Eating exercise calories? What's YOUR opinion?

the 1200 is already putting a deficit in your diet... however 150/200 isn't that much so if you were to skip i doubt your body would go into starvation mode & hoard the carbs & calories. i'd only eat them if you are burning 400-and up

i eat about half of them. if im really working out hard i get hungry, but i never eat all of the calories, i try to leave about 250 left, but i leave more if i dont do workout super hard.

That's not very much (in exercise calories), so not eating them won't hurt you too much. But too many people have 1200 as a calorie goal, in my opinion. If you have a small amount to lose, you should probably be eating much closer to maintenance. The loss would be much easier that way (although still not "easy").

eating them HAS NOT worked for me. I have maintained my weight by eating them but not losing anything with all the work I am putting in. I am not going to continue to eat them

You want your goal calories and net calories to be equal, ideally, at the end of the day. Do what works for you. Just be consistent so you know what's actually working and what isn't. Good luck!

I would eat it back. 1200 is little, if you exercise, you should give your body some more food so it can run smoothly. I read many articles here about it. You should probably try both and check out how you feel about it!

I am not a fan of eating back the calories I burned. It feels like "cheating" to me. What's the point for working my butt off with a run, if I am going to eat those calories? Just my opinion, of course.

thats one way to look at it, but MFP already estimates how many calories you need to eat to meet your goals without exercise, then calculates the calories burned into it. im sure its never 100% accurate so i try to leave a buffer whenever i can, but i feel like i earned at least some of those calories, especially if im feeling hungry

I try not to eat my workout calories. Although if I am having a cheat day or just need a treat. Then I will use some of my workout calories. A couple of times I have used all of my calories but I really don't like to because this has stalled my weight loss but in turn I have taken in less than 1200 calories which has resulted no weight loss. I have found that calorie intake is a work of art and each person is different. You have to find what works for you. I have to have 1200 calories or the starve mode kicks in & there is no weight loss.

Okay, you guys made me feel better. There are days that I do eat some of them, and days that I don't even touch them. How will I know if my body is beginning to go into starvation mode? Will I just stop losing weight? The reason I ask is that I am generally not hungry, but I am all but forcing myself to eat to make it to the 1200/day. My diet has gone from ridiculous (Fast food 5-7 times per week) to extremely healthy (1 trip to mcds in 60 days). and I have lost 17 lbs. Now i have a step aerobics video that kicks my butt, and according to my HRM, burns over 1000 calories in the hour I am working out. So that means that I am keeping about 200 calories of what i ate for the day, and that is not counting the amount that I burn just by living...Am i doing okay, or should I be eating more?

Your body cannot function for any lengthy period of time on 200 calories a day. It simply cannot, and we're talking physics here. You won't just keel over however, what will happen is that you will have less energy, be sleepier, feel less alert, be grumpier, be unable to do as much physically as you used to, and you will stop feeling hungry. Fat loss will slow way down (although not stop) and you will probably find that at some point, your cravings are so powerful that you give in and binge. Then you'll feel guilty and unhappy and frustrated and physically ill. How long does this take? Oh...that's the part that varies depending on how much fat you have stored and what types of food you're eating when you DO eat and how efficient your body is at conserving. Eventually, you could develop diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension, gallstones, liver problems, and uh oh....energy-metabolism adaptation (aka starvation mode). It might be weeks or months. WHo knows? But why risk it?

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/VLCD-Research.html

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/VLCD-Research.html

going to borrow this for another forum!!!! ;-)

My jury is still out. I have set my activities as Sedentary so on days that I am glued to my home office, I don't go over. Some days I am out running errands. I've honestly tried to eat most of my exercise calories - my base is 1200 (5'6" 54 y/o female). I usually burn a good 300+ calories a day and eating some of those have made the difference between me watching the clock for my next feeding like a dog, and feeling satisfied and able to go through my day without daydreaming and checking the clock every 10 minutes. My weight loss is slow, but maybe that is to be expected at my age. I have a hard time eating them with all of the whole grains, fruits and veggies that I eat! I am ususally stuffed at dinner. I'm still not sure if I am eating too much or not enough! I suppose over time I will figure that out! I usually walk the dog once or twice a day for 30 - 40 minutes and do maybe 30 minutes of strength training with 3, 5, and 8 pund dumbbells 5 days a week which includes abdominal crunches, too. SO hopeuflly I am slowly building muscle or at least not losing any. I just started up with the dumbbells again a couple of weeks ago and already feel stronger!

Okay, you guys made me feel better. There are days that I do eat some of them, and days that I don't even touch them. How will I know if my body is beginning to go into starvation mode? Will I just stop losing weight? The reason I ask is that I am generally not hungry, but I am all but forcing myself to eat to make it to the 1200/day. My diet has gone from ridiculous (Fast food 5-7 times per week) to extremely healthy (1 trip to mcds in 60 days). and I have lost 17 lbs. Now i have a step aerobics video that kicks my butt, and according to my HRM, burns over 1000 calories in the hour I am working out. So that means that I am keeping about 200 calories of what i ate for the day, and that is not counting the amount that I burn just by living...Am i doing okay, or should I be eating more?

Your body cannot function for any lengthy period of time on 200 calories a day. It simply cannot, and we're talking physics here. You won't just keel over however, what will happen is that you will have less energy, be sleepier, feel less alert, be grumpier, be unable to do as much physically as you used to, and you will stop feeling hungry. Fat loss will slow way down (although not stop) and you will probably find that at some point, your cravings are so powerful that you give in and binge. Then you'll feel guilty and unhappy and frustrated and physically ill. How long does this take? Oh...that's the part that varies depending on how much fat you have stored and what types of food you're eating when you DO eat and how efficient your body is at conserving. Eventually, you could develop diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension, gallstones, liver problems, and uh oh....energy-metabolism adaptation (aka starvation mode). It might be weeks or months. WHo knows? But why risk it?

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/VLCD-Research.html

I agree!!!

I "third" this!
WAY WAY too many people are underfeeding and it is SO bad for you. Especially people who have little to lose, You need to be eating very close to maintenance.

I also am a firm believer that MFP estimates people's maintenance too low, as it told me 1500 and I am actually 1800-2000 a day. When I bumped up to 1500 I lost more than I did at 1300!