Whats the point to exercise then?

Mamaincali

I've been reading some people say eat back your exercise calories and some people say don't eat back your calories. I thought its supposed to be burn more, eat less to lose weight? If you eat back your exercise calories then why even exercise? That seems to defeat the purpose of exercise.

BAMFMeredith

Personally, I only eat back about half of my exercise calories.

But either way, even if you don't have any weight to lose, there are a bazillion benefits to exercise. It improves your cardiovascular health, prevents heart disease, builds muscle to help you more efficiently burn calories, the list goes on and on. Also, if a person lost 50 lbs JUST by changing their diet with zero exercise involved, they probably have absolutely no muscle definition. Weight loss is about 85% diet ant 15% exercise, but exercise is crucial to your overall health as well.

beccae622

I personally always eat back my exercise calories (almost always anyway). Keep in mind MFP will automatically set you up with a 500 calorie deficit, so even you are eating them back if you stay under your target calorie goal you are still creating a calorie deficit. Also as it was pointed out above me, the benefits to exercising are HUGE and effect your whole life and body.
Everyone has their own opinions on eating back exercise cals, it's really about doing what's best for you.

LauriesTrying2BeFit

i usually eat back about half if im hungry some days i eat them all back but most days i have at least 200-300cals spare. i ate the back pretty much everyday last week and i lost no weight just stayed the same so i think i do need to eat alittle less to shift these last few pounds!

AmyEm3

I run b/c I love running.

I was eating all of my exercise calories but I think MFP was overestimating my burns. I started chopping off 1/3-1/2 of MFP's estimate so I'm eating about 1/2-2/3 of the calories back. I need the food so I have energy to run.

thelonelysquirrel

I eat back about half of my exercise calories.

Remember this though.

When you exercise, it revs up your body for the rest of the day. Even after your done exercising, your body (especially with weight lifting) is eating at that fat.

It's best to workout in the morning for this reason, but whatever works for you is fine.

Exercise is SO important.

I work on a cardiac floor as a nurse and I wish I could sit down with you all in a coffee shop and explain in detail why we need to workout.

If you aren't convinced, watch Forks Over Knives documentary.

It'll scare you onto your treadmill.

GOOOD luck!

MinnieInMaine

eat right to lose weight - exercise for health

That's the point. We don't need to exercise to lose weight. Yes, it burns calories but here's the thing, MFP already sets us up with a caloric deficit based on our personal info, activity level and pound per week goal. When you burn calories, you create an even bigger caloric deficit and if you do that too often, you run the risk of going into starvation mode which will stall your losses, if not cause a gain. It's better to think of exercise as a way to get fit, stronger, healthier. Impacts like walking, running, jumping can help increase bone mass. Cardio helps with heart health and strength helps retain/increase muscle. There are SO many benefits to exercise besides just weight loss...

tladame

While I can lose weight by diet alone (without exercise), I find that I look and feel a lot better when I exercise. I would rather look toned than look "skinny fat".

deksgrl

BECAUSE MFP IS DESIGNED SO YOU WILL LOSE THIS WEIGHT WITHOUT EXERCISE.

Yes, I shouted.

So when you DO exercise you need to add this back in to keep the same calorie deficit.

You tell MFP you want to lose 2 pounds a week. MFP sets your calorie goal to 1,200. This is low, the minimum amount for health. You burn 400 calories in exercise today, so now your Net cals is 800. NOT healthy. That is why you are supposed to eat back your calories on this plan.

If however you run your own numbers and decide that 1,600 calories is the appropriate number for you because 1,200 just is not enough, then don't eat your exercise calories back. 1,600 minus the 400 you exercised still keeps you in the healthy range, netting 1,200.

Happyguy

My appetite prevents me from eating an extremely low cal diet. Eating back some of the exercise calories lets me go about my day without food being ever present on my mind. It also helps prevent binge eating.

I also have to add that I'm not on a 1200 calorie diet. I'm shooting for 1600 which would be a 1 lb loss per week. When I add 400 calories for exercise that makes it much easier to meet my goal without feeling like I'm starving. It also means that if I come in a couple of hundred calories under my goal, I probably won't push my metabolism into starvation mode either.

But that's all just me, we each have to find our own way.

b0t23

if you are already operating on a deficit, then you will be on a bigger and possibly unhealthy deficit if you are also not eating back your exercise calories.

for example.

if you are BMR is 2000 calories a day
you want to lose 1 pound a week

MFP will set you at 1500 calories per day.

Lets say you bike for 1 hour and lose 500 calories.

That means you will then have a combined deficit of 1000 calories.
(this isnt a bad deficit but if you were to burn more than that, you are getting dangerously low in calories and over a long term this wont be good for you)

This may lose you weight a bit faster but will also make you weaker. It really is your choice.

For me I was looking more longterm and wanted to keep my strength up and work on muscles as well as losing weight. So I choose to eat back my exercise calories. This still leaves me in a deficit though and have consistently lost weight since last year.

lizard053

Personally, I don't lose weight without exercise. Even if I eat more calories, I can lose as long as I'm exercising. Plus exercise helps with your overall health. Helps boost your immune function. Just plain feels good afterwards!

em9371

eat right to lose weight - exercise for health

That's the point. We don't need to exercise to lose weight. Yes, it burns calories but here's the thing, MFP already sets us up with a caloric deficit based on our personal info, activity level and pound per week goal. When you burn calories, you create an even bigger caloric deficit and if you do that too often, you run the risk of going into starvation mode which will stall your losses, if not cause a gain. It's better to think of exercise as a way to get fit, stronger, healthier. Impacts like walking, running, jumping can help increase bone mass. Cardio helps with heart health and strength helps retain/increase muscle. There are SO many benefits to exercise besides just weight loss...

