Exercise calories

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TheGreatYaYa
TheGreatYaYa Posts: 215 Member
in Introduce Yourself
What's the general concensus about eating your exercise calories? I try not to eat mine because I have a really hard time losing weight because I'm older (56) and my metabolism is slow. I have, on occasion, eaten them though. I just started MFP the end of July and I didn't lose anything my first week, but lost 2.5 lbs. last week. However, today my scale said I had GAINED 2.5 lbs.

Should I eat the extra calories or not? I'm really afraid to, especially now since I'm participating in the August challenge and don't want to gain anything. HELP!

Replies

  • Martha_VH
    Martha_VH Posts: 386 Member
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    Yes, you should eat them!
  • Fitandsexy_fe
    Fitandsexy_fe Posts: 50 Member
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    eat the calories!! your body could be going into starvation mode if you have too few net calories for the day, preventing you from losing weight.
  • jadaif
    jadaif Posts: 29 Member
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    Eat them or atleast some, I try and keep it at 1200 net. it's what keeps your metabolism and body going. I really recommend searching "eating exercise calories" in the forum search, lots of topics have been posted on that.
  • RdySetGO11
    RdySetGO11 Posts: 89 Member
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    I don't eat back all of mine 90% of the time. I started not eating them last week and have lost. I'd been on MFP for 6 months and did what people suggested - eating my exercise cals back - and it did nothing but maintained my weight. However, every person is different and for me, not eating mine has been beneficial to me! You may have to play around with it to see where your happy medium is! Good luck to you!
  • IMYarnCraz33
    IMYarnCraz33 Posts: 1,016 Member
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    I don't usually eat mine back, sometimes i do... but i have a LOT of weight to lose
    and don't have to worry about my body going into starvation mode.
    Once i lose quite a bit more i'll be eating them back.
  • mnissi
    mnissi Posts: 4 Member
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    Personally I do not eat the extra calories. Weight changes are normal. My last 7 weigh ins ranged from 210 to 215 to now 208.6. So many factors come into play. How much water did you drink today as opposed to yesterday? Was the weight of your food (beef/chicken) heavier than another day (fish/salad)? Are you weighing yourself at the same time of the day after the same activity? Do not weigh yourself after working out. That number can be extremely deceiving. Instead weigh yourself when you wake up every morning. I have had 6 pack abs and I've been 263 lbs before so I have seen it all. Eventually numbers don't lie. If you're burning the calories (assuming your diet is in order) the scale will eventually show it. I hope this helps!
  • fatboypup
    fatboypup Posts: 1,873 Member
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    beating-a-dead-horse.jpg
    Oh_look,_its_THIS_thread_again.jpg
  • TheOddOne
    TheOddOne Posts: 45 Member
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    This is such a touchy subject and I've been so confused reading the forum on this one. So.... I'm doing my own experiment. Last week, I stayed within my calorie limit daily and exercised without eating my exercise calories. I noted how I felt and my scale results. This week, I'm only doing the calorie ciunting- no exercise. I'm gonna see how my body reacts. Next week will be daily calories, exercise, plus eating my exercise calories. I'm going to see how my body responds to each scenario and see what's best for me and my body to feel healthy, energetic, etc. :) I don't know if anyone would agree with what I'm doing, but I figure its the best way for me to find out what works best for me so I can ensure I'm doing exactly what my body needs.
  • mrk34
    mrk34 Posts: 227 Member
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    I don’t eat exercise calories back.

    Consuming exercise calories on purpose doesn’t make any sense to me.

    I don't create calorie deficit to waste it by eating additional calories.
  • jadaif
    jadaif Posts: 29 Member
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    This is such a touchy subject and I've been so confused reading the forum on this one. So.... I'm doing my own experiment. Last week, I stayed within my calorie limit daily and exercised without eating my exercise calories. I noted how I felt and my scale results. This week, I'm only doing the calorie ciunting- no exercise. I'm gonna see how my body reacts. Next week will be daily calories, exercise, plus eating my exercise calories. I'm going to see how my body responds to each scenario and see what's best for me and my body to feel healthy, energetic, etc. :) I don't know if anyone would agree with what I'm doing, but I figure its the best way for me to find out what works best for me so I can ensure I'm doing exactly what my body needs.

    This is an excellent thing to do! Test it out to see what works for you best!

    Also if I'm not hungry I don't eat them, I only eat them when I am really hungry.
  • NotGoddess
    NotGoddess Posts: 1,198 Member
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    If you are using MFP to set your goals for you it already adds in a 250-500 calorie deficit based on your guestimated TDEE. So say you are set to lose 1lb a week. You already have a 500 calorie deficit. If you exercise for 500 calories burned and don't eat them back you'll have a 1000 calorie deficit and your body might not tolerate that. Best to eat back most/all of your exercise calories until you've been at it a while and your body doesn't think it's starving. Otherwise, if you were a under-calories eater before you are just keeping up the stress on your body and you won't make the progress you want to.
  • kerrylou150
    kerrylou150 Posts: 55
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    from what i understand....

    MFP already sets you at a calorie intake to loss weight with no fitness....

    if you work out then you are deducting from that already lower calorie count... so you need to add those back into your food total.

    so if you are at 1200 - 500 for a heavy exercise day = 700 for your body to run on. That isn't enough.

    that is why you add those calories back.

    At the end of the day you want your total net calories to be at the starting total for the day before exercise.
  • kerrylou150
    kerrylou150 Posts: 55
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    from what i understand....

    MFP already sets you at a calorie intake to loss weight with no fitness....

    if you work out then you are deducting from that already lower calorie count... so you need to add those back into your food total.

    so if you are at 1200 - 500 for a heavy exercise day = 700 for your body to run on. That isn't enough.

    that is why you add those calories back.

    At the end of the day you want your total net calories to be at the starting total for the day before exercise.
  • shauna121211
    shauna121211 Posts: 575 Member
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    Eat them! If you don't eat them, you're just lowering your net calories to what would presumably be an unhealthy level. If you don't eat them, you'll find just how easy it is to gain that weight back! My goal is 1200 net calories and I usually burn about 600 calories at the gym, if I didn't eat those back, 600 net calories is WAY too low and your body will know it! This fitness program is supposed to help you lose weight in a healthy way, just follow the steps accordingly!

    If you're not losing enough weight at your current net calorie goal, change your goal settings to lose 2 lbs per week instead of 1 lb (or whatever you have it set at).
  • shauna121211
    shauna121211 Posts: 575 Member
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    beating-a-dead-horse.jpg
    Oh_look,_its_THIS_thread_again.jpg

    hehe :)
  • fatboypup
    fatboypup Posts: 1,873 Member
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    seriously type exercise calories into the search theres like a million threads oh and what HRM should I get ...... no wonder the site gets bogged down and crashes
  • kikiwinks
    kikiwinks Posts: 23 Member
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    You should be eating them. And make you sure you are eating w/in 30 minutes after your workout.

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