Exercise cals

Assassins_Angel

Should i be eating the calories im burning through exercise? I know the site says i should be aiming to consume about 1200 cals a day but should i be going by the food total or the net total! I is rather confused!

kparks2

Eat your exercise cals too because otherwise you are eating under your cal goal and your body will plateau or gain because your body will go into starvation survival mode.

suemorgan1969

Hi
Some will say yes, some will say no, and some will say eat half back!!!! I always have mine back as i feel i am hungry after exercise. And it enables me to tone my body and i am seeing good results....whatever works best for you

kparks2

I agree with the last post. It depends on the day and how I feel. Sometimes I eat all mine back sometimes I do not eat them all back but I would say at least eat some back but you may need to play around with one of these ideas to see what works best for your body as we all lose weight differently.

Assassins_Angel

Ok thanks for the advise its very helpful xx

MaryinBflo

I have no idea...everyone is different you have to exeriment and listen to your body.

kathrynyoung71

1200 calories does'nt seem like much, it maybe worth playing around with the settings and seeing how many calories you get when it is set to lose 1/2lb per week, my mother in law has done this as although she is heavy she has a very sedentary lifestyle and she was only been allowed around 1200 calories (when set to lose 1 1/2lb per week) dispite having around 8 stone to lose, by putting in that she wanted to lose 1/2lb a week it upped the calories allowed and she has lost 10lb in 4 weeks (she is aslo diabetic) sometimes eating a little more is better because as other people have said your body thinks it''s been starved and holds on to it's reserves, when you have lost 10lb you can adjust your calories in the settings so they will come down a little for every 10lb lost...... as to the exercise calories I don't eat them back every day but it's nice to have them in reserve if I go out or I go over my allowance

Assassins_Angel

Thanks girls this is all very helpful info and im sure i will start losing again in no time xx

HealthyBride5_3_13

Eat them back! I've been eating all of my exercise calories back and as of today I've lost 60 pounds so it does work! The net calories on the main page should be around 1,200 at the end of the day if you're doing it right. Hope this helps

returningmyfatsuit

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/




That said, If you're REALLY (ACTUALLY) not hungry, don't bother stuffing yourself.

Bbyydol

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

Don’t worry about exercise calories. Eat below 1200 calories and your body will go into the starvation mode and will end up using the muscle as fuel and not carbs or fats. Calculate your macronutrient needs then go to mfp settings. DO NOT rely on ratios for f/c/p as everybody is different. If one thing works for one person, that does not mean it will work for the other.

If you are exercising and eating at a caloric deficit, then thats a huge problem.
Please read the sticky I posted then feel free to ask any questions. Most of your questions will be answered in that thread.

Sarauk2sf

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

Don’t worry about exercise calories. Eat below 1200 calories and your body will go into the starvation mode and will end up using the muscle as fuel and not carbs or fats. Calculate your macronutrient needs then go to mfp settings. DO NOT rely on ratios for f/c/p as everybody is different. If one thing works for one person, that does not mean it will work for the other.

If you are exercising and eating at a caloric deficit, then thats a huge problem.
Please read the sticky I posted then feel free to ask any questions. Most of your questions will be answered in that thread.

There is so much wrong with this post it needs to be ignored in its entirety.

cmeade20

As already mentioned not eating enough will stagnate fat loss. Figure out your BMR and how many calories you burn when you exercise. Eat that man calories and you will be at a caloric deficit from all the things you do each day. People forget that when you shower, get dressed, eat, cook, clean, go shopping, walk the dog etc you are burning calories.

Robin_Bin

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/




That said, If you're REALLY (ACTUALLY) not hungry, don't bother stuffing yourself.

Great links! :happy:

Bbyydol

I don't understand why. It has been scientifically proven and used by athletes. I have been doung bodybuildig/strenght training 6 months and it has worked for me wonderfully. Unless you provide me with evidence from scientific research (which you wont because your post seems like an 'in my opinion' rather than 'the studies show') then I will be open for an argument. If take in calories from whatever sources without thinking about the macronutrients/micronutrients, the. Our body would not work efficiently as our bodies need a specific amount of protein/cars and fats. Used in excess(unless bulking), some might be converted into fat and not be used for energy. Eat less carbs, burn more fat. Eat more protein, burn less carbs and fats as it has the highest thermic effect. Anyways, every single thing has to be adressed in detail.

