very curious
mrsyac2
Posts: 2,784 Member
Where did the concept of eating your exercise calories come from? Is their a website? Books? Doctor? Nutrionist? Trainer? ect... I am just curious who said this needs to be done?
Don't get upset nor offended I am just very curious
FYI- I am not new to losing weight I have lost plenty of weight prior to MFP (and kept it off) I came to this site because I like being able to track my calories online rather than on paper and I like reading messages- So please don't think I am a newbie to what has to be done to lose weight Im just curious where the concept came to eat what you burn or to workout to eat more.
Don't get upset nor offended I am just very curious
FYI- I am not new to losing weight I have lost plenty of weight prior to MFP (and kept it off) I came to this site because I like being able to track my calories online rather than on paper and I like reading messages- So please don't think I am a newbie to what has to be done to lose weight Im just curious where the concept came to eat what you burn or to workout to eat more.
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Replies
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Where did the concept of eating your exercise calories come from? Is their a website? Books? Doctor? Nutrionist? Trainer? ect... I am just curious who said this needs to be done?
Don't get upset nor offended I am just very curious
FYI- I am not new to losing weight I have lost plenty of weight prior to MFP (and kept it off) I came to this site because I like being able to track my calories online rather than on paper and I like reading messages- So please don't think I am a newbie to what has to be done to lose weight Im just curious where the concept came to eat what you burn or to workout to eat more.0 -
great question...have had it mself.....this should be interesting0
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great question...have had it mself.....this should be interesting
Yes I am waiting for everything to come out- I have seen people reading but nobody posting info though0 -
It comes from the facts that we are already in a calorie deficit according to the weight we want to lose each week. Example my calories to maintain my weight are about 3290 per day with my everyday activity not including exercise. My MFP calories are 2290 for a deficit of 1000 a day which will get me the 2 pounds a week since 3500 = one pound. The human body has a defense mechanism which kicks in when you consistently eat less than 1000 calories less than it takes to run your body which triggers a slow down in metabolism otherwise known as starvation mode. Now if I exercise and burn 400 calories and do not eat those 400 I will be at a deficit of 1400 which could and with my body most definitely will put me into that conservation mode and I actually gain instead of lose. Now as we know everyone is different. Some people have a stronger gene when it comes to this conservation than others that is why some people can eat all day or barely at all and stay at a mostly consitent weight or within 10-20 pounds of a good weight while others become obese and even morbidly obese. These are ancient self preservation genes that are much stronger in some people than others and date back to the feast and famine times of prehistoric man when food was harder to come by. I am one of the lucky ones with the really prevalent genes!:huh: That is why some people continue to lose when they do not eat exercise calories and some do not or even gain. Hope that helps.:flowerforyou:
Amy:bigsmile:
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
My favorite post for answers:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again0 -
I agree with what we are told here about this..but is there any official study or something?0
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When you don't eat enough calories to sustain your body's daily functions, your body panics, thinking that there isn't any food available. It reacts by slowing down your metabolism and absorbing more of the foods you eat instead of using that food for energy. When you eat regularly, your metabolism speeds up and uses those calories instead of saving them for later.
Calories are burned through exercise - if you do not eat enough food, your body will hold onto the fat and eat the muscle.
Look at Michael Phelps' diet for instance...he has to eat (wasn't the number something like 25 chocolate-chip pancakes ever day?) so that he can maintain his energy and still feed his body. The calories you burn are for the energy needed to feed your body during exercise...the food you do not burn is used to sustain life.
I hope I'm explaining this correctly.0 -
ok thanks for resonding- here is my thing every fitness plan/workout that I have seen or read states to eat 1200-1500 calories with a max of 1600 calories for a female and to stagger them daily never eating the same amount daily and to workout I have not seen nor read anything saying to eat 1200-1600 calories and workout then eat that as well.
Also the BMR aren't that accurate they are just estimates used for hospitals to use on coma patients.0 -
I wonder if what type of food is chosen to fill those excercise calories plays a part as well....Just for me I know *if* I was eating them it would make no sense for me to fill that deficit with empty calories ...it would be interesting to see how the ones that are losing weight eating them spend those extra calories...great post:drinker:0
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When you don't eat enough calories to sustain your body's daily functions, your body panics, thinking that there isn't any food available. It reacts by slowing down your metabolism and absorbing more of the foods you eat instead of using that food for energy. When you eat regularly, your metabolism speeds up and uses those calories instead of saving them for later.
