Extra Calories from Exercising

shannon2331
shannon2331 Posts: 26
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Is it OK not to eat the extra calories you get from exercising?

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    YOu should eat at least 50% of them or a larger portion of your weight loss will be muscle.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    I wear a Polar FT60 heart rate monitor and have always ate back 85% of my calories burned leaving 15% for error but My belief is I will fuel my body for the exercise that I demand of it to do. My deficit to lose weight is already figured into my weight loss.. Best of Luck....
  • shannon2331
    shannon2331 Posts: 26
    Thanks for info...very new to this. Im doing 45 minutes of cardio every morning and know i didnt feel like I needed to eat the calories back...
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,251 Member
    You will get loads of different answers to this topic, it rages [quite literally] on mfp, some like the answers above say you must, others say no need

    I guess you will have to make your own mind up. FWIW I do not eat back mine, and many do not. You will not drop dead from hunger or malnutrition, see how it goes without eating back, if you are getting tired then eat some back

    MFP overestimates calories on exercise BTW so be wary of taking their figures as gospel
  • alaythea
    alaythea Posts: 29
    I don't eat them. I know approx what my body burns during the day and I know what I need to lose weight. I set my calorie goal "high" enough that I'm fine without eating those "extra" calories. Example - if I burn approx. 1900 calories a day plus an extra 400 working out then I set my calorie intake to 1600 and that's plenty of food and a good calorie deficit as well.
  • shannon2331
    shannon2331 Posts: 26
    Yes, I use the calories burned figure from my actual machine instead of theirs..they were a little high I noticed as well.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Thanks for info...very new to this. Im doing 45 minutes of cardio every morning and know i didnt feel like I needed to eat the calories back...

    I would suggest dropping that much cardio. In fact, it's not healthy to workout every day as it stands since it won't allow your body to heal and recover. More exercise doesn't equate to more weight loss. You would be better off to do 3 days of heavy resistance/weight training and 2 -3 days of cardio (HIIT would even be better than cardio). This will improve fat loss and reduce muscle loss. And since muscle is more dense, the more muscle you have, the tighter your body will be, the more calories your body will burn (as you will have a faster metabolism) and your body overall will be less susceptible to injury.

    BTW, read this.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/729141-exercise-calories-to-eat-or-not-to-eat-results?hl=exercise+calories+psulemon&page=1#posts-10742097


    And this is what I mean by having more muscle

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/392784-skinny-fat-vs-fit-photo?hl=skinny+fat
  • mdorsey2010
    mdorsey2010 Posts: 55
    I personally don't eat them back but do what works for you! The key is to make sure you are logging EVERYTHING so you have record of what is and isn't working for you. If you don't lose for a week or 2, just go back and look at what you were doing when you were. Stay with it, it will happen!
  • shannon2331
    shannon2331 Posts: 26
    Where would I find a good HIIT program to start?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Where would I find a good HIIT program to start?

    At the gym or at home? There is always youtube, www.bodyrock.tv or you can do programs like insanity, chalean extreme, p90x, etc.. You can probably also just google it.
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