Use Em or Lose Em??

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cryket03
cryket03 Posts: 4
in Fitness and Exercise
So this has been my greatest challenge since trying to lose weight. Is finding the RIGHT asnwer when it comes to those workout calories.

I work hard to burn off 600 calories in a day, but then some people tell me I should eat those calories all over again. Which to me sounds kinda counter productive. I know I need 1200 a day, and I get them...but do I REALLY need to replace what I burn?

I cannot seem to find a common answer. Some people say eat them, some say don't. There is nothing conclusive online I can find either, it sways both ways in the articles I find.

So, figured I would ask here as well. What do you do? Use em or lose em?

Replies

  • rtmama
    rtmama Posts: 403 Member
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    If you use the search option here, you will find about a million other threads discussing the same thing.
    Good luck!
  • mrsw510
    mrsw510 Posts: 169
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    I don't re-eat my calories burned. Lossing weight is all about creating a calorie deficit. If you eat everything you burn you won't have a deficit, you will break even. Therefore you will maintain but not lose.

    Thats my understanding anyway. If I am wrong some feel free to correct me.
  • fitzio1015
    fitzio1015 Posts: 168
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    Honestly it all depends how i feel..... If after i work out i normally try to eat a yougurt and some almonds...... but if i am feeling weak or tired after i workout i eat a lil more..... but just don't fill your body with junk..... i never eat all my workout calories if i do i just feel gross......Just listen to your body...it will tell you what it needs....
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Put it this way if you are set up to loose 2 pounds per week you are already eating 1000 less calories then your body needs to maintain your current weight. If you exercise say 500 calories you are now at a deficit of 1500 calories, which over time may slow your metabolism down, causing you to plateau. The 1200 that is suggested is net calories if you eat 1200 then burn 500 your net calories are only 700. Your body will react as if you only at 700 not the 1200 as suggested.

    That being said you don't need to eat all of your exercise calories as in an hour workout if you burn 500 calories you would have burned some of those at rest anyway (say 1 per minute, may be as high as 2) 1 calorie x 60 minutes = 60 calories, so you should add 440 (500-60) into MFP and eat those as the other 60 are already taken into account in your daily goal.
  • nikicoleman
    nikicoleman Posts: 55 Member
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    Personally I lose them - for me it works. I know for some people though, they need to eat them all (or partially) back to help continue losing weight. For my body type, I am not hungry or in need of the calories to continue at a nice steady weight loss pace. I would do what works for you. If you find you are at a plateau and you are working out and eating well - you may want to eat part of them back. Experiment. I don't know if you drink milk, but add an extra glass of milk or something if you want to use a part of them. :) Best of luck to you.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I don't re-eat my calories burned. Lossing weight is all about creating a calorie deficit. If you eat everything you burn you won't have a deficit, you will break even. Therefore you will maintain but not lose.

    Thats my understanding anyway. If I am wrong some feel free to correct me.

    This is correct in theory but if you set up a goal on MFP to loose weight you are already in a caloric deficit.

    Your body need fuel to keep your metabolism going in order for it to burn calories efficiently, if not you will burn calories slower and when you do up your caloric intake you will put weight back on as it will take time for you metabolism to "re-start".
  • gnme4243
    gnme4243 Posts: 120
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    I don't eat them all, ever. Some days I burn 1400+ calories with the hiking and backpacking I do, there is no way I could stuff down that much additional food. But I do eat some of them most of the time, usually just 100 or so when I am only burning about 600 calories extra, and up to sometimes 300-400 of them when it's over 1000 calories and I have been hiking, those days I am usually a little hungrier anyway.

    Listen to your body, don't force food down if you don't need it. Maintain a good base calories, and depending on exercise, eat more when your body needs it. And be sure what you are eating is a good balance of protein, healthy carbs, fruits, and veggies. Your body really will let you know if you need more food. If your energy is down, or you are sluggish, or even depressed feeling, might be a sign you aren't eating enough.

