Why exercise if you eat back the calories?

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Replies

  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
    I find it kind of sad when people say they exercise to eat more. Is eating really that exciting a part of your day that you're willing to exercise just to obtain more food? IMHO, that's the mentality that leads to obesity in the first place.

    Food is fuel for your body. It isn't your friend, your security blanket, your hobby, a reward, your lover or the reason to exist. Exercise is for fitness and feeling strong and healthy, not a gimmick to earn more food.

    Most people over estimate their calorie burn (especially using MFP numbers) to start with and under estimate what they eat so doing 20 minutes of 30DS to earn more food seems really pointless.

    Food was meant to be ENJOYED. It just wasn't meant to be abused.

    Exercise is supposed to be enjoyed as well. I think what you mean to say (correct me if I'm wrong) is over exercising to compensate for an unhealthy relationship with food can be dangerous.

    It's what our bodies are designed to do. Eat and stay active. Over doing both or either of these things is when problems arise.

    EDIT: typo
  • valerieg78
    valerieg78 Posts: 84 Member
    .bump to read later
  • skmolove
    skmolove Posts: 191 Member
    bump :smile:
  • littleblackcar
    littleblackcar Posts: 24
    Because it's good for you.



    Bodies were meant to move. Exercise has benefits other than just burning calories.
  • junkie_99
    junkie_99 Posts: 26
    Lean muscle burns more calories.
  • Outlawhorses
    Outlawhorses Posts: 23 Member
    This has has me wondering too. If you should really be eating back those calories or if they should be a deficit. I think hey hold be a deficit. I have been trying to research this out.. I'm o confused..
  • Klem4
    Klem4 Posts: 399 Member
    Simple, because your body needs fuel. You don't expect a car with no gas to run do you? Same with your body. I was confused at first too, but the more I read, the more it made sense. And once I started doing it, the weight has come off.
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
    Would someone be willing to explain this?

    What impact will exercise have on your weight loss if you eat back the calories burned?

    It's just a difference in the way MFP calculates your deficit from typical programs.

    A normal weightloss program will add your average daily burn and your exercise burned calories together and then subtract your deficit. I'm going to just use round numbers to make the math easy. So you burn 1800 calories just in your normal day. Then you do the workout that goes with your program and burn off 200. Now you've expended 2000 calories for the day. The recommended amount of calories to eat would be 1500, right? (500 calories deficit = 1lb a week)

    When you calculate it in MFP, it just does the math in a different order. It takes your daily burn of 1800, and subtracts your deficit of 500 first, so that you will be on pace, even if you miss your workout. So now your goal is 1300. To maintain the same deficit if you burn 200 more calories at the gym, to maintain the same deficit, you've now "earned" extra calories to eat, to get to the same 1500 calories as listed above.

    If you were to eat 1300 while burning 2000 calories, you may lose more, but you would be in danger of running too high a deficit and likely would get less out of your workouts (because you would not be fueling them adequately)

    It's literally just the order in which you subtract your deficit calories or add your exercise calories.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    This has has me wondering too. If you should really be eating back those calories or if they should be a deficit. I think hey hold be a deficit. I have been trying to research this out.. I'm o confused..

    You and I could be the exact same height, weight job etc, and when we tell MFP we want to lose 1lb a week, it will give us both the same calorie goal.

    But if one of us sits in front of the TV every night, and the other one runs 5 miles a night burning an extra 500 calories, do you think we should still eat the same calories as each other to lose that 1lb a week?

    No, the runner could eat back their running calories, and still be at the same defict, and still lose their 1lb a week, as MFP's goal already has a defict baked in, so that people that don't exercise can still lose weight.
  • martintanz
    martintanz Posts: 280
    I find it kind of sad when people say they exercise to eat more. Is eating really that exciting a part of your day that you're willing to exercise just to obtain more food? IMHO, that's the mentality that leads to obesity in the first place.

    Food is fuel for your body. It isn't your friend, your security blanket, your hobby, a reward, your lover or the reason to exist. Exercise is for fitness and feeling strong and healthy, not a gimmick to earn more food.

    Most people over estimate their calorie burn (especially using MFP numbers) to start with and under estimate what they eat so doing 20 minutes of 30DS to earn more food seems really pointless.

    Food is for fuel and sex is for reproduction. If you really believe what you say, you should never have sex just for fun. Only when you want to have children.

    It could be that the diet only mentality leads to yo yo weight loss and obesity. That is, without exercise, you need to eat less and less to continue losing weight. Adding exercise to the mix keeps things interesting, and increases the chances of maintaining the weight loss long term.

    Also agree with others that fitness is its own reward, overlapping weight loss to some extent, but also a pleasure in its own right. Hiking, biking, swimming, traveling. Being able to walk someplace without getting winded. Being able to go on vacation and be on my feet all day without having to rest. Maybe when you are 15 or 20 you take those things for granted. Not so obvious when you get older.
  • anasantos61
    anasantos61 Posts: 86 Member
    Bump
  • debrawallin
    debrawallin Posts: 55 Member
    Great response!

