eating calories from exercise

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csecj5
csecj5 Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
Just wondering if most people eat the extra calories they earn from exercising. I am eating 1450 calories a day and then earn about 200-300 extra calories depending on the exercise I do each day. I don't feel like I need to eat those extra calories but don't want to stall my weight loss. I am just on week three of MFP so far and have 80 more pounds to lose.
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Replies

  • ashlee954
    ashlee954 Posts: 1,112 Member
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    Some do and some don't. The most important thing is to make sure you are netting 1200 (female) or 1500 (male) calories. So basically I eat back enough to make the NET amount 1200 (when I'm trying to lose). Now I maintain so I eat 'em if I wanna. Don't when I don't. :)
  • MissAnjy
    MissAnjy Posts: 2,480 Member
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    Some do and some don't. The most important thing is to make sure you are netting 1200 (female) or 1500 (male) calories. So basically I eat back enough to make the amount NET 1200. :)

    agreed with this & judging by her body, she's doing something right.
  • yanicka
    yanicka Posts: 1,004 Member
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    The more weight you have to lose, lass important eating your calories is. There was a great explaination about that around here a few days ago.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    like the first responder said as long as you get 1200 Net so in your case if you eat 1450 and burn 300 your net is 1150 and you should eat at least 50 of those calories back. If your daily goal was 1200 cals you should eat all of your calories back.
  • usmcpatience
    usmcpatience Posts: 168
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    The "earned" calories are not EXTRA calories.

    Look at it like this:

    Say you were supposed to eat 1200 calories a day according to MFP. Now, let's say you burned 600 calories from exercise throughout the course of the day. If you CHOSE not to eat those EARNED 600 calories that day, you'd only be running on 600 calories... And that's not healthy at all.

    The calories you earn you NEED to eat. That being said, if you have a little leftover, that's okay too. But don't NOT eat the EARNED calories beacuse you feel they are extra. The 1450 calorie suggestion via MFP is the amount of calories you need to eat a day if you do nothing but sit all day long. If you exercise, you need to eat those earned calories...because that makes up the difference...bringing you back up to the 1450 a day.

    Does that help any?
    I hope so! It took me a little while to figure this out too!

    Good luck!
  • vaavamom1
    vaavamom1 Posts: 136 Member
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    Some do and some don't. The most important thing is to make sure you are netting 1200 (female) or 1500 (male) calories. So basically I eat back enough to make the amount NET 1200. :)

    agreed with this & judging by her body, she's doing something right.
    Agree :smile:
  • daddyzgurl
    daddyzgurl Posts: 58
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    Hello,
    I had the same question so I asked a trainer at my gym. I cut my calories to 1200 a day and became hungrier due to burning about 450 calories daily (5 days a week). The trainer advised me to eat about half the calories that I burn. This way, my metabolism was still working at optimum level and I was feeling more satisfied. He promised I would continue to lose weight. In addition, he warned me of going below 1200 net calories a day between diet and exercise. Apparently your body thinks it is starving if it does not receive a baseline of 1200 calories and it halts your weight loss.
    Hope this helps ;)
    Nicole
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    Some do and some don't. The most important thing is to make sure you are netting 1200 (female) or 1500 (male) calories. So basically I eat back enough to make the NET amount 1200 (when I'm trying to lose). Now I maintain so I eat 'em if I wanna. Don't when I don't. :)

    This is what I do. Well, I try to do.

    Some people call it Starvation Mode. Others call it the famine response. It's hard wired into us.

    I have recently watched The Human Body: Pushing Beyond The Limit (I think that's the title). One story was about a guy who fell into a cave and was in there for 3 weeks without food (he did find a little water). They explained this in very technical terms. He lost a lot of weight AND A LOT OF MUSCLE MASS so our bodies will shut down the fat/carb burning process and dive into our protein stores.

    I'm sure the show explained it so much better than me. I'm not good with words. From what I have learned it takes only a few days of below 1200 (this is a general number) for starvation mode to kick in.
  • danaaaaa
    danaaaaa Posts: 39
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    God this is so confusing !
  • jennigriff
    jennigriff Posts: 33
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    It is definitely confusing. I try not to eat if I am not hungry. I drink my water like I should on most days. I find it hard on weekends. I always thought the extra earned calories were like a "get out of jail free card". (to be used if needed)
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    It is up to you. If you are not hungry why eat it. I know people will talk about your metabolism slowing down, but it is much harder to slow down your metabolism than that. If you ate your calories for the day and "earn" extra by exercise, you can either have those "earned" calories go to losing weight, or you can eat food to replace them. Then your weight loss is because of your allowable calories for the day (the stuff you ate with no "earned" exercise calories figured into the mix) in which case why are you exercising in the first place because replacing those calories you burned removes it at a weight loss tool. If you are hungry eating some of those calories back would not be a bad thing, but personally I would hesitate to eat them all.

