to eat or not to eat....
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lilspider
Posts: 31 Member
Should you eat the exercise calories or not? This has been always the question for me. I generally dont eat all of them, but should I?
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Replies
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Yes.
MFP is designed in a way that you eat back your intentional exercise. A lot of users will only eat pack a percentage to give a buffer in case of overestimating calories when exercising.5 -
You can try...you will get a better idea of how accurate they are when you log for a while and track how much weight you lose.4
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It's how MFP is designed and it makes it easier to meet your nutritional goals and still enjoy a wider variety of foods while still being in a deficit. Why wouldn't you?4
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Thanks both for your reply. I will try to eat all of them for a bit thanks for the great tip.
I just generally dont feel hungry to eat all of it so what gives... I guess I should be happy.
Also I only notice it after dinner and then it is too late to eat 500 calories lol2 -
Thanks both for your reply. I will try to eat all of them for a bit thanks for the great tip.
I just generally dont feel hungry to eat all of it so what gives... I guess I should be happy.
Also I only notice it after dinner and then it is too late to eat 500 calories lol
Do you use a scale to log your food?1 -
Thanks both for your reply. I will try to eat all of them for a bit thanks for the great tip.
I just generally dont feel hungry to eat all of it so what gives... I guess I should be happy.
Also I only notice it after dinner and then it is too late to eat 500 calories lol
Assuming that 500 calories is an accurate estimate of how many calories you're burning through exercise, you can always roll them over into the next day. You don't have to cram them into the end of your day, your body doesn't do a hard reset at midnight.4 -
As others have said, MFP is designed for you to eat back a reasonable estimate of exercise calories. Be sure to set you MFP activity level (in your profile) based on non-exercise activity (like home chores, job, non-exercise hobbies, etc.).
The real test is actual weight loss rate after 4-6 weeks (comparing same relative point in at least 2 different monthly cycles for premenopausal women). Losing weight too fast creates health risks (don't want that!), but you do of course want a sensible, steady loss rate. Eating back exercise calories is just part of finding that balance.
Someone who sets an ultra slow loss goal (like 0.5lb/week, even when they have many pounds left to lose), and who does small/irregular amounts of exercise, is probably fine just letting exercise calories increase their calorie deficit, because in total they won't lose too fast. But someone who sets up their profile for 2 pounds a week loss, then does hundreds of calories of exercise most days on top of that . . . well, that can be a path toward unsustainability (such as binges), weakness, fatigue, or worse health complications. For sure a problem? No. But for sure higher risk.
Best wishes for success!4 -
Yes I weigh all my food religiously with my kitchen scales. I've been tracking for two weeks and lost 2kg so far so it is working.2
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Congratulations on your weight loss!
Maybe start with eating back half your exercise calories. Many exercise calorie estimates are rather off. If you find you lose too fast (and lose too much muscles) then eat back more.1 -
Thanks everyone this has been really insightful read and has made me appreciate the calories I have left more. I have always thought that as long as I don't feel hungry I should be ok, but on some days I have quite a few calories left and then end up munching chocolate in front of TV because I can (Which then throws my macros out of the window!!
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If you are trying to maintain your weight and not lose than sure you can eat them back . But if your goal is to lose weight I don’t see why you would want to eat back your hard work. Don’t forget , your calorie deficit should be made with food not exercise0
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Brandon1992 wrote: »If you are trying to maintain your weight and not lose than sure you can eat them back . But if your goal is to lose weight I don’t see why you would want to eat back your hard work. Don’t forget , your calorie deficit should be made with food not exercise
I disagree with this.
You need proper nutrition to fuel your body and your workouts. Plus your body is only able to lose a certain amount of fat per day. If you go over that then you will lose muscles mass at a much higher rate than is necessary. You might be a guy, but for a woman it's *kitten* difficult to rebuild lost muscle. And once you're at a certain age loss of muscle mass can also lead to osteoporosis. And not forget: your heart is also a muscle. Would you rather your body consumes your heart than lose at a healthy rate?
With regards to proper nutrition: a woman needs about 1100 calories per day just to keep her body alive and all organs working. This is non-negotiable. You can't just use your kidneys a bit less, let your brain take a break from running all bodily functions for a few hours each day, reduce heart beats by 40%. If TO is on 1200 calories per day, and works out for 500 she'd only consume 700 calories per day. Mind explaining how that is healthy in any way? Yes, we don't know how much she's eating. But that means that you can't make such a bloody statement. It's unhealthy. And could be dangerous.9 -
Brandon1992 wrote: »Don’t forget , your calorie deficit should be made with food not exercise
A calorie deficit can be made by food or exercise, or a combination of both. As long as you are burning more calories, than consuming. But it also needs to be done in a healthy way. Hitting minimum requirements is a necessity for health.5 -
Try out different methods, see what works for your goals... I did this and got to know more about how my body reacts to certain situations. One week you eat the 'burned calories' as well, one week you don't and then you can see what works for your goals.
I don't eat them back on now, trying to cut some weight.. But this would not necessarily work for others.. As long you feel the fun of it you should try whatever works within your comfort. No right or wrong, as long you don't OVEReat you daily macros0 -
Yes I weigh all my food religiously with my kitchen scales. I've been tracking for two weeks and lost 2kg so far so it is working.
I would also say that you should no believe 2 weeks of "how you feel" data. It can be misleading because the body will do its best to cover for a large energy deficit over a short interval. As time progresses if you maintain that large deficit you may find yourself in a binge-like overfeed or in what I now call deficit sick. I recently went through this myself doing fairly rigorous work around the house that was not being captured on my fitness watch. I ate my exercise calories but it was not enough to also cover my chores energy expenditure and I crashed myself. It took over a week to feel normal again. It was mightily unpleasant to feel so drained for so long.8 -
I fully agree with notion of experimenting but I'm skeptical that one week can tell you much. Three months should yield fairly definite results. But I would suggest letting at least a month to go by before drawing any conclusions.ClimbingWolf wrote: »One week you eat the 'burned calories' as well, one week you don't and then you can see what works for your goals.
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Brandon1992 wrote: »If you are trying to maintain your weight and not lose than sure you can eat them back . But if your goal is to lose weight I don’t see why you would want to eat back your hard work. Don’t forget , your calorie deficit should be made with food not exercise
Do you understand how MFP determines calories goals? Exercise isn't taken into account, you're already at a deficit with their goal. If you're making that deficit larger through additional activity, eating more to account for that isn't "eating back hard work," it's ensuring you have the energy to continue working on your fitness.9 -
This conversation has been really useful for me. I am on 1200 cals a day so in other words if I do 500 cals worth of exercise it takes it down to 700? - which is way too little.7
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I would also like to add I sit on my bum most days because of work but always go for walks to get at least 10k steps each day as well as do some weight training with my dumbbells1
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This conversation has been really useful for me. I am on 1200 cals a day so in other words if I do 500 cals worth of exercise it takes it down to 700? - which is way too little.
1200 calories is the bare minimum for women.
How tall are you?
How much are you wanting to lose?
How fast are you trying to lose it?
1
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