Learn first from others. THEN share your knowledge.

Sarauk2sf

I don't understand why. It has been scientifically proven and used by athletes. I have been doung bodybuildig/strenght training 6 months and it has worked for me wonderfully. Unless you provide me with evidence from scientific research (which you wont because your post seems like an 'in my opinion' rather than 'the studies show') then I will be open for an argument. If take in calories from whatever sources without thinking about the macronutrients/micronutrients, the. Our body would not work efficiently as our bodies need a specific amount of protein/cars and fats. Used in excess(unless bulking), some might be converted into fat and not be used for energy. Eat less carbs, burn more fat. Eat more protein, burn less carbs and fats as it has the highest thermic effect. Anyways, every single thing has to be adressed in detail.

Learn first from others. THEN share your knowledge.

Read the link - work out how MFP works and then work out what is wrong with your post. The link is good, its your interpretation of it that is wrong in its application to MFP.

Understand what you read and correctly apply it to the situation THEN share your knowledge

Bbyydol

Alright maybe my explanation to the op was not good at first I agree, I dont have time to post a 5 paragraph essay explaining everything. Net calories are net calories, as well as how you calculate the macros. Mfp is only good for tracking macros you get from the calculations. I dont need to learn the application it has regards mfp. Mfp is just a tracker, simple as that. Therefore your post has nothing to do with my explanation.

Sarauk2sf

Alright maybe my explanation to the op was not good at first I agree, I dont have time to post a 5 paragraph essay explaining everything. Net calories are net calories, as well as how you calculate the macros. Mfp is only good for tracking macros you get from the calculations. I dont need to learn the application it has regards mfp. Mfp is just a tracker, simple as that. Therefore your post has nothing to do with my explanation.

I am not disagreeing on the macros - but basically you were telling someone to not eat their calories back on MFP - if you are going to advise, please take the time to advise appropriately or not at all.

Plus, there were a bunch of other things in your post wrong but I do not want to derail the thread arguing about them.

Bbyydol

Alright then, i never said that. I said to CALCULATE the macrobutrient needs for your body to run as efficient. You must have read my post and assumed something else. I always see questions like these 20 times a day. I dis tell the op that eating below 1200 calories WITH exercising will put the body into starvation mode did I not? And that you have to figure out macro needs in order to know how much you should be getting. Exercise is just a helping hand in terms of weight loss. Eat at maintenance and exercise = weight loss. Eat at deficit w no exercise = weight loss. Its all about net calories and meeting macro needs. I do it to preserve miscle and then theres a whole other talk regarding body composition. And nodifferences in meal timing at all except a couple of benefits.
Some people on this thread say not to eat back calories on a 1200 calorie diet. Its a calories in - calories out formula. No magic, no pills, just eating clean and training dirty.
I dont want to argue as well so Ill leave it at that. But nowhere in my post did I mean what you just replied. Maybe my post wasnt written clearly and is hard to understand, then pardon me im on my iphone so if it is unclear I can write a more detailed answer once I get back on my comp.

Sarauk2sf

Alright then, i never said that. I said to CALCULATE the macrobutrient needs for your body to run as efficient. You must have read my post and assumed something else. I always see questions like these 20 times a day. I dis tell the op that eating below 1200 calories WITH exercising will put the body into starvation mode did I not? And that you have to figure out macro needs in order to know how much you should be getting. Exercise is just a helping hand in terms of weight loss. Eat at maintenance and exercise = weight loss. Eat at deficit w no exercise = weight loss. Its all about net calories and meeting macro needs. I do it to preserve miscle and then theres a whole other talk regarding body composition. And nodifferences in meal timing at all except a couple of benefits.
Some people on this thread say not to eat back calories on a 1200 calorie diet. Its a calories in - calories out formula. No magic, no pills, just eating clean and training dirty.
I dont want to argue as well so Ill leave it at that. But nowhere in my post did I mean what you just replied. Maybe my post wasnt written clearly and is hard to understand, then pardon me im on my iphone so if it is unclear I can write a more detailed answer once I get back on my comp.

