Exercise calories

justice96utd · July 2016

I try to make sure that I don't eat into my exercise 'bonus calories', and just eat my usual daily allowance of calories. But I'm always really hungry by the end of the day, and really struggle to stop myself from snacking!! Any tips or advice?

janejellyroll · July 2016

If your calorie goal comes from MFP, it's designed for you to eat exercise calories back. If you don't, this is probably the cause of your hunger. Any reason you don't want to eat your full calories?

msalicia116 · July 2016

If you're hungry, many people for this reason eat half their exercise calories back. You don't want to set yourself up to binge or not be able to perform your workouts. It's a win win.

justice96utd · July 2016

I always see it as tho my exercise calories are going to help me lose the weight quicker - and I have a lot to lose!

Ready2Rock206 · July 2016

Eat some of those exercise calories back! MFP sets your goal assuming you'll eat them back - without eating them back your deficit is higher than needed and that's why you're so hungry. You're just aiming for failure when you're punishing yourself being hungry all the time.

janejellyroll · July 2016

justice96utd wrote: »

I always see it as tho my exercise calories are going to help me lose the weight quicker - and I have a lot to lose!

You may lose weight quicker, but if you chronically undereat you will probably be much hungrier. You'll potentially also have less energy, may feel more inclined to binge, and will run the risk of losing more muscle.

If you have a lot to lose, why not make the process easier and pleasanter by feeding yourself properly?

NorthCascades · July 2016

justice96utd wrote: »

I try to make sure that I don't eat into my exercise 'bonus calories', and just eat my usual daily allowance of calories. But I'm always really hungry by the end of the day, and really struggle to stop myself from snacking!! Any tips or advice?

Eat the calories you burn from exercise.

Seriously, that prevents you from having too big a calorie deficit (more than you planned and agreed to when you signed up for this) which tends to lead people to binge and often eat back more than they've deprived themselves of to begin with. It's not like your exercise calories are fake. I mean your Wednesday calories are fake, everybody knows your BMR turns off and your body stops using energy mid week and people shouldn't eat on Wednesdays because of it. But your exercise calories are real, your body really did burn them, you become hungry after expending them, that opens up a larger calorie deficit than you wanted, why would you not eat them back when you're hungry??

justice96utd · July 2016

Ok so I need to be a bit more relaxed over it then it seems! Desperate to lose the weight - but I'd rather do it the right way so it stays off!!

msalicia116 · July 2016

justice96utd wrote: »

I always see it as tho my exercise calories are going to help me lose the weight quicker - and I have a lot to lose!

Think of it this way, if you can't sustain your diet and workout routine because your deficit is too large, what's the point? Add some of those exercise calories back, you don't have to use all of them, but enough to find balance. Do it in increments if you'd like.

TavistockToad · July 2016

justice96utd wrote: »

I try to make sure that I don't eat into my exercise 'bonus calories', and just eat my usual daily allowance of calories. But I'm always really hungry by the end of the day, and really struggle to stop myself from snacking!! Any tips or advice?

Eat back some exercise cals. That's how mfp was designed. Otherwise you're under eating.

justice96utd · July 2016

Thanks for the advice guys/gals!!

debsdoingthis · July 2016

NorthCascades wrote: »

justice96utd wrote: »

I try to make sure that I don't eat into my exercise 'bonus calories', and just eat my usual daily allowance of calories. But I'm always really hungry by the end of the day, and really struggle to stop myself from snacking!! Any tips or advice?

Eat the calories you burn from exercise.

Seriously, that prevents you from having too big a calorie deficit (more than you planned and agreed to when you signed up for this) which tends to lead people to binge and often eat back more than they've deprived themselves of to begin with. It's not like your exercise calories are fake. I mean your Wednesday calories are fake, everybody knows your BMR turns off and your body stops using energy mid week and people shouldn't eat on Wednesdays because of it. But your exercise calories are real, your body really did burn them, you become hungry after expending them, that opens up a larger calorie deficit than you wanted, why would you not eat them back when you're hungry??

But, But.... today is Wednesday and I've already had breakfast AND lunch!

tomteboda · July 2016

I didn't eat exercise calories for months... But I also wasn't weighing my food, so it balanced out. Now that I weigh and am more active I have to eat back exercise calories or the hunger would drive me insane.

NorthCascades · July 2016

justice96utd wrote: »

Ok so I need to be a bit more relaxed over it then it seems! Desperate to lose the weight - but I'd rather do it the right way so it stays off!!

I hope it was clear in my post above that I was joking / being sarcastic about Wednesday calories. Those are real too.

When I signed up for MFP it asked me my current weight, my goal weight, and how long I wanted to take getting there. I didn't even have a bathroom scale back then so I guessed. Anyway it told me I'd reach my goal weight in some impossibly long amount of time. I didn't want to wait that long, and honestly it sounded so foreverish that it might as well have been describing a scene in a movie. I bet this is how you feel right now.

This is important to remember: time is going to pass anyway. If it says it'll take a year to reach your goal weight, well, that year is going to go by whether you diet or not. The question is how do you want to look and how much do you want to weigh when that year goes by? That's the thing to keep in mind. Your job is to make progress over time. Slow and steady wins the race. Getting a moderate calorie deficit almost every day is going to lead to better results than a big deficit one day and binging the next couple days.

My impossibly long amount of time came and went, yours will too. If you stay on track and don't go too crazy, you'll get where you want to be and it won't be too stressful.

middlehaitch · July 2016

Another way at looking at it-

What happens if you get ill, have to skip a week, go on vacation, etc and can't, or don't want to exercise?
You will need to eat even less than you do right now, or start losing at a slower rate.

MFP is set up using the NEAT formula so even those that are unable, or don't want to exercise can still lose weight, but those of us who do exercise can easily enter and eat back out calories.

You are doing yourself a disservice not eating back those calories.

Cheer, h.

@debsdoingthis find a black cat and walk around it thrice. All will be well.

Exercise calories

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