Why eat your exercise calories?

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melindadunston
melindadunston Posts: 157
in Health and Weight Loss
If you are trying to loose weight why eat back your exercise calories? Isn't the point to loose weight? I exercise to get extra points and I used them if I need them. But I try to make sure I have at least 200 calories left at the end of the day. I want to see progress. If I don't exercise then I don't eat as much. I just don't know why you need to eat those calories?
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  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    If you are trying to loose weight why eat back your exercise calories? Isn't the point to loose weight? I exercise to get extra points and I used them if I need them. But I try to make sure I have at least 200 calories left at the end of the day. I want to see progress. If I don't exercise then I don't eat as much. I just don't know why you need to eat those calories?

    On this site, exercise isn't supposed to be part of the weight loss caloric equation. So you cancel it out by eating back the calories you burned. So you should have a caloric deficit whether you exercise or not. The premise is you don't want exercise to create a deficit that is too large because there are some negative metabolic side effects that could occur.

    The danger to this approach is that its very easy to over-estimate the calories burned through exercise, so people end up over-eating their exercise calories back.
  • jafo88
    jafo88 Posts: 3
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    I'm having the same problem. I work out a solid hour a day and the elliptical states I burn between 1300 and 1500 calories during the workout. I work out at a high level and a fast pace. The food section always adds in the calories I burned as you can eat more food….I don’t want to eat more food. Are there any issues with this? I want to lose fat I currently weight 235 and want to get to 155. Do I need to eat more? If I do need to eat more how much?
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    I'm having the same problem. I work out a solid hour a day and the elliptical states I burn between 1300 and 1500 calories during the workout. I work out at a high level and a fast pace. The food section always adds in the calories I burned as you can eat more food….I don’t want to eat more food. Are there any issues with this? I want to lose fat I currently weight 235 and want to get to 155. Do I need to eat more?

    There is no way you are burning 1300-1500 calories on an elliptical in one hour. Those machines lie like crazy.
  • emeralds5668
    emeralds5668 Posts: 28
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    Well if its working for you.....great. But if you are not eating enough you will burn lean muscle instead of fat because your body will go into starvation mode. Your lean muscle will break down to give your body fuel before the fat will be burned. Yes you want to burn fat and as long as you are eating healthy meals you will burn stored fat instead of your lean muscle....atleast that is what I have learned.
  • melindadunston
    melindadunston Posts: 157
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    I'm having the same problem. I work out a solid hour a day and the elliptical states I burn between 1300 and 1500 calories during the workout. I work out at a high level and a fast pace. The food section always adds in the calories I burned as you can eat more food….I don’t want to eat more food. Are there any issues with this? I want to lose fat I currently weight 235 and want to get to 155. Do I need to eat more? If I do need to eat more how much?

    I don't think it makes sense to eat back your calories unless you are really hungry, then eat some not all. I know the point of exercise is to get healthy yes...but why not use it to loose weight too!
  • melindadunston
    melindadunston Posts: 157
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    Well if its working for you.....great. But if you are not eating enough you will burn lean muscle instead of fat because your body will go into starvation mode. Your lean muscle will break down to give your body fuel before the fat will be burned. Yes you want to burn fat and as long as you are eating healthy meals you will burn stored fat instead of your lean muscle....atleast that is what I have learned.

    I am eating 1200-1500calories per day. I doubt I am going to go into starvation mode. I try to eat every 2 to 3 hours to keep my metabolism going and my blood sugar stable. I have lost 13lbs since Jan 3rd and 5 the past couple weeks since I joined this site. My goal is about 13 more lbs.
  • jafo88
    jafo88 Posts: 3
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    Not the point if the machine is right....I want to know if there is a problem not eating any of the calories back from working out. I dont want to hurt myself when I'm trying to better my health.
  • PinkEarthMama
    PinkEarthMama Posts: 987 Member
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    Food = Fuel

    MFP has already calculated lower calories needed to lose weight. If I'm burning those calories by exercising, I need to add them back so my body has enough fuel.

    I cannot ask my car to drive an extra five hundred miles without fuel, I can't ask it of my body either.
  • Lesa_Sass
    Lesa_Sass Posts: 2,213 Member
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    If I am hungry, I eat them. And they also give me motivation to work harder when I do exercise. At a 1200 calories per day, if I did not eat my exercise calories, I would be trying to fuel my body with between 8 and 900 calories a day.

