should i be eating my exercise calories

spark409
spark409 Posts: 96
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello

So lets say my daily caloric intake goal is 1500 cal a day.
And lets say that i burnt off 400 cal at the gym
MFP tells me I earned 400 extra to eat..
should i or should i not eat 400 cal extra? I thought I shouldn't because this 400 cal deficit means just a step closer to weight loss?

What are your thoughts

Replies

  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    Www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
  • dazsaz2008
    dazsaz2008 Posts: 1
    hi, i was told off my health trainer to eat your calories you've burned because your body needs food for energy if you've not had enough food your body will store fat for energy which you dont want, hope this helps.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Hello

    So lets say my daily caloric intake goal is 1500 cal a day.
    And lets say that i burnt off 400 cal at the gym
    MFP tells me I earned 400 extra to eat..
    should i or should i not eat 400 cal extra? I thought I shouldn't because this 400 cal deficit means just a step closer to weight loss?

    What are your thoughts

    This has been answered many many many times here and I've only been here 35 days but I'll address it for you.
    The short answer is: yes.
    The long answer?
    If you maintain a big calorie deficit over a longer period of time your body will use those calories more efficiently and your weight loss will slow down or even stall -- while you are miserable from the dieting. Having days with a larger deficit is fine, being at a large deficit all the time is not only less-effective but unhealthy.
    I do have some days that I eat significantly under my excerise calories but these are big outings with 2000-3000 exercise calories (after even subtracting a BMR for the period).
    You can lose while not eating your exercise calories but if done consistently it is counter-productive if you are miserable or quit or affect your health.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    You are new, why buck the system? As long as you are sure you are not overstating your exercise calories give it a go!


    I have lost 52lbs since March not trying to "know better" than an expert site and have done it healthily and been able to stick to it and do an average of 7 hours exercise a week without feeling weak and flaky - purely because this plan feeds your workouts.

    .
  • katie81smith
    katie81smith Posts: 40 Member
    I have always struggled with eating, and now that i'm over 30 i have ballooned like crazy, and I'm trying to do something about my weight.. i'm concerned that I may be doing more harm than good. I look at the calories i have left for the day and start to freak out and start eating all kinds of junk food just to fill the calories.... what should I be doing.. I don't think what i'm doing is right, but I'm not sure what the right thing is.. The other problem I run into is that i just got braces put on and I was told NO nuts.... and nuts seem to be a lot of what people are recommending.. help please!!!
  • Ahluvly
    Ahluvly Posts: 389 Member
    Shabba!

    Right, you really need to work out what your true TDEE is. Like someone pointed out, this question has been posted and answered many times however, I don't mind giving my input again and trying to help someone on here, the forums are good for support!

    It is important you eat enough to fuel your body throughout the day....

    Work out your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). This is what you need to eat in order to maintain your current weight based on your current lifestyle. I would personally recommend you using the following link to work this out. Since you are wanting to lose weighet, I would then suggest you reduce this figure by 10-20% then eat that number of calories each day. MFP does it slightly different but, you gotta get your head around whatever you using. In your example, 1500 cals may be loads for one person but not enough for another so it really does depends on what your stats are (age, weight, height & gender).

    Here's the link I recommend you use to work out your TDEE, BMR and activity level. Unless you use a HRM, I would suggest you use Jillian's chart to guesstimate what your burns are for each workout each week then averaging them over the 7 days..

    http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fitness-and-diet-tips/determining-your-AMR

    Hope that helps :smile:
    Add
    Hello

    So lets say my daily caloric intake goal is 1500 cal a day.
    And lets say that i burnt off 400 cal at the gym
    MFP tells me I earned 400 extra to eat..
    should i or should i not eat 400 cal extra? I thought I shouldn't because this 400 cal deficit means just a step closer to weight loss?

    What are your thoughts

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