Starvation with exercise

PaulHalicki
PaulHalicki Posts: 576 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I ride my bicycle a fair amount for exercise. On those days I ride, I enter my exercise in and it will tell me I can eat 2000-3000 more calories because of the exercise.

If I ate that much I think I would be as big as a house. But MFP tells me that if I don't eat, I'm flirting with starvation.

So what's up with that? Is my body really going to go into starvation mode if I don't eat enough to make up the calories they think I've burned while riding? I think their estimates over overstated, personally.

Thoughts?

Replies

  • jenlarz
    jenlarz Posts: 813 Member
    Ever wear an HRM so you know the calorie burn is accurate? MFP can overestimate. Also, there's lots of ideas surrounding starvation mode. You'd have to be under eating for a long time. You do have to properly fuel your body to keep it working at its best though. Sorry this is not put together well, but first I would say make sure your calorie burn is accurate.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    MFP's calorie burn estimates are nonsense, and there's no such thing as "starvation mode."
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    If you're eating a healthy amount of nutritious food you aren't going into the dreaded starvation mode with exercise. Also if you ride that much all the time your body has probably gotten very efficient at doing it and wouldn't burn nearly what MFP estimates.
  • BRay216
    BRay216 Posts: 10 Member
    Your better off getting an HRM. MFP's exercise calorie count is horrible! You would have to go weeks possible months without eat before your in starvation mode. Your body clings onto the fat when your not eating much. The only thing can happen is your metabolism slowing down.
  • lewandt
    lewandt Posts: 566 Member
    For me to burn 2000-3000, i would have to ride half the day away. Seems high to me.

    I would not worry about it if you are not hungry.
  • howardheilweil
    howardheilweil Posts: 604 Member
    How many miles are you riding? How intense of a ride? That seems like a LOT of calories.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I ride my bicycle a fair amount for exercise. On those days I ride, I enter my exercise in and it will tell me I can eat 2000-3000 more calories because of the exercise.

    If I ate that much I think I would be as big as a house. But MFP tells me that if I don't eat, I'm flirting with starvation.

    So what's up with that? Is my body really going to go into starvation mode if I don't eat enough to make up the calories they think I've burned while riding? I think their estimates over overstated, personally.

    Thoughts?


    MFP as designed gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise. When you do exercise, you make the calorie deficit larger. When the calorie deficit is too large .... you risk losing muscle mass along with fat.

    Many people agree that MFP over estimates calorie burns. So they do 1 or 3 things.

    1. Over ride the calories & use a percentage ..... say 60% ..... then increase/decrease that number if weight loss isn't what you expect it to be

    2. Get a HRM .... this should be more accurate. Chest strap models are more accurate than wrist only models.

    3. Use TDEE less a % method. This method INCLUDES exercise up front .... so you just take a percent off & don't log exercise.

    I feel starvation mode is possible .... anorexia for example ..... but really extreme cases. What is more common though, is muscle loss during dieting. Preserving muscle is important for your metabolism.
  • PaulHalicki
    PaulHalicki Posts: 576 Member
    To give a better idea of what I'm talking about,

    Saturday, I rode 44 miles on a fixed gear bicycle including several steep hill climbs, with temps in the 90s. I am playing with apps to track my rides and this one got messed up during the ride, but basically I started at 7:30 am, finished at noon, and stopped an hour to eat breakfast. I put it 210 minutes (3.5 hours) under "Bicycling, 12-14 mph, moderate (cycling, biking, bike riding)" and it gave me credit for 2921 calories. I did eat a lot that day, 3391 calories logged. against the 2921 exercise calories, for a net of +470 calories.

    Sunday, I rode 32 miles (fixed), a little less hilly, night ride. Rode about 150 minutes (2.5 hours), again put it under "Bicycling, 12-14 mph, moderate (cycling, biking, bike riding)" and it gave me credit for 2087 calories. I ingested 1910 calories, so it shows me as having -177 net calories.

    If you're not familiar with what fixed gear means, it's a single speed bike that does not coast (i.e., even on downhills my legs are spinning, and I use my legs to slow down as well as accelerate). So it *is* better exercise than a regular bicycle that has a freewheel and you can coast.

    That's more of a weekend thing; during the week if I ride that hard during the week it's usually just on Wednesday night, and it's comparable to what I did Sunday night. (And I don't always ride fixed gear.)

    So most days I'll have something more like 300 calories of exercise due to walking the dog, and I pretty much stay under my calorie budget even without taking that into account.

    So far I've dropped about 3 lb. in the first week (which isn't unusual for me when I start a new diet; just cutting the evening crap out of my diet will get me to drop a few pounds quickly). I'm 6'-2" and currently weigh 229.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php

    I plugged your data into the Calories Burned website and got 2908 and 2077 calories burned. So yeah, the calorie burn sounds about right.
  • PaulHalicki
    PaulHalicki Posts: 576 Member
    http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php

    I plugged your data into the Calories Burned website and got 2908 and 2077 calories burned. So yeah, sounds about right.

    Yeah, it kind of lined up to what I'm seeing off my bicycle tracking app, more or less, as well. The 44 mile ride was truly exhausting. I usually drink a couple of 8 oz. cartons of chocolate milk as a recovery drink; I had to do 4 of those before I felt any recovery at all on Saturday. The Sunday ride was more within my limits and I didn't feel particularly winded when I got home.
  • PaulHalicki
    PaulHalicki Posts: 576 Member
    Oh, and to answer the question that was raised, no, I haven't tried a HRM. If I get acceptable weight loss doing what I'm doing and I feel good, I probably won't bother with it, unless I happen to get one cheap or free.

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