Should I eat my exercise calories?

koolgurl84
koolgurl84 Posts: 35
edited September 23 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?
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Replies

  • Dobsaya
    Dobsaya Posts: 235
    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
    Not if you want to lose weight, and certainly not when you are not hungry.
  • drw1212
    drw1212 Posts: 12
    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
    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
    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
    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
    :noway:

    Huh?
  • JenniferAutumn
    JenniferAutumn Posts: 228 Member
    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
    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
    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
    but doesn't eating your burned calories defeat the purpose?
  • jlay777
    jlay777 Posts: 13 Member
    You should only eat if you are hungry.
  • Jizes318
    Jizes318 Posts: 409 Member
    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
    Please read:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition
  • kaitimae
    kaitimae Posts: 727 Member
    Yes.
  • Dobsaya
    Dobsaya Posts: 235
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
  • bayles1
    bayles1 Posts: 408 Member
    Yes,if you eat around half back as generally suggested,you will be on the right track.
  • kimcat73
    kimcat73 Posts: 687 Member
    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.

    Your loss is impressive! Congrats! :)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Not if you want to lose weight, and certainly not when you are not hungry.

    Bad Advice. MFP gives you a deficit to lose your goal amount of weight at 1200 and to ensure that deficit remains the same you must eat your exercise calories, this will ensure you lose your goal amount of weight
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    but doesn't eating your burned calories defeat the purpose?

    No, if you don't eat them your caloirc deficit can grow to greater than 1000 which may lead to burning muscle not fat which would slow your metabolism down.
  • koolgurl84
    koolgurl84 Posts: 35
    Thanks for the advice everyone. I will start taking in some of my exercise calories from here out. I havent really had a problem yet, with the way i've been eating but I know soon or later I will run into those stubborn lbs.
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
    but doesn't eating your burned calories defeat the purpose?

    Exercise does more than just burn calories. If you don't exercise, you can still lose weight, but you won't have the fabulous lean muscle mass that goes along with regular exercise. Plus it gets the heart/blood pumping and tones the body.

    You can see the difference between someone at 150lbs who exercises and who just relies on dieting.
  • Spunkitude
    Spunkitude Posts: 1 Member
    I used to follow Weight Watchers (WW) and it worked very well for me (when the leader of the group was a good leader). I have only recently started using My Fitness Pal everyday and love it. However, when in WW, I started by just reducing the food I ate and just ate my normal "points". This worked well for awhile. Then I worked in some exercise and didn't eat my exercise points. This worked for a few weeks and I dropped really fast. It was GREAT! However, then I hit a plateau that lasted about a month and I got really frustrated. I talked to the WW leader (a good one!), she looked at my food journal and immediately said "You are not eating your exercise points. You are in starvation mode. Eat your excercise points this week and tell me how it works." I thought she was a bit crazy but gave it a try and I started losing again at a nice steady rate. Therefore, I always eat all or almost all of my exercise points or exercise calories (I try to be within 50calories of the goal the My Fitness Pal give me now that I follow the My Fitness Pal and not WW.) This has helped me lose 11 pounds since Jan 1.
  • freerange
    freerange Posts: 1,722 Member
    "but doesn't eating your burned calories defeat the purpose?"


    No, if your diet is already based on losing weight you should already be in deficit. So if you eat back your exercise calories you will still lose weight. If you eat only half of your exercise calories you should lose more weight, unless you are not eating enough and go into starvation mode, like mentioned above. So it all depends on your current weight, you weight loss goals, and how fast you want to lose weight.
  • danielled6875
    danielled6875 Posts: 53 Member
    bump
  • antipholous
    antipholous Posts: 116
    Why would you eat your exercise calories if you're trying to lose weight. The only way to lose weight is to create a calorie deficit so that your body is forced to pull from its storage (your fat cells) to reach its calorie requirement. This process burns fat, and loses weight.

    If you're already exactly where you want to be, then you'll need to eat the exercise calories back to maintain your weight.
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