Adding burned calories into diet
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brytanyminder
Posts: 6 Member
Hey guys! So my current fitness goal is weight loss. I am on a low-calorie diet that I’m currently following in MFP. I’ve been doing some research to try and find out if I really should be adding back in the calories I burned during my workouts. I’ve read not to do that, and I’ve read you should do that. I know that consuming too few calories could potentially cause the body to go into “starvation mode” and therefore hold onto fat. And that would be pretty frustrating for me. I usually do circuit workouts that last a total of 30 minutes, with 20 minutes of low intensity cardio to warm up before that. The cardio alone burns roughly 150 calories and I haven’t been able to yet pin point how many my circuit Training burns.
What do you guys suggest I do? I’m trying best I can to not harm my body while maintaining the reach toward my fitness goal.
What do you guys suggest I do? I’m trying best I can to not harm my body while maintaining the reach toward my fitness goal.
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Replies
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You’re right this argument goes both ways and many people here will tell you MFP calculates so you eat your calories back. Personally I listen to my body. There are times when I work out a lot and eat it all back and times when I just eat a small snack with protein. I don’t want to force myself to eat because of the MFP calculations.
Good luck2 -
MFP expects you to eat back your exercise calories - Most people eat 50-75% of them back to account for overestimating calorie burns
Starvation mode does not exist, it's a myth I wish people would stop believing8 -
The MFP calculations, like everything else including your exercise calories and TDEE, are just estimates.
You can start by eating about 1/2 of them back and see how it goes. Adjust as necessary.
Your results are more important than the estimates or what anyone on here says.
* Don't confuse "starvation mode" -which is BS- with so-called metabolic syndrome that can have a small effect in some people.4 -
You're not going to go into "starvation mode" and stop losing fat because you're exercising.
You might start destroying muscle and bone mass if you're not getting enough calories to fuel your training efforts.
If your goal is fitness, feed your training.10 -
Excellent video explaining it:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p11 -
There is no such thing as starvation mode in the sense that you're talking about. You don't hold onto fat in a calorie deficit. What will happen is that you will become more tired, peckish, and hungry, making you less energetic, so you'll move less, and (since you're hungrier) more likely to binge.
Check out this link for more details: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
You should be eating back at least a portion of your calories to fuel your workouts. Women should be netting a minimum of 1200 calories per day, men 1500. I generally eat back half and keep the other half as a cushion against underestimated calories and overestimated exercise burns.
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Your also going to get differing information around the net because there are different ways of calculating your calorie needs. Some already include exercise and average it out over the week (TDEE). MFP's method (NEAT) doesn't account for intentional exercise when it calculates your deficit and expects you to add it in as you do it.
Either way you're eating exercise calories which helps fuel your workouts and keeps you from having too large a deficit. The important things is to take the time to figure out what your burns actually are as all methods only give estimates.2 -
brytanyminder wrote: »Hey guys! So my current fitness goal is weight loss. I am on a low-calorie diet that I’m currently following in MFP. I’ve been doing some research to try and find out if I really should be adding back in the calories I burned during my workouts. I’ve read not to do that, and I’ve read you should do that. I know that consuming too few calories could potentially cause the body to go into “starvation mode” and therefore hold onto fat. And that would be pretty frustrating for me. I usually do circuit workouts that last a total of 30 minutes, with 20 minutes of low intensity cardio to warm up before that. The cardio alone burns roughly 150 calories and I haven’t been able to yet pin point how many my circuit Training burns.
What do you guys suggest I do? I’m trying best I can to not harm my body while maintaining the reach toward my fitness goal.
Circuit training is in the database.
And MFP is trying to teach life lesson about weight maintenance.
You do more, you eat more.
You do less, you eat less.
In a diet, a tad less in either case.
And if trying best to not harm body - I'd suggest doing low-calorie diet (which is individual level) is not the route to take.
The amount you have to lose to healthy weight is better indication of amount to attempt to lose.
Like if down to last 15 lbs, then 1/2 lb weekly is best.
