Exercise Cals? Are they a must?

TaraJ16

This is what my day looked like yesterday:

Breakfast - curves granola bar + applesauce
Mid-morning snack - 1/2 cup carrots
Lunch - 1 piece toast, 1 tbsp peanut butter + 1/2 cup blueberries + 1/2 cup dried cereal
Mid-afternoon snack - 120 cal ice cream
Dinner - 1 1/2 cups pasta, with 1/2 cup v8 juice and 3/4 cup cheese melted + 1/2 cup veggies
Evening snack - 10 mini ritz sandwiches

Cals: 1,232 (358)
Carbs: 183 (35)
Fat: 42 (10)
Protein: 43 (16)

I worked out at curves and burned 380 calories. ( ^ In brackets is what i could still eat after excercise)

After eating all of the above I felt full and didn't eat my extra 358 cals. Theres some days i'll burn 600 cals, but still can't bring myself to eat anymore then the above without feeling sick.

So my question is....is eating the excercise cals really all that important?

ittybittybadonkadonk

This is what my day looked like yesterday:

Breakfast - curves granola bar + applesauce
Mid-morning snack - 1/2 cup carrots
Lunch - 1 piece toast, 1 tbsp peanut butter + 1/2 cup blueberries + 1/2 cup dried cereal
Mid-afternoon snack - 120 cal ice cream
Dinner - 1 1/2 cups pasta, with 1/2 cup v8 juice and 3/4 cup cheese melted + 1/2 cup veggies
Evening snack - 10 mini ritz sandwiches

Cals: 1,232 (358)
Carbs: 183 (35)
Fat: 42 (10)
Protein: 43 (16)

I worked out at curves and burned 380 calories. ( ^ In brackets is what i could still eat after excercise)

After eating all of the above I felt full and didn't eat my extra 358 cals. Theres some days i'll burn 600 cals, but still can't bring myself to eat anymore then the above without feeling sick.

So my question is....is eating the excercise cals really all that important?

i hardly ever eat any of my excercise cals..... 1400 is my calorie intake and i rarely eat all of my 1400 calories ..l..

blakgarnet

it may be a good idea to start eating them in case the extra calories burned are putting your body into starvation mode. My suggestion would be to not eat them if you're loosing weight. If you reach a plateau, it may help you to get over it if you start eating another 200 or so calories

hgirl1021

i've been at this for almost 3 weeks NOT eating any exercise calories. i've only been losing about a half a pound a week. granted, i'm on my last 10lbs, so i know it gets harder. but i've decided this week to try and eat half of my exercise calories on the days i work out. today was my first day and it was very hard for me to add those extra 200 calories. i think its more individual than a black and white set standard. try and see what works best for you and your body!

good luck!!

TaraJ16

i'm recently starting a new excercise plan, so i think maybe i'll continue to leave the extra calories out for now. and if i notice that i'm not losing and its not working maybe then i'll try to force myself into eating more

JNC87

no one should ever eat below 1600 calories to lose weight properly and safely. This is information that i got from a friend who is a doctor. when u eat less ur body is in starvation mode and cannot have proper bodily functions like being able to get ur period. just thought i would share.

mdpgap

When I was on Weight Watchers I was encouraged to try & not eat the extra (earned) calories- they were there to use if I felt hungry.

annaliza

Read this:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition

In particular, this:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

I eat half, if not all, my exercise calories because MFP already sets my calorie deficit for me - 1300 is my net calories...meaning that is the very lowest I can go without exercise - its what my body needs to survive. Once exercise starts depleting more calories, my net cals go down (1300-600 = 700 net cals - which eventually means starvation mode - read the post about starvation mode).

MFP is pretty accurate (as far as calories go) because I came up with the same numbers figuring out my own calorie deficit through a mathematical formula in several articles I've read.

Read those links....it will open your eyes...lol, well, at least it did mine

Also, if it makes you sick...try evening out the cals throughout the day or add an extra high cal snack like nuts. Since you know you are going to workout that day and will need the extra cals, plan accordingly

Good luck to you :flowerforyou:

taryn_perry

no one should ever eat below 1600 calories to lose weight properly and safely. This is information that i got from a friend who is a doctor. when u eat less ur body is in starvation mode and cannot have proper bodily functions like being able to get ur period. just thought i would share.

