Calories... the more we work out the more we can eat?
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beautyzlight
Posts: 23
I dont think I'm understanding this properly... When I input calories that I've burned exercising, my calorie intake number gets bigger?Like I usually eat before I work out, then as soon as I insert my exercising calories, it goes back up like I never ate my breakfast and or more calories Can anyone explain why this is, and is this right and why....?????
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Replies
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There are a zillion threads on this. The bottom line is that MFP calculates your daily intake at a deficit that is designed for you to lose weight based on your energy needs without any extra exercise. So any exercise calories you add on top of that are supposed to be eaten to keep your daily calorie deficit at the proper level (to lose, say 1lb a week, or whatever you set it to).0
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There are a zillion threads on this. The bottom line is that MFP calculates your daily intake at a deficit that is designed for you to lose weight based on your energy needs without any extra exercise. So any exercise calories you add on top of that are supposed to be eaten to keep your daily calorie deficit at the proper level (to lose, say 1lb a week, or whatever you set it to).
So should I input my daily exercise and will I lose more if I don't?
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beautyzlight wrote: »There are a zillion threads on this. The bottom line is that MFP calculates your daily intake at a deficit that is designed for you to lose weight based on your energy needs without any extra exercise. So any exercise calories you add on top of that are supposed to be eaten to keep your daily calorie deficit at the proper level (to lose, say 1lb a week, or whatever you set it to).
So should I input my daily exercise and will I lose more if I don't? I mean is it a bad thing too lol
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You have to be somewhat careful about the stated amount of calories burned while exercising. Many of the machines and even the database from MFP estimate higher than what may be true. I take my calories burned reported using a heart rate monitor. For me that seems to be pretty accurate as I'm consistently and steadily losing weight. Others will take the number reported and maybe eat back half of those calories reported. Personally, the calories burned from exercising is a motivation for me to exercise. I enjoy the extra calories gained from working out as a treat for the day.0
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You have to be somewhat careful about the stated amount of calories burned while exercising. Many of the machines and even the database from MFP estimate higher than what may be true. I take my calories burned reported using a heart rate monitor. For me that seems to be pretty accurate as I'm consistently and steadily losing weight. Others will take the number reported and maybe eat back half of those calories reported. Personally, the calories burned from exercising is a motivation for me to exercise. I enjoy the extra calories gained from working out as a treat for the day.
Right.... I totally hear you. So now with that being said I should probably get myself a heart rate monitor, and record. I see a lot of people with that at the gym, but my thought was why because they have them on almost every machine ya know.
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The main focus of the way MFP tells you to eat is by "net calories." This means that the amount you eat, MINUS the amount of calories you get through exercise, is your net calories. If you don't exercise, your net calories is your net.
Say your calorie goal is 1800, and you burn 400 doing some exercise. Your new calorie goal for the day is 2200 calories, because you still need to eat 1800 NET calories. You don't have to eat back all of your exercise calories, and a lot of people don't. But you need to eat back some; it might put you below your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) and cause you to binge, or eat uncontrollably, in the future.
Personally I love when I do a big workout, because it means I can eat something awesome like fried foods and not go over on my calories
Bwahaha!
Best of luck!0 -
You want to eat back some of your exercise calories. I know many people on here eat back half of them since, as it's been explained, MFP has a tendency to overestimate the calorie burn. For example, say your daily calorie goal is set to 1450. If you burn 300 calories from exercise after consuming 1450 calories, your net calories are 1150 which is TOO LOW. You don't always have to eat back exercise calories, but make sure your net calories are at a healthy amount.0
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I actually don't know if the calories from exercise are inflated or not - I log all my exercise in the FitBit app (step and non-step) and it ports over to MFP. I have set a small deficit with the goal of 1-2# a month. My monthly net CICO according to FitBit is almost equal ... yet I have lost 2-3# during the past 6 weeks or so. I think the best practice is to adopt a strategy, be consistent with it, and then look at your data. If you are are not losing weight at a rate that you intend, then adjust something. I would suggest adjusting one side of the equation at a time and then seeing what the result is.0
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The main focus of the way MFP tells you to eat is by "net calories." This means that the amount you eat, MINUS the amount of calories you get through exercise, is your net calories. If you don't exercise, your net calories is your net.
Say your calorie goal is 1800, and you burn 400 doing some exercise. Your new calorie goal for the day is 2200 calories, because you still need to eat 1800 NET calories. You don't have to eat back all of your exercise calories, and a lot of people don't. But you need to eat back some; it might put you below your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) and cause you to binge, or eat uncontrollably, in the future.
Hahaha thanks!!!0 -
BODY WEIGHT IS INVOLUNTARILY REGULATED. OBESITY IS NOT A SIMPLE CONDITION OF MERE OVEREATING. LOTS OF THIN PEOPLE OVEREAT.....
BODY FATNESS IS A BIOLOGICALLY REGULATED PROCESS, NOT the passive result of eating and exercise behaviors......-1 -
Oh dear....0
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DrSolomonFan wrote: »BODY WEIGHT IS INVOLUNTARILY REGULATED. OBESITY IS NOT A SIMPLE CONDITION OF MERE OVEREATING. LOTS OF THIN PEOPLE OVEREAT.....
BODY FATNESS IS A BIOLOGICALLY REGULATED PROCESS, NOT the passive result of eating and exercise behaviors......
So it's just a coincidence that I stopped exercising and being active and overate and got fat...and then when I started to exercise and eat according to my stats and activity I lost weight...and then maintained that loss?