No I did not assume something else - it was confusing and not clear at all especially in the context of the question re. MFP base calories and should she eat her exercise cals back. If you are suggesting that someone calculates their TDEE and takes a deficit from there, you need to explain that the MFP settings should be over-ridden and that this is the number that should be eaten, without eating your exercise calories back. However, the math on that site is pretty much the math that MFP uses - its user intepretation of activity levels and the too aggressive a weight loss goal they set that causes the problems. If you use the same assumptions, you will get to more or less the same answer - TDEE (including exercise) less 500 calories = MFP (at 1lb loss a week) plus eating exercise calories back (again, assuming activity levels are set appropriately).

My one caveat to the above is that MFP is stingy with their activity levels and most people need to go at least one level above what they expect to get to an appropriate non-workout TDEE.

Plus the body does not go into starvation mode at precisely 1199 calories. Metabolic adaptation is not linear and 1200 calories is not a magic number. The suseptability to metabolic adaptation depends on the deficit and on the amount of weight the person has to lose and does not switch on at a fixed number.

ETA: re an earlier post - as you are so keen on sources - why don't you post an appropriate study that starvation mode happens at exactly 1199 calories? If you would have read my responses - I was not argiung with the link - just all the 'words' and intepretation you put round it. My post of 'there is so much wrong in this post' was not an opinion

Bbyydol

Yea mfp does exactly that. Hewever, it does not take your body fat, goals at gaining muscle or losing fat into account. I can be wrong, but when i went to settings to adjust my macros there was nothing about bf% either. That is why Iconsider mfp to be unaccurate. On top of that, mfp doesen't even allow you to adjust the setting of macros in grams. It does it by ratios which can mislead alot of people. For example, my calculations were 168g carbs, 108 g of protein, and i believe 50 g of fats. Now, the closest I can set up my profile is by ratios of 40/30/30 therefore 152g carbs, 51 g fat and 114 g protein. Since either way using the formula from the website or trusting the mfp calculator, everything is still an estimate. So I just go by mfp calculations. The concept of weight loss on mfp is still the same though :calories in - calories out.

And nah I dont mean that the body goes into starvation mode at exactly 1199calpries. Nowehre in my post did I state this either. What I mean by starvation mode below 1200 calories is that anything low according your macro calculations can realy disturb the body. It doesent have to be exactly under 1200 cals. Your body needs the fuel so therefore itll try to get the fuel from protein if diet is low in fat and carbs. A keto diet would be a whole new situation though. And again thats where body composition comes into play. All in all, what I mean by a 1200 starvation mode is just clearly an example that low calorie diet can bring your body to starvation and once the caloric intake starts to get higher higher than usual on an approx 1200 calories diet, (example you follow a 900calorie diet (1200 cal from food and 300cal burned through exercise) and eat 1600 calories one day), your body will likely store it as fat if taken in excess assuming you are not doig any type of activity. And since the body is so adapted to 900 calories itll want to hold on to the macros and store them as fat(most likely) or it may choose to store them inthe blood for fuel if there is activity going on throughout the day. Nowhere does it say "eat 1200 cals and die." No... In fact some people have sedentary jobs and its perfectly fine with them. Just eating below your BMr would cause a problem.

Sarauk2sf

Yea mfp does exactly that. Hewever, it does not take your body fat, goals at gaining muscle or losing fat into account. I can be wrong, but when i went to settings to adjust my macros there was nothing about bf% either. That is why Iconsider mfp to be unaccurate. On top of that, mfp doesen't even allow you to adjust the setting of macros in grams. It does it by ratios which can mislead alot of people. For example, my calculations were 168g carbs, 108 g of protein, and i believe 50 g of fats. Now, the closest I can set up my profile is by ratios of 40/30/30 therefore 152g carbs, 51 g fat and 114 g protein. Since either way using the formula from the website or trusting the mfp calculator, everything is still an estimate. So I just go by mfp calculations. The concept of weight loss on mfp is still the same though :calories in - calories out.

