If you eat all your calories?

krisdw
krisdw Posts: 25 Member
edited September 24 in Fitness and Exercise
If you workout, burn calories, and then eat the same amount of calories you burned, is it as if you didn't work out at all?

Replies

  • lucysmommy
    lucysmommy Posts: 460
    kind of.... but you are already on reduced cals :-) so you should try and eat some of them back

    x
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    from a diet standpoint yes it is. It's designed that way to keep you at the goal you set up in MFP. but from a health standpoint, absolutely not. Exercise does SO many good things for you both in terms of muscle mass and bone health, and also with regards to cardiovascular health, respiratory health, circulatory health, and stress release.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
    not really..since working out helps to boost your metabolism. I know this is a big debate. and personally..personally now mind you, I dont eat my cals back. After all if i eat my required cals for the day (when cutting) which is 1300 those extra 300 or so cals i burn when exercising will only help me lose the fat, since i'm burning cals. Its just like if you put in there you wanted to lose 2 lbs a week, it'll set you into a 1000 cal a day deficit for eating. Some will say that will send you into starvation mode. Its really about your own body and how it reacts. If you eat plenty you shouldnt worry about how many cals you burn, unless its excessive.

    how do you think the folks in the biggest loser lose weight? Or I used to be fat? Those who are very weightly 300 lbs require massive amounts of cals to maintain that weight. which means will they be send sent into starvation mode if they only eat 1200 a day and work out? no..they'll lose weight.
  • emchamberlain
    emchamberlain Posts: 133 Member
    No, because you'll be increasing the number of calories you burn per hour through a better fat/muscle ratio and you'll be vastly improving your overall weight. Plus, MFP gives you a calorie deficit built in, so you'll still lose weight.
  • cherfurr
    cherfurr Posts: 38
    My weight loss coach tells us NOT to eat back the calories you burned! Stick to the 1200 a day regardless of your workouts and you'll see faster results!!
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
    MFP puts in a deficit already, so yes, if you ate what they suggested without working out you'd still lose weight and would net the same number of calories.

    The difference is that working out encourages the development of beautiful lean muscles, it releases endorphines and gets your metabolism working even when you're not working out (just like the building of muscle burns fat even when you're sleeping).

    A lot of people start their journey just with diet alone and it's a fine, comfortable way to do it, but it only gets you so far. You also have to ensure that you use your muscles regularly to ensure it's fat that the body burns to make up the deficit and not your muscles.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    not really..since working out helps to boost your metabolism. I know this is a big debate. and personally..personally now mind you, I dont eat my cals back. After all if i eat my required cals for the day (when cutting) which is 1300 those extra 300 or so cals i burn when exercising will only help me lose the fat, since i'm burning cals. Its just like if you put in there you wanted to lose 2 lbs a week, it'll set you into a 1000 cal a day deficit for eating. Some will say that will send you into starvation mode. Its really about your own body and how it reacts. If you eat plenty you shouldnt worry about how many cals you burn, unless its excessive.

    how do you think the folks in the biggest loser lose weight? Or I used to be fat? Those who are very weightly 300 lbs require massive amounts of cals to maintain that weight. which means will they be send sent into starvation mode if they only eat 1200 a day and work out? no..they'll lose weight.

    You can't equate anecdotal evidence to other people, please don't do that. The biggest loser contestants are in a completely different stratosphere than most other people. and are under constant medical supervision.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    My weight loss coach tells us NOT to eat back the calories you burned! Stick to the 1200 a day regardless of your workouts and you'll see faster results!!

