Eating the calories you burn

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/ - all the mysteries of the universe explained

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/ - all the mysteries of the universe explained

Oh my freaking goodness thank you for that! I needed that laugh.
I actually had a post about the same question. so now...I get it. I am fitness/exercise retarded, I guess. hahaha!

Exercising strengthens your muscles and helps your overall conditioning. When you are setting up your profile to lose weight already, you are taking the calorie deficit you need to lose weight. While you are losing weight, if you exercise, you are helping get yourself in better condition, building muscle, developing a resistant to lactic acid, and as muscle develops, your body will naturally start to burn fat off better than it did before. If you are already taking a 500-1000 calorie deficit in a day, and you burn off 500 more without eating them back, you may or may not go to bed feeling really hungry and weak. This leaves you less likely to exercise (i.e. condition) in the near future, as well as, if you have burned a lot of calories, possibly doing damage to your body.

I'm not going to give the whole "starvation mode" shpeel because we've all read it a thousand times here.

Tons of topics on should I eat my exercise calories? Just go to search....(: Good luck!

If you put gas in your car and you drive more than usual you need to put more gas in it to keep it going. Its the same thing with us. Don't fuel up and we will eventually poop out.

Depending on how much I exercise in a day, I don't always eat all of my exercise calories back. I just listen to my body and if I feel hungry, I eat. If not then that's just more weight that will eventually come off

This question is posted SO often that I think there needs to be a FAQ!

seriously

I never eat my exercise calories. I am however watching several seasons of the Biggest Loser on hulu right now. They burn up to 6000 calories every day but nobody eats over 1800. You're right it doesn't make sense....so I don't eat them back. I know that I have to burn 3500 calories a week to lose a pound of fat. So I don't care what they say, I'm not eating those calories!

A large portion of those 3500 calories are already figured into the deficit MFP figures into our calories allowed every day. Like for me...I have a deficit of something like 500 calories a day. That right there is a total of a 3500 calorie deficit a week.

Exercising strengthens your muscles and helps your overall conditioning. When you are setting up your profile to lose weight already, you are taking the calorie deficit you need to lose weight. While you are losing weight, if you exercise, you are helping get yourself in better condition, building muscle, developing a resistant to lactic acid, and as muscle develops, your body will naturally start to burn fat off better than it did before. If you are already taking a 500-1000 calorie deficit in a day, and you burn off 500 more without eating them back, you may or may not go to bed feeling really hungry and weak. This leaves you less likely to exercise (i.e. condition) in the near future, as well as, if you have burned a lot of calories, possibly doing damage to your body.

I'm not going to give the whole "starvation mode" shpeel because we've all read it a thousand times here.

What he said^ When I first joined, I had no idea why my remain g calories increased once I submitted my exercise. After I read a similar post about this, I ignored but kept wondering if I should be eating my exercise calories. Well, I would end up going to bed starving and by the time the weekend got here I was exhausted and then for a couple months I stopped losing weight altogether because I'd splurge half the week.

This week I jumped back on the wagon and I have eaten my exercise calories all week. Not only am I more focused, I also have more energy and I haven't slept feeling hungry. My weekend is almost halfway sone and I haven't splurged (as I did before). Listen to your body. It will def lead the way!

Even though I struggle with weight - I have a very sound understanding of body systems, exercise physiology, and metabolism. In most cases - the funny link posted early in this topic is correct - YES. HOWEVER - the true answer should be - IT DEPENDS. Every one is an individual - and just like the millions of variables that make us each unique in appearance (hair color, eye color, size of our nostrils - etc.. ) Each of us is unique in how our body responds to calorie deficits, exercise etc.

Bottom line -

Figure out what works for you, try it - if you lose weight (1-2lbs a week) then you're right on track - if you don't - don't eat the extra - just make sure you eat enough to sustain your daily level of activity.

I never eat my exercise calories. I am however watching several seasons of the Biggest Loser on hulu right now. They burn up to 6000 calories every day but nobody eats over 1800. You're right it doesn't make sense....so I don't eat them back. I know that I have to burn 3500 calories a week to lose a pound of fat. So I don't care what they say, I'm not eating those calories!

Biggest Loser is the worst show ever. There's a reason just about every person who competes on that show ends up gaining the weight back as soon as the competition is over. It's just not a sustainable way of losing weight. MFP already gives you that 3500 calorie deficit to lose weight. You eat back your exercise calories to maintain a safe, consistent, healthy deficit.

If you eat 1200 calories in a day, and burn 1700 from your daily life, that's a deficit of 500. If you burn another thousand in exercise, suddenly that deficit jumps to 1500. Do that every day and your body will start shutting things down to conserve energy, then it will start cannibalizing muscle tissue in order to make up the difference. And once your body starts breaking down muscle, your metabolism crashes, and you stop losing weight. Your body doesn't understand "dieting to lose weight." All it knows is it isn't getting enough fuel to survive, and will do whatever it takes to stay alive. The body intentionally destroys muscle at this huge deficits, because it isn't getting enough energy, and muscle takes a lot of energy to maintain. Fat doesn't take much energy at all, so the body will burn muscle first, then fat after all the muscle is gone.