Do you eat your execise calories?

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  • DisneyMommy
    DisneyMommy Posts: 281
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    Not usually but if I am hungry I'll eat a little more. MFP's estimated calorie burns are off so I know I didn't earn as many as they say anyway.
  • CalJur
    CalJur Posts: 627 Member
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    Conventional wisdom and so-called expert advice is to do so. This topic comes up often on MFP. You can do a search for the various reasons for and against. I tend to burn at high numbers so unless I'm hungry (which is a common sense approach to me) I don't. Not a rule of thumb though. Just depends on how I feel that day. Not going to stuff myself simply for the sake of doing so.
  • FaithHopeBELIEVE
    FaithHopeBELIEVE Posts: 626
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    Surely you would loose weight slower if I ate my exercise calories back ??

    Opposite. I know its hard to wrap your mind around it. MFP already has your goal set at losing. You WILL lose mkore if you eat more. i dont always eat ALL of them back but at least 50%.
  • vickifrost
    vickifrost Posts: 1
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    I don't know the correct answer but I have a day where I play interclub tennis for aprox 4 hrs then at night I play basketball. On that day I always get the message at the end of the day saying that I need to increase my calories as I am putting my body into starvation. I thing as long as we are not putting back into our bodies the things that gave us the extra weight in the first place its ok.
  • sheri02r
    sheri02r Posts: 486 Member
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    Eating my exercise calories is why I exercise. :)

    But of course I am set to 1200 calories per day.

    Yes me too! :)
  • minadee
    minadee Posts: 44 Member
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    I do if I'm way under my calorie goal, like more than 300 calories under. :)
  • MsQt
    MsQt Posts: 793 Member
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    Only when I strength train.
  • Lorleee
    Lorleee Posts: 369 Member
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    MFP's estimated calorie burns are off so I know I didn't earn as many as they say anyway.

    Yeah, this is part of what bothers me about the eating back calories. Many days MFP would have me believe I can go on a big ol' binge for the evening because I'm entitled to so many calories. And that would take me way off my eating plan!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,701 Member
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    I've been thinking the same thing...

    I have not been eating my exercise calories though. I exercise 5-6 days a week, sometimes twice a day, and burn between 500-1200 calories a day. I find it to be a waste to eat those calories back; I sweat my butt off trying to burn that many in one day to begin with!

    But I am curious to know the "real" answer to this-thanks for asking!
    So in other words if you're calorie intake is 1300 and you use up 1200 then you're surviving on 100 calories total a day. Catabolism of muscle will happen here and will definitely disrupt your metabolism.
    Think about it, if you're in deficit of 2000 calories a day (BMR plus exercise calories) then you should be losing over 4lbs a week consistently. If not, then why?



    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Kristinemomof3
    Kristinemomof3 Posts: 636 Member
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    [/quote]Under eating calories tends to lead to lean muscle loss, which leads to lower metabolic rate, which leads to having to eat less and exercising more to meet calorie burn.
    The body is smarter than people think. You can't fool it by eating less than it needs to ensure survival.



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

    Sorry, tried to quote the above, but using my phone

    Perfectly said! Heck yes I eat mine, my goal is not to lose lean muscle. I'd be starving if I didn't. The deficit is built in, yada, yada, yada!
  • RNmomto4
    RNmomto4 Posts: 143
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    Initially I didn't. Now that I am close to goal, I eat some of them. Not everyday though. If I am hungry, I eat.

    It also depends a lot on my workout. If its an intense workout, I definitely use the cals afterwards.

    When I hit a point where my weight loss was slowing, I had to play around with my calories.

    Good luck!
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
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    When you work out and gain extra calories burned do you eat more food that day to keep your net calories the same or do you still eat your normal suggested caloric amount?

