confuse do i have to eat all my exercise calories back

sarahburb · March 2011

hi im new to my fitness pal and am a little confused ...ive been exercercising recently and struggle to eat all my exercise calories back simply because im not hungry, should i be forcefeeding myself to eat when my body is telling me that im not hungry surely this could be bad, im simply confused. com

Moonbeamlissie · March 2011

I try to never eat any of mine back... I feel it is a waste of time if I do.

JHoersten2 · March 2011

If you're not hungry, then dont eat. That just makes sense.

Keep your calories above 1200 per day though. If you're eating nothing but celery all day and complaining that you can't hit your calorie mark, that won't work either. Get all your nutrients, vitamins, and daily recommended food groups in, and you shouldn't have any problem hitting your calorie limit per day.

And then yes, eat back your exercise calories. MFP figures them into your weekly goal.

rileysowner · March 2011

I would say no you should not be force feeding yourself. However, you may want to eat some healthy calorie dense stuff like almonds (unsalted), almond paste, walnuts and the like. Incorporate them into your meals of as a snack. Use healthy fats for cooking like Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Be careful with the amounts since they contain a lot of calories, but are a quick and easy way to increase calories consumed.

In the end, if you can't eat all your exercise calories some days, that is fine. I lost most of my weight not eating any of my exercise calories, but then I was not on a 1200 calorie a day diet either.

I was looking over your food diary and seeing your ticker on your home page I have some comments.

1) You seem to eat very few healthy fats. You would be well served by using some in the food you cook or prepare. A little olive oil goes a long way, but a tablespoon total for a day would put you up 160 calories if I remember correctly. Almonds, walnuts, flax seed and the like will add calories and healthy fats to your diet as well.

2) If I can correct reading your weight loss ticker you only have about 15 pounds to lose. At 1200 calories a day, I am assuming when you set things up you chose 2 pounds per week. If you are close to a healthy BMI, that is probably to much for your body to sustain for any period of time. You may have to decrease your goal of weight loss per week to 1.5 or 1 pound a week. This is more of a warning that you may find yourself hitting a plateau very soon. You may not, but that would be one of those things that would be unusual.

Celo24 · March 2011

hi im new to my fitness pal and am a little confused ...ive been exercercising recently and struggle to eat all my exercise calories back simply because im not hungry, should i be forcefeeding myself to eat when my body is telling me that im not hungry surely this could be bad, im simply confused. com

That question is impossible to answer for you without knowing more information. How much are you trying to lose? How often do you exercise? How many calories do you burn when you exercise? How far short of your calorie goal are you? How much water are you drinking? How healthy is your diet? Once you answer those questions - and I would suggest making your food diary public as well (at least to your friends), then we may be able to help you.

Additionally, read the two links in my signature. Those may help clear some things up too. Good luck!

sarahburb · March 2011

thanks

firstly i hate celery..lol

i eat plenty, i have breakfast, fruit snacks, lunch, dinner and other snacks, basically three square meals a day, plus snacks in between and some days i feel i couldnt possibly eat anymore,

kwrecks · March 2011

I just had someone explain this to me. Apparently, it's a bit controversial, about whether to eat them or not. I've been told that you want to get your net calories at 0, but I've also been told that you need to eat back your calories. If you go to Tools, and use the BMR calculator. This figures out your BRM, which is the amount of calories your body burns at rest. So, if you did nothing but sit in a chair, your body will burn this many calories just by keeping you alive. So, MFP will give you the amount of calories that your body needs to lose weight. For example, I'll use my numbers....

My BMR is 1940. This is the amount of calories my body burns while at rest.
MFP gives me a calorie goal of 1640.
The 300 calorie difference is how I will lose weight.
I worked out today, and I burned 288 calories.
So, my 1940 BMR and my 288 Work out calories burned equals 2228.

MFP will then set my calorie goal to my regular calorie intake, which is 1640, plus the 288 that I burned, which puts me at 1928, which is still less than the 2228 that I burn.

So, what that means is that if you eat your exercise calories, you will still be burning more calories than you eat, because along with your BMR, you are eating less calories than you're burning.

If you don't eat them, I don't think it's a huge deal, as long as you are eating more than 1200 calories a day. This is the point where most people will tell you that your body will go into starvation mode.

I think as long as you are getting in at least the calories that MFP tells you to, you'll lose weight. I would also say play aorund with it. One week, eat your exercise calories, the next week, don't. See what works best for you.

sarahburb · March 2011

hi im new to my fitness pal and am a little confused ...ive been exercercising recently and struggle to eat all my exercise calories back simply because im not hungry, should i be forcefeeding myself to eat when my body is telling me that im not hungry surely this could be bad, im simply confused. com

That question is impossible to answer for you without knowing more information. How much are you trying to lose? How often do you exercise? How many calories do you burn when you exercise? How far short of your calorie goal are you? How much water are you drinking? How healthy is your diet? Once you answer those questions - and I would suggest making your food diary public as well (at least to your friends), then we may be able to help you.

Additionally, read the two links in my signature. Those may help clear some things up too. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply

i exercise 5 times a week ... i do legnth swimming 3 days burning approx 500 cals per sessions
Then i have 2 days exercise in a gym doing approx 300 cals in 45 mins sessions

I am trying to lose 17lbs and have lost 3lbs in 5 days
And i currently manage to drink 4/5 glasses of water a day

I will make my profile public

sarahburb · March 2011

I just had someone explain this to me. Apparently, it's a bit controversial, about whether to eat them or not. I've been told that you want to get your net calories at 0, but I've also been told that you need to eat back your calories. If you go to Tools, and use the BMR calculator. This figures out your BRM, which is the amount of calories your body burns at rest. So, if you did nothing but sit in a chair, your body will burn this many calories just by keeping you alive. So, MFP will give you the amount of calories that your body needs to lose weight. For example, I'll use my numbers....

My BMR is 1940. This is the amount of calories my body burns while at rest.
MFP gives me a calorie goal of 1640.
The 300 calorie difference is how I will lose weight.
I worked out today, and I burned 288 calories.
So, my 1940 BMR and my 288 Work out calories burned equals 2228.

MFP will then set my calorie goal to my regular calorie intake, which is 1640, plus the 288 that I burned, which puts me at 1928, which is still less than the 2228 that I burn.

So, what that means is that if you eat your exercise calories, you will still be burning more calories than you eat, because along with your BMR, you are eating less calories than you're burning.

If you don't eat them, I don't think it's a huge deal, as long as you are eating more than 1200 calories a day. This is the point where most people will tell you that your body will go into starvation mode.

I think as long as you are getting in at least the calories that MFP tells you to, you'll lose weight. I would also say play aorund with it. One week, eat your exercise calories, the next week, don't. See what works best for you.

Thanks for that makes sense

confuse do i have to eat all my exercise calories back

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