If doing like eating 50% of what you burn daily - not smart.
And that myth you mention of starvation mode (better called Adaptive Thermogenesis since some people mistakenly think it doesn't exist at all) while not true - it is situation where if body is adapting it will slow you down and you'll burn less daily than prior. Add stress retained water weight - you could see scale stop moving - which stresses many people even more.5 -
brytanyminder wrote: »Hey guys! So my current fitness goal is weight loss. I am on a low-calorie diet that I’m currently following in MFP. I’ve been doing some research to try and find out if I really should be adding back in the calories I burned during my workouts. I’ve read not to do that, and I’ve read you should do that. I know that consuming too few calories could potentially cause the body to go into “starvation mode” and therefore hold onto fat. And that would be pretty frustrating for me. I usually do circuit workouts that last a total of 30 minutes, with 20 minutes of low intensity cardio to warm up before that. The cardio alone burns roughly 150 calories and I haven’t been able to yet pin point how many my circuit Training burns.
What do you guys suggest I do? I’m trying best I can to not harm my body while maintaining the reach toward my fitness goal.
You need to understand the tool you're using. Many calculators will include exercise in your activity level and thus you get a higher calorie target to begin with...obviously, adding back more calories in this case would be double dipping.
MFP does not include exercise in your activity level...it is unaccounted for activity. Common sense would dictate that the activity should be accounted for. You do this with MFP by logging it and getting additional calories added to your target.
And think about it for just half a second...if you weren't supposed to with MFP then why would you figure MFP would give you those calories? To trick you or something?5 -
The MFP calculations, like everything else including your exercise calories and TDEE, are just estimates.
You can start by eating about 1/2 of them back and see how it goes. Adjust as necessary.
Your results are more important than the estimates or what anyone on here says.
* Don't confuse "starvation mode" -which is BS- with so-called metabolic syndrome that can have a small effect in some people.
I believe you're thinking of 'metabolic adaptation'. Metabolic syndrome is a completely different and unrelated thing.4 -
@AnvilHead No sir, I meant to refer to syndrome but you are of course correct. Different things.0
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I think your post has pretty much been addressed.
Every person is different in their preference in terms of NEAT versus TDEE. I personally prefer TDEE as my activity level over a week stays pretty consistent, and I like predictable portion sizes at my meals. Changing how much I eat in a day, based on that day's activities, would drive me insane, so I go with a TDEE method where I eat approximately the same amount each day, and my activity levels are already part of that.
From there, you can adjust up or down depending on your loss rates/goals. The numbers the calculators generate are all just generalizations, your individual needs may vary from them by a bit. Track your weight in a weight trend app, and after a few weeks of tracking it, you'll have an idea if you're headed in the right direction or if you need to make some adjustments.1 -
Everyone is different and you would get different answers..
Personally I eat back my calories and have still being able to drop 2% Bobyfat per month it's not much but it's being consistently that in the last 3 months so I am sticking with that at moment.
I weigh myself every 4 weeks and adjust my weight on MFP accordingly.
I do strength training 3 days a week which I don't enter in MFP I use that as a backup for MFP burn calculation errors.
The only burn entered to MFP is my jogging or walks and so far so good1 -
Why don't you try eating all your calories back for six weeks, and see if you're still losing at the end of the six weeks. If you are still losing, don't mess with it. If your not losing, try eating only a portion of them back for the next six weeks. Figure out where you really are.2
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iyobosaaiyanyo wrote: »Everyone is different and you would get different answers..
Personally I eat back my calories and have still being able to drop 2% Bobyfat per month it's not much but it's being consistently that in the last 3 months so I am sticking with that at moment.
I weigh myself every 4 weeks and adjust my weight on MFP accordingly.
I do strength training 3 days a week which I don't enter in MFP I use that as a backup for MFP burn calculation errors.
The only burn entered to MFP is my jogging or walks and so far so good
safe mode of fat loss and weight loss is 1% body weight. and if that is a current pic of yourself 2% loss is too aggressive and you may be losing mass too.0
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