Net calories

iluvco3
iluvco3 Posts: 98 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
There is so much conflicting information about eating or not eating the calories you burn through exercise. I know what MFP says, but for every article or study you find that supports the need to "eat" them, there will be another one that disputes that line of thinking. My daughter is a RD and she stands by "starvation mode is a myth". She does agree that consistently eating way too few calories for extended lengths of time will slow your metabolism down some. However, the more weight you lose (less you weigh), the less calories you need to maintain a weight. It all makes my head spin.

Currently, I do NOT eat the calories I burn through exercise consistently. I do travel quite a bit (and do go over my 1200/day often) and I do tend to consume more calories on the weekends. As a result, if you add my calories over the course of a couple of weeks or a month and divided it by the number of days, I probably come pretty close to consuming my 1200 calories, plus a big portiont of my exercise calories. I burn about 3000 calories/week through exercise when I am not traveling. When I am home and during the week, I am perfectly satisfied on 1200 calories/day. I make very healthy choices most all the time.

So...I guess my question for those who support the "eat your exercise calories" thinking is this, "Is it the same if you take your average caloric intake as it is if you eat your exercise calories each day?"

TIA!!

Replies

  • iluvco3
    iluvco3 Posts: 98 Member
    Bump...
  • iluvco3
    iluvco3 Posts: 98 Member
    Bump(again)

    Anyone??
  • dottheallison
    dottheallison Posts: 42
    Bump for later... curious too.
  • BeantownSooner
    BeantownSooner Posts: 254
    I say yes and it's probably better to focus on the weekly number rather than the daily one. It's actually good to bounce around as your metabolism will always be guessing. Now that's not to say eat 500 one day then 2000 the next...do your best to keep it within reason. Keep in mind that you have to be happy or you're apt to fail so do what works best for you. Just keep in mind if you like to weigh yourself you will bounce around a little bit on the scale. At the end of the day, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your weight loss journey. Think long term.
  • ixap
    ixap Posts: 675 Member
    I average mine over a 2-4 day period.

    I avoid stretches of several days in a row of being way under or way over.

    However, from day to day there are days when I eat more because I'm tempted by something yummy or just feel really hungry, and there are days when I exercise a TON and would feel sick if I forced myself to eat all the exercise calories. It seems to work out fine. I'm losing weight and feel good.
  • dvisser1
    dvisser1 Posts: 788 Member
    Since you don't exercise on a regular schedule due to your travel, it would be best to average out over a week or two.

    As for eating or not eating your exercise calories, you need to figure out what works best for your body. There are so many variables as to why you should or should not and people vary rarely get into the details of why they do not when stating that on here. Some people included their daily exercise into their activity level setting, so they should NOT eat back exercise calories (it's already been accounted for once). Some people simply believe that after working hard to burn the calories off, they are undoing that work by eating back the calories. That opinion is somewhat understandable, but ignores that the deficit to lose weight is built into the net calories. Then there are people like me who eat back most of my exercise calories on days I exercise to refuel my body, and rely on the deficit to lose weight. It's been working fine for me. The only way you will know what will work for you is to try it both ways for a couple weeks and see how your body reacts.
  • benbrandt
    benbrandt Posts: 3 Member
    Eat small meals (1 meal = protein+carbohydrate+fat) every three hours or so. Each meal should be about 300-400 calories for a total of 1500-1800 calories per day.

    Look for lean sources of protein, complex carbohydrates, and unsaturated fats as much as possible. Also try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables (aim for 4500 mg of potassium from food which is hard to do without lots of fruits, veggies, nuts and legumes). Avoid excessive sodium, saturated fat, and sugar, which are usually high in processed foods. Drink lots of water.

    For exercise do a combination of strength training and cardio. Keep a log to track your progress (including MFP of course).

    Most importantly, stick with it! Consistency is everything.

