To Eat, or Not To Eat....

deniserenee_02

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

TavistockToad

LOVE it!!!!!!!!!

marianne_s

Hi everyone!

Okay, I have been reading conflicting things on the whole eat your exercise calories or not to thing. My thing is, if we’re meant to eat our calories that we’ve burned off, what is the point of burning them off in the first place?

So, where I stand on it - don’t eat your exercise calories.

Where do you stand?

If you know how MFP works... then you would eat (some of) them back...

Do you understand what is written here?

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>>> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

BrendaLee

I eat them if I'm hungry, which I generally am. If I get a day in here and there when I don't need them, I take that as a bonus that helps to balance out the days I eat over my goal.

hbunting86

Exercise boosts your metabolism - therefore it makes sense to eat a proportion back. How much is entirely up to you, and the physiology of your body. If you're hungry and tired, eat.

There are multiple theories on this - do a search on the site and you'll probably get about a trillion hits...

Enjoy reading!

MaximalLife

Hi everyone!

Okay, I have been reading conflicting things on the whole eat your exercise calories or not to thing. My thing is, if we’re meant to eat our calories that we’ve burned off, what is the point of burning them off in the first place?

So, where I stand on it - don’t eat your exercise calories.

Where do you stand?

MFP calculates our total daily calorie intake WITHOUT exercise to lose 1 pound or so per week.
And after we log exercises, our daily calorie limit increases.
Why?
Because MFP telling us to eat our exercise calories.
Large deficits are unhealthy, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
In many cases you'll lose lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS your metabolic rate, making weight loss harder.
These crash diets work well for a season -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so
few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories more slowly -- and you gain weight.
Be smart.
Exercise well both cardio and resistance, and eat back the calories.
The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.

deadbeatsummer

Listen to your body...
are you hungry? >
No - Don't eat, Yes - Could you fill that hunger with fruit or veg? >
Yes - Go for it!, No - you may be having emotional food cravings for specific foods, hang in there.

funkycamper

I think if you ate back all the calories you burned you would never lose any weight. Worse if you eat bad like cookies or fast food, then tried to burn those calories off, I think you would end up gaining, even if you did not go over your "goal"
That is what I found with me, but maybe everyone is different.

Wow. Not at all what I've found. I eat back my exercise calories but not necessarily on the same day as I zig-zag my calories and have a weekly target, not a daily. I usually eat back most of those calories with a few big splurges throughout the week. And when I splurge, it's usually things like hamburgers, cookies, chips, pie, whatever. I've lost all my weight doing this. Not deprived. Don't even feel like I'm on a diet...well, because it's not a diet. It's a lifestyle change.

estherpab

Bottom line is we deduct a reasonable amount of calories from our TDEE (total daily energy expediture) and for some reason that seems foreign to just about everyone. BMR should be stricken from the nutritional landscape.......it apparently confuses people pretty darn easily.

I agree!

nekolita

Eat back part of the calories :O

*on the fence answer

cjones0992

Hi everyone!

Okay, I have been reading conflicting things on the whole eat your exercise calories or not to thing. My thing is, if we’re meant to eat our calories that we’ve burned off, what is the point of burning them off in the first place?

So, where I stand on it - don’t eat your exercise calories.

Where do you stand?

MFP calculates our total daily calorie intake WITHOUT exercise to lose 1 pound or so per week.
And after we log exercises, our daily calorie limit increases.
Why?
Because MFP telling us to eat our exercise calories.
Large deficits are unhealthy, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
In many cases you'll lose lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS your metabolic rate, making weight loss harder.
These crash diets work well for a season -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so
few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories more slowly -- and you gain weight.
Be smart.
Exercise well both cardio and resistance, and eat back the calories.
The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.

This^
I made the mistake of netting less than 1200 calories. Sure I would eat around 1200-1300 calories (didn't think to worry about my BMR of 1516) and then exercise to burn 400 calories, leaving me at only 800 or so calories net. Worked great for the first 10 lbs! And now, I haven't lost any weight the last couple weeks. Plateau :frown: So now I've upped my NET calories to 1400 (roughly) at all times. More exercise=more food for me!