Up My CALORIES?!?!?

HeatherBurke

Ok.... So, I have read and read and read about eating exercise calories and why people say to eat them but I can't get past the concept of you exercise to burn calories thus to lose weight, why eat back those calories you busted your *kitten* and sweated to death getting rid of???? I understand starvation mode, not going under 1200 etc etc etc but it still just seems to contradict the point of exercising.... I can't seem to make myself go to the gym, do cardio, strength training etc and then eat all of those calories back and understand that by doing so I will lose weight... it just doesn't click.

karmasBFF

Ok.... So, I have read and read and read about eating exercise calories and why people say to eat them but I can't get past the concept of you exercise to burn calories thus to lose weight, why eat back those calories you busted your *kitten* and sweated to death getting rid of???? I understand starvation mode, not going under 1200 etc etc etc but it still just seems to contradict the point of exercising.... I can't seem to make myself go to the gym, do cardio, strength training etc and then eat all of those calories back and understand that by doing so I will lose weight... it just doesn't click.

it didnt for me either because it is counterintuitive. Think of it this way, a car runs best when its driven, right? If it sits too long, it starts having problems. But it needs gas to run, right? Your body is the same way. You need fuel for excercise, so lets say you eat 600 calories. and that's what you burn during your workout. so now your body has used all of its fuel. So now what? if you dont replenish it, whats left for your car to run on (AKA, your body and its energy source).

You need to supply enough calories to your body to both function and fuel your workout...does this help?

HeatherBurke

Ok.... So, I have read and read and read about eating exercise calories and why people say to eat them but I can't get past the concept of you exercise to burn calories thus to lose weight, why eat back those calories you busted your *kitten* and sweated to death getting rid of???? I understand starvation mode, not going under 1200 etc etc etc but it still just seems to contradict the point of exercising.... I can't seem to make myself go to the gym, do cardio, strength training etc and then eat all of those calories back and understand that by doing so I will lose weight... it just doesn't click.

it didnt for me either because it is counterintuitive. Think of it this way, a car runs best when its driven, right? If it sits too long, it starts having problems. But it needs gas to run, right? Your body is the same way. You need fuel for excercise, so lets say you eat 600 calories. and that's what you burn during your workout. so now your body has used all of its fuel. So now what? if you dont replenish it, whats left for your car to run on (AKA, your body and its energy source).

You need to supply enough calories to your body to both function and fuel your workout...does this help?

It's not really that it hasn't made sense per say it's just that it kinda freaks me out.... I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it.. I love to eat and have learned to start eating correctly ( for the most part) so I guess being able to eat more would be ok.. and seeming as how I haven't been dedicated enough to start losing really anything yet it wouldn't hurt to try... Maybe start off with half of them? I would think on average when I really do exercise I burn about 600 a day-ish so 300 won't kill me... I don't know... it sucks

LittleSpy

It's not really that it hasn't made sense per say it's just that it kinda freaks me out.... I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it.. I love to eat and have learned to start eating correctly ( for the most part) so I guess being able to eat more wold be ok.. and seeming as how I haven't been dedivated enough to start losing really anything yet it wouldn't hurt to try... Maybe start off with half of them? I would think on average when I really do exercise I burn about 600 a day-ish so 300 won't kill me... I don't know... it sucks

It doesn't suck at all! I can't speak for eating 100% of exercise calories because I haven't gotten to that point (yet?). I exercise to build cardiovascular strength and to slightly increase my calorie deficit.

It may help you to look at it this way:
Set your weight loss goal on MFP to "maintain current weight." MFP will give you calories accordingly & you will eat all of them. THEN, you can use exercise to create your calorie deficit (which means at that point, you would *not* eat back your exercise calories if you wanted to LOSE weight. If actually wanted to maintain your weight, you would eat them).

It's the exact same thing either way, but if you need more motivation to exercise, you can go at it from that angle instead of the MFP angle which automatically builds the deficit into your diet (meaning you can lose the weight with or without exercise).

HeatherBurke

It's not really that it hasn't made sense per say it's just that it kinda freaks me out.... I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it.. I love to eat and have learned to start eating correctly ( for the most part) so I guess being able to eat more wold be ok.. and seeming as how I haven't been dedivated enough to start losing really anything yet it wouldn't hurt to try... Maybe start off with half of them? I would think on average when I really do exercise I burn about 600 a day-ish so 300 won't kill me... I don't know... it sucks

It doesn't suck at all! I can't speak for eating 100% of exercise calories because I haven't gotten to that point (yet?). I exercise to build cardiovascular strength and to slightly increase my calorie deficit.

It may help you to look at it this way:
Set your weight loss goal on MFP to "maintain current weight." MFP will give you calories accordingly & you will eat all of them. THEN, you can use exercise to create your calorie deficit (which means at that point, you would *not* eat back your exercise calories if you wanted to LOSE weight. If actually wanted to maintain your weight, you would eat them).

It's the exact same thing either way, but if you need more motivation to exercise, you can go at it from that angle instead of the MFP angle which automatically builds the deficit into your diet (meaning you can lose the weight with or without exercise).

Praise you!!!!!! I did that and it put me at 1820... so if I burned 500 calories a day or didn't work out and ate 1320 that puts me at a deficit of 500 calories per day so 3500 per week, thus losing 1 pound per week... it's easier for me to look at it that way for some reason even though it's the exact same... I'm backwards I suppose... I'm going to try eating half of the exercise calories and see how it goes... It can only get better I guess.

karmasBFF

isnt jib the best! LOL

HeatherBurke

definitely!!