Eating less vs. exercising more

skinnydreams19
skinnydreams19 Posts: 282 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I was really hungry today and ate WAY too much (1800 over), but I also was really active today - if my exercise calories end up being high enough to cancel the excess food calories is that as good as if I hadn't exercised and had stuck to my food calorie goal?

I have a feeling that it's not (because I ate way too much) but why not?

Replies

  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    That's how it works in my book. I aim for mfp to say 0 calories remaining-however I arrive at that is fine in my book.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    From a weight loss perspective, basically yes.
  • lvtruu1
    lvtruu1 Posts: 211 Member
    Calories in calories out.

    So yes if you burn 1800 additional calories exercising it would be a wash. Personally, don't make a habit of over eating and just live with your results for the day. One day, neither makes nor breaks a "diet". Just record it and move on. If you exercise that much it might actually cause you to exercise less some other day from fatigue.
  • gemmaleigh1989
    gemmaleigh1989 Posts: 241 Member
    Exactly. Go by NET calories. The calories you consumed after taking into account what you burned through exercise and BMR.


    In saying that, it is very hard to "out run a bad diet" as they say. Good luck trying to burn 1800 through exercise.

    A balance is key.
  • jsidel126
    jsidel126 Posts: 694 Member
    It takes a long time to exercise off calories that can be all to quickly consumed...One day will not make/break a diet. As a general rule, I don't make a habit out of trying to exercise away excess calories. I watch what I am consuming so I can maintain while doing a reasonable amount of exercise...
  • xxcooneyxx
    xxcooneyxx Posts: 221 Member
    ITs all about eating less than you burn. That being said, its very hard for me to run 5 miles and very easy for me to eat a hamburger that's 500 calories. I find for me 90% of the weight loss is about being strict with what i consume. 10% is exercise. It's different for everyone but I just eat the calories i have my diary set to, and see any exercise I do as bonus weight loss. That's just me though.

    Also, there are a lot of very filling low calorie healthy foods out there, so next time you get very hungry you should shoot for those.
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
    I think anything that gets you exercising more is a good thing for your health. If the promise of 500 extra calories to eat gets you doing intense cardio for an hour, your heart and lungs (and stomach!) will thank you for it.

    Yes, though, if you exercise 350 calories and then eat 350 calories it will cancel out.
  • ranhound
    ranhound Posts: 59 Member
    I heard Dr. Drew Pinsky say that the HABIT of exercising more just so that you can overeat is a type of bulimia. I Googled this:

    http://www.your-bulimia-recovery.com/exercise-bulimia.html
  • michelle7673
    michelle7673 Posts: 370 Member
    Yeah, that is how it works, but try to think of it this way:
    If you ate "maintenance" -- TDEE -- you wouldn't gain weight; you would just tread water.
    So if you do enough exercise to get you back to maintenance, then all that means is it was just one day that you were at balance, and it won't "hurt" you.
    And I agree that going way over and trying to cardio your way out of it is probably not the best approach, but it would be fine in reverse, right? If you went for a four hour hike, and then had a big dinner? And does your body know the difference? I don't think so.
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
    I heard Dr. Drew Pinsky say that the HABIT of exercising more just so that you can overeat is a type of bulimia. I Googled this:

    http://www.your-bulimia-recovery.com/exercise-bulimia.html

    1800 calories is hardly overeating, and an hour of cardio is hardly over-exercising.

    People who have exercise bulimia will compulsively overeat (and by overeat I don't mean going over your calorie restrictive diet by 600 cals, I mean compulsively consuming massive amounts of food), and then exercise excessively (often beyond their physical capacity and without allowing for adequate rest, risking injury) in order to purge.

    This is all coupled with the mindset behind eating disorders (which are mental disorders).

    Doing an extra hour of cardio so you can eat a donut when you're on a diet to get to or maintain a healthy weight is not exercise bulimia.

