I don't get it...WHY do I want to eat my exercise calories??

peasantgirly

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6. I thought the point of exercise was to BURN the calories, why on earth would I want to cancel that out?

thervondia_stevenson

I will be awaiting a response, because I was wondering this as well!

frugalmomsrock

mfp sets you up to already have a calorie deficit (a healthy one). If you burn off 300 calories, it may put you down to an unhealthy (too large) deficit. It can be counter productive and slow weight loss down, as you aren't fueling your body enough. This has many variables--the biggest one being your current weight. Apparently, you can handle the lower calories longer if you're bigger?? I don't know.

Anyway-eating back your exercise calories puts you back to the place where you are at a healthy deficit, to sustain healthy weightloss. Exercise has many other benefits--it's good for your heart, it helps you build muscle (in the long run, this is what you want--muscle. It burns more calories at rest than fat).

Good luck!!

susannamarie

To keep your deficit where MFP put it.

In general it's not recommended to lose more than 2 lbs/week. Eating more than a 1000 calorie deficit (or less, if you're already pretty slim) can result in your body both cutting energy expenditures and starting to chew up muscle instead of the fat you really want to get rid of. MFP has given you enough of a deficit for you to lose without any exercise at all.

The exercise, of course, has many other benefits besides just weight loss, including better health overall and better muscle tone.

If you don't want to eat exercise calories, use a different calorie calculator which takes your exercise into account and manually input your calorie number.

Edited: Also, http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

neverstray

Try the search feature. This is discussed almost daily.

LorinaLynn

Because unlike many other calorie-counting plans, MFP doesn't take count the calories you SAY you'll burn when they give you a calorie goal. That goal already includes the calorie deficit you'd need to lose weight without any exercise at all. MFP only adds the calories AFTER you log the exercise.

When you exercise, that creates a larger calorie deficit. Too large of a calorie deficit is not a good thing. One would think that it would simply mean you'd lose weight faster, but for many people it means that your body doesn't have enough fuel. Without enough fuel you may have low energy, you may lose muscle mass, you may slow your metabolism, etc.

So another site may tell you to eat 1800 calories, assuming you'll exercise for 30 minutes a day and burn 300 calories. MFP would tell you to eat 1500, then when you burn that 300 calories, your new goal would be 1800. The same end result, but a different way of getting there.

And... exercise calories taste better and make you sexier.

morganadk2_deleted

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

love this :flowerforyou:

QuintinV

To keep your deficit where MFP put it.

In general it's not recommended to lose more than 2 lbs/week. Eating more than a 1000 calorie deficit (or less, if you're already pretty slim) can result in your body both cutting energy expenditures and starting to chew up muscle instead of the fat you really want to get rid of. MFP has given you enough of a deficit for you to lose without any exercise at all.

The exercise, of course, has many other benefits besides just weight loss, including better health overall and better muscle tone.

If you don't want to eat exercise calories, use a different calorie calculator which takes your exercise into account and manually input your calorie number.

Edited: Also, http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

This is hilarious!! Sending link to all my friends haha

Siannah

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6.

Because we say so. And that's it, no more discussion

LorinaLynn

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6.

Because we say so. And that's it, no more discussion

You win! :laugh:

rileysowner

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6.

Because we say so. And that's it, no more discussion

That is what the OP asked for.

lmd172

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

love this :flowerforyou:

great explanation! thanks! (-:

peasantgirly

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6.

Because we say so. And that's it, no more discussion

Haha, thanks Mom!

OK, I guess I understand it now. I still don't like it....sigh

chevy88grl

Because if MFP gives you 1200 calories for a day - 400 calories burned during exercise = 800 NET calories. Net calories are the actual number of calories you're giving your body to function on and let me tell you that 800 is far too low (for most people). If you were to eat back another 400 calories, your net is now right where MFP told you to be - 1200. You've consumed 1600 TOTAL calories, but you burned off 400 of those calories, sooooo.. your NET would be 1200.

And let me tell you that nearly ALL people think a larger deficit = quicker weight loss when in reality too large of a deficit = stalled or stopped weight loss. You HAVE to eat enough in order for your body to lose weight. End of story.

Here's the numbers without the words:

1200-400=800+400=1200.

jacksonpt

You may want to, you may not want to... there is no 1 right answer as it depends on how you set your daily calorie goal.

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 then set your calorie goal lower than that. For example.. if your daily caloric need 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 daily need or the calorie goal you set based on that need. 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 daily caloric need. Then you exercise and burn calories. Those burned calories are not accounted for when you set your daily goal equal to your daily need, 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.

