Question regarding Calories gained.

You opened a can of worms.

There are different opinions about this, if you go back to message boards and type excercise calories you will see all the threads on this topic.

Some say to eat them back, some don't, and others say eat some not all. I think you need to find what works best for you.:drinker:

no i just eat the allocated calories, I guess thats how you loss weight. Good on you for doing that much exercise

Problem with this, as I'm learning, is that if there is too large a deficit, your body thinks you are starving (ie: not able to obtain enough food) and begins to slow down the metabolism and shuts down things it doesn't think you need. Basically, over time, it's going into survival mode, and not only is it unhealthy, but you won't lose weight. PLEASE read the sticky forums posts before you come to a conclusion on how your body works.

You should try and eat some. But like if I workout and burn say 500 or less I will up my cals 300 to 1500 cals for the day. And sometimes I don't eat that many. If you are not hungry do not eat. Just because you didn't eat them all today does not mean you will not lose weight. You don't go into starvation overnight. Eat if you are hungry.

Good for you for getting a good workout in.

Hi tig3rang31 as you can see I joined today and as far as I knew you go into starvation mode when you dont consume enough calories.
In stead of being judgemental you could try being more helpful to the newer people on this site and maybe explain how I would find the sticky forums post
THANKS

Nope! I try to stay in my healthy calorie range (1200-1400) If I earn extra calories I may use some, but the bigger the calorie deficit the quicker the results!!!

yes, i add them & eat them all because i'm so hungry after i work out. I do alot of exercise and if you don't eat quality nutrition after workouts, especially hard ones, the body puts out the stress hormone called cortisol & causes you to gain fat. That's why some people say, i'm working out harder than ever but gained weight instead of lost... way too many women just don't eat enough. It just needs to be quality but you need to meet the calorie goal that includes your bonus calories from workout.

I eat 50-75% of them back because I don't have a heart rate monitor to know 100% accuracy of how many I burned for sure and I don't trust this website in it's accuracy of how many calories I burned doing certain activities. There are too many variables. Example, the intensity I put in that day, etc.

I agree, i don't trust the accuracy of the amount of calories burned for certain activities. I find it hard to know which websites to trust when it comes to this issue. I waled 40 minutes the other day, one website said it was 338 calories burned at a fast pace, another said 450...that's alot of caloric difference and boy, I don't want to eat the wrong amount of calories....so I too question the right thing to do.. I do know you need fuel to stoke the calorie burning fire....but hmmmmm....???:grumble:

Hi tig3rang31 as you can see I joined today and as far as I knew you go into starvation mode when you dont consume enough calories.
In stead of being judgemental you could try being more helpful to the newer people on this site and maybe explain how I would find the sticky forums post
THANKS

So far as I knew, I wasn't being judgemental at all. If I came across that way to you, my apologies, I was just explaining what I've found out in the month I've been here. At the top of every forum there are a number of topics that have a pin next to them on the left hand side that will always be at the top. Ghanie's posted them further down.

i have decided to eat half my exercise calories. not sure if this is good or bad.

Hi tig3rang31 as you can see I joined today and as far as I knew you go into starvation mode when you dont consume enough calories.

This is a common dieting mythology based on some studies, but often based on a misunderstanding of them.

First of all, a starvation diet is when you eat 50% (or less) of the calories you need to maintain. It's not just not eating your exercise calories. For example, if your maintenance calories should be 1500 and you burn an extra 500 working out hard, then a starvation diet would be eating 1000 calories or less. It's not eating 1500 or even 1200.

Secondly, while dieting does slow down your metabolism, it does it even if your deficit is quite small. So you can't stop that. It is true if you engage in *drastic* calorie reduction, you will get to a point of diminishing returns. For example, let's say eating 1500 calories would have you losing 1 pound a week. If you cut down to 1000 calories, you will probably lose 2 pounds a week. But you may only lose 1.75 pounds. So, more than with 1500 calories but not as much as you'd expect. Then, if you go nuts and drop down to 500, you will definitely NOT lose 3 lb. a week. It could be as little as 2.25. Which means you are suffering greatly and risking your health for a .25 to .5 extra loss a week. That's crazy IMO!

As for your body going into "starvation mode" and "hanging on" to every calorie, in some famous studies of starvation, they did find this happened. But it didn't happen until the subjects had gotten down to 5% body fat! Plus, even at that extremely low body weight, they *still* were losing weight. But most of us are no where near that point. We're experiencing some slow down of metabolism, but only enough to have diminishing returns, not enough that our bodies are canabalizing themselves.

So why do people find they lose more weight when they eat more? Because humans are not machines. Often they under-report what they eat and over-report their exercise. They also tend to slow themselves down if they aren't fueling enough and often aren't even aware of it.

The bottom line is that you need to eat enough to fuel your body and have the energy to engage in your daily activities. If you are draggy and tired, you will start doing things that cause you to burn less calories including not pushing yourself in your workouts, sleeping more, sitting more, etc. If it gets extreme, it can slow down your weight loss. Sometimes upping your calories as little as 100 a day is enough to give you the energy to kick start your activities and that will pay dividends on the scale.

But you need to be careful. A lot of people use "starvation mode" as an excuse to eat more. And, just like with eating less, there is a point of diminishing returns. After all, it's not like you can up your calories indefinitely and continue to lose weight. At some point, you will be eating more than you consume just like before you started trying to lose weight.

I don't even log my exercise. I never have. It wasn't until I started useing this site that even heard the notion of eating your exercise calories. I doubt the average exerciser needs to increase their food intake to account for excerise. If you are exercising with extreme intensity, then you should probably increase you caloric intake, but, if you're only exercising 1/2 hr to hour everyday or every other day, its probably not important. The most important thing is to listen to your body. Eveyone is different. If you have an intense work out and you feel hungry, eat. If not, don't.

Also, MTGirl, I believe that McMadame included excercise calories in her 50% calculation with the statement "For example, if your maintenance calories should be 1500 and you burn an extra 500 working out hard, then a starvation diet would be eating 1000 calories or less" as 50% of 1500 is only 750 where as 1000 is 50% of 2000 (the sum of maintenance calories and exercise calories).. Just thought I would clarify.

CSW,
It sounds like you're very active if you're doing 18 miles on a bike, so you probably need the extra calories. It really all depends on your workout routine. I'm doing P90x and the nutrition plan is designed so you eat most, if not all, of your "gained" calories. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first cycle and have eaten everything they say to eat and have dropped only about 4 pounds but dropped my body fat % by 5 points. That's a big change (dropped 3 pant sizes). The P90x materials say that the extra calories actually help you reduce your body fat and continue to build lean muscle mass since the extra fuel gives the energy to work out with more intensity. All I know is that it's working for me. I'm sure you've heard the stories of Michael Phelps eating 12,000 calories per day because he was burning about 5,000 per day in the pool and his metabolism was incredibly high. Hope Phelps is not still eating that much. Bong hits and pancakes will do some serious damage to his physique :laugh:

Good luck.

Joe

I wear a HRM and eat back what I burn. I found that when I wasn't eating enough, I was kind of cranky and the scale wouldn't budge. :flowerforyou:

OT - Miso I love that flower pot your holding. I want one so bad. Someday!! :happy: