Why don't people eat their exercise calories?

"MFP already gives you the deficit required for the weight loss goal you choose. As PBJunky says you end up being skinnyfat - and also stuck eating low amounts of calories for the rest of your life because you don't have to muscle mass to burn off anything higher."


Wow, VERY WELL PUT!! I've never seen it explained like this in any of the endless threads on this subjects.

I get it......I freakin' get it!!!! (whew, glad THAT'S over!)

i think you'll find i said in my post 'each to their own' which means the same thing as 'we are all different and have different requirements' which is no more or less supportive than you were!

So please share those requirements with me? Is it perhaps losing weight in a healthy manner? Or destroy your body in the quickest possible way?

You do realise when exercising your putting your CNS(Central Nervous System) under stress, you are eating the muscle away if not catering for that additional protein in order to prevent catabolism. Do you ever take the time to read any of those medical studies or do you think you know of better? That you have a unique body that only works in a certain way?

Yes you are different but your body works in a very similar way than mine and the same ****ing rules apply to you...your not special in that regard.

Do as you please...I won't be assisting you on your journey

Why should I eat them back, if I am not hungry and my body doesn't ask for more food? Just because the MFP Number tells me to?

Do as you please...your body, your life.



For the both of you, you are pretty much on your own mission so good luck and enjoy the bumpy ride...

Well, i don't eat my workout cals because i worked them off and i simply don't want to put it back into my body...whatever i can work off i keep off.

i think you'll find i said in my post 'each to their own' which means the same thing as 'we are all different and have different requirements' which is no more or less supportive than you were!

So please share those requirements with me? Is it perhaps losing weight in a healthy manner? Or destroy your body in the quickest possible way?

You do realise when exercising your putting your CNS(Central Nervous System) under stress, you are eating the muscle away if not catering for that additional protein in order to prevent catabolism. Do you ever take the time to read any of those medical studies or do you think you know of better? That you have a unique body that only works in a certain way?

Yes you are different but your body works in a very similar way than mine and the same ****ing rules apply to you...your not special in that regard.

Do as you please...I won't be assisting you on your journey

Why should I eat them back, if I am not hungry and my body doesn't ask for more food? Just because the MFP Number tells me to?

Do as you please...your body, your life.



For the both of you, you are pretty much on your own mission so good luck and enjoy the bumpy ride...

^^ While this may not be sugar-coated information, PBJunky is right on the money here (as usual) and in previous posts.

The whole aim of having a goal calorie limit and earning calories, is that you eat them?
I don't understand, and I know that I'm not perfect at eating all of mine, but some days I go over, so it kind of balances out.

If I'm exercising, I need to put more fuel in my body, don't other people?

Because SADLY, most people don't look at food as FUEL, they look at it as something bad or dangerous- and they want some quick fix. EAT the calories that can sustain you. Look at working out as a reward for being able to eat a few hundred more calories a day- healthy calories that is!

It's because they do not realise or do not care about the difference between weight loss and fat loss.

Whilst I understand why the creators of MFP have used this concept in their app I wish they would actually just can the whole idea and do what most of the industry does: give a fixed calorie level to aim for which already factors in estimated calorie expenditure due exercise.

The concept of "exercise calories" causes more trouble than its worth and seems particularly misguided given how difficult it is to get a true measure of calories burned during exercise.

^ I couldn't agree more with everything in the above.

I also use a fixed setting and don't enter in exercise cals. Katsch-McArdle was pretty spot on for me.

I usually burn about 400 calories per workout and then have a 115 calorie protein shake afterwards. I'm not very hungry after working out and about two hours later, I'm in bed, so eating that deficit post-workout just doesn't work for me.

I don't eat when I'm not hungry. Simple as that.

Edit; I bike a lot - sometimes for hours a day and I usually gain 600 or 700 extra calories. I do eat some of those if I'm hungry (usually am after a long bike ride). I bring healthy snacks along the trail etc. ^-^

It's because they do not realise or do not care about the difference between weight loss and fat loss.

Whilst I understand why the creators of MFP have used this concept in their app I wish they would actually just can the whole idea and do what most of the industry does: give a fixed calorie level to aim for which already factors in estimated calorie expenditure due exercise.

The concept of "exercise calories" causes more trouble than its worth and seems particularly misguided given how difficult it is to get a true measure of calories burned during exercise.

Nice!