Eat your work out calories??

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DawnLosing
DawnLosing Posts: 87
in Fitness and Exercise
Ok I am sure this has been covered however I have been searching and have not found an answer. If you are eating 1200 calories and working out 500 calories, what is the harm in not eating those calories? I am assuming your body will feel like it is starving... is this correct? But I am thinking like The Biggest Loser, those people work out like 8 hour days and what? 10,000 calories, I just don't see it so I am assuming their workout calories are higher than their eat calories.. anyways I am rambling....

Any thoughts?
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Replies

  • Beijos
    Beijos Posts: 22 Member
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    bump
  • camille97
    camille97 Posts: 91
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    Some do, some do not.
    Figure out what works best for you!
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

    I do. Even if that means that a week ago today was a 3000 calorie intake day. I know, I logged it. I had to have eaten WAY more than that previously to get to over 300 lbs in the first place but I wasn't "logging" I still lose weight. At a safe and sustainable rate.
  • dicars79
    dicars79 Posts: 4
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    Wow-you totally took my question for today! I think it does have something to do with your body thinking it's in starvation mode.

    I am always afraid that maybe I didn't calculate something right and I always like to leave 100-200 calories under at the end of the day.

    :happy:
  • csoul27
    csoul27 Posts: 53
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    I do the same thing. I'm afraid of miscalculating so I always leave room for error.
  • elliecolorado
    elliecolorado Posts: 1,040
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    I rarely eat my exercise calories and it has worked for me. I have still lost 45lbs since mid March. I tried eating them for a while and gained weight. If not eating them works for you then don't eat them, if eating only some of them works for you then do that. Weight loss is not 'one size fits all' figure out what works best for you! :smile:
  • carolinedb
    carolinedb Posts: 236 Member
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    Do some research on the percentage of BL contestants who gain some, if not all, of the the weight back. Your body can't sustain that kind of stress with that kind of lack of fuel for too long. I can speak to this from personal experience--feel free to message me if you want to know my experience with it. These days, I eat back (almost) all of my exercise calories. MFP builds in the deficit for you to lose, and working out allows you to eat more! Anything under 1200 calories puts your body into "starvation mode." Your body will then start holding onto fat stores and metabolizing muscle to sustain itself. That's why many very thin girls on extreme diets don't look fit.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    Like I said in another thread, "Search" here is pretty broken. But if you go to google and do an advanced search...
    http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&as_q=eat+exercise+calorie&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&tbs=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=www.myfitnesspal.com&as_qdr=w&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images
    you'll find that there are about 20,000 results within the past WEEK about eating exercise calories

