confused about eating excercise cals

irishlass38
irishlass38 Posts: 17 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Can someone explain to me why I should eat my exercise calories? I get 1200 per day, then if I do a 400 cal burn workout, I am supposed to eat those, too? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of doing the workout? I'm confused.

Thanks :):):smile:

Replies

  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    oh is that the purpose of exercise?for people exercising to get fit they find that eating back those calories help them perform again the next day.

    besides that you are already eating at a deficit and will lose without the exercise so what's the point of not eating them?
  • shadriel7
    shadriel7 Posts: 20
    there was a long thread going yesterday where most people were saying they usually only eat about half of it back, if that helps
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    The point of working out is to be fit and healthy. The point of eating back the calories is so that you maintain a sustainable deficit and end up fit and healthy, rather than scrawny and ill.

    Of course, it helps if you are getting lots of veggies in those calorie limits.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    The MFP caloric goal includes a deficit based on your weight loss goals. Eating back some or all of your exercise calories keeps you in line with that deficit plan.
  • irishlass38
    irishlass38 Posts: 17 Member
    Thanks!
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
    some people do some people don't-depends on if you are using MFP method or TDEE -20%

    DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!
  • _AwesomeSauce_
    _AwesomeSauce_ Posts: 96
    some people do some people don't-depends on if you are using MFP method or TDEE -20%

    DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!

    ^^^ This!
  • lrmall01
    lrmall01 Posts: 377 Member
    This is discussed quite regularly on the forums. Feel free to use the search function to read through earlier threads if you want more details. Here are some examples.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1184280-eating-exercise-calories-back-or-not

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1055024-why-do-we-eat-back-calories

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1014525-can-someone-explain-why-u-would-eat-back-calories

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1090054-eating-back-your-fitness-burned-calories-yes-or-no

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1110568-whats-the-point-of-excercise-if-i-eat-back-the-calories
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    some people do some people don't-depends on if you are using MFP method or TDEE -20%

    DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!

    Translation............MFP does NOT include exercise up front...........TDEE DOES include exercise up front........so either method takes exercise into account when calculating daily goals.

    OP - when the calorie deficit is too large you can expect to lose more muscle mass (along with fat, of course) as opposed to mostly fat
  • shazbox1
    shazbox1 Posts: 175 Member
    I workout out just so I can eat extra calories. Problem is, I need to do about 14 hours of intense cardio to meet my appetitie.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I workout out just so I can eat extra calories. Problem is, I need to do about 14 hours of intense cardio to meet my appetitie.

    Lol! Me too :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    You eat them because you are changing the basis upon which your calorie goal is calculated. If you've said you are sedentary when you set up and then went and did an hour hard work out you were active not sedentary that day and would have received a higher rate of calories. Adding your exercise is just correcting the balance on the active days.
  • EveyRose
    EveyRose Posts: 74 Member
    You eat them because you are changing the basis upon which your calorie goal is calculated. If you've said you are sedentary when you set up and then went and did an hour hard work out you were active not sedentary that day and would have received a higher rate of calories. Adding your exercise is just correcting the balance on the active days.

    Thank you, this is the first explanation that made sense to me! :happy:
  • alathIN
    alathIN Posts: 142 Member
    I don't eat all of my exercise kCal - at least not every day - but I do eat back some/most of them.

    My experience has been that MFP gives a large kCal allowance for very long low intensity workouts - so if for example I have a 5 hour bike ride, I will only eat back a fraction of that. For shorter more intense workouts I do eat back 50% or more, sometimes 100%.

    Reasons:
    1) It's more important to me to have a sustainable program over the long haul, while moving toward my goal weight even if slowly, than getting to my goal weight as fast as possible
    2) I have found that if I over-restrict (ie, too large kCal deficit) I actually do not lose weight as fast
    3) Fitness performance is as much a motivator to me as weight loss - I like to see my swimming lap times dropping, or my half marathon times decreasing, my cycling average MPH going up. If I target for maximum fastest possible weight loss, my performance suffers. Staying reaonably close to the MFP calculus does result in my losing weight while still fueling me enough for fitness-building workouts.

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