    does your weight loss coach know that MFP already puts you at a deficit and eating exercise calories is designed so that you STAY at that deficit? It's an important differentiation to make.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    For me, I lose faster when I eat more.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/the-pennsylvania-hillbilly-less-isn-t-always-more-75272
  • Black_Swan
    Black_Swan Posts: 770 Member
    Im for eating them. I think body needs something to work on, and I want to treat it well. Its not like Im eating junk or working out because I want sweets... I do it to have muscles so I can see them when the fat melts off:D
  • lbissett79
    lbissett79 Posts: 38 Member
    I know that when I don't eat near my goal calories and I workout, I am exhausted. I listen to my body when it tells me to eat and I listen when it tells me I have not eaten enough. I know that since I have upped my caloric intake I seem to be losing weight much faster. An added bonus to this is that I am not depriving myself of anything I couldn't go the rest of my life without. I am much happier and stable since I started being more conscious of the calories I intake. The mantra I try to stick to, is that I know that one day I am going to have to maintain. I don't want to have to eat less calories on a maintenance plan because I was greedy and tried to lose weight too quickly by cutting myself short in the beginning.
  • spaboleo
    spaboleo Posts: 172
    I'm still confused.

    What if I exercise that hard on a regular basis that I burn about 1000kcal in an 1 hour workout-session?
    Regular means: 4 times a week (Snowboarding, Spinning-Class, 2x Cycling)
    Should I really try to eat that back? Can't be true.

    In addition there is doing weights 3x/week and cycling each day about half an hour through the city traffic at a fairly high speed...


    If I'd sum that up with the given 1300kcal/day I would eat myself to bursting in pieces?
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    I'm still confused.

    What if I exercise that hard on a regular basis that I burn about 1000kcal in an 1 hour workout-session?
    Regular means: 4 times a week (Snowboarding, Spinning-Class, 2x Cycling)
    Should I really try to eat that back? Can't be true.

    In addition there is doing weights 3x/week and cycling each day about half an hour through the city traffic at a fairly high speed...


    If I'd sum that up with the given 1300kcal/day I would eat myself to bursting in pieces?

    if you want to follow the MFP strategy, then yes, you would still eat them. Unless you're changing your activity profile, then they are accounted for already.
  • emchamberlain
    emchamberlain Posts: 133 Member
    I'm still confused.

    What if I exercise that hard on a regular basis that I burn about 1000kcal in an 1 hour workout-session?
    Regular means: 4 times a week (Snowboarding, Spinning-Class, 2x Cycling)
    Should I really try to eat that back? Can't be true.

    In addition there is doing weights 3x/week and cycling each day about half an hour through the city traffic at a fairly high speed...


    If I'd sum that up with the given 1300kcal/day I would eat myself to bursting in pieces?

    Of course, or you'd be close to negative calories!
  • spaboleo
    spaboleo Posts: 172
    What would mean that I'm nearly starving myself since about two years now ^^
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    What would mean that I'm nearly starving myself since about two years now ^^

    so, 1300 calories, minus 1000 calories is a 300 calorie NET for your body to use as it's Resting Energy Expenditure. That's normally not a good thing. Plan your diet with your exercise in mind. Adding extra calories to 1 meal is hard, but spreading out calories to add a few hundred to each meal through a whole day isn't that tough, I have to eat upwards of 3200 cals on most days, it's not that hard if you work at it.
  • spaboleo
    spaboleo Posts: 172
    If I eat mindless without watching my caloric-intake I would come up to 1600-1800kcal and would be near a food coma. (literally I get tired when eating more.)


    At 3200kcal that could have been my intake over christmas and new years eve this year, when I was skiing in the alps with everyday 6 full hours of carving down snowed pists.
    I really ate good at that time and the meal-sizes were bigger and there were a lot more snacks, but I still gained weight during that time. (That skiing event would have burned I assume 3000kcal a day + walking around in skiboots...)


    That would be insane...with that + 1300kcal each day on top I should have been able to eat more than 4 full jars of nutella each day :D
    With that anything else would have happend after the week of skiing than losing weight.
  • Beth720
    Beth720 Posts: 661 Member
    My weight loss coach tells us NOT to eat back the calories you burned! Stick to the 1200 a day regardless of your workouts and you'll see faster results!!

    does your weight loss coach know that MFP already puts you at a deficit and eating exercise calories is designed so that you STAY at that deficit? It's an important differentiation to make.

    BINGO!!!! If your calorie intake is set at 1200 and let's say you burn 600 calories through exercise without replacing them, you're asking your body to subsist on 600 calories, which will eventually lead to starvation mode.
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