^^this is great advice.
you need to eat back calories as your deficit is already included in the calorie allowance provided by MFP.
you can lose weight without exercise, but you will more than likely lose muscle mass too and end up 'skinnyfat' and find it easy to regain weight.
By exercising, along with all the health benefits above poster mentioned, you build more muscle which in turn burns more calories, and takes up less space so you are smaller, see here:
http://jaclynbydesign.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/muscle-vs-fat/

MaximalLife

I've been reading some people say eat back your exercise calories and some people say don't eat back your calories. I thought its supposed to be burn more, eat less to lose weight? If you eat back your exercise calories then why even exercise? That seems to defeat the purpose of exercise.

As was already mentioned above, MFP determined our total daily calorie goal that DOES NOT include exercise to lose 1 pound [recommended].
And after we complete an exercise and log it in, our daily calorie limit increases.

This is because MFP advising us to eat back those exercise calories.
Large deficits are not recommended, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
In that healthy?
What happens is decreased lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS metabolic rate, making weight loss even harder.

The quick loss, low-calorie diets may do wonders on the front end, but once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories more slowly -- and you gain weight.
Think long term, and be wise.
Exercise intensely, but eat back the calories.
The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.

Alicia_Monique

Dieting helps you look good in clothing.

Exercise helps you look good naked.

jacksonpt

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

1) 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.

2) 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 simiplified and makes A LOT of assumptions, but is good enough for this conversation.



As with everything, there is some variance here. Every body resonds differently to diet, exercise, nutrition, etc. so there is some trial and error required to find your body's "sweet spot". Pick one of the above methods, do it for a couple of months and see what happens. Then you can make a couple of subtle changes here and there, do that for a month or two and see if you body responds better or worse. But always start with one of the above methods, then go from there.

happyhiram

I've been reading some people say eat back your exercise calories and some people say don't eat back your calories. I thought its supposed to be burn more, eat less to lose weight? If you eat back your exercise calories then why even exercise? That seems to defeat the purpose of exercise.

As was already mentioned above, MFP determined our total daily calorie goal that DOES NOT include exercise to lose 1 pound [recommended].
And after we complete an exercise and log it in, our daily calorie limit increases.

This is because MFP advising us to eat back those exercise calories.
Large deficits are not recommended, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
In that healthy?
What happens is decreased lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS metabolic rate, making weight loss even harder.

The quick loss, low-calorie diets may do wonders on the front end, but once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories more slowly -- and you gain weight.
Think long term, and be wise.
Exercise intensely, but eat back the calories.
The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.

Hahahaha! You beat me to it, Max!

daffodilsoup

Dieting makes you look good in your clothes. Exercise makes you look good naked.

Thena81

the net /deficit cals are the most important. in your goals it tells you what you should have for the day,try to meet that.

bcattoes

You should only log exercise not covered in your activity level. If you entered sedentary for your lifestyle, then the calories MFP recommends are for a sedentary person. When you exercise, then you go beyond "sedentary" so you earn more calories. Plus, a session of intense exercise can continue to burn calories for hours after you stop.

The more you exercise, they more you can eat and still lose weight.

SithZombie

My goal (now) is to always have a net of 1200 calories at the end of the day IF I've exercised a lot. If I haven't exercised, or have done very little, I'll net my basic 1450.

jacksonpt

Actually, lifting makes you look good naked.

Although I guess that's somewhat dependent on what "looks good" means to you.


.

Rae6503

So you can eat more. Because it's fun. Because it makes you feel good. To maintain muscle mass as you lose weight (weight training specifically).

tunktunk5583

I've been reading some people say eat back your exercise calories and some people say don't eat back your calories. I thought its supposed to be burn more, eat less to lose weight? If you eat back your exercise calories then why even exercise? That seems to defeat the purpose of exercise.

WOAHHH OK I'm a doofus and totally misunderstood your original post-I think I am hungry and delusional.

The way I think of it is you already set your calories up to weight loss even without exercise, but then you workout and burn extra calories resulting in a higher # deficit. Even if you eat back your exercise calories, you'd still be in that a calorie deficit at the end of the day.

Hope that makes sense 8-S

deadgirl81

I try not to eat my exercise calories back - I don't see the point in doing the exercise, then eating the calories straight back.

Although, if I do feel hungry, and need to nibble a snack, I always have some extra calories to use if need be.

chickybuns

So I can eat more food!

Michele7091

I run b/c I love running.

^^^^THIS^^^^
Regardless of what it does for my weight loss it makes me feel good and thats why I do it. Plain and simple.

gurganuss

I personally choose not to eat back my exercise calories. But somedays I dont log them because then you get the red message on the bottom that you are eating too few calories. But if I cannot eat anymore than I just cant. I try to make sure I eat all 1200 calories but even some days that is difficult.

My fiance is on a low cal, low sodium diet and we have been eating overly healthy and therefore I have to splurge in the evening and feel like a stuffed pig. I have managed in the last 4 weeks to lose 7 pounds. And I take a multi vitamin every day. But at a minimum I walk 30 minutes a day.

taso42

just breaks my heart

2012x

Great points already been made.

My view it makes me feeel amazing.

Has stopped my body from sagging, thats whole point of bustin some moves

msmimi

To help sculpt body & shape burn fat not muscle and prevent the skinny fat look.:noway: