Why eat your exercise calories?

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  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 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.

    And if you eat them and gain weight, then you know they're not accurate for you and you can get a heart rate monitor, or make adjustments as needed, or find another way of tracking your calories burned.

    But for quite a few people, myself included, the estimates provided by MFP are accurate enough to get the results we're looking for.
  • rides4sanity
    rides4sanity Posts: 1,269 Member
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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.

    Thanks for the tip about subtracting out "normal" calorie burn from exercise calorie burn. I have been taking a couple hundred off my HRM values because they just seemed excessive. This gives me a better idea of how to get a more accurate count.
  • aenderson
    aenderson Posts: 4
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    When you are under your calories for the day you are more likely to burn muscle mass first then body fat. Loss in muscle can decrease your metabolism.
  • blonde20fan
    blonde20fan Posts: 233 Member
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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.

    I totally agree!! I just bought a HRM and my calories burned are alot lower than the machines.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    I cannot ask my car to drive an extra five hundred miles without fuel, I can't ask it of my body either.

    This is not a good analogy because fat is fuel and if you're trying to lose weight, your body has plenty of it.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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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.

    So what is considered enough?

    If you are eating plenty of protein and training your muscles, there is no reason that your body would choose to rid itself of muscle tissue in favor of an abundance of fat stores.

    Starvation mode is only really an issue when you are lean and there isn't much fat left, so it has no choice but to start burning a lot more muscle.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I eat them (or most of them) because I get very hungry if I don't. I hate being hungry. Unless it's right before dinner, I do like to be so hungry before a big meal that the smell of the food cooking is almost intoxicating.
  • bigbird38
    bigbird38 Posts: 3
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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.


    Hello i am new to learning about the polar, my new friend is kettlebells, please do you know if the polar would help me with calories burned for this type of training, i have looked at the web site, but there are sssooo many polars i got a little dizzy lol many thanks
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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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.

    If you eat 1500 calories back from a 1 hour workout, you probably will not lose weight that day.

    I would probably eat back a sub-set of it. Maybe 500-1000 calories at most. The threat of starvation mode is highly exaggerated here.
  • melindadunston
    melindadunston Posts: 157
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    t

    I would probably eat back a sub-set of it. Maybe 500-1000 calories at most. The threat of starvation mode is highly exaggerated here.
    [/quote]

    Agreed...starvation mode is highly exaggerated!
  • istalkzombies
    istalkzombies Posts: 344 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

    so if I understand your blog correct then you are supposed to eat back the excercise calories or at least the majority of them so as to not create too large of a deficit?
  • iamthevieve
    iamthevieve Posts: 107
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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 would suggest buying a heartrate monitor. They're much more accurate. An hour on an elliptical won't burn 1300 calories.
  • luvmybaby333
    luvmybaby333 Posts: 241
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    Why eat them? Because they're tasty. Also, if I can eat them and still lose weight, why *wouldn't* I eat them? I like food. Just because I'm trying to lose weight doesn't mean that food has become my enemy. :smile:
  • jafo88
    jafo88 Posts: 3
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    Thank you
  • ratherbeskiing
    ratherbeskiing Posts: 847 Member
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    because I like cake:drinker:
  • 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

    so if I understand your blog correct then you are supposed to eat back the excercise calories or at least the majority of them so as to not create too large of a deficit?

    Yep! When I had too large of a deficit, my weight loss was super slow, I felt deprived, and I lost a lot of muscle mass. With a small deficit, I had the exact progress I wanted and never felt like I was dieting.

    I don't like using the term "starvation mode," but I definitely hurt my metabolism when I didn't eat enough.
  • aparker36
    aparker36 Posts: 30 Member
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    It is entirely unhealthy not to eat them, your body is like an engine it's needs the fuel for your workouts. Your body goes through cycles every day and you need to feed the engine so your metabolism is working to it's fullest potential, that's how you lose weight, not by calorie deprivation? Yes you'll lose weight short term but you'll also love healthy muscle mass, and you'll gain it all back when you go back to "normal" eating and make it even harder to lose the next time. The key is not to "diet" but change your relationship with food. Eat on purpose not by accident, and don't deprive your body of what it needs. And put good foods in your body as often as you can...you are what you eat, and if you want to be healthy put healthy things in.

    A few tips I learned recently froma nutritionist. Eat as soon as you wake up...something...even if it's a tablespoon of peanut butter or a glass of chocolate milk. Your body has been fasting all night and it needs some fuel to immediately rev the engine and kick your metabolism into gear. Also at night, refrain from carbs. All day long when you are working and going about your day your body needs carbs, protein...everyting to fuel what it's doing, but once you get home at night your body starts to go into shut down mode and rebuilds so your body doesn' t know what yo do with carbs at that point...it doesn't need them for fuel so it just stores them. Inhibits your weight loss. And definitely don't eat or drink in the middle of the night. If you wake up thirsty, have water.

    Also right after your workout you need about 2-1 carbs/protein. Chocolate milk is the perfect recovery drink after a workout. Have something within 1/2 hour of your workout so that you can feed that lean muscle mass you just created. Turns you into a lean fat burning machine to have more lean muscle mass on your body.

    Hope this helps everyone. Calorie deprivation is not the answer, and calories aren't bad, especially if you are working out, make sure you eat what you need to sustain the muscle you are creating!
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
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    Has anyone noticed the people who argue against eating exercise calories never spell lose right?
  • lilfurson
    lilfurson Posts: 190
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    I have been exercising really hard the past 6 weeks and sticking with a pretty strict diet. Last week I got stuck at the same weight and had no idea why. After reading the forums and other things I realized I was definitely not eating enough. So for almost a week now i've been eating back 80-90% of my exercise calories (this does not include the FitBit deficit). I have started losing weight again and I feel better. I try to add those calories in during the morning / afternoon since I know approximately how many I will burn when I do my exercise routine at night.

    Just wanted to say it does work and you may feel better.
  • PatasDeGallina
    PatasDeGallina Posts: 155 Member
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    Why eat them? Because they're tasty. Also, if I can eat them and still lose weight, why *wouldn't* I eat them? I like food. Just because I'm trying to lose weight doesn't mean that food has become my enemy. :smile:

    I like this. :) Also, luvmybaby333, I love your ticker because at first glance I totally thought those pictures where Pacman ghosts. :happy:

    Now I'm going to go find myself a Mrs. Pacman userpic because that's how I feel about food. NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.

    Bottomline! Do what works for you. You won't know until you pick one method and try it a while, and it may only work a while, or it may be "how you work" and work until you're done losing.

    It's a numbers game and it's YOUR numbers game. I eat my exercise, I've had a couple plateaus, I've made no major changes, and they pass.

    You CAN, but you don't HAVE TO. You don't have to do anything. Ever. Except die. (Not to be morbid, that one is pretty inevitable.)

    Good luck and best success to you all!! :happy:

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