Please do tell...0 -
I gave up on trying to figure this out. I just use the TDEE - 20% method. I set mine to lightly active 60lbs ago and never bothered again with trying to figure out how many calories I burned and trying to eat them back.0
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Also, OP...if you set up your profile according to the MFP method, your activity level is only your day to day hum drum without any exercise...suffice it to say, exercise would then become and additional and unaccounted for activity that would increase your daily calorie requisites.
Let's say you maintain weight without any exercise on 2000 calories per day...this would mean to lose 1 Lb per week you would need to eat 1500 calories per day (in order to create a 3500 calorie deficit over the week). Now, you decide to exercise because it's really good for you and stuff...and lets say you burn 350 calories per day...your new calorie goal to still lose that same 1 Lb per week would be 1500+350 = 1,850 calories...but you continue to have that same 500 calorie deficit because now your maintenance calories would not longer be 2000...they would be 2350 and 2,350 - 1,850 = 500 calorie deficit still.
As to why you wouldn't want to just forgo those calories to potentially lose faster? Well, part of being healthy and fit is actually learning how to fuel your body and your activities. Underfeeding your body can lead to recovery issues and injury while training...you shouldn't underfeed and train.0 -
DrSolomonFan wrote: »BODY WEIGHT IS INVOLUNTARILY REGULATED. OBESITY IS NOT A SIMPLE CONDITION OF MERE OVEREATING. LOTS OF THIN PEOPLE OVEREAT.....
BODY FATNESS IS A BIOLOGICALLY REGULATED PROCESS, NOT the passive result of eating and exercise behaviors......
Can you please explain?
I have been dealing with obesity from the time I was an infant and the doctor told my mom to stop feeding me so much because I was getting fat. I was fat my entire life until I was 40 and decided to lose weight. I stopped paying attention and eating more and gained some weight back. Then, two years ago I said enough, dieted in a way I'd never done before (eating all foods I love in moderation), lost 44 pounds and have kept it off for well over a year.
Setting underlying medical issues aside, it's the simple fact of eating too much that makes us fat.
If thin people are under eating, then they are not doing to the degree that they gain weight. If they were, they would gain weight.
I vehemently disagree that body weight is involuntarily regulated.0 -
Both my dietician and weight doctor (he's an endocrinologist specializing in weight issues)
say to ignore exercise calories. They're a bonus toward losing weight.
That's been working for me.
Most people underestimate what they eat,
and most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned.
For most people, most of the time, those errors more or less cancel out.
If you're really hungry at the end of the day once in a while, eat 1/3 to 1/2 of your exercise calories.
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I've been eating below my BMR for over a year now (minus a few days here & therewolfman wrote:As to why you wouldn't want to just forgo those calories to potentially
lose faster? Well, part of being healthy and fit is actually learning how to
fuel your body and your activities. Underfeeding your body can lead to
recovery issues and injury while training... you shouldn't underfeed and train.
like Thanksgiving) and my doctors are happy with both my overall health &
my progress in losing weight. That's considerably below the TDEE/MFP method.
Things might be different when someone is close to or at an ideal weight.
.
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Because "net", that's why.0
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beautyzlight wrote: »There are a zillion threads on this. The bottom line is that MFP calculates your daily intake at a deficit that is designed for you to lose weight based on your energy needs without any extra exercise. So any exercise calories you add on top of that are supposed to be eaten to keep your daily calorie deficit at the proper level (to lose, say 1lb a week, or whatever you set it to).
So should I input my daily exercise and will I lose more if I don't?
Sure. You'll also wind up under-eating and potentially worsening your gym performance.
Seriously, not a race...0 -
Both my dietician and weight doctor (he's an endocrinologist specializing in weight issues)
say to ignore exercise calories. They're a bonus toward losing weight.
That's been working for me.
Most people underestimate what they eat,
and most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned.
For most people, most of the time, those errors more or less cancel out.
If you're really hungry at the end of the day once in a while, eat 1/3 to 1/2 of your exercise calories.
.
I've been eating below my BMR for over a year now (minus a few days here & therewolfman wrote:As to why you wouldn't want to just forgo those calories to potentially
lose faster? Well, part of being healthy and fit is actually learning how to
fuel your body and your activities. Underfeeding your body can lead to
recovery issues and injury while training... you shouldn't underfeed and train.
like Thanksgiving) and my doctors are happy with both my overall health &
my progress in losing weight. That's considerably below the TDEE/MFP method.
Things might be different when someone is close to or at an ideal weight.
.
Please stop advising people to ignore exercise calories when the MFP method is designed as net (non-exercise) + logged exercise for caloric intake. Unless one is doing TDEE (in which case exercise calories would be included, not ignored, in daily average intake), exercise calories should be eaten back in order to maintain a healthy deficit.
You are under doctor supervision. Even if I were under doctor supervision, my goal would not be to lose weight in such a way that means eating the LEAST amount of food. Who wants to eat the least amount of food? I love food, I want to eat as much as I can. I'd be a seriously unhappy camper if I ate your caloric intake levels (since I'm eating more than you do, even if I take a break from exercise and lower my calorie intake accordingly, and I weigh less while likely being about as active in day to day activities) and most likely others would not want to be around me either. I'd never recommend someone on MFP or in life lose weight by failing to utilize a recommended deficit size and thus eating way less than they actually could eat to see results.0
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