alright one more time, explain thsi to me so i can get it pl

Sierrasmommy
Sierrasmommy Posts: 90
edited September 26 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I keep hearing that you got to eat the exercise calories, Im on MFP and Sparkpeople because each has tools that I like to use... so heres my question cuz Spark calculates differently than MFP.

DO YOU EAT THE EXERCISE CALORIES? WHY? AND WHY DOESNT SPARK ADD THEM IN?

I enter the same personal info on both Spark and MFP...
Spark says eat 1250-1600
MFP says eat 1780.

The difference: if I exercise (and I do, normally burning between 6-700 cals 4 days a week, and I currently weigh 296.2 and I am 6'1, omg cant believe I put that out there...)tehn once I enter that exercise into MFP, it adds those calories back into my daily goal. heres an example:

K so MFP says my daily goal is 1780 at the start of the day.

Then I go and eat 600 calories by noon.

So now MFP says well you should still eat 1180 calories more...

THEN... I go and work out and burn 680 calories.

MFP says hey, well now technically you didnt eat anything cuz you just sat there and exercised the 600 away you did have and now your sitting at -80 calories.

So now, per MFP, I still have to eat enough to hit my original calorie goal of 1780, otherwise I will have only eaten 1100 calories for the day, which isnt enough to fuel my basic needs...

THEREFORE... according to MFP, I have to eat my exercise calories!!!! But Spark doesnt do this, I eat the 1250-1600 and if I exercise it away, Spark doesnt add it back in. So still confused here, help? lol Do you eat your exercise calories back and still lose weight?


Feel free to look at my diary to see what you think, cuz I want to know if I am doing this right.

Replies

  • n0pants3ver
    n0pants3ver Posts: 175
    bump
  • callipygianchronicle
    callipygianchronicle Posts: 811 Member
    I don’t know what metrics spark people uses, so I can’t advise how to use their site versus here. I suggest tracking one place, not two. You can still use the tools in both places. But if you want to understand why MFP advises you to eat your exercise calories, you can find a great explanation in this post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ladyhawk00/view/60-lbs-in-60-days-94980 as well as here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/173853-an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories
  • LJCannon
    LJCannon Posts: 3,636 Member
    :ohwell: wish I knew the answer to this
  • Mistykelly
    Mistykelly Posts: 47 Member
    The way I understand it.......Your body needs 1780 calories daily. So if you do nothing, all day you need to just eat 1780 calories. However if you work out and burn 600 calories, you need to replace those calories you burned with more food! I personally do not worry about the ones I burn off, I just intake what MFP tells me to and try not to go over or under and it seems to be working for me. I only use MFP so I am not sure about the other one. Good luck!
  • BeerKahuna
    BeerKahuna Posts: 52
    I have a couple of questions - what did you list as your weight loss goal per week? 1 lb? 0.5 lb? Maintain? Gain?

    What level of activity did you specify? Active? Sedentary?

    Both of these items drive the calorie allotment on MFP.
  • olyrose
    olyrose Posts: 569 Member
    There are other people who will be able to give you the science better than me, but from what I understand, it's good to eat them back. The logic is that your body needs a certain amount of calories to function. Working out burns those off, so you need to replenish them, and focus on the net calories. So it's not just about how many calories you eat, but how many you have at the end of the day.

    So if you need 1500 calories, and burn 500, now you've only given your body 1000 calories, which is not enough to sustain you.

    What I've noticed though, is a lot of the exercise calculations are way overestimated. I have my goal set to 1490 calories for the day. After working out, I just try to make sure I NET 1,200 calories (what I eat - what I burn).

