Opinions on whether or not to eat the calories you burn exe

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  • traceyrbb
    traceyrbb Posts: 39 Member
    I have the same concern but I've been eating my actual 1200 not my NET most days and have lost an average of 1-2 pounds a week. Not that I don't want to eat more but I don't know why I have to change what I do if what I'm doing is working? I actually just started burning more calories in a day (around 500+) so my calorie count goes up a lot....but I still fall somewhere between 1200-1500 a day. I'm afraid to eat more.
  • 77LouLou
    77LouLou Posts: 75
    If ur hungry eat them..if not dnt! Be careful bc exercise calories are calculated too high and u will over eat if ur not careful!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    If ur hungry eat them..if not dnt! Be careful bc exercise calories are calculated too high and u will over eat if ur not careful!

    Depends how you are calculating your caloires burned. You can aim to eat Most of them to leave some room for a margin of error.
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
    Your net at the end of the day should not be below your BMR unless you have a lot of weight to lose. Before I started counting calories I was barely making it to 800 or 900, nevermind 1200. I exercise twice a day and so I burn around 600 calories a day. I end up eating around 1880 a little more or a little less each day but my net is around 1250. You need to make sure you're feeding your body. While you might be losing weight your body isn't being properly fed if you're not eating enough and so it turns to what it's got for fuel. Your body will start going after muscle and such if you don't properly feed it. I'm never really hungry because I eat every 2-3 hours but I know I have to get my calories in. I'm now safely and healthfully losing weight.
  • 77LouLou
    77LouLou Posts: 75
    Your net at the end of the day should not be below your BMR unless you have a lot of weight to lose. Before I started counting calories I was barely making it to 800 or 900, nevermind 1200. I exercise twice a day and so I burn around 600 calories a day. I end up eating around 1880 a little more or a little less each day but my net is around 1250. You need to make sure you're feeding your body. While you might be losing weight your body isn't being properly fed if you're not eating enough and so it turns to what it's got for fuel. Your body will start going after muscle and such if you don't properly feed it. I'm never really hungry because I eat every 2-3 hours but I know I have to get my calories in. I'm now safely and healthfully losing weight.

    Ok..idk all the lingo...BMR..this the goal they set for you? And net should b 1200!! That's alot of food some days! I'm not hungry bc I too..eat every 3 hours! How do you get in that much food..if not hungry?
  • traceyrbb
    traceyrbb Posts: 39 Member
    very strange to be dieting to lose weight yet I apparently don't eat enough in a day...just strikes me funny! anyway, so if I exercise and burn 500 calories then I need to eat 500 more calories to keep my body going. and if I have a day where I want to over eat (like on a holiday or something) then if I exercise what I over ate, then I'm fine and still on track? :smile: that's awesome if that's how it works. I am going to have to make an effort to eat more I guess.
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
    BMR is what your body burns if you were to just stay in bed all day, you could add a few more calories for daily activities. So I could actually go over 1250 and still lose weight because my body is burning calories whether or no I'm exercising. It needs at least the 1250 to function, therefore if I didn't eat back the 600 from working out, I would in actuality only be giving my body 650 calories to use as fuel for doing what it needs to do (breathing, functioning in general). So yes, you eat back the calories from exercise so that your net ends back up at your BMR number, which for me is 1248 so I don't want to go below that or I'll technically be starving my body. THat's why when you add exercise it says you've earned such and such a number of calories to eat.
  • robsgal
    robsgal Posts: 50 Member
    I try to eat most of them but also leave some calories left over. I tend to always try my kids food or sometimes take the last bite if that's all that's left and I really do not want to try to figure out how much the leftover crust is on a PB&J. I really like how one person put it about you eating 1200 calories then burning 600 calories and equaling out to you only eating 600. That's the first time it's really clicked with me. I just did it because everything I understand tells me to eat all the calories but it's rarely put so simply. Thanks for explaining it to those of us who don't have the energy or time to thing too long and hard about it!
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
    It can be tough getting in so much food as I'm a small girl. I choose high calorie healthy foods. Most of my meals are very small but pack a high amount of calories. For example for breakfast I have a slice of 100% all natural whole wheat toast with all natural peanutbutter, a banana on top and a glass of milk. Comes out to be about 400 cals for a small amount of food. Sometimes it's hard shoveling the food in especially if I get a late start to the day and have some calorie catching up to do but I want to lose weight the healthy way. I want to feed my body so that it lets go of the weight naturally and so that it doesn't go after the muscle that I've worked so hard at building. This is why a year ago I was skinny but not at all healthy. I wasn't eating nearly enough, never had energy and was still "soft" Now I'm actually feeding my body, taking in around 1880 cals a day but in reality it's only around 1250 cals a day because I burn around 600 with exercise.
  • DEE4560
    DEE4560 Posts: 139
    Oh geez...not this again...
    Why even write this????????

    this is a popular topic and comes up often.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    I usally net around 900 to 1000 I dont eat my exercise calories normallyIf im not hungry.Im just fine.I started exercising and losing weight last april Back then I would exercise 2 hours a day and burn alot.I never stalled on my weightloss my hair didnt fall out.The 4 months I stoped exercising i never gained any back.
  • Still_Sossy
    Still_Sossy Posts: 868 Member
    I dont eat enough and I know I should, but it scares me :(