Calories are burned through exercise - if you do not eat enough food, your body will hold onto the fat and eat the muscle.
Look at Michael Phelps' diet for instance...he has to eat (wasn't the number something like 25 chocolate-chip pancakes ever day?) so that he can maintain his energy and still feed his body. The calories you burn are for the energy needed to feed your body during exercise...the food you do not burn is used to sustain life.
I hope I'm explaining this correctly.
Thats why they say to eat 5-6 small meals a day- Also Michael Phelps (a world class athlete huge difference) trains for hours and hours a day 6-7 days a week months on end he isn't the average person who workouts 30 minutes- 2 hours a day 3-7 days a week.0 -
Well I can tell you my extra calories come from the same foods I normally eat. Clean foods for the most part. Complex carbs, sprouted grain breads, raw nuts like almonds, and lean proteins with lots of veggies and good fats from oils like olive oil and all natural no sugar added PB. A few fruits too in real fruit form like apples with the peel etc. Can't vouch for all though.:flowerforyou:
Amy:bigsmile:
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
My favorite post for answers:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again0 -
I beleive the aruguments for doing it and I do it and it works,,,,was just wondering where it originated as in a study or something....might help push the naysayers if it came with some 3rd party authority....maybe Oprah started it? lol0
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I beleive the aruguments for doing it and I do it and it works,,,,was just wondering where it originated as in a study or something....might help push the naysayers if it came with some 3rd party authority....maybe Oprah started it? lol
I don't think even studies would change what people choose to do.
:flowerforyou:0 -
I beleive the aruguments for doing it and I do it and it works,,,,was just wondering where it originated as in a study or something....might help push the naysayers if it came with some 3rd party authority....maybe Oprah started it? lol
:laugh: Dave you are so funny- Oprah!:laugh: I am doing it because I have tried it without the extra exercise calories and it didn't work for me so I hope eating them will work for me but this is a long journey and we all have to find what works for us and respect others' choices whatever they may be. We are all adults after all! :drinker: :bigsmile:
Amy:bigsmile:
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
My favorite post for answers:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again0 -
I beleive the aruguments for doing it and I do it and it works,,,,was just wondering where it originated as in a study or something....might help push the naysayers if it came with some 3rd party authority....maybe Oprah started it? lol
Rofl haha Oprah ...your hilarious..I believe both arguments that it works for some and not for others and visa-versa..I personally do not eat them and havent had any issues ...I dont eat them because my Doc/Nutritionist has me on a set calorie amount 1200-1400 I tend to stay at 1200....If I should plateau I will more than likely up my excercise routine for a month and see if that will help and then if not I would up my calories...but thats just my method of doing things...But you are correct a third party would be a nice addition0 -
I don't think even studies would change what people choose to do.
Amen! :laugh:
I personally think it is especially true to eat the majority of your exercise calories when you have less to lose.0 -
I have heard from three third parties that I put my faith in:
Fitness Chick (230+ lbs lost)
TamTastic (130+ lost)
Banks (I dunno what he has lost in total, but he is at his goal weight- and has done tremendous amount of research)
Real people who have followed this plan and have accomplished really amazing results! I don't need Oprah- FC, Tami and Banksy are plenty for me
And- so far so good- it's working very well for me!:bigsmile:0 -
I have heard from three third parties that I put my faith in:
Fitness Chick (230+ lbs lost)
TamTastic (130+ lost)
Banks (I dunno what he has lost in total, but he is at his goal weight- and has done tremendous amount of research)
Real people who have followed this plan and have accomplished really amazing results! I don't need Oprah- FC, Tami and Banksy are plenty for me
And- so far so good- it's working very well for me!:bigsmile:
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I have heard from three third parties that I put my faith in:
Fitness Chick (230+ lbs lost)
TamTastic (130+ lost)
Banks (I dunno what he has lost in total, but he is at his goal weight- and has done tremendous amount of research)
Real people who have followed this plan and have accomplished really amazing results! I don't need Oprah- FC, Tami and Banksy are plenty for me
And- so far so good- it's working very well for me!:bigsmile:
AMEN sista..0 -
Here is how I understand it.