    ETA: Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not an expert. It's just that bulimia is a serious disease and I'd hate to see it conflated with something benign.
  • skinnydreams19
    skinnydreams19 Posts: 282 Member
    [
    1800 calories is hardly overeating, and an hour of cardio is hardly over-exercising.

    I agree with your general point, but wanted to make it clear that I ate 1800 OVER what I was supposed to eat, 1800 was NOT my total for the day (if it was, I'd rejoice!)
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
    [
    1800 calories is hardly overeating, and an hour of cardio is hardly over-exercising.

    I agree with your general point, but wanted to make it clear that I ate 1800 OVER what I was supposed to eat, 1800 was NOT my total for the day (if it was, I'd rejoice!)

    You said you ate because you were hungry, and if that's true I wouldn't call it a binge.

    Your diary is not open. Can I ask what your calorie goal is? I suspect if you are hungry enough to eat 1800 extra calories, that you might be aiming a little bit too low!

    I also get really hungry on active days. I calculate my TDEE based on light activity and add exercise cals on active days so I can eat more on those days.

    Unless you are a well conditioned athlete I wouldn't suggest trying to work off 1800 calories, you risk injuring yourself. However, a very active day can indeed burn that many extra calories. I'm talking 6 full hours of heavy yardwork activity.
  • atlien78
    atlien78 Posts: 11 Member
    Exactly. Go by NET calories. The calories you consumed after taking into account what you burned through exercise and BMR.


    In saying that, it is very hard to "out run a bad diet" as they say. Good luck trying to burn 1800 through exercise.

    A balance is key.

    In order for me to burn 1800 calories I would have to run about 20 miles!!! Literally 20 miles!!! No thanks!
  • skinnydreams19
    skinnydreams19 Posts: 282 Member
    [
    1800 calories is hardly overeating, and an hour of cardio is hardly over-exercising.

    I agree with your general point, but wanted to make it clear that I ate 1800 OVER what I was supposed to eat, 1800 was NOT my total for the day (if it was, I'd rejoice!)

    You said you ate because you were hungry, and if that's true I wouldn't call it a binge.

    Your diary is not open. Can I ask what your calorie goal is? I suspect if you are hungry enough to eat 1800 extra calories, that you might be aiming a little bit too low!

    I also get really hungry on active days. I calculate my TDEE based on light activity and add exercise cals on active days so I can eat more on those days.

    Unless you are a well conditioned athlete I wouldn't suggest trying to work off 1800 calories, you risk injuring yourself. However, a very active day can indeed burn that many extra calories. I'm talking 6 full hours of heavy yardwork activity.

    It WAS a very active day (and I burned a lot of those before I even ate them, in the course of the day). MFP gave me a 1500 calorie goal...
  • bethira
    bethira Posts: 132 Member
    My advice, for what it's worth, one bad day, is just one bad day. Don't try to work off 1800 calories. Have a good productive workout, finish at what you finish at, and tomorrow, do better. Don't get hung up on one bad day.
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
    It WAS a very active day (and I burned a lot of those before I even ate them, in the course of the day). MFP gave me a 1500 calorie goal...

    Next time track your activity so you can log it as exercise. Maybe if this happens often you can consider a fitbit or bodymedia or whathaveyou to monitor your calories burned?

    The number doesn't really give me a good picture of whether or not it's a good goal for you, but MFP always calculates calories on the low side. Check out this thread for more about how many calories to eat:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
  • jmuhnie
    jmuhnie Posts: 93 Member
    You may find that while on any individual day that eating less vs exercising more is a wash, in the long run exercising more may be of benefit. I want to say that it was resistance training while losing weight help reduce the amount of weight lost from protein vs fat (essentially protecting lean body mass from weight loss). Someone help me out here (maybe i'm wrong) but the metabolism from maintaining muscle mass has got to help the weight loss right? We see all sorts of pictures around here from people that lift weights and eat more calories than everyone else.

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