    I was in the same position. But here is the straight up problem.......the weight loss will slow down bec/so will your metabolism. Also when I was not eating all my calories, I could not hold my yoga pose's or do a single push up. I simply was not giving my body what it needed to perform basic tasks. Since eating my exercise cals, my workouts are stronger and of much better quality.
  • kao708
    kao708 Posts: 813 Member
    Oh geez...not this again...
    I know, right? Please use the search function as this has been asked and answered 10,000 times. Not trying to be nasty but this is a touchy subject and there are tons of posts about this already! :indifferent:
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    I dont eat enough and I know I should, but it scares me :(

    I was in the same position. But here is the straight up problem.......the weight loss will slow down bec/so will your metabolism. Also when I was not eating all my calories, I could not hold my yoga pose's or do a single push up. I simply was not giving my body what it needed to perform basic tasks. Since eating my exercise cals, my workouts are stronger and of much better quality.

    see thats why i dont worry about it for me,because I can work out hard,push ups all that.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    Oh geez...not this again...
    I know, right? Please use the search function as this has been asked and answered 10,000 times. Not trying to be nasty but this is a touchy subject and there are tons of posts about this already! :indifferent:

    well it seems to me the op was asking for everyones opinions on that.not asking if she should.also if your sick to death of the topic just dont click on it.seems simple to me.
  • TK266
    TK266 Posts: 3,638 Member
    what hpsnickers1 said :smile:
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
    What should scare people is not eating enough. Simply put, if you don't feed your body the at least bottom line amount of calories it needs to function and do everyday tasks then while you may be still losing weight it's because your body is eating itself. When you don't take in enough calories for your body to safely shed fat but keep muscle then it turns to the fat for fuel, once that is gone it starts attacking the muscle. I was vastly undereating a year ago, barely making it to 800 calories a day. While I was skinny and didn't weigh much, I had no muscle definition at all. I was "skinny-fat" Once I started eating the amount I needed to make up for the calories I burnt during exercise I did gain weight because my body had gone into survival mode. It was now hanging onto everything I took in for fear of myself "starving" again. Once it realized I wasn't going to cut calories too much, it started letting go of the weight. I'm now safely getting back to the weight my body is happiest at and I'm soo much stronger and have so much more energy. If a small girl like me 5 2 and a half 117.8 pounds can eat 1880 calories and still be losing weight then anyone can. Difference is I'm losing it the safe way and not compromising the muscle I've built while doing my rounds of P90X and P90X Plus.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    im seeing muscle definition.
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
    Check out the thread for starvation mode. If people are fine their bodies going into it then there's usually nothing anyone can say to make them change their mind. Fact is, while you're losing fat, it's not just due to the severe calorie deficit. It's also due to the fact that your body isn't getting enough fuel and therefore turns to the fat. Which seems like not such a bad thing except that once that fat is gone, it will then turn to the muscle. When you go below a certain amount of calories, normally your BMR or 1200 calories, your body literally starts eating itself for fuel so that it can continue to function.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    Check out the thread for starvation mode. If people are fine their bodies going into it then there's usually nothing anyone can say to make them change their mind. Fact is, while you're losing fat, it's not just due to the severe calorie deficit. It's also due to the fact that your body isn't getting enough fuel and therefore turns to the fat. Which seems like not such a bad thing except that once that fat is gone, it will then turn to the muscle. When you go below a certain amount of calories, normally your BMR or 1200 calories, your body literally starts eating itself for fuel so that it can continue to function.

    so after a year that should have happened to me right?
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
    Not if you still have weight to lose, as I said.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    oh ok so as long as you have weight to lose there is no such thing as starvation mode? really thats not what most everyone else says so then ive got nothing to worry about i can just eat 500 calories a day and not go into starvation mode since i still have 40 pounds to lose:laugh:
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
    You're completely misunderstanding what anyone is saying about starvation mode. While you may have weight to lose you can be in starvation mode. Starvation mode is simply your body not getting fuel from calories but instead from fat and muscle. What I'm saying is while you're still losing weight it's due to your huge caloric deficit as well as your body turning to the fat for fuel. Once you've lost the fat, your body will then turn to the muscle.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    You're completely misunderstanding what anyone is saying about starvation mode. While you may have weight to lose you can be in starvation mode. Starvation mode is simply your body not getting fuel from calories but instead from fat and muscle. What I'm saying is while you're still losing weight it's due to your huge caloric deficit as well as your body turning to the fat for fuel. Once you've lost the fat, your body will then turn to the muscle.

    so then when i get close to my goal weight just eat more
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
    Yes. The problem though is when you use such a strict deficit to lose the weight, when it comes time to eat more to maintain, your body wants to hang onto all the calories that come in and usually causes weight gain. If all your stats are good, and your body is doing fine so far with such a deficit then that's good. Ideally you should then be able to ease yourself into eating more calories without gaining the weight back.
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