Excess calorie question

JerseyGrlPoet

I have a question - I'm new to the whole "losing weight thing" and I'm doing well so far (down a little over 5 pounds since January). But I'm confused by the whole "earning calories through excersize" thing. I read some advice in other threads that you should eat the calories you earn from exersize, which I haven't been doing because it seems counter productive to me. I understand the concept of "not enough calories = slowing down your metabolism and gaining more weight." But should I be eatting every calorie that I earn back? A percentage of them?

This seems like such a delicate balancing act...thoughts?

carrie_eggo

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

mum2madhse

My sister and I have the same debate. She feels you should not eat more it defeats the object. However, I love the idea of being able to eat a bit more so enjoy myself? It would be nice to know the best theory.

jhehle

I have this same question, i began dieting/exercising on Jan 9, 2012 and have lost 17lbs. I do not eat my calories back as a rule, because like you said, it seems counter productive. However, if i feel hungry after a work out, i will eat something to satisfy my stomach. I never allow myself to feel hungry.

I think we all just need to find what works for us at the time and that there sadly isnt a "hardcut rule" about the proper way.

jacksonpt

The short answer is... it depends.

To lose weight you need to be in a healthy caloric deficit. There are 2 ways to accomplish that:

Set your daily caloric intake at a deficit
This is what most people do, and is how MFP is designed to work. You figure out your daily caloric need (TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure), then set your calorie goal lower than that. For example.. if your TDEE is 1800, you might set your daily calorie goal to 1400. That puts you in a caloric deficit and you will start to lose weight*. When you exercise you burn additional calories. These burned calories are not accounted for in your TDEE or the calorie goal you set based on your TDEE. So exercising increases that caloric deficit. The thing to watch here is how big that deficit gets. Every body responds differently, but the larger the deficit the worse it is for your body (the assumption is that the larger the deficit gets the harder it is to properly fuel your body). And this is why people recommend eating back exercise calories.

Use exercise to create the deficit
With this method you set your daily caloric intake to equal your TDEE. Then you exercise and burn calories. Those burned calories are not accounted for when you set your daily goal equal to your TDEE, and thus you end up in a deficit. The size of that deficit is dependent on your workouts. You burn 75cals walking the dog and your deficit is 75 cals. You burn 500 cals running and the deficit is 500.



*This is VERY simplified and makes A LOT of assumptions, but is good enough for this conversation.


As with everything, there is some variance here, and every body responds differently to nutrition, exercise, dieting, etc. The above priciples are the basic starting points for everyone. Pick one method, do it for a couple of months and see how your body responds. Then make small changes here and there, do that for a month or two and see how your body responds.


.

carrie_eggo

The short answer is... it depends.

To lose weight you need to be in a healthy caloric deficit. There are 2 ways to accomplish that:

Set your daily caloric intake at a deficit
This is what most people do, and is how MFP is designed to work. You figure out your daily caloric need (TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure), then set your calorie goal lower than that. For example.. if your TDEE is 1800, you might set your daily calorie goal to 1400. That puts you in a caloric deficit and you will start to lose weight*. When you exercise you burn additional calories. These burned calories are not accounted for in your TDEE or the calorie goal you set based on your TDEE. So exercising increases that caloric deficit. The thing to watch here is how big that deficit gets. Every body responds differently, but the larger the deficit the worse it is for your body (the assumption is that the larger the deficit gets the harder it is to properly fuel your body). And this is why people recommend eating back exercise calories.

Use exercise to create the deficit
With this method you set your daily caloric intake to equal your TDEE. Then you exercise and burn calories. Those burned calories are not accounted for when you set your daily goal equal to your TDEE, and thus you end up in a deficit. The size of that deficit is dependent on your workouts. You burn 75cals walking the dog and your deficit is 75 cals. You burn 500 cals running and the deficit is 500.



*This is VERY simplified and makes A LOT of assumptions, but is good enough for this conversation.


As with everything, there is some variance here, and every body responds differently to nutrition, exercise, dieting, etc. The above priciples are the basic starting points for everyone. Pick one method, do it for a couple of months and see how your body responds. Then make small changes here and there, do that for a month or two and see how your body responds.


.

I dub thee "the official answerer of the exercise calorie questions."

Excellent answer! It's nice that you took the time to answer the question the right way. Some of us get so tired of hearing it over and over and over.....It really is hard to grasp in the beginning. :drinker:

jacksonpt

The short answer is... it depends.

To lose weight you need to be in a healthy caloric deficit. There are 2 ways to accomplish that:

Set your daily caloric intake at a deficit
This is what most people do, and is how MFP is designed to work. You figure out your daily caloric need (TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure), then set your calorie goal lower than that. For example.. if your TDEE is 1800, you might set your daily calorie goal to 1400. That puts you in a caloric deficit and you will start to lose weight*. When you exercise you burn additional calories. These burned calories are not accounted for in your TDEE or the calorie goal you set based on your TDEE. So exercising increases that caloric deficit. The thing to watch here is how big that deficit gets. Every body responds differently, but the larger the deficit the worse it is for your body (the assumption is that the larger the deficit gets the harder it is to properly fuel your body). And this is why people recommend eating back exercise calories.

Use exercise to create the deficit
With this method you set your daily caloric intake to equal your TDEE. Then you exercise and burn calories. Those burned calories are not accounted for when you set your daily goal equal to your TDEE, and thus you end up in a deficit. The size of that deficit is dependent on your workouts. You burn 75cals walking the dog and your deficit is 75 cals. You burn 500 cals running and the deficit is 500.



*This is VERY simplified and makes A LOT of assumptions, but is good enough for this conversation.


As with everything, there is some variance here, and every body responds differently to nutrition, exercise, dieting, etc. The above priciples are the basic starting points for everyone. Pick one method, do it for a couple of months and see how your body responds. Then make small changes here and there, do that for a month or two and see how your body responds.


.

I dub thee "the official answerer of the exercise calorie questions."

Excellent answer! It's nice that you took the time to answer the question the right way. Some of us get so tired of hearing it over and over and over.....It really is hard to grasp in the beginning. :drinker:

Thanks. I actually have a post in my blog that is just answers to common questions. It give me a quick and easy reference so I can easily cut and paste those answers into these threads. That's what I did here.

JerseyGrlPoet

Thanks to everyone, you're responses were fantastic and super helpful :-)