Exercise calories: To eat or not to eat?

nicolemtracy
nicolemtracy Posts: 301 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.
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Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/729141-exercise-calories-to-eat-or-not-to-eat-results?hl=exercise+calories+psulemon&page=1#posts-10742097

    Don't be stealing my thread title, lol.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.
    BTW, do you want to keep your muscle or not? You workout so you can eat more and be fit. So if you want a tighter body and definition at some point and probably limit saggy skin, yes, you should eat them back.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.

    If you calculated your calorie goal assuming you'd be sedentary, then yes.

    If you calculated your calorie goal already factoring in exercise, then no.

    Personally I calculate my calorie goal assuming no exercise, then add in exercise, because my exercise is highly unpredictable.
  • nicolemtracy
    nicolemtracy Posts: 301 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/729141-exercise-calories-to-eat-or-not-to-eat-results?hl=exercise+calories+psulemon&page=1#posts-10742097

    Don't be stealing my thread title, lol.

    HA HA HA!! Omg, that's so funny! Sorry XD Didn't even notice. And here I though I was being all original. Imma go cry now ;P
  • nicolemtracy
    nicolemtracy Posts: 301 Member
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.
    BTW, do you want to keep your muscle or not? You workout so you can eat more and be fit. So if you want a tighter body and definition at some point and probably limit saggy skin, yes, you should eat them back.

    What muscle? ;) I'm just focusing on cardio to help lose some of this weight and see if I can find my muscles under it, I'll start building them up once I find them. :) My other problem is I think my elliptical is lying to me. I'm actually tempted to call the company and ask. On level 9 it says I lost 1004 calories today... That seems like an awful lot, but maybe it could be a good guesstimate considering I need to factor in speed and resistance??? Idk. If it is accurate I'm slightly mortified at the idea of eating 1000 extra calories because of it! D:
  • nicolemtracy
    nicolemtracy Posts: 301 Member
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.

    If you calculated your calorie goal assuming you'd be sedentary, then yes.

    If you calculated your calorie goal already factoring in exercise, then no.

    Personally I calculate my calorie goal assuming no exercise, then add in exercise, because my exercise is highly unpredictable.

    Makes sense. I don't want to factor in exercise either in case one day I wake up sicker than a dog or just extremely lazy and don't work out. ;P
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.

    If you calculated your calorie goal assuming you'd be sedentary, then yes.

    If you calculated your calorie goal already factoring in exercise, then no.

    Personally I calculate my calorie goal assuming no exercise, then add in exercise, because my exercise is highly unpredictable.

    Makes sense. I don't want to factor in exercise either in case one day I wake up sicker than a dog or just extremely lazy and don't work out. ;P

    Yeah, that's why I don't :laugh:

    I just want credit for the calories I've burned that day and that's it.
  • j4zepedajj
    j4zepedajj Posts: 70
    No, you have a target Calorie intake and protein intake... The exercise is to help you burn fat and add muscle. Remember there are 3000 calories in 1 pound of fat and 2500 calories in 1 pound of muscle... to lose weight you have to burn and lower your calorie intake.. and increase your protein intake (which adds calories, but they are good clean energy giving calories)... so a rule of thumb is to hit your target calorie intake and then subtract your workout calories from that... at the end of the week the closer you get to the 3000 calorie mark.. the more weight you'll lose...
  • tgfain
    tgfain Posts: 3 Member
    I use a Polar Heart Rate Monitor that tells me exactly how many calories I am burning during my workouts. I used to go by my treadmill but it was completely off from what I was actually burning. My friend got me into using it and she is a huge health nut.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.
    BTW, do you want to keep your muscle or not? You workout so you can eat more and be fit. So if you want a tighter body and definition at some point and probably limit saggy skin, yes, you should eat them back.