When I did my research on 4 other websites, they did a work up and asked me how much I planned on exercising. I said 4 times a week for 30-45 minutes. They all came back with 1400-1600 calories, including the exercise. When I removed the exercise they ALL came back with 1200 calories. (no one will come under that nowadays due to scientific data and lawsuits, I am guessing the latter is more prevelant)
So I came to the conclusion that MFP doesn't assume I will actually do the exercise I promise to do. Also, there is a stagger built right in! I have 1200 cals a day. I exercise 237 and I eat 1427. I exercise 400 and I get 1600.
I think I have failed in the past because I ate 21 points of food, or 1600 calories and had no motivation to exercise.
So I will work for food! (or pats of butter, or a slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter!!:laugh: )0 -
I don't know if there's a study but, to me, it just makes intuitive sense. One of the reasons I exercise is so that I can eat more. I'm baffled by people who post that they can't figure out how to eat more than 600 calories a day without stuffing themselves. I've been doing this over a year and I can still put away 3000 calories in a day if I don't pay attention. I try to use a common sense approach and try to eat about 1500 to 1900 calories in a day, depending on how much exercise I've done. I don't want to have to obsess about every little bite. I treat all of these numbers like estimates and adjust what I'm doing based on my results. I alway eat some of my exercise calories but seldom eat all of them. And, if I eat all of them my weight loss slows down. I'm assuming that's because the estimates are off.
And I agree, you could find reams of medical documentation proving the theory, and people would still do what they want.
The internet can be a blessing and a curse. You can find something to support whatever you want to believe. :laugh:0 -
so....it appears the consensus is that we don't know if a 3rd party
(and I should have been more clear, my fault)
an objective party that has no interest in the outcome is the one who discovered this method. As I said earlier, I believe it, I follow it and it works for me. If a different appraoch works for some, good.
I will continue to eat my exercise cals because I like to eat. I also cannot imagine how someone can't eat a couple hundred or evn 500 more cals a day. Sometimes I wish I had that problem.
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I'm baffled by people who post that they can't figure out how to eat more than 600 calories a day without stuffing themselves.
me too!! I always wonder what they are eating???0 -
Also the BMR aren't that accurate they are just estimates used for hospitals to use on coma patients.
Actually not true, BMR equations are scientifically developed...some used are older than others but they can be used for anyone. BMR's equations factor in height, weight , age and are also used with activity factors, a coma patient might not have any activity factor, while a healthy active adult would have an activity factor, used in his equation that would account for his daily activity. The BMR on MFP (correct me if I am wrong someone) is a straight BMR, no activity factor, which is why it is important to add some of your exercise calories back in....so you don't drop below you BMR, starvation mode.
And I base my info on what I learned in school picking up the BS degree in human nutrition I have. Hope thats helpfull..0 -
Maybe Oprah started it?
Oprah is the last person I'd ask weightloss advice from. Now, Dr. Oz on the otherhand....
I don't really pay attention to MFP thing on how many calories I can eat with my exercise. For example, today I burned 900 at the gym and it says I can eat 2100. I aim for 1800 a day, even on days where I do double duty at the gym and burn an insane amount of calories. I know my body, I know what it needs to get through my long runs and weight lifting sessions. I don't need a website telling me how much I have to eat. I listen to my body. If I am feeling sluggish and want to eat more, I will.0 -
I couldn't find any studies either, but I didn't go to the library or anything, I did come across a notion that I thought was interesting and applies to the theory of eating back your calories though.
"Since there's no difference in the weight loss between a calorie deficit created solely through diet and one created through diet and exercise it's a bit unhelpful to think of exercise deficits as separate from diet deficits"
So whether we create the deficit through calorie restriction or through exercise, if it takes us below the magic number of 1200 that has been chosen as an average, we are not feeding ourselves enough. Basically, if instead of exercising, we just didn't eat the calories and came in at 800 calories for the day we know that we need to eat more. Yet we have a hard time accepting that burning 400 calories though exercise is almost the same as not eating them at all, expending that energy will still put us below what we need to survive.
Interesting. You should have seen some of the blogs about it, some people get pretty heated.0 -
I'm baffled by people who post that they can't figure out how to eat more than 600 calories a day without stuffing themselves.
me too!! I always wonder what they are eating???
