Why Eating Exercise Calories is so important.

coconutbuNZ

to coconutbuNZ:
I figure, if I'm really not hungry - I don't eat. On the other hand, some days I've eaten my entire allotment (exercise calories and all) and I'm starving - so I eat. I pay attention to the goals each day, but the weekly Net Calories chart is even more useful (in Reports>Nutrition on the web, in Weekly in the Android app).
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Thank you Jjm :flowerforyou:

Judanjos

I just read the whole...you should eat your exercise calories thing and...I don't know about you guys but it's literally 8PM here and I don't want to eat another 967 calories today...I earned a lot from activity and I really don't have the appetite for almost a thousand calories...I don't want to slow my metabolism but unless I grow another stomach or two ....it's not happening...lol

candyrayne215

Is this why some diets have so called "cheat days"? i eat and exercise and MFP wants me to eat what seems like dbl the food, but i really dont be hungry, but i hear if you incorporate a 'cheat' day, that makes up for the days you were less and you can still lose weight

smte

bump

Klem4

Thanks for this OP! Puts it into plain words I can wrap my head around.

Rayman233

bump

LemonBurns

*Awaits 1200 calories-a-day-brigade rage*

Good explanation Perhaps include links to some calculators for people to find their correct BMRs and TDEEs.

I recommend http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

^^ Went there ^^, and learned I can actually UP my BMR calories... between that and this post about eating back my exercise calories I am a HAPPY GIRL Right now!! YAY!

Merci Beaucoup, Madame - I appreciate your taking the time to explain this is such a way that I can understand it and apply it - it makes sense - AWEsome!

TheEffort

This topic was something I often wondered about and I find this to be very useful.

Thank you.


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss Tools

Soucy2022

I often hear people asking why eating your exercise calories is a good thing?
These people think 'That's extra calories burned, so that will speed up my weight loss.'
Well, yes and no.

The thing is, your body needs fuel.
Your metabolism, typically around between 1200 and 1800 calories, are the calories that your body will burn, during the day, every day. Even if you sat around on the sofa, or slept, or were in a coma. You would need this to allow natural processes like hair/nail growth, skin replenishment, organ function, etc to continue.
That's why it's very dangerous to eat anything under 1200 calories!

So, lets take the average 1500 calorie metabolism.
- If you live a sedentary lifestyle (desk job or no exercise), you would probably only burn 300 - 500 calories in a day by moving around. So you need 1800 - 2000 calories to maintain.
A significant amount of the population leads a sedentary lifestyle, so most doctors recommend 2000 calories a day is good.
- If you live a lightly active lifestyle (job involving some walking or some exercise (1/2 days) then you'd burn around 500 - 700 by moving around. So you need 2000 - 2200 to maintain.
- If you are quite active (some manual labour or exercise 3 - 5 days/week) then that's probably 700 - 900. Thus, you need 2200 - 2400 calories to maintain.
- And if you are very active (manual job or exercise 6 - 7 days/week) then you're burning around 1000. So, you need about 2500 calories to maintain.

This is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (or TDEE)

MFP will set your deficit at what you want 0.5/1/1.5/2 lbs/week or -250/-500/-750/-1000 calories below your TDEE.

Simples, right?

Well, ish. Let's take an average scenario:

--

Meet Jane. She weighs 200lbs, and wants to lose 50lbs.
Jane has a metabolism of 1500. She leads a sedentary lifestyle, so she burns about 2000 calories per day.
Jane wants to lose 1lbs/week

MFP calculates Jane's calorie intake and deducts 500 calories. She will require 1500 calories to lose 1lbs/week.

But Jane decides she will start running.
Jane burns 400 calories when she runs for 30 minutes.
She does not eat back those 400 calories.

Jane is now NETTING 1100 calories.

*NET = Calories Consumed - Calories Burned from Exercise
You're NET should equal your CALORIE GOAL to achieve weightloss.

Because of the extra activity, 400/1500 of the calories consumed have been burnt by Jane. That means the body must function on only 1100 calories per day to allow natural processes like hair/nail growth, skin replenishment, organ function to continue.

THUS, Jane's metabolism drops* to meet her NET calories (1100).
NB* This may take several weeks and will not respond to occasionally high deficits.
Over the same period of time, Jane's body will respond to the huge caloric defecit and try to preserve the body, by burning Jane's muscle rather than her fat. The number on the scale drops, but Jane does not seem to get any skinnier.

Now she burns 1600 calories on sedentary days, and 2000 calories on exercise days.

When Jane has lost 50lbs and returns to normal eating, she can only eat 1600 calories on sedentary days or she will gain weight again.

