Why eat exercise calories back?

Options
130HCwifie
130HCwifie Posts: 1
in Food and Nutrition
I have been running religiously for over a year now and would like to lose about 10 pounds for summer. I usually average about 30 to 40 miles each week and do strength training twice a week. I really don't understand why you should eat your exercise calories back!? Doesn't this defeat the purpose of exercising? I have always understood weight lose as calories in versus calories out. Any one help answer this one for me?:smile:
«1

Replies

  • talysshade
    talysshade Posts: 273 Member
    Options
    Search the boards, there's a million topics on this :)

    But in short.. MFP already calculates a deficit for you, by sticking to that goal you lose the weight at the rate you specified. If you wouldn't eat your exercise calories you would have a much greater, possibly unhealthy deficit.

    So yes, you can lose weight without exercising at all, but the exercising is still important because it makes sure you can eat more so you still get the right nutritients and it helps generate muscle so you become more toned as well.
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
    Options
    MFP builds a caloric deficit into your goals. You don't have to exercise to lose weight using their numbers. If you do exercise, to stay toned/improve fitness, you need to fuel that energy use with calories.
  • aehartley
    aehartley Posts: 269 Member
    Options
    I am not sure ( and I will admit that I could be wrong) I don't see a reason to eat them back... all it says is that you have earned and extra______ calories. It dosn't say you have to eat them back. It just wants you to meet your minimum calories of 1200 ( or whatever you are set at)
  • jeffrodgers1
    jeffrodgers1 Posts: 991 Member
    Options
    Why put gas in your engine?

    Simply put... a safe deficit in your daily calorie account is built in.

    When you do extra work, you need extra energy to help build muscle and repair tissue damage.

    The alternative to feeding the engine, is to have the engine consume itself and it'll use muscle tissue to do it.
  • edorice
    edorice Posts: 4,519 Member
    Options
    Exercise calories
    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/153704-myth-or-fact-simple-math-3500-calories-one-pound-eat
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
    Options
    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
    Options
    Exercise calories
    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/153704-myth-or-fact-simple-math-3500-calories-one-pound-eat
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    JINX! :tongue:
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
    Options
    :sick: :cry:
  • bigdawg025
    bigdawg025 Posts: 774 Member
    Options
    I see this topic over and over and over again. Just look at XX number of people on here who have lost 100 pounds or more, and I can almost GUARANTEE you that every single one of them eats their exercise calories back at least to a moderate degree if not all the way.

    Don't you think those individuals are a pretty good place to start? :happy:
  • ACF2
    ACF2 Posts: 51
    Options
    Just read the last paragraph of this..

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
    Options
    I have been running religiously for over a year now and would like to lose about 10 pounds for summer. I usually average about 30 to 40 miles each week and do strength training twice a week. I really don't understand why you should eat your exercise calories back!? Doesn't this defeat the purpose of exercising? I have always understood weight lose as calories in versus calories out. Any one help answer this one for me?:smile:

    Be very, very careful about all the running. It wastes away lean muscle mass. Make sure you get plenty of protein. And too severe a calorie restriction combined with a lot of intense cardio will just stall fat loss and create more lean muscle mass loss. And your body will slow your metabolism and thyroid to compensate for all the extra stress on the body.

    1200 calories (which is already too low IMO) is the baseline. Go under that and you risk sacrificing your health for weight loss (and we want to lose body fat - not necessarily weight). You burn 400 and that puts you at 800 which is way too low. So you eat that back.

    And being the runner you are I would be eating a lot more than 1200. You need a lot of fuel for that kind of intense cardio exercise. And eating your exercise calories is very, very important when you are close to or at a healthy weight. The body will let go of only so much fat before it starts protecting it. It is there in case of famine (hence the words 'starvation mode').

    I would back off the cardio - quite a bit - and add another day of strength training in. And make sure to use heavy weights!
  • susioryan
    susioryan Posts: 180
    Options
    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

    OMG I love this! Bahahahaha.
  • gladysrutter
    gladysrutter Posts: 39 Member
    Options
    However if you are on a diet for the first time in a while, and you have loads of weight to lose, and you limit yourself to 1200 cal - however feel fine physically on 1000? should i still up my calories... i'm afraid of uping my calories as i think i may go overboard and go back to how i was eating?
  • kaitimae
    kaitimae Posts: 727 Member
    Options
    However if you are on a diet for the first time in a while, and you have loads of weight to lose, and you limit yourself to 1200 cal - however feel fine physically on 1000? should i still up my calories... i'm afraid of uping my calories as i think i may go overboard and go back to how i was eating?

    it doesn't matter if you have 10 pounds to lose, or 200 - you should NOT go below 1200 net calories per day.
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
    Options
    im sure its already been answered but i dont have time to read... but..

