do i have eat back the calories from workout?

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sg_02
sg_02 Posts: 11
in Fitness and Exercise
heylo, I have daily intake of 1300 cals reccomended by MFP. When i burn calories form workout , do i have to eat them back?
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  • Im_NotPerfect
    Im_NotPerfect Posts: 2,181 Member
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    You don't HAVE to. I would though. You earn them for a reason. MFP already takes your calorie deficit into account when it gives you that daily intake amount. If you don't eat enough it can actually hinder your weight loss.
  • jsapninz
    jsapninz Posts: 909 Member
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    You don't HAVE to. I would though. You earn them for a reason. MFP already takes your calorie deficit into account when it gives you that daily intake amount. If you don't eat enough it can actually hinder your weight loss.

    Agreed.
    Plus, if you don't eat them back, there isn't much of an incentive! :)
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    heylo, I have daily intake of 1300 cals reccomended by MFP. When i burn calories form workout , do i have to eat them back?

    When you setup your Diet/Fitness profile, did you select a weekly weight loss goal of 1lb, 2lb, or whatever?

    Then your daily goal without exercise already has a deficit in it.

    Exercise would make that an unsafe deficit if you did NOT eat it back.

    Eat them back, hence the reason you are given a credit and it's called daily NET calories.

    Check out Goals page to see the deficit whether you don't work out, or do workout and eat them back.
  • lillithemaculate
    lillithemaculate Posts: 12
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    I was going to ask this as one of my daft questions. I've earned 705 calories back, and yes I'm now feeling hungry. But feel greedy for wanting to eat. But I do understand that it may hinder my progress if I don't put back some proteins and carbs, (I've read a sports thingy at work). But not sure I can do the 705, but have my banana and a few nuts to eat. Glad I stumbled on this question. :flowerforyou:
  • sg_02
    sg_02 Posts: 11
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    My goals says net calories consumed is 1370!! and 1 lbs to loose a week. i have been trying to stay within limit so far!
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    I was going to ask this as one of my daft questions. I've earned 705 calories back, and yes I'm now feeling hungry. But feel greedy for wanting to eat. But I do understand that it may hinder my progress if I don't put back some proteins and carbs, (I've read a sports thingy at work). But not sure I can do the 705, but have my banana and a few nuts to eat. Glad I stumbled on this question. :flowerforyou:

    Yah, eating the extra without working for it might be greedy -- think of it that way :)
  • jjelizalde
    jjelizalde Posts: 377 Member
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    My daughter explained to me that you need to eat back at least some of the calories to fuel the exercise otherwise you're body could go into starvation mode feeding off your muscles instead of the fat. This sounds lame, but she explained it to me in terms that made sense.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I was going to ask this as one of my daft questions. I've earned 705 calories back, and yes I'm now feeling hungry. But feel greedy for wanting to eat. But I do understand that it may hinder my progress if I don't put back some proteins and carbs, (I've read a sports thingy at work). But not sure I can do the 705, but have my banana and a few nuts to eat. Glad I stumbled on this question. :flowerforyou:

    Your body will also be repairing tomorrow what happened today, doesn't stop at midnight magically.

    So if you feel good seeing potential green 300 left today, and going into red 300 tomorrow to finish feeding the workout, do it.

    Otherwise, have to plan better.

    But must confirm as best you can those exercise calorie estimates are accurate as can be. If this is beyond walking (which those are), then you might do 80% of the estimate.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    My daughter explained to me that you need to eat back at least some of the calories to fuel the exercise otherwise you're body could go into starvation mode feeding off your muscles instead of the fat. This sounds lame, but she explained it to me in terms that made sense.

    Well, not starvation mode.

    But on low cal and exercising pretty decently, you can after several days run out of the limited glucose stores, in which case muscle breakdown is the only thing to supply more glucose.
    Fat is being burned the whole time as normal of course.
    So more intense, the worse that effect is.
    The more often, the faster it comes.
  • kimi72
    kimi72 Posts: 17
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    I have a question my doc put me on a 1200 cal diet alond with Phen. I am barely managing 900 cal a day withpout credit for exercise. Honestly there are times I am starving. I will snack on something small but I am still at the 900 mark. If I eat more I get nausated. Help! Any suggestions on what I should do?
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    I have a question my doc put me on a 1200 cal diet alond with Phen. I am barely managing 900 cal a day withpout credit for exercise. Honestly there are times I am starving. I will snack on something small but I am still at the 900 mark. If I eat more I get nausated. Help! Any suggestions on what I should do?