    Best of luck!
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Eat small meals (1 meal = protein+carbohydrate+fat) every three hours or so. Each meal should be about 300-400 calories for a total of 1500-1800 calories per day.

    Look for lean sources of protein, complex carbohydrates, and unsaturated fats as much as possible. Also try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables (aim for 4500 mg of potassium from food which is hard to do without lots of fruits, veggies, nuts and legumes). Avoid excessive sodium, saturated fat, and sugar, which are usually high in processed foods. Drink lots of water.

    For exercise do a combination of strength training and cardio. Keep a log to track your progress (including MFP of course).

    Most importantly, stick with it! Consistency is everything.

    Best of luck!

    Meal timing doesn't matter. You can eat one large meal or 6 small meals or 12 really small meals- no one way has any proven metabolic advantage. The key is sticking to your calorie deficit. If you vary your calories, keep track of it weekly- that's fine. It's a sort of calorie cycling. Long term deficit counts.

    Everyone's calorie needs are different and based on your individual activity and BMR. Anyone that tells you a specific calorie range is not considering your needs, but basing their opinion on *most* people. I'm assuming you're an individual and not a "most people" person, so I I would suggest figuring it out based on your own needs.

    I would suggest going to this thread and following the advice given for your own life and body- it will guide you through the process and get you to the right numbers for you:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    I hope that helps- Good luck!
  • tinaspears
    tinaspears Posts: 2
    I have to say I was quite shocked to see my allowable calories go up after I logged exercise, especially because I added exercise (not a fan of it) because I felt I was on a plateau, and wanted to kick start weight loss again. No explanation really made sense to me, so I just, on my own, lowered my allowable calories to 1000, and worked out to get it up to 1200 or 1300. The other option I contemplated was just not recording the exercise, but I wanted everything easily accessible.

    I love this program, and have never been successful with diets in the past ( and we're talking almost 50 years of on again, off again), at least long-term, due to the feelings of deprivation. With this, I just eat whatever I want, whenever I want, and just don't go over my calorie goal. So far, so good... although I have had the occasional "vent" day. Then, I get right back on, and keep on going.
  • benbrandt
    benbrandt Posts: 3 Member
    If you eat 1 large meal (or three medium sized meals for that matter), you will feel hungry most of the day. If you eat 12 tiny meals you will never feel satiated. So if your your calorie goal (based on your BMR) is 1200 then five to six 200-240 calorie meals is the way to go. The point is that you don't have to fight hunger pangs while you diet.

    When you feel hungry, eat a small meal containing protein, carbohydrates and fat, and you won't feel hungry again for a few hours. Moreover, your body will be nourished.

    Furthermore, there are dietary concerns other than metabolism.Yes weight loss is all about total calories, but the ultimate goal is health. You could eat 1200 calories of junk food a day and you would loose weight, but you wouldn't be healthy for it or feel very good. Don't get weight-loss-tunnel-vision by thinking its all about calories and metabolism. If you're eating well and getting regular exercise then you are winning. The weight loss will come.
  • ixap
    ixap Posts: 675 Member
    Everyone's got his or her own preferenices though. I never feel satisfied if I just eat lots of tiny meals, but if I eat 3 good ones I am full until thenext meal.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    See, I HATE this whole line. And I hate that you mentioned that your daughter is an RD and doesn't agree with it. Because this is a way more complicated topic than "should I or shouldn't I"

    If you want to give your daughter's opinion, that's fine, but rather than just stating something with no contextual background, have her come on here and state her case fully.

    I submit that there's enough research out there to support the claim of how many calories you should eat. And there's been plenty of studies out there to prove that starvation mode is NOT a myth, just misunderstood by most people.

    I know this because I've done years of research into it, and have a chemistry background and understand what those reports say.

    If I had my way, I'd ban the whole topic unless you can provide valid research to back it up.

