Is adding calories for workouts the right way to go?

kgesq
kgesq Posts: 65 Member
edited October 1 in Food and Nutrition
I'm just asking because my old counter never did this. When it askd for my profile, it based the calories allowed on how active I said I was. There was no logging of exercise or "earning" extra calories with exercise. Of course I "get" the idea, you don't want to take in too few calories, but I've also heard that compensatory eating is a big reason why people don't see results. Since my old counter did not have this feature, I'm just wondering if I should actually eat the extra calories allowed? To be fair, my weight loss on the old counter was faster than recommended based on the calories with no allowances for exercise.

Replies

  • mumster63
    mumster63 Posts: 29 Member
    I also wondered this and have stopped logging my exercise and just log my food. I note my exercise in the Food Notes section. I just think it's bonus weight loss (fingers crossed)
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
    There are people here who change their activity level, set their anticipated number of workouts and don't track exercise. I personally marked myself as sedentary (even thought I go to the gym 5-7x week I sit on my butt all day at a computer). I could up it to active and stop tracking but I enjoy the tracking ---- so up to you!
  • HerBravado
    HerBravado Posts: 392 Member
    To be super honest...

    I never eat my exercise calories back. Or maybe I'll eat about half of them.

    The reason I do that, however, is because I don't have a heart rate monitor...so I just assume that MFP is exaggerating the amount of calories I actually did burn.

    My net caloric intake for everyday must be at least 1400, though--so if I didn't eat at least that, & exercised, I do eat them back.
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
    I also wondered this and have stopped logging my exercise and just log my food. I note my exercise in the Food Notes section. I just think it's bonus weight loss (fingers crossed)

    This is completely not true.... if you're getting very little net calories you cuold be doing the opposite thing --- if your body thinks its starving its going to hold on to everything.

    This might work if you're eating at the very least 1200 calories net -- after exercise.
  • farmingfool
    farmingfool Posts: 39
    My concern about this is that my body may go into starvation mode if I'm doing all this exercise and needing more food to support it. I have wondered if it is actually necessary to eat the extra calories (at least some of them) to prevent the body from going into a plateau. I have found on other diets that when I have reached a plateau a "binge" often kickstarts the diet again.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    If you have your exercise level set to Sedentary, you should be adding in your exercise calories and eating some to all of them back each day. MFP already figures a 500 calorie deficit per day into your calorie goal (whatever your selected activity level) to give you a 1 pound per week weight loss. Any higher level of activity and it's really your choice to add in exercise or not.
  • nitka653
    nitka653 Posts: 97 Member
    ** Disclaimer: I am not an expert **

    The calorie goal that MFP gives you is already deducting the calories needed to lose weight. If you exercise on top of that, you should eat at least some of those calories.

    I've "heard" many things, but this was learned from both my personal trainer and my doctor. If you don't, you may not be getting enough nutrition to stay healthy and your body may begin consuming muscle to survive.... Your most important organ, your heart, is a muscle, and it doesn't deserve to be consumed.

    However, each person's metabolism is different, so do as you prefer... If your really unsure, always ask a doc for the best advise. We all can answer what's best for us or what we've heard and read, but unless we're a medical professional we may not have the right answer for you!

    Good luck in whatever you do! Logging anything and exercising is the first step in that direction!
  • sweetchick06
    sweetchick06 Posts: 30 Member
    From my experience, EVERYONE is different when it comes to eating your exercise calories. You'll have to play around with your numbers and see what works for you. You may find that you can eat them and still have great losses.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
  • NewVonnie
    NewVonnie Posts: 683 Member
    http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

    AND...................PANTS!!!
  • MrsCon40
    MrsCon40 Posts: 2,351 Member
    Yes, eat them.

    There are a lot of people here who have had good success with the numbers provided by MFP - so don't worry too much if you think it's overestimating your workout calories burned. If you find yourself close to goal and "stuck" then invest in a HRM to have a better idea of what you're burning.
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    First you must understand that MFP calculates a deficit for you, designed to help you lose weight WITHOUT exercise. As soon as you exercise, you do earn extra calories to eat. The deficit is still there, you don't need to make a greater deficit by not eating the exercise calories.

    Secondly, we must clarify what is NOT exercise: walking across the parking lot, NOT. doing laundry, NOT. doing whatever you do on your job every day all the time for a zillion years, NOT. You get my drift.

    Thirdly, you must understand that exercising burns energy, and living burns energy. Food, fat cells and muscle cells contain energy. Your body needs energy to operate, so it's going to get it from somewhere. First it will try food. If it doesn't have enough food, it will try muscle. Lastly it will go for fat. So . . . if a person is very fat, and they don't have much muscle, -- the body will use the fat stores and the person will lose weight.

    Interestingly, however, the fitter you are, the more you must eat. If you do not have very much to lose, and you are a regular exerciser, you will come to a point where you can't lose, and you may even gain weight, unless you eat back the exercise calories. (Here some people will loudly disagree. They will shout that they only eat 500 calories a day and they are losing, blah blah blah. I know. There is also a guy featured in a BBC documentary who was morbidly obese and did not eat ANYTHING for an entire year -- just water and vitamins, and he successfully lost weight. Well . . . that's bc he's really really FAT. When you have a lot to lose it will keep coming off until . . . you don't have a lot to lose any more.

    This is why athletes eat TONS of food and stay slim. They have very low body fat, and high percent of lean muscle. Lean muscle burns calories on its own -- BMR increases as lean muscle mass increases.

    This is your goal -- get to a point where your body is fit, at a healthy body fat percentage, you exercise regularly, eat plenty of food and feel great.

    Now all of this being said, and to reiterate that a large person can subsist on very low calories and still lose weight, I would like to point out why it is also a good idea for a large person to eat their exercise calories:

    1. motivation to work out
    2. working out makes you hungry
    3. eating good foods and refueling your body helps build muscle mass, which in turn burns calories and lowers your BMR and you LOSE WEIGHT MORE EFFICIENTLY.
    4. eating your exercise calories helps prevent binging, frustration and giving up,

    and finally, the main reason:

    5. eating a very restricted diet for an extended period of time slows your metaolism. If you are restricting for a long time, you may find that as soon as you have a "normal" eating day you will gain a lot of weight -- you may become frustrated, binge, and quit.

    It is just an all around good idea to eat the exercise calories -- you lose weight, stay full, fuel the burn, and feel better.

    blessings.
  • kgesq
    kgesq Posts: 65 Member
    Sounds like the majority say "yes." Honestly, as a first timer at actually needing to lose the weight I can report that there is so much conflicting info circulating on "Dr. Internet." Someone on another site I belong to was ranting and raving about compensatory eating being the bane of all work-outers. Then again, maybe people compensate wayyyy too much? I think I will experiment with the added calories. I'm so far from goal right now, it is so tempting to create a bigger deficit. But if my body becomes accustomed to the low-calories, I'll plateau anyway...I love shouldyoueatyourexercisecalories.com LOL
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