Eat exercise calories, really?

Coco_Puff
Coco_Puff Posts: 823 Member
edited September 24 in Food and Nutrition
Here's the thing with me. When I joined this site I filled out my profile that asked what my activity level was. I said active because I workout at least 45 min. per day. Because the site has given me a goal to hit each day based on that activity, should I eat exercise calories. I have gone to other calories counters and they too, once I enter my activity, put me at just about the same for calorie goals. I'm eating at least 1300 cal. a day. My weight loss is slow, but my inch loss is good and I see definition in my body that wasn't there before. I'm happy to see those improvements even if the scale is slow to show anything big. I also am very solid and now I'm adding muscle to that, so I look for the positives where I can find them. I know I am eating healthier since joining this site. I just think my calorie goal has already allowed for my daily activity. I know when I was doing the new WW plan, nothing was moving, and the calories were way too much for me. Please let me know what you think? I

Replies

  • abyt42
    abyt42 Posts: 1,358 Member
    If you set your goals based on your exercise, don't double count that exercise. If you do additional exercise, then count that.
    OR, classify your activity level without exercise, then count the exercise, and eat those calories.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
    If you have taken into account your workouts in your activity level I would say no. The majority of people I think don't do that though, they set their activity level to what they would do in a normal day (work etc) and not workouts. Therefore, they add their workouts in separately and eat the cals they burn.
  • WomanPower79
    WomanPower79 Posts: 37
    I would go ahead and re-do my profile "EXCLUDING" the assumed work out....
  • strandedeyes
    strandedeyes Posts: 392 Member
    when I set my activity level, I do not include my exercise. Its everything else which is very sedentary for me at the moment. Then I add in my exercise cals separately because I do burn an intense amount more within a time frame than my average hour...
  • lwells611
    lwells611 Posts: 13
    That is MY question, too! If I eatmy exercise calories I feel so full I'm uncomfortable. I am toning & trimming down but the weight loss is meager. I think I might just ditch the old scale, too!
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
    If you are physically active you burn more calories, just sitting, than someone who doesn't work out at all. So I would try to eat exercise calories back.

    What some others have recommended is to have a net calorie balance at least as high as your BMR, if you can get (and update) an accurate BMR reading.
  • lemanda
    lemanda Posts: 116 Member
    I dont eat my exercise calories. This has been the first time in my life that I have been told to eat back what you burn. Can you imagine the contestants on the biggest loser being told to eat back what they burn? They wouldn't lose a thing! I've watched a lot of other weight loss shows where they lay out the eating and fitness plan and they is no mention of eating extra to cover the exercise. To each his own!
  • amymeenieminymo
    amymeenieminymo Posts: 2,394 Member
    I would change your setting to not reflect your exercise. Setting it to active assumes a blanket amount of calories burned for activity, but surely you work out is not exactly the same everyday? Sometimes I got for a walk and burn 200 calories, other days I go to the gym and burn 500. I like to know that my calories are as specific as I can get them, the more accurate they are, the greater success I have.
  • cc_campbell81
    cc_campbell81 Posts: 622
    That is MY question, too! If I eatmy exercise calories I feel so full I'm uncomfortable. I am toning & trimming down but the weight loss is meager. I think I might just ditch the old scale, too!

    For sure don't eat until you're uncomfortable. If you feel hungry then eat but don't force yourself to eat. You can try each method for a few weeks and adjust how much you eat. For example try not eating the exercise calories for a few weeks then try eating some or all of them for another few weeks and see which one works best.
  • MakingAChoice
    MakingAChoice Posts: 481 Member
    Looks like others covered it pretty well. You just need to account for your exercise in one form or another. If you did it via the activity level than you don't add exercise to your daily goal, that would be counting it twice. I choose to set mine to sedentary and enter my exercise for a few reasons.

    First, I can see exactly how many calories I am burning a day via my HRM.

    Second, it allows me to take a day off, if you have your activity level set to active it assumes active EVERY day. So if you never stop moving that is fine, but most people take days off to recover from workouts.

    Third, I am able to track the exact exercises I do in MFP. So if I have been doing a certain exercise, like elliptical, for awhile I know it is time to move to a new machine to kick the muscle confusion into play.

    I see tracking exercise as nearly as important as tracking foods. Having a HRM makes this a much more exact number than just saying 'active' and relying on some general number that could slow down your loss.
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