Eating Exercise Calories

thomasmarnold · January 2011

OK, I know this topic has been discussed on here a MILLION times but I have not read anything that has convinced me that I should be eating my exercise calories. Yesterday, I burned 2034 calories in 2 hours and 20 minutes of cardio exercising. My daily goal for calorie intake is 1850 calories per day. I have not lost a pound in 2 weeks. I do not know if it is because I am not eating my exercise calories or if it is because I am weightlifting heavily and taking mass amounts of whey protein after my weightlifting workouts and bulking up the muscle. I have read MANY sites on the internet and no one has convinced me either way on eating exercise calories or not. I would like an fair and open debate. Please, give me the facts one way or the other whether or not I should be eating my exercise calories or not.

Thanks,
Tom

Starting weight 236.6
Current weight 194
Goal weight 185
Calories per day 1850
Workouts 6 days a week, 3 days cardio, 3 days weightlifting.

Healthyby30 · January 2011

First, do you use a heart rate monitor or are you going off of MFP or machines for the calorie burn?

scagneti · January 2011

You have to do whatever you think makes sense. So by your numbers, you think that your body can exist for the 21 hours and 40 minutes that you weren't exercising on negative 200 calories. If that seems reasonable to you and you can spend the rest of your life doing that, then more power to you. Personally, I'd binge and fall off the wagon every single chance I got and because your metaoblism is shot (as your body has now adjusted to living on no calories), every calorie would be held on to like precious gold.

jrich1 · January 2011

You are not gaining muscle that easily, its probably your muscles retaining water to help heal after your workouts, if you burned 2k cals in exercise and only are 1800 cals, your body is suppose to function on -200 cals a day? You have to eat back some of your calories to replenish your body of the energy its burning during the workout.
MFP already has built in a deficit so even if you ate them all back you would still lose weight.

erickirb · January 2011

If you only eat 1850 and burn 2034 your body would have a negative net caloric intake, no way can this be good, If anything your body is holding on to fat and burning muscle, if this is the norm, not what you said. The body tries as hard as it can to hold on to the fat stores when in a severe caloric deficit, and will burn muscle instead, thereby slowing your metabolism down as muscle burns calories. Have you ever seen a muscular competitive marathon runner? probably not because they burn muscle during long cardio (running sessions) HIIT is better if you want to keep muscles intact.

For the 2034 cals burned, How was this calculated? If you used an HRM, or the numbers on the machines, did you back out the cals you would have burned at rest during those periods as they would be double counted. HRM's calculate total caloric expenditure not extra calories burned.

You may burn abound 1.5 cals per minute during the day,not during workout. (Take your maintenance calories and divide by 24 to get cals/hour then by 60 to get cals per minute) so if you burn 1.5 cals/min anyway you would have to back out 210 of those calories (1.5*140min) and should only add 1824 to your exercise database.

Also being so close to your goal weight your caloric deficit should be smaller (0.5 to a max of 1 lb/week loss) 250-500 cal/day deficit, anymore and you will lose muscle along with fat. If you are in a caloric deficit it is very hard or next to impossible to build muscle mass. Muscle building requires a caloric surplus, or enhancement drugs. So the whole I gained muscle and lost fat thing will not apply in this scenario.

jessieinblue · January 2011

Have you read this post, carefully, in its entirety?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

dlaplume2 · January 2011

I don't run on negative calrories like that, but I do know soemone who is a boxer and he works out for hours a day and was eating like a bird to try to maintain his weight class and he couldn't drop the 4 pounds. He went to a nutricianist and she told him with the amount of working out he should be eatiing 4000 calories a day. He started eating more and within a month he lost the 4 pounds and his workouts are better. Maybe you should try it. It can't hurt you any worse than you are doing with your negative calories and not losing.
Best of luck

aeryn69 · January 2011

Eat the exercise calories! I can tell you from personal experience that when you don't, your body thinks there's something wrong and tries to hold on to as much as possibe because it thinks you might be starving. All it knows is you're not taking in enough fuel for it to keep going and it says whoa better safeguard the stuff I have on hand then! Up the calorie intake and your system will realize that it doesn't need to hold on to the reserves anymore and you'll start to lose weight. Keep operating on negative calories and if you're like me then after a while (months in my case) you end up getting very sick and nearly hospitalized.