    I'm not sure I follow you -- you're starving, and then when you eat more you feel nauseated? Is it the medication that's doing this?
  • kimi72
    kimi72 Posts: 17
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    I don't think so. It's like I am hungry so I start to eat something take a couple of bites then maybe it my brain I get full n sick at my stomach but 30 min later I am hungry. I know your supoose to have small meals thru out the day but at this point I'll be eating little meals non stop.
  • beachgrad05
    beachgrad05 Posts: 85 Member
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    I seem to recall Phen was part of the Fen Phen trend from the 90's and was found to be harmful to your health. Be careful...
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    I don't think so. It's like I am hungry so I start to eat something take a couple of bites then maybe it my brain I get full n sick at my stomach but 30 min later I am hungry. I know your supoose to have small meals thru out the day but at this point I'll be eating little meals non stop.

    I would consult with your physician about this. You shouldn't be feeling nauseated and full after just a few bites. In the meantime I'd make sure I was eating satisfying foods (not iceberg lettuce) and probably take a multivitamin.
  • d2footballJRC
    d2footballJRC Posts: 2,684 Member
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    I take a different approach on this then many do. On a lot of HRM it tells you the fat%, I eat back that amount. So say you burn 1000 calories with a fat% burn of 19% I'll try to eat back around 19-20% of the calories which equals about 200.

    I don't like to eat back all the exercise calories to give a small buffer if the burn was inaccurate for some reason or another.

    In the end what matters is, are you hungry? If not I wouldn't eat them. If you aren't hungry I don't get the point of shoving food down your throat. That is part of the reason some of us are here.
  • misslissa121
    misslissa121 Posts: 126
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    I eat back about 60% of my exercise calories, to go too far under your net will only result in taking longer to heal after a work out, and feeling tired, even dizzy when your body runs out of fuel. Also when you do weight training, you will find you need more protein on those days. Listen to your body, it will tell you when you need to eat, make sure to drink plenty of water, even more when you are working out, and as long as you are eatting the right foods, and not junk, you will find you are not hungry because you can eat a ton of the good stuff, and its more filling.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I don't think so. It's like I am hungry so I start to eat something take a couple of bites then maybe it my brain I get full n sick at my stomach but 30 min later I am hungry. I know your supoose to have small meals thru out the day but at this point I'll be eating little meals non stop.

    What type of snacks and meals do this to you?
    High carb?

    Some people have problems not only with high carb hitting their bloodstream bad, causing insulin over-response, but then you go to low in blood-sugar causing hunger.

    Doing this with several small meals all day long is just encouraging fat storage mode with elevated insulin.

    And no, you are not "supposed" to have many small meals. Studies have proven it makes no physiological difference.
    Now, depending on meal it may make a self-control difference.

    So the Phen is to raise metabolism right, but you are eating lower than your healthy BMR?

    This is a major screw up waiting to happen.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Listen to your body, it will tell you when you need to eat, make sure to drink plenty of water, even more when you are working out, and as long as you are eatting the right foods, and not junk, you will find you are not hungry because you can eat a ton of the good stuff, and its more filling.

    Bad advice.

    You can force your body to your own ill effects to be willing to accept less food.

    You can eat barely meeting daily nutritional requirements with very little food that can fill your small stomach - that does NOT take away the body's requirement for energy.
    Unless you feel like slowing it down.

    Once you've gotten to this state - you can NOT listen to your body, because your body is NOT healthy and can't be trusted.
  • CalJur
    CalJur Posts: 627 Member
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    Opinions vary but most do recommend. I say its a matter of personal preference and your body wiring. I suggest you use search function for the forums as this topic has been addressed ad nauseum and there is a ton of available and useful information.
  • simon_pickard
    simon_pickard Posts: 50 Member
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    This has to be the most asked question on MFP.

    I wish it was part of the setup when you first run the app. Just a page to inform people what the basic ideas are.

    Something like..

    "The cal goal is your baseline. If you exercise you should eat those cal's back."

    Done.

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