Someone decode this "eat your workout calories back" shiz fo

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BetterCrazyThanLazy
BetterCrazyThanLazy Posts: 336
in Health and Weight Loss
Supposedly, if my maintenance calories are at about 1500, then if I eat 1200 (that's what MFP calculated for me) I create a 300 deficit and if I work out I create another 200-300 (usually a lot more!) calories deficit, which makes it at least 500 calories a day x 7 days a week =3500 calories deficit to lose 2 lbs (correction - 1 lb a week)! I haven't lost anything in over 2 weeks even though my workouts are intense! "EAT more" just sounds crazy to me! It goes against all and everything I know or have done so far....

If I eat my work out calories back then I don’t create as much of a deficit. It works in theory but it doesn’t work in practice!!!

Help!!!
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  • AlbertPooHoles
    AlbertPooHoles Posts: 530 Member
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    http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
  • kateroot
    kateroot Posts: 435
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    I don't eat mine back. It's suggested by MFP because your net calories should be a reasonable amount. If you were burning 800 calories a day with exercise and eating 1200, your net would be 400, which is quite low. But I average about 300-500 calories burned per day from exercise and I rarely eat them back. It totally depends on what works for you.
  • MyaPapaya75
    MyaPapaya75 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    it has worked for some people...i just do what works for me sometimes i eat them sometimes i dont...but i also try my best to stick within a range of 1200-1500 cals on most days....u might have to mix it up a bit and just find out what works for you ..perhaps only eating a percentage of them if your hungry...if not then omit them
  • lismoseman
    lismoseman Posts: 1
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    If you're not eating enough while working out intensely, your body actually goes into a little "starvation mode" because it's not getting the nutrients it needs, so in turn it hangs onto everything it can. This could be why you're not losing weight... I am doing P90X right now and it is SUPER intense, we burn about 500-600 calories in an hour workout. I am 5'4" and my goal is to lose weight and I am eating 1300 on my rest day and around 1800 on workout days. I hope this helps!! Good luck!! :)
  • Brandongood
    Brandongood Posts: 311 Member
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    3500 calorie deficit will cause one pound of weight loss. Have you been keeping your calories at 1200 for the past 2 weeks? Have you tried upping your calories to about 1400 a day?
  • shaj316
    shaj316 Posts: 161
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    w00t!
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390145-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories
  • HotKanye
    HotKanye Posts: 103 Member
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    1500 sounds low for maintenance calories. Are you sure that isn't your basic metabolic rate without any activity factored in? How much do you weigh? I think if your deficit is only 300 to start with you could safely burn 500 calories and not eat all of them. I don't know that at your weight you should be aiming to lose two pounds a week though.
  • carrie_eggo
    carrie_eggo Posts: 1,396 Member
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    http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
  • AmyjoyHa
    AmyjoyHa Posts: 9 Member
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    It doesnt work because your body goes into starvation mode and tries to hang on to all of its fat stores. Its a great survivial mechanism when you go through times of plenty and times not so plenty when hunting in the woods. But now that we have all the food available to us all the time, our bodies dont know that and still kick into survival mode when it is not sure when the next meal is coming. If you up your calorie intake .... and preferably eat every 2-3 hrs, then your body will learn that there is always food coming and it will try to use it up before its next meal. Remember our bodies are made of hormones working together and a fine tuned system that wants to survive, not a mathmatical equation. Hope this helps at all and good luck!
  • ash1976
    ash1976 Posts: 41 Member
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    http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

    :laugh:
  • BetterCrazyThanLazy
    BetterCrazyThanLazy Posts: 336
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    3500 calorie deficit will cause one pound of weight loss. Have you been keeping your calories at 1200 for the past 2 weeks? Have you tried upping your calories to about 1400 a day?

    Yep, my bad! 1 lb a week! : )
    And no, I havent, I am afraid! : )
  • stuey39
    stuey39 Posts: 159
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    yeah I'm with you100%. I always thought more out than in = weight loss, why it all those extra calories for the sake of it. if i''m hungry then i'll eat but i ain't gonna force it! as you say it goes against everything we ever bin told, anyway i would find it hard to eat them all back if not impossible, eg yesterday i burnt 2020 through exercise my bmr says 1990 per day and i ended up with 1500+ left but if i had eaten them back i probably would've made myself ill!!
  • jncverhoef
    jncverhoef Posts: 5 Member
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    I LIVE for my exercise calories. If I didn't eat them back, I would starve! All these people complaining about how much food they need to eat and they're not hungry (aka in starvation mode) make me angry. It's called "live a little and ENJOY"; shove a piece of cheese in your mouth- that's easy 100cal.
  • Brandongood
    Brandongood Posts: 311 Member
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    It doesnt work because your body goes into starvation mode and tries to hang on to all of its fat stores. Its a great survivial mechanism when you go through times of plenty and times not so plenty when hunting in the woods. But now that we have all the food available to us all the time, our bodies dont know that and still kick into survival mode when it is not sure when the next meal is coming. If you up your calorie intake .... and preferably eat every 2-3 hrs, then your body will learn that there is always food coming and it will try to use it up before its next meal. Remember our bodies are made of hormones working together and a fine tuned system that wants to survive, not a mathmatical equation. Hope this helps at all and good luck!

    This
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/exercise-calories-explained-206876

    You're already quite small and not far from your goal. You shouldn't aim to lose any more than .5# a week, so eat your calories and your exercise calories.
  • Sl1ghtly
    Sl1ghtly Posts: 855 Member
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    Weight isn't the best measure of fitness which is why I think it shouldn't be used as a goal.
  • chachita7
    chachita7 Posts: 996 Member
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    ahhhhh, lol - I set my calorie intake to 1500 to make sure I am eating enough - I don't eat my workout calories and it makes me feel good - simply because I am mentally tricking myself... hey don't judge what ever works right?
  • BetterCrazyThanLazy
    BetterCrazyThanLazy Posts: 336
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    I am 5'5" and weigh 146 lbs. And actually, I try to not exceed 1000 net calories a day.
  • HotKanye
    HotKanye Posts: 103 Member
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    I am 5'4" and weigh 142 and 1000 calories a day seems insane to me. I don't fully believe in "starvation mode" per se but I do think that you risk losing lean mass when you are just trying to burn off fat. Honestly I would take your calories up to 1200 on days where you don't work out and if you burn 500 maybe eat 1500 since that will still leave you with a good deficit. Once we get out of the "overweight" range though things change a bit and it's not just about that deficit but about what kinds of exercises we are doing and what kinds of food we are eating, not just about how little you can eat. Put good food into your body and you will get good results out. 1000 calories is not enough and would make it difficult to get all of your nutritional needs in.

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