Exercise Calories and all that Hoopla!

SammyLynn010
SammyLynn010 Posts: 293 Member
edited September 26 in Fitness and Exercise
So I am sure it's been posted on here 298574894 times, but who has the time and patients to weed through all those previous posts about it...

Exercise Calories...

To eat them or not to Eat them? That is my question!!

I usually don't eat them--and haven't seen a loss in almost a month ... though my body is changing. I know my clothes are fitting differently and I am seeing muscles in places I never thought possible. BUT -- no weight loss. I figured it was just because what I am losing in weight I am gaining in muscle. Am I just kidding myself??

What do YOU all think? I am at a bit of a loss of this whole no loss thing (hehe).

Hope you guys are having a happy weekend!
«1

Replies

  • cheekymo48
    cheekymo48 Posts: 11
    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!
  • ChunkyMonkey207
    ChunkyMonkey207 Posts: 96 Member
    Im in the same boat...I maintain,but my body looks so much different just in the past couple of weeks.Normally,I may eat some..but never all.I was just complaining about that this morning...My scale says 136.5 every damn week lately lol
    Good luck!
    ~Amanda
  • funkyspunky871
    funkyspunky871 Posts: 1,675 Member
    AHEM!!! :)

    |
    |
    |
    V
  • mynameiscarrie
    mynameiscarrie Posts: 963 Member
    you need to try to eat most of them. if your goal is 1200 cal/day your body needs a NET of 1200, not intake. I don't eat them all on days i burn a lot (700+), but i'll eat back at least half.
  • SammyLynn010
    SammyLynn010 Posts: 293 Member
    AHEM!!! :)

    |
    |
    |
    V


    Haha! That's too perfect! Thanks!
  • tmontgomery69
    tmontgomery69 Posts: 180 Member
    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.
  • SammyLynn010
    SammyLynn010 Posts: 293 Member
    Im in the same boat...I maintain,but my body looks so much different just in the past couple of weeks.Normally,I may eat some..but never all.I was just complaining about that this morning...My scale says 136.5 every damn week lately lol
    Good luck!
    ~Amanda

    Yep you sound EXACTLY like time I step on the scale! haha
  • cupfanncbms
    cupfanncbms Posts: 101
    I don't eat mine back in their entirety. Sometimes none or nearly none at all. I have lost 20 pounds in a little over 2 months (and 20-ish inches). This past month, I pumped up the cardio and stopped eating back so many of my exercise calories, and I've dropped 13 pounds this month. I had a lot to lose, though-I started at over 200 pounds. *blush*

    I try my darnedest to get my 1200 calories in though-even though I've had to sometimes drink a protein shake at night to do it. Some days I just feel more hungry and eat and then take back in some of my exercise calories, but I have never eaten them all back...

    I also take the weekends a lot more lax. If I go way over, so be it. If I don't get to the gym on Sunday, I don't fret.
  • SammyLynn010
    SammyLynn010 Posts: 293 Member
    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?
  • SassyStef
    SassyStef Posts: 413
    AHEM!!! :)

    |
    |
    |
    V

    I second that.....AHEM!!!

    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
    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.
  • froggzy1015
    froggzy1015 Posts: 178 Member
    I usually eat half of mine at least, sometimes more! The scale is not always the best for determining if your body is changing. You should measure! I don't even own a scale, but measuring and seeing the small changes in my body the past few weeks is what keeps me motivated! Good luck! Keep on pushing on!
  • mynameiscarrie
    mynameiscarrie Posts: 963 Member
    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 :)
  • mbalaguer1
    mbalaguer1 Posts: 35
    This is a great link to some interesting articles: http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

    Here is an excerpt that I find to be very useful:

    "If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you will need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person. That means that eating at a lower calorie level will work better for you than for a relatively lean individual.

    Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet (e.g., a 750 calorie deficit per day) and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight. Your dietary needs will change as you lose weight. As you get lighter, your daily caloric need will diminish as will your body's ability to tolerate a too low calorie intake (consequence? you'll begin to lose more lean and hang onto the fat, thereby getting lighter but "fatter")."

    i take this to mean that if you are obese (as I still am) you can NOT eat your exercise calories, create a deficit, and still lose alot of weight. Once you are leaner you run the risk of losing muscle instead of fat if you do this. So no, i personally do not eat mine because i am about 80 lbs over weight still
  • hroush
    hroush Posts: 2,073 Member
    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.
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    that would depend on how much you have to shed, for those whom are obese then no you can get away with lower calories as the body will supplement that with the fat stores but when you get down to a lower bodyfat it will start to play a major role in fat loss. So when you started out on mfp it may have worked up until now, meaning that you do need to start eating them back, listen to what ladyhawk said, she is a smart one and one of the few ppl on here with healthy advice echoing much of what I say as well. VLCD (very low cal) diets work well for obese ppl, not so much for those with 30 or less pounds to lose, so eating back to a net of 1200 or more is advisable.
  • Tiffy11011
    Tiffy11011 Posts: 81 Member
    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.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    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.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
    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.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    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?
This discussion has been closed.

Categories