Am I really suppose to eat all that!?

nikilis

Hi MFP community. This is my very first new topic post.

I am totally down with eating back most of my exercise calories but I have just now ran into a bit of a dilemma. This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

I have my eye set on this big hike that is located not too far from here and if my math is correct (based on my weight, age, HRM) I may burn around 10,000 calories in this all day hike. I weigh a bit over 370 and am a 33yo male. Obviously there is a chance I might not make it for the full 20 miles. All I know is that the more I hike the more I want to hike. Both days this past weekend I only came out of the woods because the sun was going down.

Anyhow the point is I can't reasonably eat over 12,000 (10,000 plus my normal daily) calories, can I? I couldn't imagine eating the equivalent of 5 pizzas on top of my normal intake for a day.

So I know that I will probably get many different opinions but I still want to hear all of them.

Your body is the end game, not the calculator. If you gain weight, eat less. If you need to lose and are not, eat less. If you are under 12% body fat and risk starvation mode (fat people don't go into starvation mode) then don't eat too low. Other than that it's trial and error until you find what works for YOU. Everyone is different. There is no one size fits all.

You just need to find the correct calories for YOU to be healthy and sustainable and still lose weight. It might require some experimentation and tremendous patience. You can always notch up and down by 100 until you find what is sustainable and still allows you to lose weight.

If you have emotional eating issues than you are not going to be able to handle such a deep deficit and if you eat to low it will backfire. A better strategy is to eat at a shallower deficit, and sometimes give yourself a break from the deficit and eat at maintenance. This is not going backwards, but eating to low and then binging because you can't sustain it is going backwards. It's better to stay forwards even if it is slower. The tortoise wins this race in the end.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

But keep in mind...

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

I finally found a use for the ignore button.

schondell

Eat small things that have a high density of calories like nuts and dried fruits

geebusuk

............It's hard to eat 12,000 calories?

Indeed - over the course of a day I could easily achieve that.

On a decent day's cycle ride + run managed 5000 while trying to restrict my intake. Could very happily had another pub meal, a burger king instead of 350 calorie a pot subway and lots more chocolate given the choice .

At your stats I'd just make sure I had enough food for energy and keep going.
I would also be looking, as above, to be sure I had the right 'burn' details etc.

iampanda

I agree with everyone else- Pack a few higher-calorie snacks to keep your energy up and just have a good time. Listen to your body. If you are hungry, eat. If you aren't, don't. Have fun!!

Cathleenr

I routinely burn 3000-4000 calories in my workouts.

No you don't

you don't know me or what I do. I work my @s$ off 4+ hrs a day/ 6 days a week working out. And at 285 lbs that does mean a big calorie burn. Some things I do like yoga is only gonna burn a few hundred calories whereas some things I do burns over a 1000 calories in one hour like the stair stepper machine. You do realize that when a heavier person does the same exercise they burn more calories, right? Its ridiculous to think that someone my weight would burn the same as someone 150 lbs. Lemme tell ya. Exercise is hard enough at my weight. I sure as hell don't need to take any *kitten* off you. Half the thin/fit people I see at the gym don't have the endurance and determination that I have. Yesterday I worked out for 5 hours and burned over 4000 calories. (Was there for almost 7 hours but I take breaks between the hard stuff.) I've come a really long way and I don't need your approval so you think what you want. It doesn't matter what you think I burned. 45 mins weight training, 45 mins cross trainer machine, 45 mins elliptical w/arms, 45 mins stair treadmill, 60 mins R.I.P.P.E.D. class, 60 mins yoga. At my weight that stuff can really add up.

the skepticism comes from the hard math: if you did burn 4000 calories a day and took in, say 1200, that means you would be losing about a pound of fat every day and a half. at that rate, you should lose about 20 pounds in a month, 40 pounds in two months and so on. not really feasible.
in my experience, the people who do those hours on the stair steppers are hanging onto the side rails, supporting themselves for that hour and although the display says they burned 800 calories, well, not so much. you may be different, but those "fit" people you say can't hold a candle to your endurance? well, they got that way doing something right.
7 hours a day (or 6, or 5, or even 2 hours) in the gym 6 days a week is counterproductive. the copious amounts of cortisol you are producing from over-stressing your CNS will prevent you from losing anything except sweat (and after awhile, even that stops) and motivation and your body cannot recover properly from such a schedule. you might be able to physicall show up at the gym and stay there for hours and hours, but please dont say that for all those hours on end that you are burning through your metabolism at a consistently high rate because some machine says so. it's physically not possible.

as for the OP: exercise and nutrition don't start and stop at midnight every day. your body sees load (in the form of exercise) and nutrients (food intake) over time, like 4-5 days. just because you take a long hike one day, and dont do anything the rest of the week and continue eating at maintanence does not mean you will see any loss. you need to be in a consistent caloric deficit in the form of reduced intake and an increased metabolic process, over a period of time to register a loss.

justmyalias

Larabars for hiking!
and now they have the ones with all the nuts - not my fav, but dh loves them!

