PLEASE READ: New insight on eating back your exercise calori

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  • millerll
    millerll Posts: 873 Member
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    Let me say this again....go to the top of this forum section and read the posts with the red push pin icon..."Links you want to read again and again" and "Newbies please read these". Start with the posts about exercise calories and calorie deficits.

    They answer ALL these questions better than I could. Read the info and THEN decide for yourself if you CHOOSE to eat exercise calories or not. But PLEASE read these first. You can't make good decisions on something this important if you don't understand the basics behind the process.
  • trudypickles
    trudypickles Posts: 51
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    Yup, thats day to day lifestyle exercise is what you then add in your daily diary and I find it a really good way of sticking to a healthier lyfestyle and weight loss program as it motivates me to exersize so I CAN eat the calories back...I really struggle on 1200 lol... and im seeing gradual weight loss results and definite toning results. GOOD LUCK
    Ps. be aware that some exercises in the database may overestimate the calories burnt. x
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    I think you're confusing MFP's activity level portion of your daily goal with exercise calories. You tell MFP how active you normally daily. This is NOT how much you exercise. You add exercise calories separately each day, and your calorie goal goes up accordinly. Now, whether or not you choose to eat those is up to you, but there is a difference. Please read the link below.

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


    That link is written by a user that no longer has an active account,who exactly was the person that orginally wrote that,doctor,trainner,nutritionist.........
  • ugogirl1234
    ugogirl1234 Posts: 43
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    I want to thank everyone for all of their feed back. I also would like you to visit the following link. It is a calculator I used before joining MFP. I encourage everyone to visit this site and plug in their stats. Then, compare those numbers with the ones MFP is giving you. It just comes to show that we can't rely on calculators and applications.

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
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    I think you're confusing MFP's activity level portion of your daily goal with exercise calories. You tell MFP how active you normally daily. This is NOT how much you exercise. You add exercise calories separately each day, and your calorie goal goes up accordinly. Now, whether or not you choose to eat those is up to you, but there is a difference. Please read the link below.

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

    They have reactivated/changed their user name since that post.
    The author is an ACE certified trainer, with a special interest in nutrition. (current user name is SHBoss)

    That link is written by a user that no longer has an active account,who exactly was the person that orginally wrote that,doctor,trainner,nutritionist.........
  • katbass
    katbass Posts: 351 Member
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    They have reactivated/changed their user name since that post.
    The author is an ACE certified trainer, with a special interest in nutrition. (current user name is SHBoss)

    ...and he ROCKS! Ive learned so much from his posts and really encourage you to listen to what he has written.

    Oh, and I agree with the other comments re: your OP being confusing. Its not just that I think you are confused. Its that you are confusing ME with your attempt at explaining "new insight" into something I already understand quite well, thanks to the posts linked above. I eat back almost all of my exercise calories (some days half, some days all, but always SOME of them), and Im losing more than a pound a week and have dropped more than 7 inches in 7 weeks.
    Ive used that freedieting.com link before. Its helpful for cycling calories and they really stress eating more calories when you are working out.
  • ugogirl1234
    ugogirl1234 Posts: 43
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    You make a interesting point. You say... Some days All..... some days 1/2...... But SOME of them. But what you don't say is that you are eating them All everyday? But congrats on your weight loss.
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
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    If you are a newbie just follow the MFP program, eat your exercise calories.......... it works.
  • katbass
    katbass Posts: 351 Member
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    I've read a LOT of the threads on MFP questioning eating/not eating exercise calories (thus, I landed here, reading your OP). I am fairly certain I have never heard anyone say we should all eat "ALL of our exercise calories EVERY single day."
    The idea is to eat MORE when you exercise to fuel your body. If you create a deficit that is too large, you will certainly lose weight initially. But if its not a calorie lifestyle you can maintain (ie, not a "diet" or short term commitment) then you will likely gain all the weight back, plus more.