    Just my 2 cents :):flowerforyou:
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
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    My best answer is this: If what you're doing already works and you're losing weight, why does it matter? If you don't eat them and you're not losing, eat them. At least half. If you're eating them and not losing, don't eat them, or eat less. Just find what works for you. I've been eating mine from day one - I try not to leave more than 100-200 depending on what I ate that day and I've been losing weight just fine. Everyone is different when it comes to this so just find what works for your body.
  • DrBorkBork
    DrBorkBork Posts: 4,099 Member
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    The way I understand it (and make sense in my head) is that MFP puts you at a deficit already. So if you eat 1200 cals in a day and burn 600 at the gym, it's like you only ate 600 calories. So you would need to eat those 600 calories back to break even at 1200 again. Once I figured that out, I started dropping big pounds.
  • sibach
    sibach Posts: 24
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    Put it this way if you are set up to loose 2 pounds per week you are already eating 1000 less calories then your body needs to maintain your current weight. If you exercise say 500 calories you are now at a deficit of 1500 calories, which over time may slow your metabolism down, causing you to plateau. The 1200 that is suggested is net calories if you eat 1200 then burn 500 your net calories are only 700. Your body will react as if you only at 700 not the 1200 as suggested.

    That being said you don't need to eat all of your exercise calories as in an hour workout if you burn 500 calories you would have burned some of those at rest anyway (say 1 per minute, may be as high as 2) 1 calorie x 60 minutes = 60 calories, so you should add 440 (500-60) into MFP and eat those as the other 60 are already taken into account in your daily goal.

    I agree with this, I use mine and normally need them, but almost never eat all of them.
  • twilight1542
    twilight1542 Posts: 403
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    I don't re-eat my calories burned. Lossing weight is all about creating a calorie deficit. If you eat everything you burn you won't have a deficit, you will break even. Therefore you will maintain but not lose.

    Thats my understanding anyway. If I am wrong some feel free to correct me.

    I hate to say it.....but I believe you misunderstood how MFP works.....You are already on a calorie deficit....Example: Based on my stats and "sedentary" lifestyle, MFP estimates that I need 1650 calories per day. So if I were to eat 1650 calories I would maintain my current weight. However, I am still trying to lose some more weight. Given that 1200 calories per day is the lowest recommended intake of calories, I have a calorie deficit of 450 calories per day (1650 calories per day to maintain weight less actual intake of 1200 = deficit of 450 calories per day. Since 1 lb is the equivalent of 3500 calories, my esimated weight loss is .9 lbs per week (450 deficit per day x 7 days per week = 3,150 calorie deficit per week). So in theory, I could simply eat only 1200 calories per day, not exercise at all and I would lose .9 lbs per week. However, I do chose to exercise on a daily basis. I typically do 1 hr of cardio and burn about 600 calories--I use a heart rate monitor so I'm pretty confident in the numbers. So if I ate 1200 calories per day and burned 600 calories doing exercise, my daily net calories would be 600 calories (1650 calories to live off of with no activity - 600 calories burned from exercise - 450 calorie deficit from MFP). If I consistently did that, my body would eventually go into starvation mode because I am simply not providing it with enough nutrients. A simple example is that of a car. You would never fill your gas tank up halfway and expect to drive the same distance that you could on a full tank...It wouldn't work because the car requires a static amount of fuel for each mile drive. Your body is the same way. This isn't to say that starvation mode is a given because everyone's body is different and MFP does use estimates. So someone might be able to do a huge calorie deficit and continue to lose weight for a long time whereas another person might go into starvation mode quickly. Really, you just have to listen to your body, but for the average person, you are better off eating back at least some of your exercise calories. The only exception I make for this is the occasional day where I am insanely active and couldn't possibly eat back the calories (There are days where I'll do manual labor for 8+ hrs and burn 2000-3000 calories per my HRM...There's no way I could force myself to eat that many extra calories so I just let that go because it isn't the norm for me and 1 day here and there of that is not going to lead to starvation mode).
  • mommyhof3
    mommyhof3 Posts: 551 Member
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    So this has been my greatest challenge since trying to lose weight. Is finding the RIGHT asnwer when it comes to those workout calories.

