To EAT or NOT to EAT ?

cobygrey

Should i be eating my exercise calories if i want to continue to lose weight?

elizamary77

they system builds in a deficent b4 your excersize, I dont but you will still lose if you do, but search this topic cause I have seen it a few times in the last day or two and you will probably get all the answers and more.

dbrownson

You should always eat. It's best to eat multiple small meals throughout the day (4-6 meals). Eating regularly keeps your blood sugar stable, if not then you get spikes/crashes.

merebear

I always hear people say you should or your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose weight......but anorexics lose weight, so that theory isn't completely true:laugh: . I prefer to have some calories leftover at the end of the day :bigsmile:

Mindful_Trent

if you go into the general diet/weight loss section, there are some "sticky" posts at the top - they address this issue.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/9-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help

The posts are titled as follows:

*LINKS in MFP you want to read again (and again)
*Newbies Please READ ME (2nd edition) - part 2
*Newbies Please READ ME (2nd edition)

Check these out and they should answer your questions. A bit of reading, but it's worth it.

knightwriter2

Yes you may eat your exercise calories. MFP has already done the math and deducted the calories needed for weight loss according to the goals you put in. I usually eat my exercise calories and have lost 39 lbs. in 5 months. If you look at your food diary at the bottom, it will tell you how many calories you have left that you can consume. As long as they're green numbers. Good Luck!

EllienLyla

if you don't eat your exercise calories you will lose more weight to begin with but then your body will just stop. you will have a harder time getting it off and it will come back a lot easier. trust me i have doing this for a while, slow and steady wins the race, sometimes i eat all my calories, but i always eat at least half my calories.

danerider

I always hear people say you should or your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose weight......but anorexics lose weight, so that theory isn't completely true:laugh: . I prefer to have some calories leftover at the end of the day :bigsmile:

Yeah anorexics lose weight because their bodies go into starvation mode and burns muscle instead of fat which is very very bad. That is why they look like twigs when you look at their arms and legs etc. There is no muscle left.

aippolito1

I always hear people say you should or your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose weight......but anorexics lose weight, so that theory isn't completely true:laugh: . I prefer to have some calories leftover at the end of the day :bigsmile:

The proper response should be, "you won't lose fat". Anorexics lose muscle, hair, teeth, etc. They may weigh less but they are not healthy.

Going under or over your calories every NOW and THEN is okay. Doing it consistently and large amounts (over 200) will stall your weight, and cause you to possibly gain. Eat as many of your exercise calories as possible. You wouldn't run your car on empty, would it? If you do, your fuel pump gets clogged and guess what, your car won't start now. Same concept.

scweegie

I think this has been discussed a million times on here. There is a lot of information out there.

This is how I look at it. I am set at 1200 calories a day, so If I burn 600, that leaves me with 600 calories for the day. That is not a healthy amount. So I would eat the 600 back so my total stays at 1200.

I stay close to this goal, if I go over one day by 200, or stay under a day by 200, it's not a big deal.

sassyg

anorexics lose muscles - the fat stays!

smae1980

I always hear people say you should or your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose weight......but anorexics lose weight, so that theory isn't completely true:laugh: . I prefer to have some calories leftover at the end of the day :bigsmile:

The proper response should be, "you won't lose fat". Anorexics lose muscle, hair, teeth, etc. They may weigh less but they are not healthy.

Going under or over your calories every NOW and THEN is okay. Doing it consistently and large amounts (over 200) will stall your weight, and cause you to possibly gain. Eat as many of your exercise calories as possible. You wouldn't run your car on empty, would it? If you do, your fuel pump gets clogged and guess what, your car won't start now. Same concept.

Great analogy!!!

Destiny_2010

I agree with Scweegie, the amount is to small if you dont eat the calories tha you have burnt off. I was a little confused about this too, but putting it like that makes a lot of sense! Thanks X