The recommended amount i should be eating or...? (5 ft1 and 132lbs)

erickirb

this is all really interesting, and could be my problem. I've been doing an hour exercise a day and only eating 1200 kcals a day on average and seen no progress; i even came off the pill in case that was having an effect.

I'm still not entirely sure how many kcals i should aim for, sorry i'm a bit of a thicko with technical stuff like this. So we're saying eat BACK what you've exercised, on top of what? The recommended amount i should be eating or...? (5 ft1 and 132lbs)

eat all of the calories that MFP tells you to (at least 1200 plus the cals you burn from exercise)

thershey

some days I eat my workout calories and others I do not. It really depends on my hunger, at the end of the day if I have extra calories and I am not hungry I do not eat. But then there are other days I come really close to going over. I am losing so this is working for me. Everyone is different but if I do a workout that burns 700-900 calories I doubt I can eat all of them. I will eat some but not all, I do make sure I at least eat the 1200 a day!

auticus

There is a good chance that your BMR is low because you have been consistently under eating which hurts LBM as noted before. And since your metabolic rate is directly calculated by the amount of LBM, the less you have the slower the metabolism. This is very apparent in long distance runners since they burn so many calories during their runs. If you want to change your metabolism though, then you need to eat more and increase lbm, which actually means eating a surplus. But in the end, it's all about what you care about. Do you care about a metabolism or weight?

My metabolism was at the same level of efficiency when I was overeating as well.

I care more about body fat % which right now translates into weight.

Do you know your weight and body fat now? Also, are you trying to increase LBM and decrease BF%?

Yup of course I am 220 lbs, and have 24.43% body fat as of January 1st. I'm trying to decrease BF%. My goal is to get under 20% BF.

sbrooks0387

i usally have a 100 or so deficite. but i figure i eat that with little things. a m&m here an openers fee (1 bite) for the kids snack

beckipercy

I sometimes eat back, as I want a reward for exercising, but other times I will save them for when I go over. Today being a great example, a bacon cheeseburger and strawberry daiquiri for lunch isn't the healthiest diet plan in the world!

Ctyndall81

I say eat it but make sure it counts. Eating junk and sugar is just going to slow progress.... fuel yourself with good food and eat up those calories!!

mgerbitz85

Thank you! I've been looking for this kind of information! Will put to good use...

hollyeverhart

I never used to eat my exercise calories back until I stopped losing weight and got stuck at 119, Then I started eating mine back after talking to a few people on here, I starting losing again and now am down to 116. I say eat them!

EuphonyChloeH

Thanks for sharing! Since I've been of MFP and following the "fill up your workout calories" routine, I've found I'm really not that hungry, and I'm currently on a 1230 calorie a day plan. Yesterday I ate well over that, but I went to the gym and had a great workout burning most of the excess, so it all evened out.

And the cortisol thing makes sense - your body stresses when you don't eat enough, creates/stores cortisol/fat, so you either retain what you're trying to burn or gain more (I could be slightly off but that's how I interpreted it). Very interesting.

czechsmate

bump for later

bearbratz

I have a daily calorie goal of 2360 but with all the workouts I do I never even really get close, so therefore In the last week I haven't really lost weight. My question is what foods should I be eating as I have no idea what foods I "should" be eating?

rocuf

Eating back you kcals is great for the under 50lbs to go crowd, but if you are like me needing to loose 175lbs every calorie burned up is a step closer and faster. That said, i eat at slightly under my daily goal and only eat exercise if i am really hungry and normally only half of my exercise kcals.

chaineyart

bump bump bump for later!

DynamicDiva

maybe im slow but i dont understand the article

Eating too few calories can actually slow down the rate at which you lose weight. This can be confusing as all too often you are told that the way to lose weight is to eat less calories and exercise. While technically this is true, it is important to understand that your body needs a certain amount of calories in order to function. If you are eating too few calories, your body feels like it is starving. At this point, your body will actually begin to store fat and your metabolism will begin to slow down. When your metabolism slows down, it burns calories at a slow speed and basically puts your body into neutral mode. Basically, your weight loss efforts are going nowhere and you stop losing weight. The amount of calories you should intake to remain healthy depends on your body weight and activity level. Before you can determine how many calories are too few calories, you must find the amount of calories that your body needs to survive. There are many online calculators that are able to calculate this for you. These calculators generally do not include exercise. Therefore, if you do any activity at all, including walking to the car, you must add calories to this number. This is an important number and you must take it seriously. Eating too few calories below this number will cause serious damage to your body. Never take in less than 1200 calories per day. Once you determine what you need to survive, you will need to determine what calories you need to maintain your existing weight. There are also online calculators to help you with this task. After you determine what calories are needed to maintain the weight, you will be able to determine how many calories you need to lose weight. It is important to understand that you must lose weight at a reasonable rate, or your body will go into starvation mode. This is usually about one to two pounds per week. All you need to do this is to reduce or burn about 500 extra calories each day. It is important to include exercise into this equation. Try cutting back on 300 calories per day as well as burn 200 calories by exercising. Eating too few calories can slow down your weight loss efforts by slowing down your metabolism and causing serious health problems.



Hope this helps....

Thanks for all of that information. I think that I am in a platearu right now, so I will probably try eating a few calories back and also change up my workout routine as well.

CalJur

bookmarking for future reference as this topic is oft-repeated.