I don't want to eat up my calories burned from working out

JULIEdance

I don´t. I consider my calorie limit an absolute limit, no matter how much I burn. But if I burn a lot and I feel I need to eat over my limit, I would eat back about half.

pamcuster

thanks for being so kind. The way ppl have talked to me has been extremely hurtful.

Yeah, I am constantly amazed at how ugly people can be on here! It seems to me that the problem arises when others think that they know what's best for everybody.

I keep my calories fairly low and DO NOT eat back my exercise calories; I HATE the idea of working out for the purpose of being able to eat more. And I do not feel "deprived;" I feel IN CONTROL!!! And I *LOVE* that! (I love that my goal in life is NOT to see just how much I can eat and get away with!) I have lost the weight on my ticker doing what I'm doing since the end of September...I'm only 5'1"...started at 133.2 and last week, I was at 111 !!!!! YAY!!! I feel great, am smaller AND toned, and have loads of energy! ) (I have been - and am currently - doing cardio, weights, and yoga.)

Aaannnddd, I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with your use of allcaps...I *LOVE* them simply for emphasis!

You can friend me if you like!

rousehouse

I know people find this topic touchy and frustrating, but it's no excuse for being rude to the original poster. Out of all of the threads I've read in the forums, this has got to be the rudest. Come on folks,... no need to be unkind to the OP for asking a newbie question.

jenniferrusso7393

Me too! I'm usually hungray after I work out, but I feel like I can put some back in--or even give myself a treat-- a friend and I once agreed-- I work out so I can eat chocolate!

eyeshuh

I don't eat them back, I mean the idea is to lose the weight so by putting the calories back in that you burned are you really burning them? You're replacing what you worked off.... so, in a sense you're really hitting a stalemate

^^^this^^^

No, that is not true at all. There is already a deficit built in to MFP. You are not hitting a stalemate. If you eat back all your exercise calories, you are STILL at minus 500 calories for the day.

No_Finish_Line

sorry if you got blasted by the peanut gallery lol.

Idk, i just follow the harris benedict formula, it figures out your bmr and then there is an activity multiplier to estimate how many calories you should eat on top of you bmr to make up for job/exercise. then i just eat around that number

wouldn't go that nuts trying to eat exactly what you burned or whatever because the calorie estimates for exercise are just that, estimates and may be pretty off.

rousehouse

I don't eat them back, I mean the idea is to lose the weight so by putting the calories back in that you burned are you really burning them? You're replacing what you worked off.... so, in a sense you're really hitting a stalemate

^^^this^^^

No, that is not true at all. There is already a deficit built in to MFP. You are not hitting a stalemate. If you eat back all your exercise calories, you are STILL at minus 500 calories for the day.

Exactly.

beachlover317

I don't eat them back, I mean the idea is to lose the weight so by putting the calories back in that you burned are you really burning them? You're replacing what you worked off.... so, in a sense you're really hitting a stalemate

^^^this^^^

Absolutley NOT this. ( I am using the caps on that one word to denote more emphasis to that word, rather than yelling that word.) Please go back and review the MFP program. You are not hitting a stalemate. MFP already gives you a 500 cal deficit. So, with that being said, if you don't work out - no problem You have your deficit every day. When you do work out, you make the deficit too big and then your body gets a little scared and begins to be uncooperative with letting go of your fat. Therefore MFP adds back your exercise cals to make your deficit stay at 500 cals a day. This is what makes people crazy. The fact that people say things that are patently not true about MFP.

deksgrl

First of all, it is not 500 calorie deficit for 1-2 pounds a week.

It is 500 calorie deficit for 1 pound a week. Or, 1000 calorie deficit for 2 pounds a week. So, lets look at some math.

Suppose your TDEE is 2000 calories a day, this is the amount you need for energy for all of your activities, sleeping, awake, moving, working, exercising, everything. This is the amount of calories where you would stay the same weight.

Now, you tell MFP you want to lose 2 pounds per week. It is going to subtract 1000 calories from that.... but wait, the lowest recommended amount is 1200, it will not go below that.

So, you are set at a minimum of 1200. Now you exercise off 500 cals. 1200-500 is only 700 calories. NOT HEALTHY.

MFP sets you low, without including your exercise energy needs, so that you would lose weight just by diet alone. Then when you do exercise, you need to add fuel for it.

Okay, now suppose you are a bigger person. Your TDEE energy needs are 2500 calories a day. Subtract 1000 a day for 2 pounds a week, you get 1500 calories a day to eat. Then you exercise off 500 cals. That means you are only netting 1000 a day. Too low.

This is why we eat back exercise calories on the MFP method.

MireyGal76

This is what works for me...

I set up my activity level to sedentary... I work a desk job, and can't always get to the gym when I want. I allow MFP to assume I do little to no activity.

I have now set my goal to maintenance, but when I started out (9 months and 10 pounds ago), I was looking to lose 1/2 a pound a week. It calculated a goal of 1750 cals for me.