    Search here for the same phrase and your first 5 pages of results are all 3 or more months old.
  • Bellyroll
    Bellyroll Posts: 316
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    Do some research on the percentage of BL contestants who gain some, if not all, of the the weight back. Your body can't sustain that kind of stress with that kind of lack of fuel for too long. I can speak to this from personal experience--feel free to message me if you want to know my experience with it. These days, I eat back (almost) all of my exercise calories. MFP builds in the deficit for you to lose, and working out allows you to eat more! Anything under 1200 calories puts your body into "starvation mode." Your body will then start holding onto fat stores and metabolizing muscle to sustain itself. That's why many very thin girls on extreme diets don't look fit.
    I eat back my cals to main reason is because I eat around 2000 cals a day. BUt I do enought excersize to get down to 1200 maybe a bit less. Hey I lost weight.
  • mrdavidjk
    mrdavidjk Posts: 105
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    i think a lot of it also depends on what kind of exercises you are doing and also where your heart rate is at.
    60-70% of max heart rate is supposed to be the ideal fat burning heart rate.
    cardio workouts will burn off fat, but strength workouts will require an extra intake of of protein, at least that is what i think
  • Getting_Fit_4_Life
    Getting_Fit_4_Life Posts: 401 Member
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    I was struggling with this issue several weeks ago too. I started at 1200 calories daily, but then I would workout and burn about 400 calories daily. I thought I was doing fine by not eating back the calories. Well, I was losing weight initially, but then after about 3 weeks, I stopped losing and I actually gained 5 pounds back. I was frustrated because I felt like I was really eating well and working out like a mad woman. I didn't see the point in eating back my calories. But since I wasn't losing weight as before, I decided to give myself about 2 weeks to see what would happen if I upped my calories. I increased my caloried to 1350 and ate back SOME of my workout calories and to my amazement, I started losing weight again. I actually lost 3.6 pounds this week. I am still somewhat nervous about increasing my calories too much, but at least now I make sure that I don't go below 1200 calores NET. I understand that what works for me may not work for someone else, but I am so pleasantly suprise that this is working for me right now. I think you have to see what works for you too. :)
  • coralcrepe
    coralcrepe Posts: 10
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    if you're hungry after, eat. if you are not, don't eat. you can also snack on some nuts to be safe.
  • kellimr
    kellimr Posts: 69
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    Very good question! I am pretty confused by it as well. I figured I wouldn't lose as well if I ate the 'extra' calories allowed when exercise is factored in. So I am sticking as close as I can to the 1200, but not stressing too much if I go over a bit (100 or so) on exercise days. I'm hoping to still see a decent loss with this and have lost almost 4 in the first week! So good luck with the program and hope this helped a little!
  • bethdris
    bethdris Posts: 1,090 Member
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    I eat back a few of my workout calories. Its' I've never eaten back 100% of them. I've never gone into "starvation mode" by not eating them back either. To each their own...if you have a lot of weight to lose, then I would recommend NOT eating them. But whatever works.
  • Kelly_Wilson1990
    Kelly_Wilson1990 Posts: 3,245 Member
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    After all the debate on here, I asked my doctor and nutritionist. Both told me not to eat back my exercise calories. Some people do and some don't. You really need to see what works best for you.
  • Man_in_Motion
    Man_in_Motion Posts: 60
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    I personally don't-- exercise calories are like a bonus to me, and I don't necessarily trust the accuracy of how they're calculated...give me more time, and I might change my mind, but for now I disregard the extra amount I am "allowed" and stick to my 1400 calorie limit.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    Do or don't depends on your "fitness or lifestyle goals"

    If you're following MFP's plan as designed you're intended to eat back your exercise calories to keep your deficit at a certain level. IE MFP gives you a caloric goal that will have you lose weight even if you failed to lift a finger in exercise.

    A lot of other diets give you more calories up front but don't want you to eat back exercise because they're designed around the higher intake but you're expected to burn it off through your workouts to balance out the difference of eating more base calories and working out.
  • shel66216
    shel66216 Posts: 6 Member
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    I only consistently workout on Fri, Sat, Sun. Saturday and Sunday are strange days for me as I can normally only sqeeze two real meals in. I also weigh twice a week; Wed or Thur and then again on Sun. During the work week I usually have two take out meals - one mexican and one chinese. I figure those two meals take care of my exercise cals. I don't worry about eating them on the same day...always keep my body guessing! So far, so good.
  • tdschar
    tdschar Posts: 8
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    I have been working out hard and this week gained weight. I have not been eating my exercise calories and trying to stay right at 1200 cal, I think this week I am going to eat those calories and see what happens.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Here's how I look at it...

    If you're NOT going to eat those calories back, then you should be eating more than 1200 a day. 1200 is pretty much just for sedentary people. If you're exercising and burning 400 calories at a pop, you are no longer sedentary, no matter if you have a desk job or not. At very least, bump your activity level up to active to compensate for your activity.

    But moreover, you have to understand that MFP doesn't factor in what kind of exercise you do UNTIL you do it. I've seen a couple people on here who either went to the doctor, or had their BMR calculated, and said that MFP "gave them" too low of a caloric goal.

    I remember one said that she was told by her doctor to aim for 1400, but not to eat back her exercise calories, vs 1200 and exercise calories on MFP It works out to being about the same. Walk a half hour on the treadmill, and burn about 200 calories, and you get your 1400.

    Someone else recently, someone pretty active who burns a lot at the gym, was told they should eat about 1800, and MFP gave them 1400. 1400 + a decent calorie burn of 400 = 1800.

    It's the same math, but the allotment for exercise is added in at different times.

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