Adding the calories you burn to your total calorie intake

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nelkatherineharper
nelkatherineharper Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I don't understand what good it does you to add your calories that you burn to your total calories you eat for the day! That sounds like it defeats the purpose and I do not do that! If anyone has any insight into this I would be interested in hearing about this...why do they do this? Thanks for your input.
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  • suemorgan1969
    suemorgan1969 Posts: 132 Member
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    well...I eat my exercise calories back!!!! I am only on 1200 a day, which is fine, but sometimes I want a drink of wine or 2 at night, so I have to workout for them. I know i am eating the calories back, but at least I am toning my body and its working for me
  • now_or_never12
    now_or_never12 Posts: 849 Member
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    The Site tells you to eat your exercise calories back because it has already created a deficit..too large of a deficit isn't good.
  • ndmain1977
    ndmain1977 Posts: 69 Member
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    I'm no expert, and I'm not 100% sure why either, but from what I gather:

    If you set your goal as losing 1 pound a week, and it tells you to eat 1800 calories for example, the excercise you do will offset that number. So if you eat your 1800 calories today, but excercise for half an hour and burn 300 calories, then it adjusts that to 2100 calories, and you will still be running at a deficit, and on your goal track to lose that one pound that week.

    If you don't eat those calories back on those days, then you will actually lose more than the 1 pound a week that you set as your goal. For me, that's a good thing, but you have to remember this is a computer program basically, and pretty much a calculator that you set on autopilot. So, it is just adjusting itself so that you can meet your goal of 1 pound of loss a week.

    I don't have any idea if what I just said makes any sense to you. It makes sense in my head, but explaining it is a different issue.

    I could not tell you if there are health reasons for this, as I don't know, and I don't know if eating the calories back makes you lose weight differently, or if it's a more healthy weight loss. Me, personally, I don't eat them back.

    Hopefully someone else can chime in with better information.
  • bigjax1
    bigjax1 Posts: 56 Member
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    I don't understand what good it does you to add your calories that you burn to your total calories you eat for the day! That sounds like it defeats the purpose and I do not do that! If anyone has any insight into this I would be interested in hearing about this...why do they do this? Thanks for your input.

    it keeps you in a balance... it is not healthy to have too few calories aday and as you use calories in exercise you need to log it so that you maintain a healthy balance

    I have set my lifestyle on here so I do not log my normal activity but I log the extras...
  • LadyIntrepid
    LadyIntrepid Posts: 399 Member
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    I'm sure someone else can speak to the technicalities, but for me, it's a matter of looking better, not just losing the weight. I've lost the same amount of weight in the past from just dieting. But now that I've been working out religiously -- and eating my exercise calories back -- I 1) lost the same amount of weight; 2) get to eat a lot more, which is just funner/better/happier-making; 3) I look SO much better than when I lost the weight alone -- very fit and toned; 4) while I've lost the same weight, I've lost much more in inches; 5) my mood is exponentially better when I exercise -- yay endorphins!; 6) my mood is also exponentially better when I eat rather than feel deprived.

    I know everyone's different you have to do what works for you, but for me, having done it both ways, I like this way better. :happy:
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    I don't understand what good it does you to add your calories that you burn to your total calories you eat for the day! That sounds like it defeats the purpose and I do not do that! If anyone has any insight into this I would be interested in hearing about this...why do they do this? Thanks for your input.
    It's so you can go to the gym in order to eat more, or eat what you would have eaten anyway without going over your net allowance.

    The idea is that on a day without exercise the food goal is set to give you a weight loss, if you exercise some and log it here then your food intake goal goes up to preserve the original weight loss. So it assumes you are exercising for a reason other than to create a bigger calorie deficit.
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
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    I don't understand what good it does you to add your calories that you burn to your total calories you eat for the day! That sounds like it defeats the purpose and I do not do that! If anyone has any insight into this I would be interested in hearing about this...why do they do this? Thanks for your input.

    They do it to maintain a constant calorie deficit, regardless of how much or how little you exercise. The calories you burn by exercising are intrinsically no different from the calories you burn during your normal daily activities. They're all on the "calories out" side of the equation. The only reason they're added in separately (At this site. Exercise calories are lumped in from the beginning by the calculators at many other sites) is to give you finer control over the "calories in" side of the equation. You can run 10 miles on one day and sit on your backside all day the next, and the software will automatically make the adjustment necessary to maintain the same deficit for both days.

    As for why it's important to maintain a moderate deficit: Even under the best of conditions your metabolic rate will fall as you lose weight, simply because you'll have less weight to carry around, and MFP will lower your calorie budget to compensate. if you eat too little or use exercise to jack up your deficit too high, you'll depress your metabolic rate even further as loss of muscle mass is accelerated. That will leave you vulnerable to plateaus and make it more difficult to maintain the weight loss for the long term. It's a lot easier to lose muscle than to get it back, I don't know about you, but at my age (59) I didn't feel I had any muscle mass to spare. So I did everything I could to preserve it.
  • nelkatherineharper
    nelkatherineharper Posts: 9 Member
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    Well according to Jillian Michaels who I think knows more than all of us the idea is to exercise to burn calories and that adding back the calories you burn is DEFEATING THE PURPOSE of doing it in the first place...so I know now that what I do is correct!
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    I don't understand what good it does you to add your calories that you burn to your total calories you eat for the day! That sounds like it defeats the purpose and I do not do that! If anyone has any insight into this I would be interested in hearing about this...why do they do this? Thanks for your input.