    I don't know how the other site works though. I've only used this site, and only just learned about the exercise calories. It makes sense though!
  • gardea
    gardea Posts: 75
    Ok, I have read lots and lots of stuff on this eating your calories back after exercising. Basically, if you don't you start to stall, lol. I have been eating my calories back this week. I didn't last week. I lost 1 pound last week and another 1.5 lbs already this week. Lots of people on here are losing weight on 2500 calorie diets. I put in that I want to lose a pound a week and it came up with 1540 calories a day. I have been exercising every day burning 200 to 800+ calories a day. I am eating an average of 2100 to 2200 calories this week. The best way I saw it put was It takes 1500 calories to maintain a body that just lies in bed and does nothing. Last week I was pretty tired at the end of the day. This week, not so!!! I still have plenty of energy left at night. So I believe this site. I am not saying your other site is wrong. I have been on similar sites to this though and I have never had any success with the other ones. Keep in mind, my 2200 calories are all pretty much balanced. I have a snack once in a while, but most of it is good staple food. I don't cut carbs or fats at all. I just keep them in line with what they are supposed to be. I think if I started eating hostess cakes every day like I used to, I'd stop m progress real quick. Also, my brother told me about this site. He lost 20 lbs and has kept it off for a few months. He of course can eat more than me, but he averages 2700 calories a day and hikes a few hours a week. It works from what I can see.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    I think what shes also asking is how come the spark people website does not have you eat them back,which is something I wondered also
  • minxblack
    minxblack Posts: 40
    Ok..As I understand it, as long as you eat the basic 1200 calories, you're ok. If you exercise, you need to eat your goal calories. as for exercise calories, you can choose to eat those or not. Most don't and it adds to the weight loss. If you burn too many calories, then it might tell you you're not eating enough so make sure to eat enough to satisfy the minimum.

    example. My goal is 1700 calories. If I eat 1500 and exercise 400 away. I'm ok. But if I eat 1500 and exercise 800 away, it tells me to eat more. ( two weeks ago). I don't know where the cut off is but if I eat my goal calories of 1700, then exercise the 800 away, I'm still good. There is a fine line between working out too much/ not eating enough. There comes time when you need to eat those calories.

    Hope this helps.
  • Tiggermummy
    Tiggermummy Posts: 312 Member
    you will find lots of differing views on this, so your best bet is to do some reading up and make some choices for you, taking into account certain factors that could make a difference.

    How much you have to loose?
    if you have lots to loose - like me over 60lbs then you can probabbly get away with regularly being under your calorie goal,
    if you have 10lb's to loose - you are less likely to get away with it, in the same way you are not going to be able to set your weight loss goal at 2lb /week with 10lb to go.

    the world health organisation do not recommend going under 1200 calories which is why MFP doesn't go under this, if you have alot to loose then it might be something you could do, but it is normally done under medical supervision. Doing very low calorie intake over a long period of time can be detremental to your long term health.

    You could find your body will slow it's metabolism rate down, so your weight loss will slow or stop as it feels you aren't getting eneough nutrition. (don't you love how our bodies work against us!)

    I do eat back some of my calores but not necessarily all of them. I look at the NET figure as long as it's between 1000-1200 I don't stress as I prefer to allow some slack for where I might of under-estimated my intake.

    Hope this helps even a little
  • minxblack
    minxblack Posts: 40
    Gardea, you make a wonderful argument and since I'm in a plateau, I wonder if thats the issue.
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    I think Spark's # includes your estimated exercise for the day to give you the calorie target, whereas MFP gives you the non-exercise baseline and lets us add it in when we record our exercise. In theory the MFP way should be more accurate, but the simple math behind it really seems to blow a lot of people's minds.

    Edit: this whole notion of "exercise calories" has become such a hot button issue. it's kind of a red herring to discuss "eating exercise calories". The main point, which I think we often lose sight of is net calories consumed.
  • snickerpants
    snickerpants Posts: 44 Member
    How much does Spark have you eating a day? Because MFP allows you a tailored amount minus 500 calories per day (if you are aiming to lose 1 pound a week)
    Here's an example:
    You need 2000 calories a day to keep yourself at the same weight. But you want to lose 1 pound a week so MFP gives you a max of 1500 calories a day (500 calories less per day = 3500 less calories a week this is the deficit you need to lose 1 pound)

    Now, your body needs that 1500 calories a day to do stuff like breath and walk the dog and blink your eyes and, I dunno ..,grow some hair or something. Without those 1500 calories your body has to go into it's reserves for energy. In a perfect world this would come straight from your hips or something but your body doesn't like to be forced into things like that. MFP already decreases your diet so that you are taking in less calories than you actually need, thus forcing your body to dip into its reserves.

