Why Eating Exercise Calories is so important.

Options
1…1819212324…26

Replies

  • sar123bear
    sar123bear Posts: 81
    Options
    I love the way you've explained this. It's a great reminder of why you need to eat those exercise calories back, especially when the scale may not moving as fast as it was in the beginning of the weight loss journey!

    So far I've been extremely happy following the "eat more" plan and I've been trying to get as close to goal calories as possible, eating back my exercise calories. Sometimes I'm tempted to not exercise because I'm eating so dang much now! I know that's not the right answer... I just need to plan my days better so I don't end the day with a load of calories to still eat. That could be why exercising in the morning is a better idea - then you can plan for recouping those calories.

    Anyway, thanks for the great example - I really enjoyed reading this and hope to share your knowledge with my friends trying to lose. :bigsmile:

    17881265.png
  • lilred_gld
    lilred_gld Posts: 51 Member
    Options
    I fully believe my body is partially in starvation mode. I have a 1200 cal/day to attain, but it is very difficult some days. I get so full and I know that it is bad on a regular basis to not consume those essential 1200. even when i plan out my meals, it really is up-in-the-air as to how many cals i really burn in a day when i am flying around the house doing house work, yard work, shopping etc. maybe i actually am eating to much or maybe I am under eating. uhhh sigh! i guess if i just consume 1300 cals a day... it will all work out :) cross my fingers. need to add lots more nuts and beans into the diet :D
  • getfitin11
    getfitin11 Posts: 14
    Options
    Thanks. saving to read later
  • supermumincanada
    supermumincanada Posts: 59 Member
    Options
    Bump, thanks, that was helpful xo
  • dwiebe85
    dwiebe85 Posts: 123
    Options
    bump
  • mickeyluvchocolat
    mickeyluvchocolat Posts: 101
    Options
    wow Thank you soooo much!!! NOW it's clear!!!! I understand better and I'll try to eat most of them and see how it goes.... I'll also try to don't focus only on my weight and see what's appenning with my body and measurement....

    Thanks to everybody on this post !!!!!
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Options
    I fully believe my body is partially in starvation mode. I have a 1200 cal/day to attain, but it is very difficult some days. I get so full and I know that it is bad on a regular basis to not consume those essential 1200. even when i plan out my meals, it really is up-in-the-air as to how many cals i really burn in a day when i am flying around the house doing house work, yard work, shopping etc. maybe i actually am eating to much or maybe I am under eating. uhhh sigh! i guess if i just consume 1300 cals a day... it will all work out :) cross my fingers. need to add lots more nuts and beans into the diet :D

    Take a look at this post (its locked as it has 500 posts but you can view it): http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map
  • djmauck
    djmauck Posts: 18
    Options
    Thank you! I have forwarded this to my friend who goes to hour-long spinning classes and doesn't eat the calories burned. It's a very good explanation so hopefully it will help her out.

    I ALWAYS eat back my exercise calories, btw - why would I every turn down extra food? :)
  • dare2love81
    dare2love81 Posts: 928 Member
    Options
    This week I decided to test this theory and ate back all my exercise calories and did not lose a pound, not even a tenth of a pound. So I'm going back to what worked for me before - setting my net calories at slightly higher than what MFP recommends and only eating back SOME of my exercise calories if I'm still hungry. So I guess you could argue that just by setting my net calories higher than what MFP recommends, that I am, in fact, eating back exercise calories - but that's my net regardless of whether or not I exercise, and I only increase them by 100 higher than what MFP recommends. And I also agree with the fact that if you exercise a lot or burn a lot of calories, you definitely should not attempt to eat them all back. Let's be real, we're not olympic athletes, so we don't need to eat loads of calories to fuel our bodies when we exercise. And by exercise, I mean going to a gym or setting aside time to do an actual workout. I don't think anyone should be counting "cooking" or "doing housework" as exercise if you're planning to eat your exercise calories back.

    I also want to point out, as I did in my earlier post to the OP, that the calories burned on both the cardio equipment and especially here on MFP are GROSSLY overstated. Best thing we can do is invest in a good HR monitor (I recommend the Polar FT7) and even then I don't assume that I burned as much as what my HRM shows, and that number is significantly lower than what the cardio equipment or MFP says I burned. So if you eat back all of what MFP or the cardio equipment says you burned, you're more than likely eating a surplus and your net is no longer a deficit. So just be conservative if you're choosing to eat back your exercise calories. Better to error on the side of caution - in my opinion.