And nah I dont mean that the body goes into starvation mode at exactly 1199calpries. Nowehre in my post did I state this either. What I mean by starvation mode below 1200 calories is that anything low according your macro calculations can realy disturb the body. It doesent have to be exactly under 1200 cals. Your body needs the fuel so therefore itll try to get the fuel from protein if diet is low in fat and carbs. A keto diet would be a whole new situation though. And again thats where body composition comes into play. All in all, what I mean by a 1200 starvation mode is just clearly an example that low calorie diet can bring your body to starvation and once the caloric intake starts to get higher higher than usual on an approx 1200 calories diet, (example you follow a 900calorie diet (1200 cal from food and 300cal burned through exercise) and eat 1600 calories one day), your body will likely store it as fat if taken in excess assuming you are not doig any type of activity. And since the body is so adapted to 900 calories itll want to hold on to the macros and store them as fat(most likely) or it may choose to store them inthe blood for fuel if there is activity going on throughout the day. Nowhere does it say "eat 1200 cals and die." No... In fact some people have sedentary jobs and its perfectly fine with them. Just eating below your BMr would cause a problem.

MFP uses the Harris Benefict Formula which I agree does not take into account BF% - whereas the Katch-McArdle Formula does - but you need to remember these are ALL estimates. And I never disagreed with this - but you were supposed to be responding to the OP in the context of her question.

I do not see how the ability to change macros is relevent to the dicussion at hand - if you read all my repsonses I have said time and time again I agree with the macro suggestions in the link

You said that, and I quote "Eat below 1200 calories and your body will go into the starvation mode" - so, yes you did. And nowhere did I say that you said "eat less than 1200 and you will die". Please ensure you quote yourself and me correctly before you post a response.

If you had spent as much time explaning to the OP what you were getting at in your initial post rather than defending yourself to me, then this whole conversation, which has probably derailed this thread, would be completely unecessary.

OP: apologies for the tete-a-tet here. I will not be responding further in the hope your thread can get back on track.

aoikirin

I haven't been eating back my exercise calories because I have a high calorie consumption number on here : 2000 (I am 6'4 253)

I don't feel light-headed or anything, but I do feel a lot more hungry on cardio days for sure.

I don't want to eat the extra calories because I don't want my 40 pound or so weight loss goal to take 10 years. I already tried being more moderate (2500 a day) and I GAINED 2 pounds in a month. That is why I signed up here and am going gun-ho.

Bbyydol

Im done with this also. Sheesh, I was explaining everything in general. I didn’t quote you either... I was restating what I said before. My first post was a general post. Again, I could provide op with some stickies and studies but most are very long and informative and would require a background knowledge on nutrition. Like everyone else, op would rather post a thread that has already been posted 50 times each day instead of reading 3 paragraphs on AA’s website that would answer his/her questions.

Assassins_Angel

lol a little confused still but its ok thankyou for all the information given im going to play it by ear and see how it goes atm im going by my net weight and trying to keep that up to 1200

thanks again for the info

hazelovesfood

This has got me confused. If for my everday needs, i need to be eating 2000 to just be me then how can I not be losing lots of weight if i only eat 1200 and thats without exercise. I dont get all, we all move our bodies every day doing everyday things and they all burn cals. So if my body doesnt get the 2000 a day and im doing all this everyday stuff how come the weight doesnt fly off, Its very confusing.

So is it like this my body needs 2000 cals per day to live, but i burn 1500 say, which leaves my body with 500 left in one day. But what does that mean and if that is right what happens when you burn those 500 left on exercise ontop of the everyday stuff. Please someone explain it, its drving me nuts trying to work this out lol.

Sarauk2sf

This has got me confused. If for my everday needs, i need to be eating 2000 to just be me then how can I not be losing lots of weight if i only eat 1200 and thats without exercise. I dont get all, we all move our bodies every day doing everyday things and they all burn cals. So if my body doesnt get the 2000 a day and im doing all this everyday stuff how come the weight doesnt fly off, Its very confusing.

So is it like this my body needs 2000 cals per day to live, but i burn 1500 say, which leaves my body with 500 left in one day. But what does that mean and if that is right what happens when you burn those 500 left on exercise ontop of the everyday stuff. Please someone explain it, its drving me nuts trying to work this out lol.

If you burn 2000 and eat 1200 you will lose weight. This issue is, when you have a large deficit, you run the risk of slowing your metabolism (more than it would just by losing weight) and then the 2000 maintenance will no longer be maintenance, it will be lower. The other issue is being able to get enough protein to maintain (or minimize the loss os) your muscle mass, enough fats and enough fibre for your body to 'work' effectively and enough micronutrients (vitamins etc) to maintain healthy body functions on a low calorie diet. Also, there is the energy levels and sustainability of that diet to consider.