eating calories from exercise

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.

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.

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

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.

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)

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.

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)

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

Rebecca

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)

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!!!

This is from several posts yesterday, and I just copied and pasted it for convenience sake, so ignore the parts about exercise that dont pertain to your situation. But the BMR stuff is important MFP sets your calories based on what you tell it. If you told it you want to lose 2lbs per week, its gonna go as low as 1200 calories. But thats not necessarily healthy or the right thing to do. Really...check out your BMR and stick to it:


Short answer: Try Searching this topic, as it has been discussed ad nausea here on the site.

Longer (but not nearly long enough) answer:
Your body requires a certain number of calories in order for you to simply exist. In order for you eyes to blink, your heart to keep beating, your hair to keep growing, your organs to keep functioning, you have to feed it a certain number of calories. This number is called your BMR. (Use the tool on this site to check your BMR...) For example, my BMR is about 1490 calories. So say I lay in bed allllll day, motionless. I would require 1490 calories just to keep my body alive in a coma-like state.
The second I get out of bed, walk across the room, open the door to the bathroom, brush my teeth, pee, weigh myself, turn on the hot water,and hop in the shower...I have burned calories. Minimal...but still enough to start cutting into the 1490 my body needs in order to fuel its most basic functions.

So if I eat my BMR of 1490 a day, I am only giving my body enough to do its basic functions.

MFP gave me 1200 calories based on my desire to lose 2 lbs a week. At my height and current weight, losing 2 lbs per week is not reasonable, but I wanted to lose FAST. And the lowest MFP will set someone's calories is 1200 (For many good reasons). 1200 is sort of an arbitrary number at this point but no one should really eat LESS than 1200, and there are likely very few people who could eat 1200 calories for the rest of their lives and maintain weight or stay satisfied. (opinion...sorry) I lost 20+ lbs eating 1200 cals a day. Wahoo! Yeah me!! Right? WRONG. The second I started eating "normal" again, I gained all 20+ lbs back, PLUS MORE. It might "work" in the short term, but for many here, 1200 calories isnt the lifestyle change needed to STAY healthy and thin.

OK, back to the exercise thing. If I eat my 1500 (1490) cals today, my body will already be at a deficit for weight loss since I got out of bed, functioned, walked, lifted my toddler countless times, etc. So if I were to workout and burn 500 calories this afternoon, my body would be at an even greater deficit, and risk pushing my body to panic. Once your body panics and your metabolism worries that you are not feeding it enough, you will start to store fat at a faster rate. Your body and metabolism will try to hang onto any extra store of fat in preparation for an upcoming "famine".

Another way to look at it: If you eat 1200 calories and then exercise 500 calories away, you are only holding onto 700 calories for your body to draw from for energy, organ function, eye blinking, etc etc. Its just not enough for your body to exist on without causing longterm troubles.

It took me a looooong time to "get" this. I still have to consciously remind myself to eat my calories in order to lose weight. It seems counter-intuitive...but it WORKS. When I eat my BMR and at LEAST half my exercise calories, I lose weight. When I only eat 1200 calories, I am miserable, hungry, and i might lose some weight initially...but i gain it alllll back with a few extra for fluffiness.

Bottom line: eat more, keep moving, lose more, keep it off
BMR + exercise calories = longterm success



Hope that helped!

Also, if you put your goal as "lose 2 lbs per week" then MFP will set your calorie goal accordingly. That is why it gave you 1200 cals rather than your BMR. Its fruatrating to repeatedly see people say "eat 1200 if youre a girl and 1500 if youre a guy" because every body is sooo different. Dont take that 1200 "golden" number and assume you will lose weight. You might initially, but youll likely stall if your frame/height/etc arent getting enough calories to exist on.

I won't argue that, but if I stuck to the 1400 calories mentioned above as a minimum for a male I would be hard pressed based on the BMR the tool here comes up with for me, to lose more that .7 pounds a week. My hunger thing had to do with staying in your calorie allowance. Even eating low fiber as opposed to extreme high fiber foods makes a difference with perceived hunger. My point was if you exercise and then eat all the calories you worked so hard to burn off, assuming your main reason for exercising is losing weight, then why exercise.

Then again I have big questions what numbers like 1200 and 1400 are based on. If it is a matter of that is the amount needed to have the various nutrients you need such as vitamins and minerals, then you have those once you have eaten those calories and shouldn't need to eat any more.

Ahh, now we get to the meat of the argument. OK now I'll chime in on this. First things first, we need to understand how our bodies perceive hunger and what they do about it. When we don't have anything in the stomach providing energy, the body releases hunger hormones, the main one is ghrelin, which makes us feel hungry. Now, in a correctly functioning digestive system, these feelings are sent out at the proper time and we are hungry when we need food. But for those that have abused food (in one way or another) these hormones are not necessarily sent out at the correct time. I.E. people who tend to overeat have a tendency to be hungry even though they have plenty of energy available. Those who under eat have digestive systems that are conforming to starvation mode where the body suppresses hunger hormones, and thus even though you may need energy, you aren't being told you need any. This is why, for those of us who aren't in great health, I always say to trust your higher brain function (I.E. reasoning skills and nutrition plans) over feelings (or the lack there of) of hunger. Eventually, if you feed yourself correctly for long enough, the hunger feelings will right themselves, but not until you are eating correctly again for a while.

One of the main points I try to make when I advise people is to plan out your daily schedule in advance. By that I mean not only what you will eat, but estimate an approximate amount of calories you will burn via exercise. I realize you can't be 100% accurate all the time, but you can come pretty close once you've been working out for a few weeks and know what a specific workout will burn (generally). Thus if you are going to work out on a day, plan for those calories so you don't end up scrambling for extra calories at the end of the day. By this I also mean, we have to be diligent throughout the week, by means of planning snacks and food in advance. When you go to the grocery store, buy foods that you can break into small packages for snacks AND DO IT when you get home, it doesn't take long, and it will save you from the mid week open fridge stare trying to figure out what you can eat and how much you can take to fit into your calories for the day.

If you plan your days in advance, this becomes SO much easier. Adding the extra 50 to 75 calories per meal is no big deal, but trying to squish that 200 to 400 extra calories in at the end of the day can be to much for many people.