    What muscle? ;) I'm just focusing on cardio to help lose some of this weight and see if I can find my muscles under it, I'll start building them up once I find them. :) My other problem is I think my elliptical is lying to me. I'm actually tempted to call the company and ask. On level 9 it says I lost 1004 calories today... That seems like an awful lot, but maybe it could be a good guesstimate considering I need to factor in speed and resistance??? Idk. If it is accurate I'm slightly mortified at the idea of eating 1000 extra calories because of it! D:

    While you may lose a little more weight doing just cardio, you will end up losing more muscle. I would highly suggest doing 3 days of full body weight training and 3 days of cardio. You will see much greater changes in body composition this way.. aka, muscle preservation and greater fat loss. Also, weight training provides so many more benefits to women.
  • keenesmom
    keenesmom Posts: 115 Member
    Most of the time I did not eat back my exercise calories. I was fine and didn't starve.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    No, you have a target Calorie intake and protein intake... The exercise is to help you burn fat and add muscle. Remember there are 3000 calories in 1 pound of fat and 2500 calories in 1 pound of muscle... to lose weight you have to burn and lower your calorie intake.. and increase your protein intake (which adds calories, but they are good clean energy giving calories)... so a rule of thumb is to hit your target calorie intake and then subtract your workout calories from that... at the end of the week the closer you get to the 3000 calorie mark.. the more weight you'll lose...

    There is 3500 calories in a lb of fat, not 3000. And that can be done by eating 500 calories a day less than you burn.
  • Rhonnie
    Rhonnie Posts: 506 Member
    MFP already works a deficit into your calorie limit so you will lose weight even if you don't exercise so If you have used MFP to calculate how many calories you should eat in a day then you need to eat at least some of the calories back (on big burn days that can be difficult, but shoot for at least 50%) otherwise you are going below your BMR (the amount of calories your body burns in a day not counting exercise) and if you do that on a regular basis you can go into starvation mode and stop losing weight. In general it is believed MFP sets calories limits to low so the alternative is just to up your calorie limit a couple hundred every day (you can set it manually) and then don't eat your calories back. I find that is sometimes easier to plan for.
  • iscootjg
    iscootjg Posts: 2
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.
    BTW, do you want to keep your muscle or not? You workout so you can eat more and be fit. So if you want a tighter body and definition at some point and probably limit saggy skin, yes, you should eat them back.

    What muscle? ;) I'm just focusing on cardio to help lose some of this weight and see if I can find my muscles under it, I'll start building them up once I find them. :) My other problem is I think my elliptical is lying to me. I'm actually tempted to call the company and ask. On level 9 it says I lost 1004 calories today... That seems like an awful lot, but maybe it could be a good guesstimate considering I need to factor in speed and resistance??? Idk. If it is accurate I'm slightly mortified at the idea of eating 1000 extra calories because of it! D:

    Weight training revs your metabolism for hours after you do it. Not to mention that the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you burn at rest. And for me it's nice to see the tone muscle coming through the fat:) I would hate to lose the rest of my weight and still not look fit.
  • isayweloseit
    isayweloseit Posts: 5
    3000 calories in 1 pound of fat? I did NOT know that, thanks!!
  • jadeyq1
    jadeyq1 Posts: 178 Member
    I tend not to eat mine and I'm losing weight every week. I'm very much like you in that I do all cardio and I'll work on my muscles when they appear! Haha! :)
  • ThePolishExperiment
    ThePolishExperiment Posts: 32 Member
    No you don't have to eat them, if you have already worked out your calories to include any working out that you will be doing, like I have, then you just eat that amount of calories. But if you feel like a treat then you can always have something. won't hurt as long as its not a constant thing.
  • Emilie04444
    Emilie04444 Posts: 151 Member
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.
    BTW, do you want to keep your muscle or not? You workout so you can eat more and be fit. So if you want a tighter body and definition at some point and probably limit saggy skin, yes, you should eat them back.

    What muscle? ;) I'm just focusing on cardio to help lose some of this weight and see if I can find my muscles under it, I'll start building them up once I find them. :) My other problem is I think my elliptical is lying to me. I'm actually tempted to call the company and ask. On level 9 it says I lost 1004 calories today... That seems like an awful lot, but maybe it could be a good guesstimate considering I need to factor in speed and resistance??? Idk. If it is accurate I'm slightly mortified at the idea of eating 1000 extra calories because of it! D:

    While you may lose a little more weight doing just cardio, you will end up losing more muscle. I would highly suggest doing 3 days of full body weight training and 3 days of cardio. You will see much greater changes in body composition this way.. aka, muscle preservation and greater fat loss. Also, weight training provides so many more benefits to women.

