Should I eat my exercise calories?

Options
koolgurl84
koolgurl84 Posts: 35
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Everyone,

I'm suppose to eat 1200 calories a day, but im always like 200 calories under that goal; and on top of that my Exercise increases my calories when I add them. Should I be eating those extra calories if im not that hungry?
«1

Replies

  • Dobsaya
    Dobsaya Posts: 235
    Options
    All or most except for the ones that you would have normally burned during whatever amount of time you are exercising anyway. For instance if you would eat 2400 calories a day to maintain, your body already burns 100 calories an hour so if you burned 300 calories in an hour only count 200 as extra excercise calories or else you are counting those 100 twice.
  • cycle4fun
    cycle4fun Posts: 26
    Options
    Not if you want to lose weight, and certainly not when you are not hungry.
  • drw1212
    drw1212 Posts: 12
    Options
    I eat about have of my exercise calories, and I usually have about 200 left. What I try to look at is when I close out my daily dairy what it projects my weight loss at and if it is something I am happy with then I feel like its okay. :o)
  • SeeRoselynRun
    SeeRoselynRun Posts: 2
    Options
    If you're exercising heavily you need to fuel your body. A good rule of thumb to follow is to consume half of your exercise calories. So if you burned 500, eat 250.
  • mblanch
    mblanch Posts: 81 Member
    Options
    I would say yes - because if you don't eat enough calories you could put your body into starvation mode and then you won't loose weight. I would say try and eat those calories if you can.
  • kimcat73
    kimcat73 Posts: 687 Member
    Options
    Not if you want to lose weight, and certainly not when you are not hungry.

    Cycle4Fun I respectfully disagree. I've been eating mine and consistently losing 2 pounds a week. That's my observation:)
  • ernurse77
    ernurse77 Posts: 73 Member
    Options
    :noway:

    Huh?
  • JenniferAutumn
    JenniferAutumn Posts: 228 Member
    Options
    Not if you want to lose weight, and certainly not when you are not hungry.


    Yes. You should eat your exercise calories back. If you are allowed 1200 calories a day and you burn 400 calories by exercising, you are causing a 400 calorie deficit from the 1200 calories that your body needs to survive.
  • SeeRoselynRun
    SeeRoselynRun Posts: 2
    Options
    Also, you should consume at LEAST 1200 calories a day or your body WILL go into starvation mode and storing all energy consumed (ie., food) as FAT. 1000 calories is not enough.
  • ernurse77
    ernurse77 Posts: 73 Member
    Options
    All or most except for the ones that you would have normally burned during whatever amount of time you are exercising anyway. For instance if you would eat 2400 calories a day to maintain, your body already burns 100 calories an hour so if you burned 300 calories in an hour only count 200 as extra excercise calories or else you are counting those 100 twice.

    WHAT???? I don't understand, could you please explain this another way?
  • Mamaheatherhg
    Mamaheatherhg Posts: 54
    Options
    but doesn't eating your burned calories defeat the purpose?
  • jlay777
    jlay777 Posts: 13 Member
    Options
    You should only eat if you are hungry.
  • Jizes318
    Jizes318 Posts: 409 Member
    Options
    One word answer without all the crap.... YES.

    Eat them. MFP is adding them to your calories to eat so eat.
  • kimcat73
    kimcat73 Posts: 687 Member
    Options
    Please read:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition
  • kaitimae
    kaitimae Posts: 727 Member
    Options
    Yes.
  • Dobsaya
    Dobsaya Posts: 235
    Options
    If I sat on the couch for 24 hours, my body would still burn about 1600 calories to live. Which breaks down to about 67 calories an hour. So if I get on an elliptical for one of those hours and burn 300, I have actually only burned like 233 more than I would have just sitting. So I can't count those 67 calories as exercise calories.
  • Genie30
    Genie30 Posts: 316 Member
    Options
    I generally eat half but I see them as a bit of a piggy bank. I don't feel guilty if I eat more than half or less and if i'm hungry, I eat. I do try not to use them as an excuse to eat just anything though. Putting trans fats and sugar into my body got me this way so I need to break that habbit to succeed.
  • kp106
    kp106 Posts: 10 Member
    Options
    You should be eating the burned calories. Basically, your "target calorie goal" that MFP gives you is assuming you do nothing all day and want to lose a certain amount of weight (that you put in at the beginning) per week. This means, this is the amount of calories your body burns just doing life processes (breathing, low levels of activity, sitting upright, etc.) and cutting out calories already to lose weight. If you stay below this, your body is going to think you don't have access to food and start storing it for you, which is nice if you're in the wilderness, but not so nice if you want to actually lose weight and slow down your metabolism! So, the extra calories you burn during exercise will also push your body below that threshold, so you need to eat the calories to make up for it, so your body doesn't freak out basically. There are lots of resources about sports physiology and the effects of dieting below your regular metabolism levels, so be smart about it and don't ruin your natural body metabolism :) Hope that makes a lil sense!
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
    Options
    For the standard 1 - 2 lb a week weight loss based off of the allotted calorie intake from calorie tracking sites like MFP and LS, you are supposed to keep that net calorie goal; i.e. 1200 in your case; so burning 500 calories means you would need to eat an additional 500 to keep it at a net intake of 1200. Which applies to kamcat73's post.

    You may lose more weight [faster] than that by not eating all of your exercise calories back. Then again, people's bodies all react differently to intake, therefore people like Cycle4Fun may not agree with eating all of them back. Personally, I eat about half that amount. It may not be within the same day, but in my overall logged records on LS, I've currently consumed roughly 490K calories and burned about 885K since May of last year, and lost over 120 lbs since then.
  • ZebraHead
    ZebraHead Posts: 15,207 Member
    Options
    Please take a look at this. And Yes - eat your calories.

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

Categories