    I've always eaten back my exercise calories. I'll tell you why I exercise:
    -for cardiovascular fitness
    -to maintain muscle mass (especially important while I was losing weight)
    -to maintain good bone density
    -to manage my moods and keep me sane (cardio)
    -to learn to do something (running) that I never thought I could do - massive confidence boost
    -because there is a lot of research that indicates that exercise helps ward off all kind of lifestyle-related diseases
    -because it's fun
    -to raise my TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) so that I can eat more. Some people are a bit sniffy about this reason, but having a couple of hundred extra calories a day to consume makes a low calorie diet much more manageable, and enjoyable. I'm not ashamed to say I like to eat.
    -because since I started heavy lifting, my body looks a lot better than it did before, and than it would if I was just doing cardio
    -because it makes me feel strong and able to do physical tasks in every day life (and will hopefully reduce the risk of injury in such tasks)

    There are probably a lot more. The reason I always ate those calories back was because I was following MFP the way it was designed (there are other ways) and to keep my calorie deficit reasonable. I didn't want to lose too much lean mass as I lost weight, and I didn't want to feel tired and lacking in energy. There was a time when my calorie deficit was too large (I always ate back my execise calories but my basic calorie goal was too low) and I felt tired all the time, had dizzy spells and my mood really suffered. I was trying to start running and never had the energy to put the required effort in. That would have been even worse if I hadn't eaten my exercise calories.
  • csheltra26
    csheltra26 Posts: 272 Member
    I find it kind of sad when people say they exercise to eat more. Is eating really that exciting a part of your day that you're willing to exercise just to obtain more food? IMHO, that's the mentality that leads to obesity in the first place.

    Food is fuel for your body. It isn't your friend, your security blanket, your hobby, a reward, your lover or the reason to exist. Exercise is for fitness and feeling strong and healthy, not a gimmick to earn more food.

    Most people over estimate their calorie burn (especially using MFP numbers) to start with and under estimate what they eat so doing 20 minutes of 30DS to earn more food seems really pointless.

    However, those of us that do a 60 min kickboxing class after lifting some heavy weights have burned enough that we can eat those exercise caloires.

    I did that - ate too little and exercised way too much and lost tons of weight. The problem? Once I couldn't keep up the 2+ hours of exercise a day I gained all of the weight back very quickly. Too much of a deficit.

    Figure out your TDEE, less 500 calories a day and that is your golden spot. That should result in a pound a week weight loss. If you could eat more and STILL lose weight, why wouldn't you want to???
  • csheltra26
    csheltra26 Posts: 272 Member
    Sometimes I exercise to eat more, and sometimes I eat more to exercise more. If I didn't eat the way I do, I couldn't lift as heavy or run as hard. If I didn't lift so heavy and run so hard, I couldn't eat the way I do. On different days, I have different priorities.

    I don't think exercising to eat more is sad at all. I love food. Food is supposed to be more than fuel. It's supposed to be pleasurable. Just like clothes are for more than just to keep my body warm, a house is more than just shelter, and sex isn't just for baby-making. :laugh:

    As hard as it would have been at one time for me to believe, exercise can be pleasurable, too. I just got in from a 4 mile trail run in the mud, bouncing down the side of a mountain like a happy little goat. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, I forgot the sheer JOY that comes from exerting your body. I'm glad I found that joy again. :smile:


    THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Maddalen101
    Maddalen101 Posts: 307 Member
    Even a body at rest - no activity at all - is burning calories.
    You need a minimum for maintenance of health.
    If you underfuel yourself, your body will think you're starving.
    Feed your body enough fuel to stay healthy.
    If you exercise, it's OK to eat back those calories, for the extra effort requires more fuel.
  • Guisma
    Guisma Posts: 215
    More muscles burns more fat , atleast i¨ve heard so...
  • wastelander92
    wastelander92 Posts: 25 Member
    Ha! That made my day =)
  • cwells23
    cwells23 Posts: 1 Member
    Because as long as I'm exercising, I'm not consuming calories ;)
  • marinebiologist_girl
    marinebiologist_girl Posts: 300
    Myfitnesspal already creates a deficit for you. For example, a woman my age should net around 2,000 calories to maintain - mfp said to eat 1,200 to lose.

    So if you exercise and burn, say, 600 calories, then you're only eating 600 calories in total, a day, if you eat the full 1,200 to begin with. Which is just under a quarter of the food you would eat to not lose or gain weight. Which is as bad as it sounds.

    So if you eat 1,200 calories, and burn 600 calories, then you have an extra 600 calories of food you can eat to reach 1,200 and continue to lose at a healthy rate.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,224 Member
    I find it kind of sad when people say they exercise to eat more. Is eating really that exciting a part of your day that you're willing to exercise just to obtain more food? IMHO, that's the mentality that leads to obesity in the first place.

    Food is fuel for your body. It isn't your friend, your security blanket, your hobby, a reward, your lover or the reason to exist. Exercise is for fitness and feeling strong and healthy, not a gimmick to earn more food.

    It's not about eating being the highlight of my day or anything. Then again, exercise isn't such a horrible chore - why wouldn't I be willing to do to it for such a small reason (never mind the myriad of other reasons stated in my post).

    Food is fuel, and it's nourishment. It is also a huge part of all human cultures, and we have evolved to find physical pleasure in it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying food. Using it as a "security blanket" or a reason to exist is hugely problematic and psychologically unhealthy. That's not the only way to enjoy food though.

    I enjoy it like I enjoy music, and art, and sitting in the sunshine, and walking the dog. It's a simple, sensory pleasure, and one worth savouring in what can be at times a pretty crappy life. I love sitting down to a plate of grilled salmon and broccoli, or the smell of a freshly baked loaf, or a piece of strong cheese with a glass of red. Am I really to be embarrassed or ashamed of that? I can promise you, none of those things made me obese.

    In the context of calorie counting, having 1500 calories to consume in a day is a lot more manageable than 1300, and 1700 is more manageable than 1400. Having those extra calories isn't jut about fitting in treats, it can also reduce the stress of having to juggle meals and micromanage everything.

    Honestly, I find the notion that food should not be enjoyed to be pretty sad.

    ETA: there are other benefits in getting more food than just enjoyment. The more calories I get, the more easily I find I can hit my macro- and micro-nutrient goals.


    Loved your first post but love this one even more!

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