Exercise calories???

FitChickBritt

How do you guys go about treating all your exercise calories? I feel like I am getting nothing accomplished if I eat back all my calories. I work out alot so I usually have atleast an extra 400-1000.

j_g4ever

When I talked to my doctor about it and she told me not to worry about eating back my exercise calories till I'm in maintenance mode.

Changeisgonnacome

The site sets you at a deficit and so if you don't eat back your exercise cals and you are burning from 400 to 1000 your daily net intake will be way under 1200 cals per day which will cause starvation mode. Which means your body will retain all you eat. I have been battling starvation mode for 20 years and am finally winning the battle. After starting to eat my exercise calories I finally began losing AND I'm eating more than I have in years.

CinthyNair

I eat some of my exercise calories, but I always have about 300-400 left over. I don't worry about it, as occasionally I will go over (esp on weekends), so it kind of works out for now

FitChickBritt

I have my daily intake set to lose weight, but its set at the minimun 1200, for me to lose about a pound a week. I've been having my 1200 calories but also eating back most of my exercise calories and have stayed the same for about 5-6 months. I prob don't NEED to lose 5 more pounds, but 5 pounds would put me at my goal which would be nice to hit.

Are you saying your Dr. said to eat or not eat your exercise calories until maintenance? It seems to not be helping me.

Sunsh1ne

It's hard to tell since there's very little information on your profile to go by, but as a rule of thumb, eat back at least about half of your exercise calories. When you work out, you need to eat BARE MINIMUM your BMR, or your metabolism gets cranky.

What do you mean when you say you feel like you're getting nothing accomplished? You shouldn't be ravenously hungry or workout exhausted by the end of the day. MFP calculations help with building life-long healthy eating and exercising habits, rather than the Regina George "I just want to lose five pounds" mentality. (I mean, it can help with that too, but only if your five pounds aren't going to push you below a healthy weight, which is sometimes higher than the BMI calculator tells you it is.)

debmac63

I think everyone is different. Sometimes I eat all my exercise calories and some days I don't come close to eating them all. I plan my meals the day before and try to end the day with at least one or two hundred calories left, including the extra earned calories.

What's funny is when I get stuck at a weight and stop losing, if I eat over my allotted calories for the day I actually lose weight. The human body is one very complex machine that is very uniquely individual. You just need to play around with your food and exercise and see what works for you.

pkgirrl

I've found that as long as the 1200 you do eat is relatively clean, nutrient dense foods, then I don't need to eat the exercise calories, and my metabolism gets along just fine. I do find, however, that my body gets ravenously hungry and the extra deficit catches up with me after about a week or so, so it might not be a bad idea to try and just throw in a handful of nuts or something somewhere

auntbliz

I always eat my exercise calories, and try to come as close to zero at the end of the day as possible. I do try to have all of my eating done before 9, with a bedtime of 11, usually closer to 8 though. If I have calories left after 9, I forget about it, because if I eat at all after that, there is no loss, and sometimes a little gain. I was at a standstill for about 3 weeks recently, with 1200 cals per day + exercise cals, and however I played with it, I just wasn't moving. I increased my cals by lowering what I wanted to lose per week, I think it gave me something like 300 more cals per day, and right away I started losing again. I don't know why it worked, but I must have been calculating something wrong, and now I'm back on track.

BrendaLee

I eat mine, because I'm generally starving. I'm already set at a 1000 calorie deficit, if I didn't eat my exercise calories that deficit would grow to 1500 calories or more/ day. You gotta be kind to your body, and your body wants fuel.