    But I guess at the end of the day, we all have to do what works best for us, and unfortunately it takes some trial and error to find the "sweet spot" for our bodies to lose weight.
  • PamelaOllie
    PamelaOllie Posts: 2
    Options
    Thank you for the reinforcement.
  • mom2hpl
    mom2hpl Posts: 2
    Options
    Good point. Thanks.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Options
    This week I decided to test this theory and ate back all my exercise calories and did not lose a pound, not even a tenth of a pound. So I'm going back to what worked for me before - setting my net calories at slightly higher than what MFP recommends and only eating back SOME of my exercise calories if I'm still hungry. So I guess you could argue that just by setting my net calories higher than what MFP recommends, that I am, in fact, eating back exercise calories - but that's my net regardless of whether or not I exercise, and I only increase them by 100 higher than what MFP recommends. And I also agree with the fact that if you exercise a lot or burn a lot of calories, you definitely should not attempt to eat them all back. Let's be real, we're not olympic athletes, so we don't need to eat loads of calories to fuel our bodies when we exercise. And by exercise, I mean going to a gym or setting aside time to do an actual workout. I don't think anyone should be counting "cooking" or "doing housework" as exercise if you're planning to eat your exercise calories back.

    I also want to point out, as I did in my earlier post to the OP, that the calories burned on both the cardio equipment and especially here on MFP are GROSSLY overstated. Best thing we can do is invest in a good HR monitor (I recommend the Polar FT7) and even then I don't assume that I burned as much as what my HRM shows, and that number is significantly lower than what the cardio equipment or MFP says I burned. So if you eat back all of what MFP or the cardio equipment says you burned, you're more than likely eating a surplus and your net is no longer a deficit. So just be conservative if you're choosing to eat back your exercise calories. Better to error on the side of caution - in my opinion.

    But I guess at the end of the day, we all have to do what works best for us, and unfortunately it takes some trial and error to find the "sweet spot" for our bodies to lose weight.

    To have to give any change more than a week to decide whether it is working or not - it can take a few weeks foryour body adjust. Coming to a conclusion as to whether it works of not after a week is way too early.

    That being said, I do agree that equipment and MFP can grossly overestimate the calories burned which is why a buffer should be built in to how many exercise calories. I also agree that doing regular housework etc should not be counted as it should already be counted in the base calories (activity level).
  • kindra3434
    kindra3434 Posts: 177 Member
    Options
    BUMP and THANKS. I will do this the HEALTHY way DAMN IT!
  • badapdos
    badapdos Posts: 132
    Options
    Hm, a little confused, so say my calorie goal is 1400 without exercise, and I burn 500 calories. Now I have to eat 1900 calories right? Do you mean that eating back your exercise calories is eating the whole 1900 calories or leaving a 500 calorie deficit? Thanks! :)
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    Options
    Hm, a little confused, so say my calorie goal is 1400 without exercise, and I burn 500 calories. Now I have to eat 1900 calories right? Do you mean that eating back your exercise calories is eating the whole 1900 calories or leaving a 500 calorie deficit? Thanks! :)
    Your deficit is already built into that 1400. If you then burn 500 calories, you effectively only consume 900 that day, which increase your deficit to (I'm assuming you picked 2lbs a week) 1500 a day and puts you dangerously far under your BMR. If you eat back those 500 calories, you're back to the safer (though still high) 1000 a day deficit.
  • dloebs
    dloebs Posts: 1
    Options
    Thank you! This post helped me.

    Agree on the earlier point that the calorie burn estimate on MyFitnessPal can't be accurate for every participant, I've actually calculated that I burn more calories than the exercise calculator estimates based on my hummingbird-like heart rate.

    I found this blog useful in calculating my calorie burn rate for specific exercises, if you find you have a more rapid than average heart rate when you exercise, you may appreciate it too: http://www.livestrong.com/article/78365-estimate-calories-burned-heart-rate/
  • LANIECE1
    LANIECE1 Posts: 78 Member
    Options
    I understand what you are saying, but I do Zumba and sometimes or a lot times it's hard to eat those exercise calories back. Zumba is about 600 cal burned for me, is this why my weight is isn't moving only inches
  • SPNLuver83
    SPNLuver83 Posts: 2,050 Member
    Options
    bump!
  • janetsalley
    janetsalley Posts: 122 Member
    Options
    Thank you so much..... NOW I understand!!! :smokin:
  • jenncaroon
    jenncaroon Posts: 91
    Options
    bump

Categories