If everyday were like today?????

AmberBelandria
AmberBelandria Posts: 78 Member
edited September 22 in Health and Weight Loss
I have read all over this site that you are to eat your exercise calories to meet your goal of calories for that day if you exercise. For example I have mine set at 1300 and I worked out today burning 597 calories. It then said I had 500 some calories left to eat. So when I ate a lil snack it went down to 100 something left to meet my calorie goal. Before I entered my snack the "If everyday were like today" said 154 and then I entered my calories eatn and it went up to 158. I am confused as to why this goes up if we are recommended to eat back our exercise calories. I don't like that number going up. CAN ANYONE SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS PLEASE???

Replies

  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    That little line they give you takes in to account only the amount of calories in versus calories out and nothing else. But, weight loss is dependant on a lot of other things. I tend to ignore that little "if everyday were like today" thing, because for everyday to be like today, you would literally have to do the exact same thing all day, not just food.

    You definitely should eat back some of your exercise calories so that you get your nourishment and replenish that which was lost in exercise. This keeps you at a deficit that is healthy for weight loss as well as overall body health. Losing weight too fast can cause other problems.

    And even though there are lots of people that don't believe in starvation mode, everyone seems to agree that the famine response involves a slowing of the metabolism and loss of lean muscle mass. So whether you or not you believe in the starvation mode (I do, by the way, cause I have been there and have experienced it) who would want to subject themselves to losing muscle and lowering metabolism? It isn't worth it, cause that's what exercise is giving you more of! And that makes exercise nearly pointless if your goals in working out are to increase lean mass and increase your metabolism.

    That little saying should only be used as a guide...if your weight went down from what it really is, then your doing good. If it is higher, then you ate too much or didn't exercise enough. Don't put too much "weight" on what that saying is telling you. :flowerforyou:
  • tishere
    tishere Posts: 3
    The 'If everyday were like today" button is a calculator that looks at how many calories you haven't eaten for the day and then assumes you keep that pace for 5 weeks and determines what your weight would be. So by eating a snack you decreased the number of calories you didn't eat which decreased the number of pounds per week you'd be loosing, hence why the number went from 154 to 158.

    I'm not an expert on the topic but I understand that you are supposed to eat your exercise calories to prevent your body from going into starvation mode; where your body stops loosing fat. The calculator doesn't consider if the number of calories you didn't eat is a sustainable number, it just does the math. From what I understand about starvation mode if you kept up your calorie deficit that high you probably wouldn't come close to the predict weight of 154.
  • gentlebreeze2
    gentlebreeze2 Posts: 450 Member
    MIne changes every day... but I dont worry about it. I just see it as incentive that I am moving in the right direction. It's just a guide.
  • JWebster7777
    JWebster7777 Posts: 16
    Yes it is just a guide, however don't always "try" to eat back the workout calories, it really makes the workout worthless (not in muscle or strength training, but if you were doing it to loose extra)
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    Yes it is just a guide, however don't always "try" to eat back the workout calories, it really makes the workout worthless (not in muscle or strength training, but if you were doing it to loose extra)

    Not if you are already eating at a deficit. If you are eating at a deficit and then lose more calories through exercise but don't eat them back, then you are not giving your body enough fuel to work.

    Please read the FAQ posted by Mike concerning this. It's good information that you might want to look at.
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