One of the biggest problems I see is people mixing elements/strategies from different programs. They want to use MFP's calorie calculations with weight watcher's zero point foods combined with what they heard from their coworker's brother's personal trainer. It doesn't work that way. Unless you really understand the ins and outs of nutrition and exercise (and if you did we wouldn't be having this conversation), you need to pick ONE method and do it. Don't mix them up, don't do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Pick one, commit to one.

teesams21

Thanks everyone for confirming! That is what I thought myself but nice to hear and not second guessing. :-)

denisecc

My Doctor and Dietician both say you don't eat back your calories you work off.

clairabell2024

Ill probably get some back lash for this... i dont eat back all of my exercise calories, sometimes i will but most of the time i dont!

Do what feels right for you, but please do not starve yourself. :-)

Good Luck!

xx

peasantgirly

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

love this :flowerforyou:

I just clicked on this....funny! *giggle*

mes1119

Try the search feature. This is discussed almost daily.

this is what I was going to say. you can find hundreds of threads on this same topic.

erickirb

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6. I thought the point of exercise was to BURN the calories, why on earth would I want to cancel that out?

Essentially you chose a weekly weight loss goal, MFP gave you a caloric target to hit that. That is what you need to eat if you don't workout to lose your goal amount of weight, once you exercise you need to eat more to have the same caloric deficit to hit your weekly weight loss goal.

As an example your day to day requirements are like a tank of gas. if you use a tank of gas/week going to and from work, then if you go on any extra trips or errands you will need to add more gas in order to have enough gas to get to work for the rest of the week. So if you need 1200 for day to day stuff (you will lose weight with 1200 cals and no exercise), then when you do extra (workout) you need to put more calories in your body.

erickirb

My Doctor and Dietician both say you don't eat back your calories you work off.

But the intake they want you to have is probably higher then what MFP gives you.

say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" (doctor/nutritionist/etc) may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 cals different 12,150-11,900). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1750/day above. If you only ate the 1450 then burned 400 cals that would be like eating 1050 on days you don't workout, which is not enough to fuel your body.

jacksonpt

My Doctor and Dietician both say you don't eat back your calories you work off.

Without any context, this is useless.

chevy88grl

My Doctor and Dietician both say you don't eat back your calories you work off.

MFP is set up differently. The number of calories it has given you for the day already has a deficit in it - depending on your weight loss goals. So, by not eating them back? You're creating too large of a deficit. Too large of a deficit = stalled or stopped weight loss. Other weight loss sites don't factor in your deficit for you, they simply give you a number and you have to exercise to create the deficit. MFP isn't like that.

judypriv

Because unlike many other calorie-counting plans, MFP doesn't take count the calories you SAY you'll burn when they give you a calorie goal. That goal already includes the calorie deficit you'd need to lose weight without any exercise at all. MFP only adds the calories AFTER you log the exercise.

When you exercise, that creates a larger calorie deficit. Too large of a calorie deficit is not a good thing. One would think that it would simply mean you'd lose weight faster, but for many people it means that your body doesn't have enough fuel. Without enough fuel you may have low energy, you may lose muscle mass, you may slow your metabolism, etc.

So another site may tell you to eat 1800 calories, assuming you'll exercise for 30 minutes a day and burn 300 calories. MFP would tell you to eat 1500, then when you burn that 300 calories, your new goal would be 1800. The same end result, but a different way of getting there.

FINALLY I understand this now. THANK YOU!

AlsDonkBoxSquat

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6.

Because we say so. And that's it, no more discussion

Haha, thanks Mom!

OK, I guess I understand it now. I still don't like it....sigh

Why I like it: 1) without it I wouldn't lose weight and 2) without it I wouldn't have enough fuel in the tank to exercise to the level at which I like to push my body (trust me I've tried) and 3) without it I wouldn't have enough calories to drink wine and eat all at the same time, I would have to pick one or the other and that's a tough call.

cbcw1964

thank you so much for the post and the response....i also wondered why this is....i have a hard time eating my 1200 calories a day...it is a real struggle for me...then if i work out...i am in real deficiet....thanks for the info!

jsapninz

It partly depends on how accurate your TDEE is, because it should take into your daily acitivity before exercise into acount.

AND it mostly depends on how accurate your calorie count for that burned by exercise is. If you have done your research (and/or have a HRM), you SHOULD eat them back.

But if you are using stock calorie counters, err on the conservative side because they tend to overestimate your burn.

hiswifetheirmommy

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

love this :flowerforyou:

LOL I like that!

jhefti13

bump

chevy88grl

thank you so much for the post and the response....i also wondered why this is....i have a hard time eating my 1200 calories a day...it is a real struggle for me...then if i work out...i am in real deficiet....thanks for the info!

Add in higher calorie, healthy foods - like nuts. A handful of almonds is 190 calories. Add in an apple and you're at nearly 300 calories. Easy, healthy way to get your calories in.