    Now let's say you go jogging and burn off 1000 calories (that's one heck of a jog!)

    You are already working at a deficit of calories (1500 per day INSTEAD of the 2000 your body needs to maintain your current weight) and now you've just used up 1000 of those calories jogging to New Jersey and back. So NOW your body only has 500 calories to spend on the daily stuff like walking the dog and brushing your teeth.

    HOWEVER, your body still needs 1500 calories to do all that stuff so now it has to go get those calories out of storage (maybe somewhere around your tummy?). This works to an extent but If you force your body to do this too often and to major extremes, it will get all mad at you and go into starvation mode - at which point your body tends to give you the finger and start using lean muscle INSTEAD of fat.

    Basically, MFP gives you a base amount of calories to eat per day so that you put in enough energy to keep your metabolism happy and working well. You add back in the calories you excersize off because you don't want to go into starvation mode.

    Did that make any sense?
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
    I think Spark's # includes your estimated exercise for the day to give you the calorie target, whereas MFP gives you the non-exercise baseline and lets us add it in when we record our exercise. In theory the MFP way should be more accurate, but the simple math behind it really seems to blow a lot of people's minds.

    The simple math behind eating exercise calories = w32839793.jpg
  • gardea
    gardea Posts: 75
    Gardea, you make a wonderful argument and since I'm in a plateau, I wonder if thats the issue.

    Im in the "I'll try anything" mood lately! LOL. I was stalled at a 15 lb loss for almost two months. I finally broke it so I'm thinking this is the way to go then. Hope it works for you Minx!!!
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    How much does Spark have you eating a day? Because MFP allows you a tailored amount minus 500 calories per day (if you are aiming to lose 1 pound a week)
    Here's an example:
    You need 2000 calories a day to keep yourself at the same weight. But you want to lose 1 pound a week so MFP gives you a max of 1500 calories a day (500 calories less per day = 3500 less calories a week this is the deficit you need to lose 1 pound)

    Now, your body needs that 1500 calories a day to do stuff like breath and walk the dog and blink your eyes and, I dunno ..,grow some hair or something. Without those 1500 calories your body has to go into it's reserves for energy. In a perfect world this would come straight from your hips or something but your body doesn't like to be forced into things like that. MFP already decreases your diet so that you are taking in less calories than you actually need, thus forcing your body to dip into its reserves.

    Now let's say you go jogging and burn off 1000 calories (that's one heck of a jog!)

    You are already working at a deficit of calories (1500 per day INSTEAD of the 2000 your body needs to maintain your current weight) and now you've just used up 1000 of those calories jogging to New Jersey and back. So NOW your body only has 500 calories to spend on the daily stuff like walking the dog and brushing your teeth.

    HOWEVER, your body still needs 1500 calories to do all that stuff so now it has to go get those calories out of storage (maybe somewhere around your tummy?). This works to an extent but If you force your body to do this too often and to major extremes, it will get all mad at you and go into starvation mode - at which point your body tends to give you the finger and start using lean muscle INSTEAD of fat.

    Basically, MFP gives you a base amount of calories to eat per day so that you put in enough energy to keep your metabolism happy and working well. You add back in the calories you excersize off because you don't want to go into starvation mode.

    Did that make any sense?

    when i was on spark it had me at 1200 to 1500 it wasnt one set number
  • Sierrasmommy
    Sierrasmommy Posts: 90
    Kk, I only track on here but my mom tracks on sparkpeople, so I was curious and put my info in to see if there would be any difference in how each site calculates, the onyl difference is the exercise calories. Everything else was teh same or close in proximity, from daily cals to fat intake to how much I should exercise, blah blah blah yakkity yakkity, lol.