And for all you hikers - are you geocaching too? (doesn't burn any extra calories, and will probably even slow you down some, but it's the best!!)

EndlessSacrifice

It's just one day. Relax.

mmapags

Hi MFP community. This is my very first new topic post.

I am totally down with eating back most of my exercise calories but I have just now ran into a bit of a dilemma. This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

I have my eye set on this big hike that is located not too far from here and if my math is correct (based on my weight, age, HRM) I may burn around 10,000 calories in this all day hike. I weigh a bit over 370 and am a 33yo male. Obviously there is a chance I might not make it for the full 20 miles. All I know is that the more I hike the more I want to hike. Both days this past weekend I only came out of the woods because the sun was going down.

Anyhow the point is I can't reasonably eat over 12,000 (10,000 plus my normal daily) calories, can I? I couldn't imagine eating the equivalent of 5 pizzas on top of my normal intake for a day.

So I know that I will probably get many different opinions but I still want to hear all of them.

Your body is the end game, not the calculator. If you gain weight, eat less. If you need to lose and are not, eat less. If you are under 12% body fat and risk starvation mode (fat people don't go into starvation mode) then don't eat too low. Other than that it's trial and error until you find what works for YOU. Everyone is different. There is no one size fits all.

You just need to find the correct calories for YOU to be healthy and sustainable and still lose weight. It might require some experimentation and tremendous patience. You can always notch up and down by 100 until you find what is sustainable and still allows you to lose weight.

If you have emotional eating issues than you are not going to be able to handle such a deep deficit and if you eat to low it will backfire. A better strategy is to eat at a shallower deficit, and sometimes give yourself a break from the deficit and eat at maintenance. This is not going backwards, but eating to low and then binging because you can't sustain it is going backwards. It's better to stay forwards even if it is slower. The tortoise wins this race in the end.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

But keep in mind...

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

I finally found a use for the ignore button.

Good thinking! Right behind you.

Ah! That's mush better. Don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

kaervaak

A top performing ironman triathalete burns about 10000 calories during a race. There is no way that hiking 20 miles will burn the same calories as swiming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and then running 26.2 miles, all at the very upper limits of human performance. I don't care how heavy you are, it's just not possible.

AlwaysBigSteve

Hello. Man I sure learned a lot from my first topic post on the forum. Mainly not to post on the forum HAHAHA!

To clarify (and I can't edit my own OP I guess) is that you have caught me!! OH NOOOEEESSS. I didn't burn 3500 calories just from hiking. I burnt 2487 while maintaining an average HR of 133. I burnt the total of roughly 3500 over the three day weekend by also plain walking and weights.

I didn't "overestimate as typical obese people do" I used a HRM. My RMR is 3100 calories. If you can find a calorie counter that can defeat my HRM then by all means show me instead of just repeating "no you didn't".

Also, the 5 pizza comment was just a reference as to how much food that could be.

A lot of you guys and gals stayed on topic about what to do in this circumstance of burning a huge amount of calories and I really appreciate it.

Hiking the mountains around my house seem to be more and more addictive and I really enjoy it.

Chief_Rocka

I routinely burn 3000-4000 calories in my workouts.

No you don't

you don't know me or what I do. I work my @s$ off 4+ hrs a day/ 6 days a week working out. And at 285 lbs that does mean a big calorie burn. Some things I do like yoga is only gonna burn a few hundred calories whereas some things I do burns over a 1000 calories in one hour like the stair stepper machine. You do realize that when a heavier person does the same exercise they burn more calories, right? Its ridiculous to think that someone my weight would burn the same as someone 150 lbs. Lemme tell ya. Exercise is hard enough at my weight. I sure as hell don't need to take any *kitten* off you. Half the thin/fit people I see at the gym don't have the endurance and determination that I have. Yesterday I worked out for 5 hours and burned over 4000 calories. (Was there for almost 7 hours but I take breaks between the hard stuff.) I've come a really long way and I don't need your approval so you think what you want. It doesn't matter what you think I burned. 45 mins weight training, 45 mins cross trainer machine, 45 mins elliptical w/arms, 45 mins stair treadmill, 60 mins R.I.P.P.E.D. class, 60 mins yoga. At my weight that stuff can really add up.

Do you eat back all of those exercise calories?

