Eating Back Exercise Calories

DrBorkBork

Okay, so I think the lightbulb FINALLY came on. Shut it off if it's completely out of order.

Say I eat 1200 calories a day. Now, let's say in a day I workout & burn off another 1,000. If I don't eat back those 1,000 calories, does that mean I only ate 200 calories that day?

1200 - 1000 = 200.

If that's true, then I now completely see the entire reason of eating back calories! Any exercise one does, and not eat back, would take a person below the 1200 calorie threshold, thus forcing the body into survival mode.

Am I right?

Jax67

That's the way that i understand it :happy:

cperez

Yes that is how it works and when i fist started this I didnt put my exercise in and i felt like i was starving for the first few days then my light bulb went off lol so now i dont feel like im starving.. good luck to you all

nicolee516

Trish- Check out this link, it will answer your exercise cals.


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

DrBorkBork

Yeah, my question actually sprung from one of those threads trying to explain it. I is easily confuzzled, LOL.

It's just that since I started blowing through 300-500 cals in a workout (and running), and breaking my 3 meals down into 3 meals & 3 snacks, evenly spaced, I feel like I'm famished. The more I thought about it, the more the lightbulb came on. I just wanted to make sure I had it straight.

EDIT: At this point, since I'm feeling REALLY hungry at 1200, should I up my base calories to 1400?

smboyle

No worries guys, I`m still kinda confused too. I worked out really hard at the gymtoday and burned over 650 calories Very happy about that, but I cant imagine eating that extra 650 calories today?? Should I be??

Isabelle

No worries guys, I`m still kinda confused too. I worked out really hard at the gymtoday and burned over 650 calories Very happy about that, but I cant imagine eating that extra 650 calories today?? Should I be??

I think you should eat it IF you feel hungry (or just a bit less than your 650 if it's very too much). In fact, this exercice ALLOW you more calories. This is the way I see it. If you have like 1200 + 650 calories (so 1850 calories allowed), and it feels to much for you, then I think it's fine as long as you don't go under your 1200 base calories AND you don't feel hungry. I heard once that we should never eat when we are not hungry. But never skip the breakfast EVEN if you're not hungry and eat the minimum you need to be healthy!

LittleSpy

EDIT: At this point, since I'm feeling REALLY hungry at 1200, should I up my base calories to 1400?

I think if you're hungry, you should eat more (quality calories, of course)! Even if it takes you a little longer to lose the weight, at least you won't be miserable the whole time.

smboyle

Thanks for the feedback, this helps

krg918

Its funny you bring this up, because i have been obsessing over this all day!! :laugh: I too couldn't get my mind around the fact that when i exercised and it added calories to my daily total, how i am ever gonna lose wt if i couldnt manage to burn more calories than I take in. I work 12 hour shifts and it is really hard to want to exercise after a long day (mentally exhausted, im a nurse), so im doing good to get in 30-45 minute work out plus then a 45 minute drive home.:yawn: So after reading other threads all day, I figured at least eating the 1200 calories was good as long as i exercised for the day. Plus on the days I exercise, its hard for me to consume more than 1200 callorie, just not that hungry.

I look at the extra calories from exercise as bonus points for being a good girl and continuing to improve my health!!:flowerforyou:

pannellkat

Okay, so I think the lightbulb FINALLY came on. Shut it off if it's completely out of order.

Say I eat 1200 calories a day. Now, let's say in a day I workout & burn off another 1,000. If I don't eat back those 1,000 calories, does that mean I only ate 200 calories that day?

1200 - 1000 = 200.

If that's true, then I now completely see the entire reason of eating back calories! Any exercise one does, and not eat back, would take a person below the 1200 calorie threshold, thus forcing the body into survival mode.

Am I right?

If you eat 1200 calories for the day, then you ate 1200 calories for the day no matter how much you burned from exercise so when you say does that mean you only ate 200 calories, no....that is not right, you ate 1200 calories and you burned off 1000. I know what you mean or meant but 1200 calories consumed is just that.

I don't think if I ate 1200 calories for the day and burned off lets say 600 calories from workout that I am forcing my body into survival mode, so many people use that term so losely around these boards like it could just happen in a day.

I've noticed that the only way for me to lose weight is NOT to eat back my exercise calories. Eating back your exercise calories works for some people and for some people it does not. I think its all related to your metabolism but I've eaten 1200 calories and burned 500 at the gym and do not eat it back and do not notice a slow down in my metabolism whatsoever.

Jennplus2

I need to exercise so I can eat dinner! I want all my cals :laugh:

Iceprincessk25

Remember that MFP already sets you up for a caloric deficit before you ever exercise so that is why they suggest you eat some of your exercise cals back because it's just adding to the deficit.

SHBoss1673

I don't think if I ate 1200 calories for the day and burned off lets say 600 calories from workout that I am forcing my body into survival mode, so many people use that term so losely around these boards like it could just happen in a day.