    My metabolism also stays higher when I eat them, so it works out for me.

    I make good, healthy food choices as well, its not like I run to Mcdonalds and grab some french fries to eat back my exercise calories.
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
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    Not eating your exercise calories may work at first, but you body might also get use to it and then it actually decreses your BMR and you need even less food to loss the same amount of weight. You should at least NET 1200 calories daily.
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
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    If you don't want to eat your exercise calories then set your calorie goal on MFP to the number of calories you'd need to maintain your weight - then create your deficit using exercise.

    The way the MFP is set up, your deficit needed to lose weight is ALREADY included in your daily allowance - therefore when you exercise you need to eat back those calories in order to prevent the deficit becoming too large.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Don't get in the habit of training your body to survive on very little calories unless you like the idea of "being on a diet" for the rest of your life.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/exercise-calories-explained-206876
  • tdelo7634
    tdelo7634 Posts: 40 Member
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    If you eat back the calories them machine say, when it is over reporting calories burned, you will gain weight.

    Here is what you need to know. A pound is about 3200 calories. If at the end of the week you have a deficit of 3200 caolries from what you need to sustain your current weight, you will have lost one pound. It doesn't matter where the deficit comes from. Less calories or exercise. This is what has worked for me,
  • rima933
    rima933 Posts: 151 Member
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    Food = Fuel

    MFP has already calculated lower calories needed to lose weight. If I'm burning those calories by exercising, I need to add them back so my body has enough fuel.

    I cannot ask my car to drive an extra five hundred miles without fuel, I can't ask it of my body either.
    Wow! never looked at it this way, thanks!
  • melindadunston
    melindadunston Posts: 157
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    If you don't want to eat your exercise calories then set your calorie goal on MFP to the number of calories you'd need to maintain your weight - then create your deficit using exercise.

    The way the MFP is set up, your deficit needed to lose weight is ALREADY included in your daily allowance - therefore when you exercise you need to eat back those calories in order to prevent the deficit becoming too large.

    120lbs Lost! You are my hero! Great Job!
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    If you tell the site you want a 500-calorie deficit and then you burn another 500 calories from exercise, you've now got a 1000-calorie deficit. If that's what you wanted, why not just tell the site you want a 1000-calorie deficit to begin with?
  • PoochPottery
    PoochPottery Posts: 205
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    Not eating your exercise calories may work at first, but you body might also get use to it and then it actually decreses your BMR and you need even less food to loss the same amount of weight. You should at least NET 1200 calories daily.

    ^^^^^
    THIS!
  • theresa029
    theresa029 Posts: 95
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    If you are trying to loose weight why eat back your exercise calories? Isn't the point to loose weight? I exercise to get extra points and I used them if I need them. But I try to make sure I have at least 200 calories left at the end of the day. I want to see progress. If I don't exercise then I don't eat as much. I just don't know why you need to eat those calories?


    thats my question too :D
  • sgpaschak
    sgpaschak Posts: 39
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    Agree with the above. MFP factors in a deficit already to give you the weight loss you want to acheive. Exercise, while a great and helpful part of losing weight, is not solely for that purpose.

    Exercise helps you to build muscle, develop cardiovascular endurance and in general have better health and well being. Also note, if you lift weights and build muscle your body burns more calories at rest. This is even more of a reason to eat back at least a portion of your exercise calories. I want my body to have ready access to healthy protein, carbs and fats to re-fuel, re-build and be able to do more next time.

    Be very careful though. I use a heart rate monitor, strapped to my chest, to measure how many calories I burn. Everyone is different and I find MFP's stock exercises waaaay over estimate what the actual burn is. Note also, that your body naturally burns calories at rest. By wearing my hrm while doing nothing, I burn 170 calories in 1 hour. If I do some exercise for 1 hour, I subtract 170 from the total to get what my burn actually was. I HIGHLY recommend investing in a polar heart rate monitor (~$100-$140). It is an amazing tool in weightloss. You can punch in your height, weight and age and it will use these in determining how many calories you burn per heart beat.
  • deniserenee_02
    deniserenee_02 Posts: 158 Member
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    I find that I burn 10 calories a min on the eleptical and stair master it seems pretty accurate. I eat back my calories I burn and I've lost 4 lbs in 15 days. I agree with eating to fuel your body or your metabolism will slow down and you will not see any loss.

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