I log most every exercise I do, but I don't have an HRM, so i guesstimate based on MFP values and other website feedback.
I try to log my food on a regular basis (I'm not as strict now, because I eat pretty similar from week to week and am on maintenance so I have some flexibility).

I exercise sporadically, but when I do, it's often a crazy burn >900 cals (again an estimate). I look at my calories over a few days... The days I box I tend to be under in cals (but I DO eat more than days when I don't, as I want my body to have enough fuel to fire the furnace). The day after boxing, I am ravenous, and I often end up going a few hundred calories OVER my limit.

If I am hungry, I have some water, and then I eat a healthy snack. My body is telling me it needs fuel.

I encourage you to think of your body as a wood burning fireplace. When you exercise, you are asking for the fireplace to burn hotter, but in order to do that, you are going to consume more wood. If you choose not to replace that wood, then eventually, the fire won't burn as hot. There simply are not enough resources. You will have embers, and will feel frustrated because you want HEAT.

I encourage you to try to look at your calories over a few days at a time and attempt to balance your intake and expenditures accordingly. If you've configured your MFP calorie goals to calculate in a deficit, I encourage you to try it and see.

Regardless of what is said, in the end it's your choice... but please remember the wood burning fireplace... If you want heat, you need fuel.

1newcat

Helpful!! Thank you for spelling that out! I have been having a really hard time consuming enough calrories, i guess i may have to accept a slower process or a plateau if i can't figure out how to get more in.

CharlesLadd

There is no horse so dead that it doesn't deserve another hit. You exercise, not to create a larger calorie deficit, but to keep your metabolism high. If you don't exercise, your metabolism might slow down, or if you do exercise but don't eat those calories back, your body might go into starve mode. Then there is virtually no level of calories that results in weight loss, and when you do start eating again, you'll pack it on. That is why most people fail with fad diets. They get their metabolism all screwed up. Just follow the plan and have patience. If you want to lose 25 pounds (say a safe one pound a week average) it will take you six months. For that you must have patience. Yes, eat those exercise calories!

krisiepoo

First of all, stop worrying what other people think
Second of all, do whatever you want
Third of all, that was all I had, just wanted to add a third of all.

Tanja_CHH

Eat what you want. You know all the information, you know the right thing to do, you know why you should do it, so do what you want

eyeshuh

Helpful!! Thank you for spelling that out! I have been having a really hard time consuming enough calrories, i guess i may have to accept a slower process or a plateau if i can't figure out how to get more in.

Have you tried more calorie dense foods? On days when I don't think I'll be able to eat enough, I just stock up on peanut butter! lol! There are plenty of other delicious options like avocados, nuts, etc. You'll feel like you're eating the same amount but you'll get more out of it!

Also, I highly recommend going for a slower process. It's sooooo much easier to maintain if you don't have to make a huge difference on the amount of food you're eating to lose weight.

Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

ETA: It took me a year to lose those 30lbs. That's what....half a pound lost a week? It's frustrating at first, but once you get to that year mark, you will feel so dang good about it you won't even think about speedy losing weight anymore.

kayla7jackson

Personally, I work out 5 days a week at the gym and at home on the weekends. I never add in my workouts to myfitnesspal because I feel like it is a lost cause to workout just to eat more food.

nitrogen_widget

I consider exercise cals a bonus because I seriously doubt i'm actually burning as many as the app claims.
I also don't care much for cardio more than a few times a week (but have had weeks where I logged a lot of hrs on the treadmill (I still didn't eat back my cals)
But like to lift & find it easier to just not eat as much.
and as long as i'm dropping fat , my lifts don't go down, & I don't feel like crap i'm eating enough as far as i'm concerned.

stonel94

It'll work fine for a while, you will lose weight more rapidly. But the way MFP is designed, it creates a deficit in your calories so even if you never work out you will still lose weight, so when you exercise and burn additional calories, if you have a 500 cal deficit, and then you burn another 500 cals then you have a 1000 cal deficit, which usually puts you at a calorie deficit too low for your body to sustain long term. So if you're looking to like look great in a month in a dress then this is good, if you want long term weight loss and a healthy diet this is not good because you will hit a plataue and then you will need to up your calories, probably gain some weight, and then start losing again once your body gets "refed". Now, if you only burn 200 calories, that's not a big deal, if you're burning 500+ you probably should eat at least some of them back, you don't have to every day, but generally. Also, if you're not very certain of the amount of calories you're burning (like if you don't have a HRM telling you the most accurate number you can get) then you probably should leave some uneaten as a buffer since MFP and most machines overestimate calories burned.

sunlover89

Some days I eat them back, and more, some days I dont. Some days I am more hungry than others, so I balance my calorie intake on a weekly basis, not a daily basis. This is what works for me, specifically, I've found after years experimentation. Everyone likes different methods though, so you're bound to get different advice from different people. Only you can know what's best for you when you try several different methods.