Purpose of Eating Exercise Cals

nicolerah
nicolerah Posts: 440 Member
edited September 28 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok... so I am officially confused! Can someone please explain to me why we should eat the calories that we burnt off!! I thought that if we burnt calories it would cause us to lose weight cause we are taking away from the food intake for the day. This might sound dumb but if I'm already burning it, why would I want to eat it back???

Please.... can a couple of you give me some answers!!

Replies

  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
    you have to replenish your body with energy after a hard work out so it might be needed to eat some of them back
  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
    already posted in the form

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    If you ate maintenance calories this would create a deficit to lose weight, but MFP gives you a caloric intake to lose you goal amount of weight without exercise, to ensure you lose your goal amount MFP adds back you exercise calories to keep your daily caloric deficit at your goal level and if you don't eat enough you risk burning muscle instead of fat (exercise requires fuel)
  • WWhitaker
    WWhitaker Posts: 309
    Haha! I just wrote about the confusion of calories. Go to my profile and click on the discussion labled "NET Calories".
  • skinnywithin
    skinnywithin Posts: 1,392 Member
    I will never understand this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • lilybug13
    lilybug13 Posts: 154
    You are already at a deficit by eating what you are given, so if you don't eat the extra from exercise you are increasing that deficit and could potentially put yourself in "starvation mode" and stop losing all together.
  • ppiinnkkmmoonn
    ppiinnkkmmoonn Posts: 418
    i never eat mines...............so i have no clue why you should i could see if you a body builder or a athletic but other than that i dont see the point
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    The number of calories that MFP gives you per day already includes a deficit for you to be losing weight based on your current activity level, etc. When you add in the extra calorie burn from exercise you need to replenish your body. Do a search in the message boards if you want a more scientific answer...I am no expert :)
  • werryanne
    werryanne Posts: 6 Member
    MyFitnessPal already sets you up with a safe calorie deficit. You need to eat the exercise calories so that you don't risk eating too few calories. Also, as previous poster said, your body will need the food to re-fuel your body.
  • abbandmegmom
    abbandmegmom Posts: 14
    This confused me at first, but I beleive the reason is your calorie intake is already reduced to help you lose weight based on your weight, amount of activity, etc. Therefore if you are exercising you are burning the calories so you need to still attempt to stay within your allowed calorie intake. Example: Say you get 1300 calories a day, you have eaten 1000 so you have 300 left. You exercise and you burned 200 calories. Now you have 500 calories left. The goal is to still stay within you calorie allowance. Does that make sense?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I will never understand this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Your body requires fuel at MFP's intake you are already low on fuel, if you exercise you won't have enough left for normal daily bodily functions such as thinking. eating 1300 calories and not exercising is the same as eating 1800 and burning 500. you end up with 1300 calories to run your normal daily activities. If MFP gave you 1300, that would be enough for you to lose your goal amount of weight.
  • brooke0206
    brooke0206 Posts: 255 Member
    I didnt always eat my exercise calories BUT the idea behind it is that you have already cut your calorie intake significantly to lose and then add exercise so if you burn a bunch and eat less then your body could go into starvation mode. If your daily intake goal for the day is 1200 calories and you only eat 1200 but then burn say 600 exercising then your overall intake for the day would only be 600 which then would cause your body (after a period of time) to think you were starving it and it would hold on to everything because it doesnt know when the next time it is going to get a significant amount of food again. I would say that if your calorie goal for the day is on the higher end and your not burning a ton with exercise and your staying within a safe level for the day then you should be ok to not eat them back. However if not eating the calories back puts you at a very low overall intake number for the day then I would say try and eat at least some of them back, just make good food choices!
  • kelleypf
    kelleypf Posts: 152 Member
    Your body requires fuel at MFP's intake you are already low on fuel, if you exercise you won't have enough left for normal daily bodily functions such as thinking. eating 1300 calories and not exercising is the same as eating 1800 and burning 500. you end up with 1300 calories to run your normal daily activities. If MFP gave you 1300, that would be enough for you to lose your goal amount of weight.

    Thank you! Finally someone to explain this well
  • nicolerah
    nicolerah Posts: 440 Member
    Thanks all... your responses have been great! And yeah, I keep forgetting that its already calculated at a deficit so I think I'm gonna try to ensure that I stay within or just below my overall cals for the day! Maybe I can mix it up a bit, see if that helps to make it go faster! lol... One day full cals, next day below!

    Again, thanks! It all makes sense! You people are awesome! :flowerforyou:
  • beccaboo1021
    beccaboo1021 Posts: 51
    You told MFP that you want to lose weight, so MFP told you to eat 1200 calories (or whatever amount it told you).

    Eat 1200 calories and you lose weight (without exercising)

    Adding exercise into your day to burn calories and get fit, your body is now not getting enough 'fuel'
    (if you work off 300 calories, you're only getting 900 calories for the day - this may put you into starvation mode, and your body will hold onto everything it can and not allow you to drop any weight)

    Replace at least most of what you burned off so your body has enough fuel to stay healty, and will keep you from being in starvation mode (wish they had a different name for it, cuz I never feel like I'm starving!)
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