I can't agree with this more!!! All too often people are eating less, thinking that will help them lose weight when it's only restricting weight loss, as your body goes into starvation mode and you sacrifice your metabolism.

tammietifanie

I was always told to burn more then you eat.... great now im confused also!!!!

annaliza

I was always told to burn more then you eat.... great now im confused also!!!!

You are burning more than you eat....you have to burn calories even to breathe, blink your eyes, circulate your blood, etc.

Calories are are friends lol they are the fuel that keeps our body going,

When you deplete your body's cals to below what it needs to even breathe (your NET cals - for me is 1300, for others its 1400, 1200, 1800, etc), your body goes into starvation mode...meaning that EVERYTHING you put in your mouth turns to fat. It totally breaks down your metabolism.

That is why you should eat your exercise calories. MFP starts you with NET calories....exercise calories will deplete your body's fuel to make it run/work/breathe unless you eat them and refuel your body.

I hope I didnt confuse you even more...I hope I helped :flowerforyou:

shaleah77

Just popping in to say I don't eat any of my exercise cals. :laugh:

TaraJ16

i don't quite get the whole eat more to lose....i just can't seem to make that work in my brain, lol!

So how many cals should i be eating then? I'm 229lbs, i want to get down to 140lbs. I'm starting a new excercise plan, working out 5 days a week

m,w,f - i'll be doing 30 mins on elliptical, 30 min turbo jam vid, and some strength training
t,t - i'll be doing 30 mins on stationary bike, 45 min turbo jam vid

So 1 hour 15 mins 5 days a week. Other than that im not very active. i have 2 small kids and we go to the park, for walks ect. but spend a lot of the day at home playing so theres not a ton of activity for me

so how many cals should i be eating daily then in order to lose weight? according to MFP i should be having 1,210

margaretthedevil

I was always told to burn more then you eat.... great now im confused also!!!!

You are burning more than you eat....you have to burn calories even to breathe, blink your eyes, circulate your blood, etc.

Calories are are friends lol they are the fuel that keeps our body going,

When you deplete your body's cals to below what it needs to even breathe (your NET cals - for me is 1300, for others its 1400, 1200, 1800, etc), your body goes into starvation mode...meaning that EVERYTHING you put in your mouth turns to fat. It totally breaks down your metabolism.

That is why you should eat your exercise calories. MFP starts you with NET calories....exercise calories will deplete your body's fuel to make it run/work/breathe unless you eat them and refuel your body.

I hope I didnt confuse you even more...I hope I helped :flowerforyou:

You're already burning more than you eat as MFP calculates a deficit for you.

annaliza

I was always told to burn more then you eat.... great now im confused also!!!!

You are burning more than you eat....you have to burn calories even to breathe, blink your eyes, circulate your blood, etc.

Calories are are friends lol they are the fuel that keeps our body going,

When you deplete your body's cals to below what it needs to even breathe (your NET cals - for me is 1300, for others its 1400, 1200, 1800, etc), your body goes into starvation mode...meaning that EVERYTHING you put in your mouth turns to fat. It totally breaks down your metabolism.

That is why you should eat your exercise calories. MFP starts you with NET calories....exercise calories will deplete your body's fuel to make it run/work/breathe unless you eat them and refuel your body.

I hope I didnt confuse you even more...I hope I helped :flowerforyou:

You're already burning more than you eat as MFP calculates a deficit for you.

Right....that's what I've been saying

laurajoyk

I am at 210.5 lbs and for over a week I didn't lose more than .5 lbs which for someone as heavy as I am to not lose more than that when you're working out 5 to 7 days a week something is wrong. I wasn't eating my exercise calories. I was staying under 1500 calories, then Saturday I decided I should eat at least 200 of them (which is around how much I was burning off) and TADA I lost another 3 lbs since saturday. So eat close to as much as you burn off, if you can't then try to eat as close to that amount as you can, it makes a huge difference and you're body will definitely appreciate it since you're working it harder Don't worry, you will still lose weight. You'll actually lose fat if you eat the calories, if you don't eat them you're body will store the fat and eat away your muscles instead. Enjoy the extra calories!

tayner

I eat my calories MFP gives me every day, (1450 currently) but I dont factor in my exercise calories or eat them unless I am really hungry. Some days no matter what I do I am hungry... like I could eat the @ss end of a horse or something... and on those days I do eat part of my exercise calories... I take it as a sign that my body needs more fuel. But, most days I eat what satisfies me and my calorie intake is around my set limit. It seems to work for me, at least so far. Maybe because I vary it, or because I have alot of weight to lose so I have more room to maneuver around calorie wise, something... Since it works I wont change it, but if it stops working I will reevaluate the situation.

annaliza

i don't quite get the whole eat more to lose....i just can't seem to make that work in my brain, lol!

