Exercise Calories and all that Hoopla!

I think you're right. I haven't been on here long though. I find if I don't eat the excess exercise calories I lose a bit of weight. I think you are gaining muscle now. Let's hope! good luck!

AHEM!!!

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You should try eat back at least 75% of your execise calories. Be sure to never go under 1200 NET calories, because if you do your body will go into starvation mode.

Can you explain NET calories to me?

Net calories can be seen on your home page. Net cals should always be over 1200, and ideally should match your initial daily cal goal.

Net calories are your total calories eaten minus what you've burned.

ex:

Total eaten :1620
Exercise: 620

Net calories: 1000

If it were me, I would probably eat 100 of those and call it a day just because that's a lot of calories to burn and i'd be close. but if i were hungry i'd eat them all. it depends on how hungry i am after a workout, but you get it

I found that by increasing my calorie intake I lost more. When I was eating 1700 calories I lost 1 lb a week. When I upped it to 2000 calories, I lost 2 lbs a week. I try to eat back most if not all my exercise calories as well.

Something I never see mentioned is that you will continue to burn extra calories after you finish working out, so even if you eat back everything that you burned while you work out, there is still a net loss. Depending on the exercise, this extra burn can continue for 38 hours. This is also on top of reduced intake set from trying to lose weight just by eating less.

Your NET calories are the amount of Calories you eat - your exercise calories For example if you eat 1,200 calories a day but burn 700 calories from exercise your NET calories would be 500. The problem is that your body can't function on that few calories and gets freaked out and stores everything you eat because it's worried you're going to starve it to death.

Really you should try to eat some (at least half) of your exercise calories back because your body needs fuel in order to function. (Think of it as putting gas in your car. Can't run the car without gas) MFP is already subtracting 500 calories from what you *need* to function a day to help you lose weight so you really should try to eat as many net calories as it's telling you too.

Hmmm. Where is this "net" business coming from? I find MFP only gives a warning of "too few calories" if I eat less than 1200, regardless of exercise. (i rarely do this btw, and its not deliberate). I agree that it's unwise for women (on average) to consume less than 1200 a day.....but the exercise calories is a more disputed issue.

Well, the point is that if you eat 1200, then burn 700 (on top of BMR and daily activity), you're expecting your body to function on what is effectively 500 cals per day.

MFP creates a built in deficit, based on your chosen loss per week goal, regardless of exercise. It is designed to help you lose with or without exercise.

It starts with BMR (what you burn every day just to stay alive, as if in a coma) and your daily activity level. Purposeful exercise is not accounted for yet. From these two numbers, it estimates your maintenance cals - what you would eat to maintain your current weight (again, without exercise.)

It subtracts your chosen deficit from maintenance. So say maintenance is 2000, and you choose 1 lb per week, it will give a daily cal goal of about 1500. If you do no exercise, this is what you would eat to lose about 1 lb per week.

However, if you go exercise, you've now burned more cals. If you don't eat them, you've made the deficit larger, and are expecting your body to function at a higher level with the same amount of cals. So the Net is where you account for the additional calories burned through purposeful exercise.

Yes I know that's the maths - but the MFP warning is only triggered by gross, not net figure. And this is the only site where I've ever seen reference to eating back exercise calories. I was wondering if there were any external sources or references?

Well, it's actually not triggered by either net or gross - it's set to appear at the 1200 mark. 1200 is the number recommended by WHO and medical experts as the minimum required by the average woman to receive adequate nutrition, so that is the lower limit MFP provides.

The reason this is the only site you see referencing exercise cals is because MFP is designed differently than other counters/plans. Other plans use your exercise to create your deficit. They take your intended exercise and spread it out over the week and make the deficit come from that, keeping your daily cal goal static. With those plans, you would not replace cals you burn in exercise.

MFP approaches it in a different manner for several reasons. First, losing weight is mainly about diet. Many people set exercise goals, but often the amount of that exercise varies in actuality. So MFP has you log each exercise individually, essentially making it more accurate because you log the actual minutes/calories burned - rather than just saying what you "intend" to do. Also, since many people are limited in the amount or types of exercise they can do, this makes it possible for them to lose weight even if they cannot exercise at all or regularly. MFP approaches it with the idea that your deficit comes from what you eat, not your exercise - exercise is for health and fitness, not necessarily weight loss.

I can't give you any external links that discuss eating exercise cals, because as I said, as far as I know, no other site/plan uses this approach. However, I can supply many links that discuss the risks of adaptive thermogenesis and LCD's (low calorie diets), and rapid weight loss - which is what you risk when creating too large of a deficit.

Edit: I would add, also, that many other counters/plans focus purely on weight loss - not necessarily health and fitness. Which is why I think MFP is the best. :bigsmile: Most people, especially those with large amounts to lose, can certainly just eat as little as possible and lose some weight. But again, that doesn't take overall health and fitness into consideration.

Wow!! Thanks for all the help everyone!!

New goal is to eat at LEAST 1200 NET calories...because that is what I learned about today! haha

So the next question obviously comes in...

What KINDS of things should I be eating to make those Calories up?? I am not good about not going over sodium and all of that normally so I need some help on what I should be eating!

Well, to avoid sodium, focus on unprocessed, fresh foods. Fresh, uncured/processed meats, fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains.

To increase cals in a healthy way, you don't necessarily have to increase volume a lot. Start by just adding 25-50 cals more per meal/snack. Get on a schedule and don't skip meals. And spread cals out throughout the day, so you aren't stuck with a large amount at at the end of the day. Try to make each meal/snack contain a balance of protein/fat/carbs.

Increase healthy fats -
natural oils, like olive and canola - use them in cooking, or add to a shake/smoothie
nuts - almonds, pistachios, walnuts - lots of cals and good nutrients - or natural nut butters, like peanut butter or almond butter
Avocados

Also, try drinking some of your cals - chocolate milk, a good protein shake, fruit smoothie. Sometimes it's easier to drink something even when you aren't hungry.

Usually it only takes a week or two to adjust to a higher intake. And as your metabolism speeds up, so will your appetite.

I normal only eat half or less of my gym cal because I am really trying to lose weight and not get fatter...

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