    I work hard to burn off 600 calories in a day, but then some people tell me I should eat those calories all over again. Which to me sounds kinda counter productive. I know I need 1200 a day, and I get them...but do I REALLY need to replace what I burn?

    I cannot seem to find a common answer. Some people say eat them, some say don't. There is nothing conclusive online I can find either, it sways both ways in the articles I find.

    So, figured I would ask here as well. What do you do? Use em or lose em?


    Honestly, I was not eating all my exercise calories and I would vary back and forth between my one or two lb loss/gain. Then I changed my goals to losing 1 lb a week and ate most of my exercise calories and I have been losing regularly now. So eating them works well for me.
  • FabiolaEnvy♥
    FabiolaEnvy♥ Posts: 730
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    i agree with erickurb and arielle

    so what works for you :)
  • MisdemeanorM
    MisdemeanorM Posts: 3,493 Member
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    My 2 cents here - I am all for eating your calories. - I'll leave the nitty gritty details for Banks to cut and paste in a super answer of his :) or do a "eating exercise calorie" search on the boards and read what he has written about it. It will make loads of sense.

    1) make sure you are counting your cals correctly - get a heart rate monitor so you don't over eat your calories because the machine says you burned 800 calories but you really burned 420...

    2) don't think you have to stuff your face to get your calories in! A spoonfull of peanut butter is about 200 cals and loaded with protein. 3-4 bites of PB and you can have your 600-800 calories eaten (I would not necessarily do them all at once though.)

    3) many people say that they are losing weight by not eating their cals. BUT you don't know their whole story. What is their deficit set at? Has it worked long term for them or just for the past 3 weeks? Are they accurately counting their cals and exercise cals? Do they weight themselves at consistent times? How much water do they drink? There are a lot of variables. Listen to the science behind it and why it works. It is substantially backed.

    Side note - if I have a super active out of the ordinary day I don't always eat them all back, because it is the pattern that is most important - not consistently being under. Just as if I totally overeat one day, if I under eat once in a while I don't worry about it. It's not enough to train my metabolism badly. But for the basic day to day I try to be within about 100 cals in either direction of my goal count of between 1500 and 2000ish depending if and how much I workout.
  • kiffypooh
    kiffypooh Posts: 1,045 Member
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    I don't re-eat my calories burned. Lossing weight is all about creating a calorie deficit. If you eat everything you burn you won't have a deficit, you will break even. Therefore you will maintain but not lose.

    Thats my understanding anyway. If I am wrong some feel free to correct me.

    I agree with this, but your body is burning more then 1200 a day just by being you :happy: so those exercise calories create a bigger deficit, which would mean more weight loss, but by eating them I don't think it means you would maintain. At least that's how I see it. Mine all depends on my goals and my day. I realized last week that I was not on task for my May goal, so I haven't been eating all of my calories. However, if I'm hungry, I eat them. Once I catch up to my May goal and I feel I will succeed at that goal, I will eat my exercise calories. You also have to look at the source of the calories you are burning. Nothing is 100% accurate, if you are going of the MFP data base, a HRM or the machine at the gym, each has it's own margin for error. I find the MFP database is pretty close to my HRM, but a lot of other people say its WAY off. I always leave at least 100 workout calories behind (unless I'm still really hungry) just as a safe buffer for miscalculations on either my food or my calories burned.

    I think you will find people who swear by each side and you just need to figure out what works for you.
  • lisawest
    lisawest Posts: 798 Member
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    You are DEFINATELY not the first one to ask this question! I've tried it all, and at different times the different approaches have worked for me. I've eaten all, some and none of my exercise calories at different times. As for the WHY of it, here is a great thread that covers this exact question: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo It has great information. Then you have to take it, experiment with it, and find what works best for you. As you travel through the weightloss journey, different approaches will work for you at different times. Do what works until it doesn't, then try something new!

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