What do ou think would happen to your weight if you did?

wayne4825

This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

No you didn't

I've actually burned 3500 calories on a 10 mile hike as well according to my HRM. My wife who also uses her HRM has burned between 1500-2000 calories on longer hikes. I've lost almost 10lbs in one week just from hiking. Just last week I finished a 10.5 mile hike in just over 3 hours.

jofjltncb6

This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

No you didn't

I've actually burned 3500 calories on a 10 mile hike as well according to my HRM. My wife who also uses her HRM has burned between 1500-2000 calories on longer hikes. I've lost almost 10lbs in one week just from hiking. Just last week I finished a 10.5 mile hike in just over 3 hours.

The HRM says it...

...you believe it...

...that settles it.

Matt_Wild

Why not try eating a standard diet and enjoying the benefits of the calories being burned from tfat as energy?

melsinct

Hello. Man I sure learned a lot from my first topic post on the forum. Mainly not to post on the forum HAHAHA!

To clarify (and I can't edit my own OP I guess) is that you have caught me!! OH NOOOEEESSS. I didn't burn 3500 calories just from hiking. I burnt 2487 while maintaining an average HR of 133. I burnt the total of roughly 3500 over the three day weekend by also plain walking and weights.

I didn't "overestimate as typical obese people do" I used a HRM. My RMR is 3100 calories. If you can find a calorie counter that can defeat my HRM then by all means show me instead of just repeating "no you didn't".

Also, the 5 pizza comment was just a reference as to how much food that could be.

A lot of you guys and gals stayed on topic about what to do in this circumstance of burning a huge amount of calories and I really appreciate it.

Hiking the mountains around my house seem to be more and more addictive and I really enjoy it.

Unfortunately, there are some a-holes on this forum just like everywhere else on the internet (and in real life!). It is also unfortunate that the anonymous a-holes of the world stop newbies like yourself from participating in what are generally helpful boards.

As I posted earlier, I am a hiker too and it is addicting! I am glad you found a way to exercise that truly gets you fired up, it makes losing weight and maintaining that loss much easier.. Serious hiking with a pack does burn thousands of calories but it isn't a daily event. Eat enough to fuel your hike and don't worry about leaving the deficit. Most of all, enjoy your new found activity! Soon enough you'll become one of us crazy people who plan vacations around big hikes and mountains!

jofjltncb6

Hello. Man I sure learned a lot from my first topic post on the forum. Mainly not to post on the forum HAHAHA!

To clarify (and I can't edit my own OP I guess) is that you have caught me!! OH NOOOEEESSS. I didn't burn 3500 calories just from hiking. I burnt 2487 while maintaining an average HR of 133. I burnt the total of roughly 3500 over the three day weekend by also plain walking and weights.

I didn't "overestimate as typical obese people do" I used a HRM. My RMR is 3100 calories. If you can find a calorie counter that can defeat my HRM then by all means show me instead of just repeating "no you didn't".

Also, the 5 pizza comment was just a reference as to how much food that could be.

A lot of you guys and gals stayed on topic about what to do in this circumstance of burning a huge amount of calories and I really appreciate it.

Hiking the mountains around my house seem to be more and more addictive and I really enjoy it.

Unfortunately, there are some a-holes on this forum just like everywhere else on the internet (and in real life!). It is also unfortunate that the anonymous a-holes of the world stop newbies like yourself from participating in what are generally helpful boards.

As I posted earlier, I am a hiker too and it is addicting! I am glad you found a way to exercise that truly gets you fired up, it makes losing weight and maintaining that loss much easier.. Serious hiking with a pack does burn thousands of calories but it isn't a daily event. Eat enough to fuel your hike and don't worry about leaving the deficit. Most of all, enjoy your new found activity! Soon enough you'll become one of us crazy people who plan vacations around big hikes and mountains!

So engaging in a discussion of the purported facts in someone's post = "a-hole"? That's where we are now on MFP?

Oh, wait, never mind...that where we've *always* been on MFP.

I suppose next you'll tell me that they're not only "a-holes", but they're also "mean".


My advice is, and always has been:
Use your best estimate of calories consumed and burned...track consistently for 4-6+ weeks...evaluate your progress. If it is favorable and at a sustainable rate, continue using your method of estimating. If it is too fast, eat more and consider where your estimates need to be adjusted going forward to compensate. If it is too slow, eat less and consider where your estimates need to be adjusted going forward to compensate.


If OP (and others) have done this analysis and the numbers support the calorie burn, then absolutely, congratulations. However, until then, I (and others) will be at least slightly skeptical of burn rates exceeding 1000 calories/hour (as some of us were led to believe earlier in this post). But don't misunderstand, I am not in any way saying that OP's choice of exercise is bad/wrong/ineffective. I think hiking is great. I just struggle to accept the burn rate without more supporting data.


So there is no confusion: OP, keep up the good work. Track diligently, evaluate your progress, and make adjustments where warranted.

hamonk

I routinely burn 3000-4000 calories in my workouts. On a rest day my calorie limit is 1700. On a day I workout I don't really have a "limit," I just eat what I need to replenish my body from such a huge burn. Yesterday I ate 2500, but burned over 4000.