I can be a lot like that, but I'm sort of an all or nothing person. When I'm paying attention to calories, they freak me out and if I'm not careful, I'll restrict myself like crazy. I used to eat a lot of high calorie stuff- I wasn't always eating; in fact, I'd often not eat very often but when I did eat, I'd be ravenous so eat a lot, and what I ate was high calorie. Having changed that, I do sometimes struggle to eat a lot of calories. Today, after dinner, I was still below 800 calories. I've had to have supper just to make up to my minimum. Of course, it might have been smarter to have butter with my potato instead of low fat Creme Fraiche, but that's what I mean: the concept of something as high calorie as butter is slightly scary to me. I think it's primarily a pschological issue. It is for me anyrate. And whilst I'm on board with the concept of eating my exercise calories, I still need to get my mind out of exercising to lose weight fast, and into the idea of healthy living for life. I still find myself very much torn between a binge eating disorder/bulimia mentality and an anorexic mentality (all of which I've had). I think a lot of MFP is not only about losing weight but also losing unhealthy attitudes to food.0 -
Like I said I was just curious who thought of it. Everyone does things their own way not everything is meant for the next person.
Who knows maybe Oprah did start it lol--
Correction the reason BMR started was for coma patients it has now became a guide for weight loss and gain (what it is used for now doesn't mean thats why it was created/developed)-
I was just curious I didn't want this to get into a rant about why people need to eat their exercise calories- best of luck to everyone in their weight loss journey0 -
When you don't eat enough calories to sustain your body's daily functions, your body panics, thinking that there isn't any food available. It reacts by slowing down your metabolism and absorbing more of the foods you eat instead of using that food for energy. When you eat regularly, your metabolism speeds up and uses those calories instead of saving them for later.
Calories are burned through exercise - if you do not eat enough food, your body will hold onto the fat and eat the muscle.
Look at Michael Phelps' diet for instance...he has to eat (wasn't the number something like 25 chocolate-chip pancakes ever day?) so that he can maintain his energy and still feed his body. The calories you burn are for the energy needed to feed your body during exercise...the food you do not burn is used to sustain life.
I hope I'm explaining this correctly.
Starvation mode is a state in which the body is responding to unhealthily low caloric intake levels. The body becomes more efficient at using energy and burns lean tissue and muscle in order to conserve fat reserves.That process is also called catabolic damage. If one's goal is weight loss, cutting calories below a certain level is both dangerous to one's health and counterproductive.
Ordinarily, the body responds to reduced caloric intake by cleansing itself of toxins and burning fat reserves first, and only consumes muscle and other tissues when those reserves are exhausted. Specifically, the body burns fat after first exhausting the contents of the digestive tract along with glycogen reserves stored in muscle and liver cells.Then, if these sugars are depleted, the body will burn the actual muscle tissue. People who practice fasting on a regular basis, such as those adhering to caloric restricted diets, can prime their bodies to abstain from food without burning lean tissue.0 -
so....it appears the consensus is that we don't know if a 3rd party
(and I should have been more clear, my fault)
an objective party that has no interest in the outcome is the one who discovered this method. As I said earlier, I believe it, I follow it and it works for me. If a different appraoch works for some, good.
I will continue to eat my exercise cals because I like to eat. I also cannot imagine how someone can't eat a couple hundred or evn 500 more cals a day. Sometimes I wish I had that problem.
I just found some very good pages on ExRx.net that you gave me the other night Dave. It has sources I didn't actually look them up but it did have sources. It is under starvation effect in the Why low cal diets fail page.
Amy:bigsmile:
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
My favorite post for answers:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again0 -
so....it appears the consensus is that we don't know if a 3rd party
(and I should have been more clear, my fault)
an objective party that has no interest in the outcome is the one who discovered this method. As I said earlier, I believe it, I follow it and it works for me. If a different appraoch works for some, good.
I will continue to eat my exercise cals because I like to eat. I also cannot imagine how someone can't eat a couple hundred or evn 500 more cals a day. Sometimes I wish I had that problem.
I just found some very good pages on ExRx.net that you gave me the other night Dave. It has sources I didn't actually look them up but it did have sources. It is under starvation effect in the Why low cal diets fail page.
Amy:bigsmile:
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
My favorite post for answers:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again
hey thanks...another reason to like that site...I am always looking at that guy doing lifts that I MIGHT try...lol
SongBird turned me onto that site0
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