eating workout calories?

To be fair, Dave, 'staying alive' isn't optimal when you have the option to totally change your body composition. Why would you want to lose fat and muscle just to lose weight faster, if you can increase or maintain your muscle mass while losing fat?

Starvation mode isn't about dying. It's about placing yourself in such a large deficit that you depress your metabolism and make it harder to lose fat.

to be fair...where did I suggest a large deficit? nowhere

exactly...you havenow introduced factors that were not mentioned in the original discussion, which was my point
and Happy Birthday

the advice to eat them all needs all the factors not just a blanket statement
thanks

exactly...you havenow introduced factors that were not mentioned in the original discussion, which was my point
and Happy Birthday

the advice to eat them all needs all the factors not just a blanket statement
thanks

Oh....well yea, I agree. But if the individual is working hard enough to burn 1100 calories in one gym session, that is a factor that would require eating at least half. That would put them in a 1,000 calorie deficit, with wiggle room of +-500 calories to still be able to lose 1 lb per week.

Oh and thanks :happy:

half...sure..but she was told with no wiggle room to eat them all...my point is that is confusing to new people who need more info than blanket statements...they need to understand all the factors and not be just told to eat em

Look, I think that we're all in agreement and this is a disagreement about how we express it.

I think that most people understand that you need a calorie deficit to lose fat. I also think that most people agree that if your deficit is too large your body triggers the famine response (starvation mode) which makes losing weight and gaining muscle very difficult.

The way you get to that deficit isn't a point of contention to me. If someone wants to eat less, then workout, and then eat back the exercise calories to maintain that deficit, that's fine.

If someone else wants to eat a little more, and then workout to expand the deficit, that's fine by me too.

I don't care how the deficit is created, nor does the body. And maybe that's where people get confused.

when we say Eat your exercise calories, the only reason we say it is because (maybe wrongly) we assume that you have already put in your goal deficit, and that by not eating your exercise calories, you're actually increasing it more then you probably should. If you think that increasing it will still keep you within a safe deficit, then great, we're not talking about your specific case.

My biggest thing is for everyone to know about where their deficit SHOULD be. Some of that is through research about their own body numbers, some is through a little trial and error.

I'll tell you one thing though, I'd rather have this discussion, and have people disagree, then not have it talked about it at all. At least this way people are sparked to do the research and really think about the process.

Anyway, this has been a civil discussion, and I think productive.

So, instead of trying to explain it all. You know who jillian michaels is right?
the personal trainer from the Biggest loser.
Very well regarded in her field and very knowledgable about weight loss and nutrition.

about 23 minutes into her radio show this past sunday (you can listen to the whole thing, but it's 2 hours long). She goes over the exercise calorie debate with a woman. It's a long conversation but I think she hit all the points. I would advise you to listen as it's very insightful.

here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/am4jfs

I just listened to it- and she was talking about the lady who isn't big and who doesn't have alot to lose 10-15lbs who also doesn't have alot of fat reserve and started eating 1100-1300 calories a day then cut them down to 800 calories.

She said if someone were morbidly obese she could put them on 800 calories a day and train them 8 hours a day because they have 300lbs of stored fuel on there body.

and to not ever go below 1200 calories because the lady was eating only 800 calories a day.
and she said for the lady to gradually increase her calorie intake to 1600 and to stay at that 1600 a day FOREVER--

She not once mentioned eating exercise calories.

She even told a man that was eating 1600 calories a day and working out everyday was fine and that he doesn't need to eat anymore because he has alot of weight to lose-She mentioned to him that she sets the guys on biggest loser on 1600 calories a day and works them out 6-8 hours a day.
She also mentioned that if it was like 20-25lbs she would tweak it a little.