I should start doing your workouts

I want to know what you are doing for your workouts so I can start doing them too!!!!!

hamonk

Hi MFP community. This is my very first new topic post.

I am totally down with eating back most of my exercise calories but I have just now ran into a bit of a dilemma. This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

I have my eye set on this big hike that is located not too far from here and if my math is correct (based on my weight, age, HRM) I may burn around 10,000 calories in this all day hike. I weigh a bit over 370 and am a 33yo male. Obviously there is a chance I might not make it for the full 20 miles. All I know is that the more I hike the more I want to hike. Both days this past weekend I only came out of the woods because the sun was going down.

Anyhow the point is I can't reasonably eat over 12,000 (10,000 plus my normal daily) calories, can I? I couldn't imagine eating the equivalent of 5 pizzas on top of my normal intake for a day.

So I know that I will probably get many different opinions but I still want to hear all of them.

Your body is the end game, not the calculator. If you gain weight, eat less. If you need to lose and are not, eat less. If you are under 12% body fat and risk starvation mode (fat people don't go into starvation mode) then don't eat too low. Other than that it's trial and error until you find what works for YOU. Everyone is different. There is no one size fits all.

You just need to find the correct calories for YOU to be healthy and sustainable and still lose weight. It might require some experimentation and tremendous patience. You can always notch up and down by 100 until you find what is sustainable and still allows you to lose weight.

If you have emotional eating issues than you are not going to be able to handle such a deep deficit and if you eat to low it will backfire. A better strategy is to eat at a shallower deficit, and sometimes give yourself a break from the deficit and eat at maintenance. This is not going backwards, but eating to low and then binging because you can't sustain it is going backwards. It's better to stay forwards even if it is slower. The tortoise wins this race in the end.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

But keep in mind...

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

I finally found a use for the ignore button.

How did I not know there is an ignore button!!??

starla5881

Obese people tend to overestimate burn and underestimate calories consumed

Underweight people tend to overestimate their own intelligence.
There, see, we can both make sweeping and generally unfounded generalizations about large groups of people.

GoldspursX3

Hello. Man I sure learned a lot from my first topic post on the forum. Mainly not to post on the forum HAHAHA!

To clarify (and I can't edit my own OP I guess) is that you have caught me!! OH NOOOEEESSS. I didn't burn 3500 calories just from hiking. I burnt 2487 while maintaining an average HR of 133. I burnt the total of roughly 3500 over the three day weekend by also plain walking and weights.

I didn't "overestimate as typical obese people do" I used a HRM. My RMR is 3100 calories. If you can find a calorie counter that can defeat my HRM then by all means show me instead of just repeating "no you didn't".

Also, the 5 pizza comment was just a reference as to how much food that could be.

A lot of you guys and gals stayed on topic about what to do in this circumstance of burning a huge amount of calories and I really appreciate it.

Hiking the mountains around my house seem to be more and more addictive and I really enjoy it.

Unfortunately, there are some a-holes on this forum just like everywhere else on the internet (and in real life!). It is also unfortunate that the anonymous a-holes of the world stop newbies like yourself from participating in what are generally helpful boards.

As I posted earlier, I am a hiker too and it is addicting! I am glad you found a way to exercise that truly gets you fired up, it makes losing weight and maintaining that loss much easier.. Serious hiking with a pack does burn thousands of calories but it isn't a daily event. Eat enough to fuel your hike and don't worry about leaving the deficit. Most of all, enjoy your new found activity! Soon enough you'll become one of us crazy people who plan vacations around big hikes and mountains!

So engaging in a discussion of the purported facts in someone's post = "a-hole"? That's where we are now on MFP?

Oh, wait, never mind...that where we've *always* been on MFP.

I suppose next you'll tell me that they're not only "a-holes", but they're also "mean".


My advice is, and always has been:
Use your best estimate of calories consumed and burned...track consistently for 4-6+ weeks...evaluate your progress. If it is favorable and at a sustainable rate, continue using your method of estimating. If it is too fast, eat more and consider where your estimates need to be adjusted going forward to compensate. If it is too slow, eat less and consider where your estimates need to be adjusted going forward to compensate.


If OP (and others) have done this analysis and the numbers support the calorie burn, then absolutely, congratulations. However, until then, I (and others) will be at least slightly skeptical of burn rates exceeding 1000 calories/hour (as some of us were led to believe earlier in this post). But don't misunderstand, I am not in any way saying that OP's choice of exercise is bad/wrong/ineffective. I think hiking is great. I just struggle to accept the burn rate without more supporting data.


So there is no confusion: OP, keep up the good work. Track diligently, evaluate your progress, and make adjustments where warranted.

I believe he is referring to the genius whose vocabulary consist No, You and Didn't. Not much help coming from that guy.