    Edit:
    Having said all that exercise has benefits beyond calories burned, but if you want to lose weight using those exercise calories toward your weight loss seems better than to eat more food unless you are hungry.
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
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    I think what the issue boils down to is that people don't seem to understand why bother exercising then. Think about it -- if you consume 1200 calories (and you're happy with that) and you're full, then what does the pain and stress of working out accomplish? You just get to eat more??? For some of us, that's reason enough! I work out strictly for those extra calories because I can't survive on 1200 a day!!

    People forget the other benefits of exercising and focus only on the calories burnt (burned?) And if you're just going to eat those, then they figure they might as well eat their 1200 calories and lounge on the couch instead of working out.
  • Edestiny7
    Edestiny7 Posts: 730 Member
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    Hello,
    I had the same question so I asked a trainer at my gym. I cut my calories to 1200 a day and became hungrier due to burning about 450 calories daily (5 days a week). The trainer advised me to eat about half the calories that I burn. This way, my metabolism was still working at optimum level and I was feeling more satisfied. He promised I would continue to lose weight. In addition, he warned me of going below 1200 net calories a day between diet and exercise. Apparently your body thinks it is starving if it does not receive a baseline of 1200 calories and it halts your weight loss.
    Hope this helps ;)
    Nicole

    Your trainer gave you conflicting information. He was correct about the 1200 net calories, however, if you are only eating 1200 calories a day, you need to eat ALL of your exercise calories to retain a net of 1200 calories, not half of them.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    God this is so confusing !


    What is confusing about it, MFP does all the calculations for you.

    If you are set up to lose 2 lbs per week you are at a 1000 calorie deficit per day. As losing more than 2 lbs per week is unhealthy you should keep your deficit at 1000 or less. So if you are to lose 2 lbs per week and MFP gives you 1200 calories and you burn 500 your deficit is now 1500 to get you back to the "safe" level of 1000 you must eat the 500 you burned. So you would eat 1700 cals to net 1200 (1700-500)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    It is up to you. If you are not hungry why eat it. I know people will talk about your metabolism slowing down, but it is much harder to slow down your metabolism than that. If you ate your calories for the day and "earn" extra by exercise, you can either have those "earned" calories go to losing weight, or you can eat food to replace them. Then your weight loss is because of your allowable calories for the day (the stuff you ate with no "earned" exercise calories figured into the mix) in which case why are you exercising in the first place because replacing those calories you burned removes it at a weight loss tool. If you are hungry eating some of those calories back would not be a bad thing, but personally I would hesitate to eat them all.

    Edit:
    Having said all that exercise has benefits beyond calories burned, but if you want to lose weight using those exercise calories toward your weight loss seems better than to eat more food unless you are hungry.

    Hunger is not a good indication of nutritional requirements. A few days of eating more than you need stretches your stomach and it takes more food to fill you whether you need the nutrients or not. Of if you are on a liquid diet you may get all the nutrition (calories) you need but still be hungry as liquid digests faster.
  • rduncank
    rduncank Posts: 7 Member
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    Your post was understandable and very helpful. Everyone else was a bit confusing (without intention)
    Thank you for clearing up my question!

    Rebecca
  • rduncank
    rduncank Posts: 7 Member
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    Hello,
    I had the same question so I asked a trainer at my gym. I cut my calories to 1200 a day and became hungrier due to burning about 450 calories daily (5 days a week). The trainer advised me to eat about half the calories that I burn. This way, my metabolism was still working at optimum level and I was feeling more satisfied. He promised I would continue to lose weight. In addition, he warned me of going below 1200 net calories a day between diet and exercise. Apparently your body thinks it is starving if it does not receive a baseline of 1200 calories and it halts your weight loss.
    Hope this helps ;)
    Nicole

    Your post was understandable and very helpful. Everyone else was a bit confusing (without intention)
    Thank you for clearing up my question!

    Rebecca
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I always thought the extra earned calories were like a "get out of jail free card". (to be used if needed)

    Not if you only eat 1200 cals and/or have a deficit of 1000 cals (2lb/week lose goal) then you must eat the exercise cals.

    If you are set up to lose 0,5 lbs/week (250 cal/day deficit) and are set to eat 1600 cals and burn 300 cals from exercise then you don't have to eat them as your net cals are 1300 (1600-300) and your deficit is not greater than 1000 cals (250+300 only equals 550 deficit)
  • TrainerRobin
    TrainerRobin Posts: 509 Member
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    The more weight you have to lose, lass important eating your calories is. There was a great explaination about that around here a few days ago.

    Here you go ...
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/TrainerRobin/view/myth-or-fact-calories-in-versus-calories-out-3500-calories-one-pound-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories-60619
  • yanicka
    yanicka Posts: 1,004 Member
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    The more weight you have to lose, lass important eating your calories is. There was a great explaination about that around here a few days ago.

    Here you go ...
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/TrainerRobin/view/myth-or-fact-calories-in-versus-calories-out-3500-calories-one-pound-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories-60619

    From the expert herself!!!

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