Eating to few calories and ? about exercise calories

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hml86
hml86 Posts: 225 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've read somewhere on here that your suppose to eat back your exercise calories...Why is that? That doesn't hurt your weightloss? Also I've been looking through my diary and noticed that I haven't been eating much...having 800 or more calories left a day after exercising....Can this slow down my metabolism
and eventually make me hit a plateau? How can I make myself eat more a when I'm not hungry and add more variety? Thanks!!
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  • PrincessEliNa
    PrincessEliNa Posts: 524 Member
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    Bump! :o
  • nikkinoonarr
    nikkinoonarr Posts: 101
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    I would like an answer to this too, I did a 2 hour hike on Sunday and when I finished for the day I had nearly 1000 calories left over, it told me off (in red) ha ha, there was no way I couldve eaten it all back!
  • hml86
    hml86 Posts: 225 Member
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    I would like an answer to this too, I did a 2 hour hike on Sunday and when I finished for the day I had nearly 1000 calories left over, it told me off (in red) ha ha, there was no way I couldve eaten it all back!

    I know....I feel the same way! I've been doing this since I've started in Jan 2012 and ive been losing so far...just worried that it will eventually make me hit a plateau!
  • chachita7
    chachita7 Posts: 996 Member
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    You should try to eat back your calories for you want to try for your net to be 1200 however it isn't always possible to do so. Your body needs the fuel to function properly and when you eat too few calories well you are not fueling it well...

    I eat I lose... that is the best way I can explain it... I don't eat enough by mid week I feel sluggish and unmotivated...
  • Mellowmar98
    Mellowmar98 Posts: 13 Member
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    I have just recently started with MFP and I have questioned the samething. What I have read is you do want to eat back some of those calories. I wouldnt eat all of them but I definitly make sure I get atleast 1200. Some people have said the more you eat and then burn the more you loose. A lot of people have said they up there calorie intake and have noticed more loss. But anything below 1200 your body goes into starvation mode and you definitly wont loose. Hope this helps.
  • huntindawg1962
    huntindawg1962 Posts: 277 Member
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    The short answer is that you are set up to lose say 2 lbs a week - that would be a daily deficit that would add up to 7000 less calories per week. If on any day you do an extra 1000 calorie burn above that., you are essentially setting yourself up for a higher loss. Now, that does not sound bad but then comes the debate as to if you want to eat back your calories, need to be above some minimum number as a minimum, and a whole bunch of other considerations that you are about to get all sorts of answers on from others on.
  • amyy902
    amyy902 Posts: 290 Member
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    this is an age old debate. these boards are full of misinformed answers, or people sort of get it but they dont and try and give informed answers. the best advice is you should try and talk to a diatician to decide whats the ideal way forward for you. im fully qualified in nutrition and i advise people on it as part as my living but its a hrad call for anyone sat at a screen to try and give informed and correct advice. even your doctor can help out on this :):)
  • jenniferdances1
    jenniferdances1 Posts: 86 Member
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    Read this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/539912-why-eating-exercise-calories-is-so-important
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    I would like an answer to this too, I did a 2 hour hike on Sunday and when I finished for the day I had nearly 1000 calories left over, it told me off (in red) ha ha, there was no way I couldve eaten it all back!


    Bad news, when the numbers are red you've gone over......
  • leannems
    leannems Posts: 516 Member
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    This topic comes up constantly. If you had searched the forums, you would have found tons of answers.

    As luck has it, someone created a pretty funny site to explain it: www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

    Keep clicking through, and it'll link you to some of the prior forums.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I've read somewhere on here that your suppose to eat back your exercise calories...Why is that? That doesn't hurt your weightloss? Also I've been looking through my diary and noticed that I haven't been eating much...having 800 or more calories left a day after exercising....Can this slow down my metabolism
    and eventually make me hit a plateau? How can I make myself eat more a when I'm not hungry and add more variety? Thanks!!