HOWEVER. If Jane decides to eat back the 400 calories:

She continues to lose 1lbs/week
Her metabolism will increase because (a) she is exercising (which increases the metabolism) and (b) because she is eating 1900 calories (the more calories she eats, the more her metabolism is raised.)
However, her NET calories remain at 1500, so she achieves ideal weightloss.
When Jane reaches her goal of 150lbs, her metabolism will be faster so she is able to eat more than 2000 calories to maintain her weight.

--

Do you see? But eating back her exercise calories, Jane is able to continue her weightloss without damaging her metabolism for the future.

Exercising and then eating back your calories is just about the best thing you could do for your weightloss. It raises your metabolism, allows you to eat more, and helps to tone/build muscle rather than burn it so you don't get that flabby look of loose skin.

I really hope this helps someone.

canroadrunner

No because some of the things (such as bread, cheese, etc.) I limit myself because of the added carbs, sugar, and sodium. So eating more of it would throw everything out of wack by the end of the day (at least it does for me). So discovering a meal replacement (High calories, low carb, high protien) works great!!! Thanks for the response!!!

I would like to know what you are eating/drinking to boost your cals without junk since I am in the same boat. Clean eating+intense training = not enough cals.

Thanks!

I've upped my calories recently and generally eat back my exercise calories. I eat pretty clean, very little processed foods or sugars. I found that the easiest way to up my calories without feeling stuffed is to sneak in some extra "good fats" - one extra tsp of olive oil on the salad, some avocado and I use a tsp of ground flax seeds on my morning cereal. It's also very easy to adjust if I don't work out - I just don't put the extra olive oil or avocado on. That way I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of the food I need to take care of my hunger.

MamaF24

Love this explanation and I'm going to try this!

canroadrunner

I repeat this question - what if, at the end of the day, I don't want to eat those exercise calories simply because I am NOT hungry?!

Then, if the OP is correct, you run the risk of having the problems associated with not eating them back such as plateauing or lowered metabolism. A spoonful of peanut butter is not overly filling but goes a long way to getting back some of those calories.

Allic1971

Just out of interest the other day I wrote down my last 40 days of Calories consumed, Exercise calories burned, Net calories and weight (i weigh myself everyday).

It was interesting to see that the days were I netted only 600 or so calories I stalled and didn't lose anything, the days were I netted above 900-1200 for 3 or more days I lost weight.

So I calculated my body fat here http://www.freedieting.com/tools/body_fat_calculator.htm then calculated my daily needs here http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm in the advanced button I entered my body fat.

It came up with way more calories than MFP suggested, so I changed my settings on here.

To double check my figures from the above site I went to http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced got those figures and then checked them on the weight loss calculator here http://www.health-calc.com/diet/weight-loss-calculator

I am now zig zagging my Net calories so that 2 days are never the same to trick the body to avoid a plateau, and for me it's working, I have lost 3.19 pounds in a week, I wonder how much I would have lost if I hadn't tried to starve my body??

I now do a DVD for 35 mins (Jillian Michaels Ripped at the moment), housework / shopping or walk the dog, I try not to go over 700 in exercise calories as I have a hard time trying to eat that much extra food, I also bought myself a HRM to get the right readings for my workouts, I have increased my water intake to around 4lt a day, I have upped my fiber intake and watch my sodium, fat and carb intake.

I had a hard time understanding the whole net calories thing for a few weeks but slowly I am coming to terms with eating more to lose weight! Thanks to the OP it makes sense.

Good luck everyone on your weight loss journey!

(and yes I only joined on 20/2/2012 and have lost 17.16 pounds)

ReinasWrath

This was great thank you so much!!!

joytron

Wow. That explanation was all kinds of awesome. Thanks!

Divagettinfitin2011

Thanks for sharing!

mischa_12

So can you eat anything you want then as long as it stays within that calorie limit? does this mean I could eat a chocolate bar if i wanted to?

nickyfm

I don't agree....
If i eat back my exercise cals, I'll lose MAYBE 0.2 pounds that week. Even though I'm set to -1lb a week.

Though I am 114 pounds and 5"5 (very tiny frame)... So the 'eat back your exercise cals' definitely cannot be a be all and end all statement.

realtreegirl

This is great information! Thanks For sure going to give this a try as I have been having a hard time getting the scale to go down. But I never eat back my exercise calories so maybe this will help.

ironanimal

I don't agree....
If i eat back my exercise cals, I'll lose MAYBE 0.2 pounds that week. Even though I'm set to -1lb a week.

Though I am 114 pounds and 5"5 (very tiny frame)... So the 'eat back your exercise cals' definitely cannot be a be all and end all statement.

At your weight, 0.2 is a far healthier rate of loss.