    I am cutting and pasting this, as I dont have the energy to entertain an argument on this right now. Something I wrote a while ago:

    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.
    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 a number of 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 the lowest MFP will set someone's calories is 1200 (For many good reasons). 1200 is sort of an arbtrary 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. 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 withut 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, lose more.
    BMR + exercise calories = success
  • ugogirl1234
    ugogirl1234 Posts: 43
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    Thanks for the explanation. But, I'm sure you have experienced times when you were not even hungry enought to eat back all the exericise calories. 90% of my workouts are at night. When I get home from the gym MFP says I need to eat 700 more calories. Its not that I don't want to, I physically cannot. This is why I wrote the post . I was concerned that the application was not correct, but apparently it is.
  • monylove311
    monylove311 Posts: 251 Member
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    Sorry, but that was WAY confusing. I don't think you made your point or I just don't get it the way it was explained.
  • katbass
    katbass Posts: 351 Member
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    Thanks for the explanation. But, I'm sure you have experienced times when you were not even hungry enought to eat back all the exericise calories. 90% of my workouts are at night. When I get home from the gym MFP says I need to eat 700 more calories. Its not that I don't want to, I physically cannot. This is why I wrote the post . I was concerned that the application was not correct, but apparently it is.

    You are once again missing the point. I dont eat back ALL my exercise calories. But I surely eat back most of them
    Its surprisingly easy to eat some almonds or peanut butter on toast to wrack up several hundred calories. Besides, I didnt get this way by NOT being able to eat. I can almost always find a way to eat more :)
    Yes, MFP is set up to help people see successful weight loss and maintain healthy lifestyles.
    .
  • ugogirl1234
    ugogirl1234 Posts: 43
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    Well I guess my metabolism is just faster than most. Because I have not eaten any of my exercise calories since joining and I have lost over 8lbs and have gone down from a size 6 to a size 4. So I am not missing the point. But thanks, just the same.
  • trudypickles
    trudypickles Posts: 51
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    Fast metabolism would equal weight loss when eating back exercise calories...surely??

    Long term low calorie intake slows the metabolism as the body adjusts to survive on less energy this is why people find thier weight loss stops...

    But seriousy what ever works for you.... we are all so different thats what makes life interesting x
  • Elli0tt
    Elli0tt Posts: 49
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    I've lost 14lbs and I eat back my calories in fact, raising the intensity of training and calorie intake led to more weight loss. I definitely think theres a sweet spot for everyone.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
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    They have reactivated/changed their user name since that post.
    The author is an ACE certified trainer, with a special interest in nutrition. (current user name is SHBoss)

    ...and he ROCKS! Ive learned so much from his posts and really encourage you to listen to what he has written.

    I agree! :flowerforyou:
  • merrillfoster
    merrillfoster Posts: 855 Member
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    Sounds to me like you are counting your exercise calories twice--once when you entered them under your basic 'activity level', which MFP uses to calculate your daily calories overall, then again when you exercise, which you enter daily. You only get to count them once...
  • kristie874
    kristie874 Posts: 774 Member
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    To each his/her own but I'm a huge advocate of eating your exercise calories...or at least a good portion of them. The info in the links in my signature explains the science of it. My loss has all been with eating my exercise calories. When I first started I only ate my 1200 and lost for the first month then I plateaued and wouldn't lose anything. I decided to listen to what people were saying about these exercise calories (as counter productive as it sounded) and started eating them. I immediately began losing 3-4 pounds per week. At my heaviest that was a good loss. I wouldn't dream of aiming for that now as 1-2 pounds a week is a healthy loss. I know that for me, as well as with many others, if I deny myself things I love I'll be more likely to fail or at least binge. If I eat enough and have foods I like in moderation then I'm successful and happy. Good luck to everyone! Test out different theories for yourself and see what works but please don't starve or hurt yourselves.
  • forgiven4life
    forgiven4life Posts: 451
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    Sounds to me like you are counting your exercise calories twice--once when you entered them under your basic 'activity level', which MFP uses to calculate your daily calories overall, then again when you exercise, which you enter daily. You only get to count them once...

    I agree with this. Seems like you are putting in Active as your lifestyle because you exercise on a regular basis. You should only enter active lifestyle if you are on your feet walking around all day as your job. By choosing active lifestyle, MFP is already creating the deficit you are entering again by adding your exercise. What is it you do for an occupation?
  • JStarnes
    JStarnes Posts: 5,576 Member
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    You're already eating at a deficit...exercising is going to put you into an even bigger (possibly unhealthy) deficit if you're not eating any of your exercise calories at all. Sure, not eating any may help you lose right now, but in the long run, it won't work, you'll plateau & be stuck. I could starve myself & eat 300 calories a day. Would I lose weight? Absolutely! But it wouldn't last. Search the boards for the "700 calories a day & not losing weight" or a title similar. It's an interesting read & a different way to look at your situation.

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