    Putting my money where my mouth is, please read these studies. They are cases in point.

    http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=789556

    http://www.ajcn.org/content/68/1/1.full.pdf+html?sid=1f835bd6-51e1-49c0-a79e-e73fa166c490

    http://www.ajcn.org/content/71/6/1511.full.pdf+html?sid=1f835bd6-51e1-49c0-a79e-e73fa166c490

    http://www.ajcn.org/content/20/7/672.full.pdf+html?sid=f6bccd09-d15a-4863-9ad6-22c24f56accc
  • hellou76
    hellou76 Posts: 33 Member
    Nice research articles SHboss1673 - I didn't really understand all the numbers and chemical symbols but I got the gist of them (I think). Very intersting, and through provoking - I have no idea how they convinced anyone to take part in the reseach though, there are some crazy folks out there that would voluntarily starve for 10 days.

    Intersesting that TDEE goes up during first few days of starvation but then decreases - a bit worried I could have really stuffed up my metablism over the past year. Also explains a bit of the science behind intermittent fasting (or did I just not undersatnd?) I never tried that by the way, and I have no intentions because..... well I just like to eat food.
  • skonly
    skonly Posts: 371
    If you eat 1 large meal (or three medium sized meals for that matter), you will feel hungry most of the day. If you eat 12 tiny meals you will never feel satiated. So if your your calorie goal (based on your BMR) is 1200 then five to six 200-240 calorie meals is the way to go. The point is that you don't have to fight hunger pangs while you diet.

    When you feel hungry, eat a small meal containing protein, carbohydrates and fat, and you won't feel hungry again for a few hours. Moreover, your body will be nourished.

    Furthermore, there are dietary concerns other than metabolism.Yes weight loss is all about total calories, but the ultimate goal is health. You could eat 1200 calories of junk food a day and you would loose weight, but you wouldn't be healthy for it or feel very good. Don't get weight-loss-tunnel-vision by thinking its all about calories and metabolism. If you're eating well and getting regular exercise then you are winning. The weight loss will come.

    I agree. I see people eating the same amount of calories I do and they say hunger is a problem. Often they aren't even eating a third of what I am. I would be hungry too. lol. I eat when I'm hungry. Going to bed with a growling stomach is not anything I am going to do. Depending on my schedule I may eat all day and graze. I would rather eat 5 healthy items for one mean other than one unhealthy item. When people ask what I do when I feel hungry I always have the same answer. I go in the kitchen and eat something. Food gets rid of hunger every time. I promise it really does work. I try not to eat things that will just make me hungry in an hour. Why eat a small pack of chips? It won't really fill you up and isn't doing anything good for your body. A little broccoli and carrots is a better choice and you get to eat more of it.

    I don't understand how anyone can deal with feeling hungry all the time. When I had to cut out a lot of foods for health reasons I started eating more often and eating a lot more food. I don't feel hungry all the time and never feel bad about eating anything. Sweating out a few test results to see if I had cancer really got to me. I had already been forced to cut some things out but it really encouraged me to start adding more good things in. I just want to get as much of the good stuff in as possible now.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Nice research articles SHboss1673 - I didn't really understand all the numbers and chemical symbols but I got the gist of them (I think). Very intersting, and through provoking - I have no idea how they convinced anyone to take part in the reseach though, there are some crazy folks out there that would voluntarily starve for 10 days.

    Intersesting that TDEE goes up during first few days of starvation but then decreases - a bit worried I could have really stuffed up my metablism over the past year. Also explains a bit of the science behind intermittent fasting (or did I just not undersatnd?) I never tried that by the way, and I have no intentions because..... well I just like to eat food.

    Yes, isn't that interesting? I thought so as well, but there's a valid physiological reasoning for it. It has to do with the hormones changing but still having enough glycogen left to feed the machine (as it were).
    But don't be too worried about permanent problems, if no chronic conditions have manifested yet, odds are you can make a full recovery given time. The body is super resilient, if you get back to healthy nutrition, and regular exercise, your body will respond.

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