exercise points

alisoncarl · March 2009

do you have to eat your exercise points?

alisoncarl · March 2009

do you have to eat your exercise points?

amymeenieminymo · March 2009

I'm sure someone can provide you with the link to this answer (it's a pretty common question :happy: ) but in short, yes you should.

drewzaun · March 2009

Yes and no. And if that is not exact enough for you, it gets even more gray from there!

The answer is really going to depend on you and your specific needs. Some things that determine whether or not you need to consume all, some, or none of your exercise calories are:

How overweight are you? The more overweight you are the more of a caloric deficit you can safely maintain.

Are you exercising for weight loss or performance? If you wish to gain muscle and/or speed and endurance you need to fuel your engine with high octane foods. If on the other hand you are just trying to loose weight and burn fat you can eat fewer calories back.

Are you reporting your food intake properly? Most people lie even to themselves and eat far more than they admit to or perhaps even realize. Get a food scale and learn what portions look like, then report how many you eat accurately.

Are you sure you really worked that hard? Again most people burn fewer calories in the gym than they realize. I also think gym machines and even some HRM's are designed to count more calories burned to keep you motivated. One thing I do know is that if you say you spent X time on the eliptical this site has NO IDEA how many calories you burned, so do not trust it.

So the bottom line to all this is, not one single person on this or any other message board has the answer that will help you. And neither does your doctor, Jillian Micheals, or any trainer that your gym has hired. The only people who can give you anything close to an exact amount will charge you obscene amounts of money for the consultation, and they typically work with star athletes and movie stars. That is where the money is.

You are going to have to learn your body through trial and error. It is not that hard, but it takes some work, dedication, motivation, and you are going to have to record things as accurately as possible so you know if you are on the right path or not.

Sorry I cannot be more precise, but if I could I would be the richest man in the US since I would have the one true program that always worked and would then put all the gimmicks out of buisness...

And anyone who says they do have the correct answer for you is lieing.

kerrilucko · March 2009

kerrilucko · March 2009

Yes and no. And if that is not exact enough for you, it gets even more gray from there!

The answer is really going to depend on you and your specific needs. Some things that determine whether or not you need to consume all, some, or none of your exercise calories are:

How overweight are you? The more overweight you are the more of a caloric deficit you can safely maintain.

Are you exercising for weight loss or performance? If you wish to gain muscle and/or speed and endurance you need to fuel your engine with high octane foods. If on the other hand you are just trying to loose weight and burn fat you can eat fewer calories back.

Are you reporting your food intake properly? Most people lie even to themselves and eat far more than they admit to or perhaps even realize. Get a food scale and learn what portions look like, then report how many you eat accurately.

Are you sure you really worked that hard? Again most people burn fewer calories in the gym than they realize. I also think gym machines and even some HRM's are designed to count more calories burned to keep you motivated. One thing I do know is that if you say you spent X time on the eliptical this site has NO IDEA how many calories you burned, so do not trust it.

So the bottom line to all this is, not one single person on this or any other message board has the answer that will help you. And neither does your doctor, Jillian Micheals, or any trainer that your gym has hired. The only people who can give you anything close to an exact amount will charge you obscene amounts of money for the consultation, and they typically work with star athletes and movie stars. That is where the money is.

You are going to have to learn your body through trial and error. It is not that hard, but it takes some work, dedication, motivation, and you are going to have to record things as accurately as possible so you know if you are on the right path or not.

Sorry I cannot be more precise, but if I could I would be the richest man in the US since I would have the one true program that always worked and would then put all the gimmicks out of buisness...

And anyone who says they do have the correct answer for you is lieing.

I agree, there are some grey zones. I'd say the biggest factor on whether you should eat them or not is how much are you eating in the first place? Anyone on a 1200 cal a day diet should eat their exercise cals, in my opinion. If you are on say a 1500 cal a day diet you may not need to eat them all, depending on how much you tend to burn, obviously. Also, yes, if you are obese, that is a grey zone. You might want to talk to you doctor actually, if you are obese, I know many on here have been specifically instructed by their doctor on how they should lose weight. In general though, yes, eat your exercise calories, or most of them. it works. :flowerforyou:

amymeenieminymo · March 2009

Ok, I don't feel like working just yet, so let me give you a little more info and you can make your own conclusion.

MFP calculates a calorie deficit for you, for example mine is 500. So since I started here, I eat 500 calories a day less than I used to. This alone helps me lose weight. You CAN lose weight on lowering your caloric intake alone, but exercise will also help and get your body leaner, stronger, and healthier, which will help you burn more calories sitting around doing nothing just because you will be more fit.

That said, when you work out, you're burning even more calories, which will expand your calorie deficit by that much more. So I already have a deficit of 500, if I work out and burn 500 more calories, that will mean I am only giving my body 900 calories a day, which is not enough (no one should eat less than 1200 a day).

As you'll find out, some people are very pro-eating your exercise calories, some are very against it. But just a few things to keep in mind....lack of hunger doesn't always mean you aren't hungry and shouldn't eat. Sometimes a lack of hunger can actually mean you aren't getting enough food and your body is kind of shutting down to conserve what it does have.

Eating your exercise calories does not mean it's a free pass to eat chocolate cake everynight. Once in a while it won't hurt you to use your extra calories on something yummy, but overall it should be a healthy snack. And eating your exercise calories does not always mean you have to stuff yourself. There are plenty of foods that are high in (good) calories without actually eating a lot of food (ie. peanut butter, nuts, fat free milk, etc).

The bottom line is, try what you think sounds right to you. If you eat your exercise calories and you lose weight and are happy with it, do it. If you aren't happy with it, then that is your choice too. Nothing is 100% accurate. I am sure my exercise logged isn't accurate right down to the last calorie. I don't have an HRM so I use what MFP says I burned and I have been losing just fine. Just as I am sure my food logging isn't always accurate.....so I figure it all probably washes in the end. Plus, getting to eat more is a huge incentive for me to work out when I don't always feel like it otherwise.

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