    So here is my info:

    I am 6'1, I weigh 296.2. I would like to get down to 200 at least and then if I dont look anorexic, I may go farther, who knows right now though. I just started last week, adn I work out M-Thursday, an hour a day adn burn anywhere between 500-700 calories between elliptical and treadmill. I plan on adding in weights later for those who are curious...

    So, my issue is this, if everything down to the button is the same between the two sites, with the exception of the exercise calories... who is right? This is why I am confused. I usually go by my net on the home page, so if I net 1200 at teh end of the day, I am happy with that. BUT I do not want to stall out my weight... so if I need to eat more than that 1200 then I want to know, lol.
    My equation: (USING TODAY SO FAR FOR ME)

    So far... have eaten 1373 in calories

    exercised 694 away

    leaves me 679 net eaten so far today

    So... I get that I need to make that so far today number get up to at least 1200, which means you are technically eating your exercise calories, although this is not literal. I think thats where a lot of peoples confusion comes in. BUT my question is this...

    If its all the same on both sites, why doesnt sparkpeople add the exercise calories back into the daily caloric goal?
  • jewels319
    jewels319 Posts: 72 Member
    I think Spark's # includes your estimated exercise for the day to give you the calorie target, whereas MFP gives you the non-exercise baseline and lets us add it in when we record our exercise. In theory the MFP way should be more accurate, but the simple math behind it really seems to blow a lot of people's minds.

    The simple math behind eating exercise calories = w32839793.jpg

    Funny!!!!!!
  • Sierrasmommy
    Sierrasmommy Posts: 90
    I have a couple of questions - what did you list as your weight loss goal per week? 1 lb? 0.5 lb? Maintain? Gain?

    What level of activity did you specify? Active? Sedentary?

    Both of these items drive the calorie allotment on MFP.

    When you put that info in do you base it off of your exercise or how the rest of teh day goes, because I am a student and aside from my exercise, i basically get to sit behind a desk all day... just curious cuz I haev mine set at sedentary.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    I think Spark's # includes your estimated exercise for the day to give you the calorie target, whereas MFP gives you the non-exercise baseline and lets us add it in when we record our exercise. In theory the MFP way should be more accurate, but the simple math behind it really seems to blow a lot of people's minds.

    Edit: this whole notion of "exercise calories" has become such a hot button issue. it's kind of a red herring to discuss "eating exercise calories". The main point, which I think we often lose sight of is net calories consumed.

    spark had me at the non exercise baseline also as the lowest to eat the highest being 1500 and when I would enter my exercise for the day it didnt add on
  • Sierrasmommy
    Sierrasmommy Posts: 90
    I think Spark's # includes your estimated exercise for the day to give you the calorie target, whereas MFP gives you the non-exercise baseline and lets us add it in when we record our exercise. In theory the MFP way should be more accurate, but the simple math behind it really seems to blow a lot of people's minds.

    The simple math behind eating exercise calories = w32839793.jpg

    Funny!!!!!!
    too hilarious!
  • Walking2Lose
    Walking2Lose Posts: 69 Member
    I am on Spark People as well. I started out on SP first. I believe that you can figure out how SP calculates your daily caloric intake. I have read it as I don't always agree with what they tell me. I enjoy both sites and know of a lot of people who have lost lots of weight on SP..so it must be working for some.

    Sorry I can't help you...I am just trying to eat in my range and workout.

    Good luck!
  • traceybett
    traceybett Posts: 206 Member
    :ohwell: wish I knew the answer to this

    There is hope for us all!!!! You have lost 173 pounds without knowing the answer!! I love this!
    Curious how you handle your calories??

    I just try to eat sensible.... sometimes I eat them back, sometimes I am way under...... sometimes I don't exercise and go over...... but I TRY to stay near my 1200 per day.
  • snickerpants
    snickerpants Posts: 44 Member
    No, you're right.

    I don't think there is a "set" number for everyone. I just used the 1500 calorie example because it was easier to do quick math 'n'stuff.
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