    If you don't eat them you will not be fueling your body properly. Eating 1200 may be okay when not working out but say you burn 400 calories, if you don't eat them it would be the same as eating only 800 calories on days you don't workout as you are giving your body 400 less caloires to perform regular function as exercise essential "stole" those 400 cals.

    800 = 1200-400, but if you ate 1600 you would give your body the 1200 that it needs 1200 = 1600-400.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    this is an age old debate. these boards are full of misinformed answers, or people sort of get it but they dont and try and give informed answers. the best advice is you should try and talk to a diatician to decide whats the ideal way forward for you. im fully qualified in nutrition and i advise people on it as part as my living but its a hrad call for anyone sat at a screen to try and give informed and correct advice. even your doctor can help out on this :):)

    True, but more professionals don't know how MFP works and that it does not take into account exercise when assigning calorie goals.

    As an example 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" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout. This 1700 takes into account planned exercise, the 1450 ignores exercise completely.

    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 dif). 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 1700/day above.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    Bad news, when the numbers are red you've gone over......

    Apparently people also get a red nastygram if they say "complete this entry" with less than 1200 net calories for the day. At least that is what I've deduced from comments here on the boards. I have no personal experience because I don't think I've ever netted less than 2000 calories, let alone less than 1200!
  • SPNLuver83
    SPNLuver83 Posts: 2,050 Member
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    Your body needs a certain amount of calories just to keep going. This number is what your body burns if you were just laying in bed all day. Many formulas to figure this out, MFP has it set at 1200 for most of us. If you take in less calories than that your body will start to store any calories you do put in just to make sure it has enough to keep running. Which is why you need to eat back your work out calories. If you don't you are pretty much starving yourself and your body will start to freak out. It may not be right away, especially if you are obese, but soon enough you will feel the effects... Tired all the time, cranky, breakouts, hair loss, brittle nails etc etc.
  • mexy04
    mexy04 Posts: 96
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    Listen to fat2fitradio.com try avocados, olive oil, cheese, and bananas, oh and almond butter or peanut butter.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,250 Member
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    I would like an answer to this too, I did a 2 hour hike on Sunday and when I finished for the day I had nearly 1000 calories left over, it told me off (in red) ha ha, there was no way I couldve eaten it all back!

    I know....I feel the same way! I've been doing this since I've started in Jan 2012 and ive been losing so far...just worried that it will eventually make me hit a plateau!

    Don't worry about what might be, just be concerned with right now and right now, what you are doing is working.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Bad news, when the numbers are red you've gone over......

    Apparently people also get a red nastygram if they say "complete this entry" with less than 1200 net calories for the day. At least that is what I've deduced from comments here on the boards. I have no personal experience because I don't think I've ever netted less than 2000 calories, let alone less than 1200!

    True, from what I've discerned, it'll even threaten the badly named starvation mode idea.
    Sure wish they wouldn't do that. While it may scare some, probably not that many, and just creates debates.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    True, but more professionals don't know how MFP works and that it does not take into account exercise when assigning calorie goals.

    As an example 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" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout. This 1700 takes into account planned exercise, the 1450 ignores exercise completely.

    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 dif). 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 1700/day above.

    This is by far the clearest explanation I've read on this topic. I hope you have it saved somewhere, Eric, and just copy it into new threads as needed!
  • boodlelibra
    boodlelibra Posts: 74 Member
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    So, what is a good high cal snack that people have to boost cals at the end of the day? I don't want to do shots to keep my cals up. Well, I kinda do but know that's not the smartest route :drinker:
  • frugalmomsrock
    frugalmomsrock Posts: 1,123
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    I would like an answer to this too, I did a 2 hour hike on Sunday and when I finished for the day I had nearly 1000 calories left over, it told me off (in red) ha ha, there was no way I couldve eaten it all back!

    If it told you off in red, then that means you consumed fewer than 1200 calories--without taking exercise into consideration.

    mfp sets you up with a caloric deficit anyway, so you'd lose weight simply by sticking to the caloric allotment given. When you exercise it off, you eat those calories back to keep yourself at a HEALTHY level of calories for weightloss instead of pushing yourself down to an unhealthy number of net calories.

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