    Please read this explanation:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Well according to Jillian Michaels who I think knows more than all of us

    I disagree.

    the idea is to exercise to burn calories and that adding back the calories you burn is DEFEATING THE PURPOSE of doing it in the first place...so I know now that what I do is correct!

    The reason you are saying this is because you do not yet understand how MFP calculates your desired calorie intake. Please see the link I attached above, and after reading it, you should then understand the difference between MFP's calorie recommendation, and external calorie estimation tools.

    Jillian is not using MFP's caloric intake tools. Because of this, her comments do not apply to people who ARE using MFP's caloric intake tools.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    Well according to Jillian Michaels who I think knows more than all of us the idea is to exercise to burn calories and that adding back the calories you burn is DEFEATING THE PURPOSE of doing it in the first place...so I know now that what I do is correct!

    No. This is only valid if you are using your calorie burn as your deficit. f you are already set to lose weight on MFP, then you are to eat the exercise calories to fuel your body.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    Well according to Jillian Michaels who I think knows more than all of us the idea is to exercise to burn calories and that adding back the calories you burn is DEFEATING THE PURPOSE of doing it in the first place...so I know now that what I do is correct!

    Yes, but jillian michaels doesn't realise that MFP has already set a deficit, based on your non-exercise activity.

    If you are following a TDEE - deficit method, then yes you wouldn't eat your exercise calories as they are already included in your TDEE, but MFP ignores them, so you need to eat them if you want to maintain the deficit you chose.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    Just adding this to further explain. The eating exercise calorie logic comes from the fact that at some point you will want to maintain your weight. If you are at your goal weight and burn calories through exercise but don't eat them back, you will continue to lose.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
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    Well according to Jillian Michaels who I think knows more than all of us the idea is to exercise to burn calories and that adding back the calories you burn is DEFEATING THE PURPOSE of doing it in the first place...so I know now that what I do is correct!

    Although I like her in your face approach, I do not agree with alot of her approach to the diet side of the equation... I have been eating back my exercise calories for over 3 years now (85% of them leaving 15% for error per HRM) because my deficit has already been built in to my daily caloric intake and I have managed to lose a few pounds using this approach so nope in this case I have to disagree with her knowing more than me...
  • Bobby__Clerici
    Bobby__Clerici Posts: 741 Member
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    Well according to Jillian Michaels who I think knows more than all of us the idea is to exercise to burn calories and that adding back the calories you burn is DEFEATING THE PURPOSE of doing it in the first place...so I know now that what I do is correct!
    Do whatever you want, but Jillian does not know how this site works.
    And neither do you apparently - even after it was explained.
    Don't set yourself up for failure.
    The one thing you won't be able to say is that you weren't warned.
    Good Luck...
  • Garlicmash
    Garlicmash Posts: 208
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    It all depend on how much you have to get off and how many calories you are allowing you're self.
    If I allowed myself 2000 calories per day then any calories I burned I wouldn't eat back on cause.

    I found it confusing at first on here but not any more.
    I only joined to use the calorie counter as I wanted a quick way of seeing what i have eaten. Much better than having paper everywhere with every food and their calories which I have done in the past.

    It clearly works for a lot of people.
    If you don't want to eat them back on then don't .
  • Rays_Wife
    Rays_Wife Posts: 1,173 Member
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    I've always eaten exercise calories back with great success. I found if I didn't eat enough, my weight loss slowed or even stalled. If you are going to exercise, you need to fuel your body. Be kind to your body and it will be kind to you.

    Looking good Ed!!! :wink:
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
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    Then you don't need to understand it, just do it. Follow the directions.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    I don't understand what good it does you to add your calories that you burn to your total calories you eat for the day! That sounds like it defeats the purpose and I do not do that! If anyone has any insight into this I would be interested in hearing about this...why do they do this? Thanks for your input.

    Another thing to think about is the fuel required to do that exercise. Using MFP methods, two women of the same height and weight, who both have office jobs, and wanted to lose 1lb a week would be given the same calorie goal of say 1200 calories.

    One woman comes home from work and just potters about, so no exercise , she maintains her 500 calorie deficit and loses her lb per week.

    2nd woman goes swimming every morning before work, goes to the gym after work every day and burns an additional 1000 calories. She now has a 1500 calorie deficit if she didn't eat back her exercise calories,and it is doubtfull she would be taking in the adequate protein to repair/build muscles on just 1200 calories a day. So she eats more, fuels her workout, but still has a 500 deficit, same as the first woman.

    MFP treats them both the same, but their calorie needs are very different.
  • nelkatherineharper
    nelkatherineharper Posts: 9 Member
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    PER JILLIAN MICHAELS the idea is to exercise to burn calories and that adding back the calories you burn is DEFEATING THE PURPOSE of doing it in the first place...so I know now that what I do is correct!

    This lady is the expert YOU ARE NOT! I was not losing weight with MFP way of doing things! I am now losing weight by following JILLIAN's advice! I use the MFP way of looking up my foods and logging them but that is ALL I use this for! So you keep on not losing weight if you like..I WILL BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST LOSERS!!!!!:laugh:

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