    Your body needs 1200minimum calories a day to run--that means to even breath or blink or run your blood through your body, it takes calories...

    If MFP has given you a calorie intake of lets say 1400calories a day, you eat all 1400, and then you burn lets say 1000calories. You are then only left with 400net calories for your body to run. Your body needs the 1200 minimum, so where do you think it is going to get that extra 800calories it needs, just for your blood to pump, or just for it to take its next breath? Well it has to get it from somewhere, it cant just pull it from thin air, so then it attacks your muscles converting your muscles into fuel.

    Your car cant run without gas, and either can you.

    If your suppose to eat 1400 a day, and you excercise burning 1000 calories of the 1400 youve eaten, you need to eat a minimum of 800 back just to bring your body out of starvation mode territory... On your main page, your net calorie number needs to say 1200.

    Ill also give you an example of why you should eat what mfp suggests, and not just the bare minimum of 1200.
    I started off on March 7th. A friend of mine started February 15th. She weighed 310 when she started, I weighed 313 (so basically we were the same weight---we are also the same age, do the same type of living). She was eating 1200 a day everyday, but burning 300-400calories or so each day (so her net was usually around 800 or 900). I was eating what mfp suggested 1800, with many days being in the 1600calorie range, net. My friend has continued to loose weight, but has only lost 14pounds in a longer amount of time than i since she joined, where ive lost 25pounds in less time, by eating more.
  • gladysrutter
    gladysrutter Posts: 39 Member
    Options
    I know alot of people are saying that, but I just don't want to over do it on cals....I just dont know what to do.
  • shelly650
    shelly650 Posts: 319
    Options
    Well everyone on here will have their own opinion on this topic, but when I began MFP I ate all my calories back! In the first week I lost 6lbs.....but then I hit a one month plateau! I got so frustrated, and it was recommended to me by one of my MFP Friends to cut back on my carbs and not eating back my calories! So I tried and it worked, weight finally began moving!

    I think MFP over estimates the amount of calories burned during exercise! So beware!! The only way to be certain is to buy a Heart Rate Monitor!! (I dont have one)

    If you do a very big work out then definitely eat some back! Just make sure you eat what your body needs! Everyone is different!!

    Good Luck!
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
    Options
    I see this topic over and over and over again. Just look at XX number of people on here who have lost 100 pounds or more, and I can almost GUARANTEE you that every single one of them eats their exercise calories back at least to a moderate degree if not all the way.

    Don't you think those individuals are a pretty good place to start? :happy:

    NO, not for those of us who are a healthy weight and here to lose vanity weight and/or tone up. The deficit is a much more complicated issue when you are a healthy BMI b/c MFP won’t put your deficit below 1200. All the details have been explained by Banks in the past here on MFP, I just wanted to point out how the rare morbidly obese individual who fixes their life and loses 100+ lbs is not inspiration to all of us*

    *NOT AN INSULT, good for everyone for improving their life but I personally don’t applaud people who have gone so far on either end of the weight spectrum. It’s like a smoker who quits, I never started smoking but yet no pat on the back for me. My point, do it for yourself, you are the only one who matters.
  • gladysrutter
    gladysrutter Posts: 39 Member
    Options
    Thanks for that clarification, I need to up the cals I know but I just don't know how without overdoing it. I suppose I am just becoming a little obsessive with it and need to get a grip. I just wish there was another shake that I could have that would add those 300 calories back without me feeling guilty for eating the calories I have burned in exercise back again. x
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    Options
    MFP already calculates a deficit into the calorie goal it gives you, based on your weight loss goals. Exercising is even more calories used. That's the point of exercise - to be able to eat more (well, one point, neglecting all the other health advantages of regular exercise).

    You don't have to eat back all your exercise calories. But if you're burning 500+ a day running and not eating them back, you could be depriving yourself of needed nutrients. Your calorie intake gets too low, you loose endurance and strength in exercising, and your body could go into "starvation mode," dropping your metabolism into the basement to hang onto everything it has until it can get more.

    Also keep in mind that if you loose weight too quickly, at a lifestyle you can't maintain longterm, it will all come back when you go back to your "regular" habits. The best thing is to settle into something that wouldn't be too hard to maintain even once you reach your goal (although you can eat a bit more at that point, but not like you did before you started loosing weight).

Categories