Oh yes, I can guarantee you that if you do this consistently you WILL be in complete and total starvation mode, your body will hoard calories, and it will star canabalizing lean tissue and bone mass, and systematically shutting down organs.

Guys, I can explain further if you need me too, but I need questions in order to answer them. Dr. I'm glad you came to this realization, I know for some the concept is difficult, I'm here to help. Ask away, that goes for anyone. I may or may not have all the answers, but I know where to get them if I don't.

SHBoss1673

While by the "letter of the law" with exercise calories, Dr. isn't really only eating 200 calories, she is increasing how many calories she burned that day so in essence that becomes the total.

Look at it in terms of calorie deficit as opposed to calories burned. It's much easier to handle.

so if MFP gives you a 500 calorie per day deficit. Your goal is to stay at that 500 calorie per day deficit. If you exercise for 600 calories, your deficit is now 1100 calories, in order to get back to that 500 calories you have to eat an extra 600.

I know I know, some are saying "But why? The bigger my deficit, the more I lose."

Nope, that's not how the game is played.

without getting technical about it, here's what happens. The body KNOWS how much energy it needs, you can trick it a little, creating a modest deficit, but create too big of a deficit and the body panics, when it does this is basically hits the emergency alarm, red lights start flashing in the body, and the body begins the process of reducing how many calories you need to live your day to day life. How? Well, first thing it does is say, well if we don't have enough calories, all this expensive muscle around here needs to go, so it starts canabalizing muscle. Next it says wow, all this bone density was needed because I had lots of muscle supporting it, so it starts decreasing bone density, then it says, well with less calories, I really don't need to use my (for instance) liver at 100%, so lets shut down some of that...and so on and so forth. Finally the body thinks, wait, if this gets any worse I could be in real trouble here, so it grabs any available energy and stores it as fat, at a higher level than normal. So now not only are you slowing down your daily calories, you are adding extra body fat and reducing muscle size.

This is why so many of us preach moderate goals, and eating exercise calories. Will you still lose weight? Probably, but not as fast as one would think, and far less of it will be fat than would normally be the case. Starvation can become a medical issue quite quickly (in a few weeks even). Moderate starvation probably won't affect you, and you may not even notice the effects, but it will surely affect your weight loss, it's sneaky, it's why so many people have a problem losing weight once they get down from obese into the overweight category.

Isabelle

Totally agree with SHboss!!

Iceprincessk25

Boss.....you have much more patience than I would for explaining things. If I had a dollar for ever time you had to write all that down I'd be rich!!! :bigsmile:

pannellkat

I don't think if I ate 1200 calories for the day and burned off lets say 600 calories from workout that I am forcing my body into survival mode, so many people use that term so losely around these boards like it could just happen in a day.

Oh yes, I can guarantee you that if you do this consistently you WILL be in complete and total starvation mode, your body will hoard calories, and it will star canabalizing lean tissue and bone mass, and systematically shutting down organs.

Guys, I can explain further if you need me too, but I need questions in order to answer them. Dr. I'm glad you came to this realization, I know for some the concept is difficult, I'm here to help. Ask away, that goes for anyone. I may or may not have all the answers, but I know where to get them if I don't.

I totally get what you are saying, I do. What I was saying is that a lot of people I've seen post on these boards will freak out if they don't eat their exercise calories in that one day and assume they will immediately go into starvation mode. I understand that if you consistently practice this then it will have negative effects on your body long term - I just don't think that if I didn't eat all my calories in one night that I will immediately go into starvation mode. I don't believe that.

LittleSpy

I totally get what you are saying, I do. What I was saying is that a lot of people I've seen post on these boards will freak out if they don't eat their exercise calories in that one day and assume they will immediately go into starvation mode. I understand that if you consistently practice this then it will have negative effects on your body long term - I just don't think that if I didn't eat all my calories in one night that I will immediately go into starvation mode. I don't believe that.

... and you shouldn't.
And, if I may, that's not what SHBoss is saying.
Nutrition, body chemistry, etc are all extremely complex subjects. A lot of the information about it has been dumbed down here for the laymen MFP users (edit to add -- that includes me! :embarassed: ). Unfortunately, a lot of folks take the watered down versions and run with them which leads to the propagation of a lot of information that isn't exactly accurate. If you hang around here long enough you'll know which posters are posting valuable information and which posters aren't.

Isabelle

Talking about that..wouldn't it be nice to have the profession or formation of the person who's answering? So we will KNOW who to believe!!!:happy:

LittleSpy

Talking about that..wouldn't it be nice to have the profession or formation of the person who's answering? So we will KNOW who to believe!!!:happy:

I don't think it would help. In fact, I think it would make it even more dangerous. A degree/job does not an intelligent/informed person make (necessarily).