MyaPapaya75 · January 2011

Ive hardly eaten them and when I do its only usually in 100 increments ..I stick to a set caloric goal and exercise plan.. I do know for the most part those that have had success for the long term on here only eat a portion of them and do not get into the practice of this "working out more to have junk" way of thinking, they tend to fill those calories with wise choices and work off thousands of calories per week...thus needing the "extra calories" anyhow....I think its all in how you view them and how honest you are. If you truly worked out hard and used a HRM and were very honest in your diary then I do think you need the additional calories BUT needing them and wanting them for junk is two different things and I think thats what makse the difference between those successful and those still finding their way....I think that getting in the mindset that you can work out and eat more often leads to people logging crazy things for exercise which isnt really honest and can have setbacks...Again this is only what I have observed..its all about portion control and moderation and living a healthy active lifestyle...if you work out ""intense"" I do think you need more but I dont think it should be labeled as something you have earned because its something you need. Hope that makes sense..I started at 275ish and still have yet to plateau or go into the over used dreaded "starvation mode" my calories have ranged 1000-1400. The deficit MFP has built in ONLY works when people have accurately calculated their lifestyle and workouts..but what Ive seen is a lot of "lets log carrying a laundry basket and earn 50 more calories" Im not sure thats a good way of thinking..but maybe its just me

JoanHolly · January 2011

I almost never eat mine and have lost consistently. If I burned that much I prob would eat a little extra but I do no t think you need to use them all. Ofcourse I have no info to back this up other than personal experience .....maybe someone who knows more will post.

.

ErinJ1981 · January 2011

I dont' eat all of them just because the amount of calories that MFP gives is way over estimated for some exercises, but you DO need to eat enough to get back up to your net calorie goal. I didn't get it at first, but the more I read about it and hearing peoples testimonials, the more I understand that it's right. Good luck to you.

Azdak · January 2011

The metabolic processes are more or less the way Banks described in his summary. However, there is a lot of variability involved.

By that I mean several things:

1. Estimating calorie intake is an uncertain process. Food labels can be off by 15%-20%, under the most optimum circumstances estimating exercise calories is 15%-20% off (and more likely much farther off than that) and daily activity calories can vary widely as well.

2. Response to fasting or to a large calorie deficit can vary between individuals and it can vary within the same individual depending on things like body fat levels.

3. Response to fasting or to a large calorie deficit can vary over time.

There is the issue of the type and timing of food intake after long or strenuous workouts in order to enhance recovery and allow one to sustain a high-level workout program.

And, finally, combining high-intensity or high-volume training with a low calorie intake can lead to chronic elevation of stress hormones which will by itself inhibit body fat loss.

So, in general, the idea of replacing at least some calories consumed during exercise is a sound one. How much depends on all the factors described above, including the intensity of the workout. Because of variability of these factors, I do not overreact when someone says they are maintaining a large calorie deficit--skipping breakfast will not send your body into "starvation mode". But, over time, it is almost certain that a pattern of large deficits and high-volume or high-intensity training cannot be sustained without adverse results.

stroutman81 · January 2011

Ditto that.

And read this:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/95109-exercise-calories?page=1#posts-1314191

KatieM7 · January 2011

You have been trying it without eating your exercise calories and haven't lost. Why not try eating at least some of you exercise calories and let that be the determining factor in convincing you of what is right to do?! Until you actually try it then you probably won't be convinced that it works. How I look at it is this your daily goal without exercise is 1850 BUT you are burning it all off with your exercise 2034 and leaving NOTHING for your body to function!!!

Eating Exercise Calories

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