So how many cals should i be eating then? I'm 229lbs, i want to get down to 140lbs. I'm starting a new excercise plan, working out 5 days a week

m,w,f - i'll be doing 30 mins on elliptical, 30 min turbo jam vid, and some strength training
t,t - i'll be doing 30 mins on stationary bike, 45 min turbo jam vid

So 1 hour 15 mins 5 days a week. Other than that im not very active. i have 2 small kids and we go to the park, for walks ect. but spend a lot of the day at home playing so theres not a ton of activity for me

so how many cals should i be eating daily then in order to lose weight? according to MFP i should be having 1,210

Well, I guess that would depend on how many cals you burn while exercising.

So, you should eat 1210 plus whatever you burned during exercise. For example, 1210 + 700 (exercise cals burned) = 1910. Sometimes I only eat half (1210 + 350 = 1560).

At 1210, MFP has already set the calorie deficit for you (meaning the basic/net number of cals you need to eat to survive AND lose weight without going into starvation mode)

Hope that helps :flowerforyou:

shaleah77

As I said, I do not eat exercise cals. The cals I eat are not magically turning to flab either. I have very defined leg and arm muscles, even my forearms show some definition. Being a woman I even have defined traps. The only place not showing as much definition is my tummy. Which 2 babys and 3 abdominal surgeries- I'm sure is the culprit. It (my tummy) is however getting smaller, not larger. I fit a 29 waist and 30 inseam, and currently weigh 150lbs. I must have super powers! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

stormieweather

I eat most of mine. I leave a little buffer in case I overestimated how much I burned, or wasn't entirely accurate on my food quantities.

The confusion is that MFP already deducts your 500 or 1000 calories from your maintenance calorie level to give you a goal. When you said (in settings) that you wanted to lose 2 pounds a week, MFP deducted 1,000 calories from your maintenance.

So let's say Tara's maintenance (what she'd eat to not gain or lose) calories are 2,300 based on age 21 and 229lbs. I don't know your height, sorry. By deducting 1,000 from 2,300, MFP will assign her 1,300 or so as her maximum. Now, if Tara works out and burns up 500 calories, she has left only 850 calories (NET) to fuel her body organs and daily activities. Tara's BMR is (the bare minimum needed to run her body if she did absolutely nothing all day) is 1,850, based on the info I have.

What do you think her metabolism will do if she only gets 850 calories? She'll be tired and unenergetic as her body slows down to conserve it's fuel (fat). She might very well lose some weight...but if her body is in conservation mode and she cheats or falls off the wagon for a little bit, it's going to grab that fat and hang on to it for dear life (literally).

Everyone is different, and some people may over or underestimate their activity levels or workout exertions, so the best thing is to find what works for YOU.

At least that is how I understand it.:flowerforyou:

SHBoss1673

People, it's all in the links listed above, just read them, then if you still have questions, fine, but those links make it pretty clear why MFP has you eating your exercise calories. If you don't eat them then you're not following the plan set by MFP. If that's your thing, fine, that's a choice you make. But don't not eat them because you don't understand.

arewethereyet

As I said, I do not eat exercise cals. The cals I eat are not magically turning to flab either. I have very defined leg and arm muscles, even my forearms show some definition. Being a woman I even have defined traps. The only place not showing as much definition is my tummy. Which 2 babys and 3 abdominal surgeries- I'm sure is the culprit. It (my tummy) is however getting smaller, not larger. I fit a 29 waist and 30 inseam, and currently weigh 150lbs. I must have super powers! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I truly hope this continues for you. As for me, I did the exact same thing and when I hit 138 I had no where to go. I stopped losing, just like that.

arewethereyet

As I said, I do not eat exercise cals. The cals I eat are not magically turning to flab either. I have very defined leg and arm muscles, even my forearms show some definition. Being a woman I even have defined traps. The only place not showing as much definition is my tummy. Which 2 babys and 3 abdominal surgeries- I'm sure is the culprit. It (my tummy) is however getting smaller, not larger. I fit a 29 waist and 30 inseam, and currently weigh 150lbs. I must have super powers! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I truly hope this continues for you. As for me, I did the exact same thing and when I hit 138 I had no where to go. I stopped losing, just like that.

