Why should I eat the calories burned?

bluesheeponahill · December 2018

I’ve been reading along here trying not to dulpicate questions, so forgive me if this has been asked recently,

But I’m struggling to understand the whole eat the calories you’ve burned through excerise.

Is it, you have a calorie limit like 1200, you burn 300 Calories, so that means you can eat 1500 calories and still lose weight?

I’m on 12WBT which has me at 1200 calorie limit but doesn’t seem to require me to eat the calories burned. I did a 500 calorie work out, and to be honest I’m starving! I’ve been drinking water but doesn’t seem to be curbing the hunger.

What’s the best approach? Push through? Eat the calories burned? MFP knows I’m keen to lose weight!

rheddmobile · December 2018

Yes, you need to eat the calories burned, and you can still lose weight at 1500 calories if you burn 300. MFP is set up that way. No wonder you're starving! Very few people need to be on a 1200 calorie diet in order to lose weight, even without exercise. Twelve week diets aren't a great idea - you didn't gain the weight in twelve weeks, and fad diets have a high rate of regain. Try putting your goals into MFP and eat the calories it gives you.

bluesheeponahill · December 2018

Thank you. MFP says 1400 is best for me. I agree it’s a fad diet. I joined because I wanted a kickstarter, mostly the workouts to get me to a good place. I was hoping once I got to my goal weight I could manage the maintenance with my lifestyle. I’m pretty active, but need something to push the stubborn kilos off. Im trying to use 12wbt to remind myself I don’t NEED to indulge in sweet food because it’s there. Just need to know to limit myself and it will still be there next week.

rheddmobile · December 2018

bluesheeponahill wrote: »

Thank you. MFP says 1400 is best for me. I agree it’s a fad diet. I joined because I wanted a kickstarter, mostly the workouts to get me to a good place. I was hoping once I got to my goal weight I could manage the maintenance with my lifestyle. I’m pretty active, but need something to push the stubborn kilos off. Im trying to use 12wbt to remind myself I don’t NEED to indulge in sweet food because it’s there. Just need to know to limit myself and it will still be there next week.

It definitely helped me eat smaller portions to remind myself that I could eat more tomorrow! Best of luck to you. If you want to keep the workouts and eat a few more calories, that might be a good solution.

shadow2soul · December 2018

Here’s a video explanation for you:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p1

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I definitely eat my exercise calories.

Creating to large of a deficit will result in lean body mass loss and can be hard to adhere to. You may also start to experience increased fatigue and/or headaches. It can even lead to binge eating later down the road. It’s not uncommon for this to result in a binge/restrict pattern.

bluesheeponahill · December 2018

I feel so dumb! I’d seen that video but not watched it, figuring it didn’t have subtitles but did and now it makes so much more sense!

Thank you

stevee303 · December 2018

I'm not going to eat if I'm not hungry whether I have spare calories or not.

I've seen several long term posters say they sometimes deliberately save calories for events or a couple of drinks at the weekend. That's what I do and sometimes, yes, I don't use all those calories.

If you are hungry, eat those calories!

NovusDies · December 2018

stevee303 wrote: »

I'm not going to eat if I'm not hungry whether I have spare calories or not.

I've seen several long term posters say they sometimes deliberately save calories for events or a couple of drinks at the weekend. That's what I do and sometimes, yes, I don't use all those calories.

If you are hungry, eat those calories!

This is fine as long as your rate of loss does not exceed 1 percent of your total body weight per week. If it does you are in danger of having your body use your muscles as fuel to cover the energy deficit instead of fat.

kshama2001 · December 2018

For those who prefer text explanations to video:

Unlike other sites which use TDEE calculators, MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

alecmartin80 · December 2018

My big problem with eating burned calories is that I never trust the calories burned calculations for my activities. So I'd never eat them back - in full at least.

spiriteagle99 · December 2018

It depends on what kind of exercise you're doing. For walking and running, the math is simple so the MFP calculations are pretty accurate. For something that depends on the amount of effort involved (i.e. calisthenics, yoga, stationary bike, etc.) the numbers can be pretty subjective, so I take those with a grain of salt. Moderately hard is subjective. Moving 150 pounds for 5 miles is not.

Tacklewasher · December 2018

alecmartin80 wrote: »

My big problem with eating burned calories is that I never trust the calories burned calculations for my activities. So I'd never eat them back - in full at least.

Most suggestions here start with eating half back, continue this for a month and compare your actual weight loss to your expected loss.

My running calories get all eaten back, my lifting about 2/3'rds. This is based on what my Garmin tells me.

Why should I eat the calories burned?

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