Burn More Than You Eat

what good does burning calories do if you just eat them back?

when you set your goals, mfp builds in a calorie deficit that will allow you to reach them. it doesn't count for exercise.

so, when you DO exercise, it adds those calories back in to help you maintain the given deficit. opinions abound, so i refer you to The URL: www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

hope that helps.

what good does burning calories do if you just eat them back?

ya, I don't get this concept either. How is eating back your calories (that you worked so hard to burn off) going to help you lose weight??

what good does burning calories do if you just eat them back?

ya, I don't get this concept either. How is eating back your calories (that you worked so hard to burn off) going to help you lose weight??

Because even after you eat those exercise calories back you still have a deficit to lose either a pound or half a pound a week, depending on what you put in for you goals. When you don't eat them back you create a larger, possibly not so healthy deficit. You burn calories just living then exercising burns more obviously. You need to eat back those calories so your body has sufficient fuel in order to function properly.

I am 1.8 pounds away from my final goal and it's due to eating back my calories and doing it for once, the healthy way. Might take a little more time but it's healthier and ultimately gives you a lower chance of gaining the weight back once you up the calories to maintain.

what good does burning calories do if you just eat them back?

If you are eating maintenance calories but decide you want to lose another lb or two, you could do that by burning 500 calories a day for 1 or 2 weeks and not eat them back. However, since MFP already gives you a calorie amount to lose weight WITHOUT exercise if you don't eat them back you will not be giving your body enough fuel to do what it needs to do AND fuel that exercise.

Having too much of a decrease in calories is not a good thing nutritionally or for your loss goals because you will stall out as your body thinks it's not getting enough food for what you're asking it to do and will start saving what you're eating instead of burning it as you eat it.

what good does burning calories do if you just eat them back?

exercising isn't just about burning calories, it's about using your muscles, and helping your body be healthier. i think people get too caught up in thinking that in order to lose weight you need to exercise like crazy. eating healthy and at a certain cal level is about losing weight, exercising is to tone your body and get it healthier so you don't end up 'skinny-fat'.

You're going to get different answers from different people.

MFP is supposed to calculate your deficit in already. 3,000 cals is a whole lot so basically, eat however many you want. Just try not to go over that max. If you're under and you feel good about where you're at come the end of the day, then I say you're good.

for example, if MFP said that you should eat 2000 a day and you put in that you wanted to lose 1 lb a week (3500 cals), then your normal calculated need is 5500. Supposedly. So, MFP has already deducted that 3500 to leave you with a 2000 cal daily allowance. Keep in mind that the system has no way to measure metabolism or density so some tweaking of the numbers may be required. You'll get a feel for it after a while. :-)

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm still learning all this and I definately want to do it the healthy way. I just struggle most days eating what I'm supposed to, then to have to eat more?....geez....I have been feelin' fine, so I'll make a few adjustments and give it a shot. Thanks again everyone.

I'm a small girl and when I exercise I have to take in around 2400 calories. You just have to get creative and once you get the hang of it, it' gets easier and easier getting all the calories =]

what good does burning calories do if you just eat them back?

Makes you stronger, healthier, happier, keeps muscles from burning away, builds muscle, which in turns will burn more fat during rest. Those are a few reasons why.

what good does burning calories do if you just eat them back?

Makes you stronger, healthier, happier, keeps muscles from burning away, builds muscle, which in turns will burn more fat during rest. Those are a few reasons why.

Exactly. Why work out hard if you're not going to feed your body and then it will have to turn to itself and all your hard work for fuel.

I want to keep the muscle I've worked so hard to build and am still building. I don't want my body needing to turn to said muscle for fuel because I'm not feeding it enough. I've been on the other side and it's not pretty, it may have taken a roller coaster of different calorie amounts but I feel I'm at the right place now and I'll never go back to being skinny-fat again.

It doesn't work for everyone. I lost 27lbs before getting on MFP. Then got on MFP and started eating my exercise calories and I have gained weight. Now I am at 22lbs lost. It is frustrating. Starting today I am only eating my calorie goal, no longer eating my exercise calories.

if you are running a calorie deficit, you can't gain weight. mfp may have miscalculated your bmr (since bmr is an approximation of average people's resting calorie expenditure...you may burn fewer calories at rest than average). if that is the case, you can modify your caloric needs to ensure you maintain a calorie deficit.

if you have a lot of weight to lose, you can probably get away with 3 lbs a week. eat however much is comfortable for you.

So if I only want to lose 10-15 lbs is it better to aim for a pound a week or can I go higher? Does it matter? I think I have been tired this past week because I don't always eat back the calories I burn from exercise.

you can do 2 lbs a week as long as your calories per day isn't dropping below 1200 calories (recommended for women as the least number of calories they should consume a day to prevent bone and muscle break down (from the American College of Sports Medicine). If you want to lose 2 lbs a week, you need to have a deficit of 1000 calories per day under your maintenance level. Just input it into mfp and see what they say. you'll probably be at 1200 per day, but that might not actually be enough for you to lose 2 lbs a week. if it isn't 2 lbs a week, just stick with the diet until you've lost the 10-15 lbs you wanted to. no reason to rush to 15 lbs lost, especially since it shouldn't take more than a month or two extra (at worst) for you to lose that much even if you are doing 1 lb a week.

when you set your goals, mfp builds in a calorie deficit that will allow you to reach them. it doesn't count for exercise.

so, when you DO exercise, it adds those calories back in to help you maintain the given deficit. opinions abound, so i refer you to The URL: www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

hope that helps.

That website is awesome, haha. But really, I was having the same questions and those links definitely helped sort it out in my mind! Thanks1

Even the 1200 might not be right. I was set at that when I first started and lost some weight at first but then stopped.

I did some research and changed my activity level, my base when I changed it was 1690, I've since lost weight and it's now 1640. I always sort of knew that the base of 1200-1300 I had was not enough for the amount that I work out, even with eating all the exercise calories. My body needs more and has since responded very well to the large increase in calories.

Something that people always forget about working out, especially if you go hard, is that you continue to burn calories AFTER you finish working out. Your body doesn't immediately go back to maintain levels as soon as you turn off the HRM. Depending on the workout you do, your metabolism can be increased for up to 38 hours afterwards (HIIT workout). Here is a perfect example:

When I was 280 lbs, I started doing a spin class twice a week and burned about 700 calories per workout. I didn't do any diet change at all, so I was consuming somewhere around 3000-5000 calories per day (I'm probably low-balling that 3000 too). I lost 2 lbs a week for 7 months (dropped to 210). Tell me if that adds up without what I just said.

To present day, I have found that I needed to increase my calories in order to lose more weight. I am now losing close to 2 lbs a week eating junkier food and just more throughout the day (closer to 2000 cal) then when I was consistent with my 1700 calories and eating back some of my workout calories.