I ate 1200 calories a day and no exercise cals.

arewethereyet

People, it's all in the links listed above, just read them, then if you still have questions, fine, but those links make it pretty clear why MFP has you eating your exercise calories. If you don't eat them then you're not following the plan set by MFP. If that's your thing, fine, that's a choice you make. But don't not eat them because you don't understand.

ok...........stop yelling or I'm tellin mom!

:laugh: :laugh:

BrendaLee

MFP automatically sets up a calorie deficit, so if you don't eat your exercise calories, you're increasing that deficit. Whether or not you eat them is entirely up to you, but I generally do.

BrendaLee

People, it's all in the links listed above, just read them, then if you still have questions, fine, but those links make it pretty clear why MFP has you eating your exercise calories. If you don't eat them then you're not following the plan set by MFP. If that's your thing, fine, that's a choice you make. But don't not eat them because you don't understand.

I sense a bit of frustration.

carrieberrie

This what I think but whatever ......and it works for me...........

I think if you have only a few pounds to lose I wouldnt eat exercise calories. If you have a lot of weight to lose eat your exercise calories. Obviously bigger people need more. I have been keeping my calories at about 1300 and have lost 11 lbs so far since July 22nd and only have 14 more to go. I have tried eating more in the beggining of MFP and only gained, so what people need to realize is DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS, what works for one person may not work for another, you will be the only one to decide what works best for you and you can tweak your diet to what is working for YOU!.

annaliza

People, it's all in the links listed above, just read them, then if you still have questions, fine, but those links make it pretty clear why MFP has you eating your exercise calories. If you don't eat them then you're not following the plan set by MFP. If that's your thing, fine, that's a choice you make. But don't not eat them because you don't understand.

Oh man.....someone got Banks ruffled lol!!! We U Banks!!!!! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

But he's right....read the links...they explain alot And I can understand the frustration...I feel the same way. If you are not going to do something, at least be armed with knowledge instead of just not doing it out of ignorance. Learn, read, explore...it's your body.

SHBoss1673

Frustrated?

Sure I am, it's partially because of the design of the forums,partially because you only see the vocal minority. It's just that there's a lot of well thought out, very highly researched information on the subject of exercise calories that people just decide not to read. 90% of the people out there follow the plan, it works for them to one degree or another, and you rarely hear about it. The other 10% (the exception that proves the rule) for whatever reason, has had a bad experience. Either they did something wrong, or their bodies just have something not quite following the median (or some other anomoly). This is frustrating to me, not because those people speak up or that they have done anything wrong, but because the way it works out, new members see what looks like even numbers of people who do and/or don't follow the plan, because only a small minority of those who do follow it actually post about it.

I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's indicitive. I just wish people who have had success without following the plan would make sure new members knew that this is a divergent path (not a wrong path, just maybe not what they should start with). I've no problem with people trying the MFP way, not succeeding, and then doing their own thing, I just feel that it's irresponsible to say something like:

"I don't eat mine, and I lost weight" without premising it with something like "now granted, you should give MFP a chance to work before you start playing with your calories. Else why even be on here?"

Ugh, I'm sorry, I guess I'm jaded. And 9/11 complacency is pissing me off today!

carrieberrie

I just think people should find what works for them. Some people, not all, feel if they exercise they have a sense of "entitlement" and eat what they shouldnt be eating and wondering why they are not losing weight. Thats why I say, do what is working for you, nobody can discourage you from that or say that is wrong.

astridfeline

I follow MFP to a tee! I have a smalll deficit--250 cals--and I eat every last exercise cal I can get my hands on :laugh: I exercise 30-60min/day (swim, walk/jog), I just started weight training too. I am slowly but surely losing the weight in a way my body doesn't rebel against. Reading the forums-esp the controversial ones!- I've learned a lot about nutrition and switched up my eating to a 40-30-30 plan. This has done wonders for my overall health--I'm no long tired or have mood swings--I feel great! Thanks MFP!!