    I was thinking the same thing. You have to build muscle even in the beginning because doing just cardio will cause muscle loss. Plus, having more muscle raises your metabolism hence the weight will come off faster. It's a win win. I you wait for the fat to come off, there won't be toned muscle under the fat and you could have lots of sagging...
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    I tend not to eat mine and I'm losing weight every week. I'm very much like you in that I do all cardio and I'll work on my muscles when they appear! Haha! :)

    If they appear.
  • Ralphoo
    Ralphoo Posts: 1
    I understand, but the muscles are still under there!
  • ggxx100
    ggxx100 Posts: 520 Member
    It's really about hunger cues. Now, personally, once I do cardio (or god forbid, water aerobics), I'm usually ravenous and do fuel more after. I'm guessing you do know your target calories for the day, with your average activity level factored in. I'd say go by that as a general rule, and eat more if you feel hungry, plain and simple. I generally know my body needs 1800 to maintain with my workout regime, so I stay around that. If I'm feeling hungry, I fuel accordingly. If I'm not, I don't. I know intuitive eating seems to go against the idea of logging calories, but in actuality you can implement both.
  • watfordjc
    watfordjc Posts: 304 Member
    Eat them back. Not doing so may take you to a point of severely under-eating (depending on amount of exercise you're doing) and overshoot your weekly deficit (weight loss) goal - would you have chosen 4 lb per week if MFP gave you that option and told you to do several hours of cardio per day, or did you choose what most people consider "safe"?

    Disconnecting activity level with food intake may make a transition into maintenance harder.

    N.B. This doesn't apply if you've modified how you use MFP so you can use TDEE-X%. I dropped out of A-Level Psychology so the previous paragraph may be nonsense.
  • sexymuffintop
    sexymuffintop Posts: 636
    And yet again the subject come up.....If you are following calorie amounts set by MFP it is designed so you DO include your exercise calories and eat them back. Your deficit is already built in by default without adding exercise calories, so in theory you can lose weight without any exercise at all following MFP's calorie allowance. Your exercise calories are a bonus. Eat them.
  • marc_s_johnson
    marc_s_johnson Posts: 107 Member
    I don't eat mine back, I eat my 2160 cals which is set to maintain and never eat back the 400-600 I burn a day, my weight has continued to drop and my muscles are still forming and coming through.

    I am thinking about trying it for a week to see the other side but right now I'm eating plenty without the exercise calories and my progress is still continuing.
  • MouthyMatthewCHANGED
    MouthyMatthewCHANGED Posts: 85
    3000 calories in 1 pound of fat? I did NOT know that, thanks!!

    You didn't know it because he's wrong to say it.

    There are 3,500 calories in 1lb of fat, not 3,000.

    Misinformation like this really winds me up, as it only serves to confuse people.
  • RonandDi
    RonandDi Posts: 120 Member
    Misinformation like this really winds me up, as it only serves to confuse people.

    Ha...then you're in the wrong place.
  • Nissi51
    Nissi51 Posts: 381 Member
    I tend not to eat mine and I'm losing weight every week. I'm very much like you in that I do all cardio and I'll work on my muscles when they appear! Haha! :)

    If they appear.


    Unfortunately muscles just don't APPEAR!! You Actually have to work at it! Lean tissue is active..it is your greatest ally in the battle to 'lose weight". A wise weight loss program includes weight training

    I do not eat back my exercise calories.. But I only use MFP as a food journal really
  • knitwit0704
    knitwit0704 Posts: 376
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.

    If you calculated your calorie goal assuming you'd be sedentary, then yes.

    If you calculated your calorie goal already factoring in exercise, then no.

    Personally I calculate my calorie goal assuming no exercise, then add in exercise, because my exercise is highly unpredictable.

    Exactly. But MFP's calories are sometimes WAY high.
  • Andrew_peter
    Andrew_peter Posts: 94 Member
    Doing alternating cardio and weight days with total rest on Sundays, and eating back half of my cardio cals burned and is working good for me. Also using a Polar HRM and subtracting BMR from my exersize, as I am trying to stay as accurate as possible.

    Tried not eating back any at all when I first started, but just found my energy levels were just too low! Listen to your body!!!
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    So I wonder, do you HAVE to eat your exercise calories or is it optional, like a "Oh wow! You worked out today! You can have these extra calories to treat yourself if you want, but you don't have to." type thing? I really have no clue.

    If you calculated your calorie goal assuming you'd be sedentary, then yes.

    If you calculated your calorie goal already factoring in exercise, then no.

    Personally I calculate my calorie goal assuming no exercise, then add in exercise, because my exercise is highly unpredictable.

    Exactly. But MFP's calories are sometimes WAY high.

    You mean the calories MFP estimates for exercise? I agree.

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