Yeah I listened to her too and she said if you were close to your goal weight (5-10 lbs of vanity weight) then you didn't need to create as big of a deficit. However, if you are more than 10-15 lbs overweight, your body doesn't need as much fuel because it has reserves ( think she said something along the lines of 5 tanks of reserves) so you can get by on very few. When you are really big, I think like the BL contestants, it's more important just to get the weight off than maintain muscle mass because their bodies are under so much stress from all the extra weight.

Basically, you have to play around with it. The beauty of MFP is that you can go back and look at your food diary and see what you were eating when you were losing weight and if you changed something or not.

:drinker:

Good luck!

Yes you can play with it- but she also said nothing about eating exercise calories-- She told the woman that just had 10-15lbs to lose to eat 1600 calories and to work out she didn't say eat 1600 + exercise calories and workout- she said 1600 forever and to workout-

And if you have more to lose you can eat less calories a day but to NEVER EVER go under 1200 a day- Mind you thats for a female- And also workout.


For men with alot to lose eat 1600 and workout and to not go ess than 1600 -- and for a man with 10-15lbs to lose it would be different-

She also put a man who was close to his goal at 1800 calories a day and to workout-

Yeah I don't believe you need to eat your exercise calories...I don't. Before joining this site I'd never heard such a debate over it. Now I see one almost every day.

never heard it before this site either.

if you burn 1100 cals at the gym you should be eating your 1200 PLUS the 1100 you burned. 1200 already puts you at a deficit, and if you exercise and don't eat those calories back you're creating an even larger deficit- in your case a DANGEROUSLY large one. Think of it this way: you give your body 1200 calories to function on. You use 1100 of those working out. That leave 100 measely calories for your body to perform ALL other functions (ex- breathing, digestion, heartbeat, blinking, moving, talking, thinking, EVERYTHING). Yep, you eat back exercise calories. If you can't eat 2300 calories in a day, do less exercise.

this is ONE theory..there are others,,,,,read the archive posts, some eat them all and some do not
get several opinions

that's true, some people don't eat them ALL. But generally, those are not people that are already set at 1200 cals per day. TamTastic for instance doesn't eat all hers, but she does eat some. She has also stated on MANY occasions that she's never eaten as low as 1200. It makes a difference. a woman should never eat below 1200 cals a day whether she's exercising or not. Therefore, in my theory, your net calories should never fall below 1200 either. Let's say you were set at 1500 instead of 1200. So you eat 1500 and you excercise say 300 away. You're still at 1200, so I don't feel as strongly about the need to eat those back. Does that make sense? Also keep in mind the bigger you are (I'm talking about those in the obese range, as I used to be) can stand to eat fewer calories than someone say... in the healthy range. Because they have a lot of energy reserves (fat) to draw from. Otherwise yes, eat them back. There's no need to burn 1100 everyday but if you do you should eat those calories back.

I agree --I am allowed 1450 calories a day---but I always add my exercise calories (usually 450 from walking)--to 1200. I sometimes give myself the luxury of eating those extra 250 calories but I ALWAYS eat 1200 PLUS exercise--and so far --it is working---I figure if I don't eat 1450--those 250 calories saved add up to bigger weight loss.

I started on January 2, 2009


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Food Diary

Wow! Much ado about nothing! People, stop trying to micro manage this. It's going to cause an ulcer. Listen to your body. Experiment a bit. You will very quickly see what works for YOU. I do appreciate all of the info from everyone, however. SHBoss has done some great research on this. But unless you are a competitive bodybuilder or fitness model, don't sweat the details. Use some common sense, give your body what it NEEDS and enjoy your new body. Believe me, I am learning a lot, too!

OK, I'm never going to call it eating your exercise calories again. Because so many people seem to have a problem with that.

From now on I'm going to say "Creating a manageable calorie deficit based on your specific body"

that way I hope we can avoid the confusion people obviously have.

:laugh: I'm going to call it that too.

I just don't understand guys. If you're so opposed to how it works why choose THIS website. There are many others that do not automatically factor in a deficit and exercise calories. I promote this website the way it was intended to work. period. :flowerforyou: best of luck