    I tend to only eat my suggested caloric amount 1800 calories regardless of my calories burned exercising. I am getting used to eating small portions and don't really feel the need to eat more calories if I exercise that day!
    Under eating calories tends to lead to lean muscle loss, which leads to lower metabolic rate, which leads to having to eat less and exercising more to meet calorie burn.
    The body is smarter than people think. You can't fool it by eating less than it needs to ensure survival.

    Agreed. Please read the stickies for the forums as they totally explain this. MFP is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories unlike other calorie-tracking websites. So eat your exercise calories!!!

    Due to potential input miscalculations of food intake and not trusting the calorie-burns here on MFP, I don't eat back all my exercise calories most days. However, I also do several splurge meals throughout the week, or a big splurge day, so I generally get in most of my exercise calories even if I don't eat them on the same day I do the exercise. I shoot for a weekly calorie target, not a daily one.

    Anyway, I think it's far better to lose more slowly in order to maintain your lean muscle mass and that's how MFP is designed. But if losing fast and taking the chance of screwing up your metabolism so that you gain weight more easily later or always have to keep your calories lower to maintain your weight loss works for you, don't eat them. Me? I'd rather have success without deprivation.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    I don't can't see any point of exercising if your gonna eat the calories ??

    Ah yes. What's the point of being fit, looking after your heart, reducing your risk of various cancers, improving your lung capacity, managing your blood pressure naturally, reducing your risk of osteoporosis.

    daft, really, all that fitness stuff, isn't it?

    The point of eating is to strengthen your body.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    MFP's estimated calorie burns are off so I know I didn't earn as many as they say anyway.

    Yeah, this is part of what bothers me about the eating back calories. Many days MFP would have me believe I can go on a big ol' binge for the evening because I'm entitled to so many calories. And that would take me way off my eating plan!

    So get an HRM, or adjust your estimates. This isn't a reason not to eat an appropriate amount of food to fuel your exercise and maintain a healthy deficit.
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
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    MFP's estimated calorie burns are off so I know I didn't earn as many as they say anyway.

    Yeah, this is part of what bothers me about the eating back calories. Many days MFP would have me believe I can go on a big ol' binge for the evening because I'm entitled to so many calories. And that would take me way off my eating plan!

    I don't shoot to eat all of them back for that very reason. But I do shoot to eat most of them back. And you don't have to do it on the same day. Zig zag. Save those extra calories for another day in the week when you're hungrier or have something going on where you want to splurge, like maybe a nice Valentine's dinner out.
  • anna_love
    anna_love Posts: 177
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    NO I DONT ..
  • ElectricMayhem
    ElectricMayhem Posts: 214 Member
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    I've been on mfp for a month today and this topic gets asked (and answered a million different ways) often! I'm very confused, i'm given a budget of 1200 calories a day to eat then i usually workout 4-5 days a week and burn At least 500 calories each time... does that mean i'm supposed to eat 1700 a day when i workout and 1200 on the days i don't?! I get the whole deficit is already added into your daily caloric budget, but in order for me to lose 2 pounds a week i'm supposed to have a weekly deficit of 7000?! (i'm 235 pounds now) I'm getting a headache just typing this out :-/
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
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    Yes - but I don't trust the site. I think it overestimates by as high as double for some exercises.

    Yes. You risk overeating if you use MFP's calorie burns and then eat all of them back.
  • ElectricMayhem
    ElectricMayhem Posts: 214 Member
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    btw i just got a hrm and used it for the first time last night, did zumba for 60 minutes and hrm says i burned 667 calories vs mfp says i burned 1000- that's a HUGE difference
  • mndamon
    mndamon Posts: 549 Member
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    Mostly seems it would depend on your goal. If you wanna lose weight then I would say you don't have to, but if you want to build muscle then obviously you would. Sometimes I think we tend to over complicate things, if you want to gain mass/muscle then eat more and if you want to lean up then just eat less, same amount of exercise in both. Just keep protein high in both cases with plenty of water (I recommend supplements highly) and you'll get where you wanna be.

    Just my take, I'm in no way a personal trainer or master of metabolism.

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