I don't get it...WHY do I want to eat my exercise calories??

My Doctor and Dietician both say you don't eat back your calories you work off.

And your doctor and dietician gave instructions tailored for you personally, not others

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6. I thought the point of exercise was to BURN the calories, why on earth would I want to cancel that out?

Simple math. Let's pretend your goal is to lose 1lbs a week. To do this, you must eat 500 calories less than you burn every day. Now let's pretend that you burn 2000 calories a day on a NON-Exercise day. How many calories should you eat on a non-exercise day so that you eat 500 calories LESS than you burn? Let's see!

2000 calories -500 calories = 1500 calories

Awesome. So you can eat 1500 calories on the days you do not exercise.

Now, let's pretend you exercise one day and you burn 500 calories while exercising. Nothing else has changed. You still want to lose 1lbs a week. You still need to eat 500 calories less than you burn every day to lose that 1lbs a week. So... the only thing that's changed is your exercise calories. How many calories should you eat on an exercise day so that you eat 500 calories less than you burn? Let's see!

2000 calories + 500 calories - 500 calories = 2000 calories.

Again, all this is assuming you have a goal of 1lbs a week.. You don't want to lose more or less than that. You therefore want to keep your deficit at 500. You therefore want to eat exercise calories because it keeps your deficit at 500.

But what if you don't care about keeping your deficit at 500? What if you don't mind having a deficit at 1000 one day and 500 the next? THEN you don't need to eat your exercise calories.

But I would advocate you don't let your calorie intake fall too low... it makes it really hard to stay on a diet when you're starving and nutrient deprived. You set yourself up for failure that way.

It partly depends on how accurate your TDEE is, because it should take into your daily acitivity before exercise into acount.

AND it mostly depends on how accurate your calorie count for that burned by exercise is. If you have done your research (and/or have a HRM), you SHOULD eat them back.

But if you are using stock calorie counters, err on the conservative side because they tend to overestimate your burn.

People should not be eating back exercise cals if their daily goal is based on TDEE (i.e. TDEE - some amount to create the deficit). TDEE, by definition, accounts for exercise.

I think a lot of people think TDEE does not include exercise, which is incorrect. TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure, and is just that TOTAL daily expenditure.

Yes, MFP uses calories burned from normal daily activity not TDEE, the number they use excludes exercise and can be found in the top right corner when you click on the goals menu under My Home.

Ill probably get some back lash for this... i dont eat back all of my exercise calories, sometimes i will but most of the time i dont!

Do what feels right for you, but please do not starve yourself. :-)

Good Luck!

xx

I typically don't either. It seems to be counter productive if I were to do that. If I'm in maintenance mode that's a different thing but right now I'm not. It seems to be working for me as well as my husband.

The only time I eat back my calories is when I know I"m going to over indulge. I see it as a "reserve tank" on that day. LOL.

Ill probably get some back lash for this... i dont eat back all of my exercise calories, sometimes i will but most of the time i dont!

Do what feels right for you, but please do not starve yourself. :-)

Good Luck!

xx

I typically don't either. It seems to be counter productive if I were to do that. If I'm in maintenance mode that's a different thing but right now I'm not. It seems to be working for me as well as my husband.

The only time I eat back my calories is when I know I"m going to over indulge. I see it as a "reserve tank" on that day. LOL.

The less you have to lose, such as yourself, the more important it is to eat them back to ensure your deficit is not too large. A large deficit will lead to a large % of lean muscle loss along with the fat. With the amount you have to lose your goal should be 0.5lbs/week (250 cal/day deficit) and eat back all the cals from exercise, assuming they are accurate). This along with adequate protein and a strength training program will lead to the least amount of lean muscle loss as you lose weight, meaning it may take longer to get to your goal weight but you will be a lower BF%, look better, and be stronger at that weight.

You can always count on someone saying that if you don't eat back your exercise calories you will end up losing muscle instead of fat. My guess is that excess muscle is not a problem that a lot of us have on this web-site, while excess fat is.

But most peoples goal is to lose fat, not just weight, they equate fat loss with weight loss but if you don't fuel your body properly you may end up skinny fat (thin with a high BF%, and look good with cloths on, but not off)

god i could never imagine NOT wanting to eat every single calorie i'm allowed!!

You need to have at least 1100-1200 net calories or your body will think it's starving. It can just be one day out of the week too.

You don't have to eat them all back. It is nice some days to be able to do that if you are going out to eat. But I just try to keep it around 1200 net. It's really helped with some of my meal planning and allowing me some of the things I love. You don't feel deprived or starved.

I earn around 2000 extra calories a week through exercise and i choose not to use them ...Regardless of sensible explanations i too do not see the point ,

Im loving the plan and i think not eating them is helping me shift the weight quicker , Each to there own i say good luck

The MFP plan is to eat them, if you are not then you are not following the "plan".

I'm loving the "plan" although i choose to follow it how i like its my guide not my Master !

My Doctor and Dietician both say you don't eat back your calories you work off.

correct ... but only if you are not in a caloric defecit already.

example,
you are eating 2000 calories a day and burn 500 --> YAY! we don't eat these calories back.
If you are eating 1500 a day (with a 500 cal defecit already built in) and then you burn 500 calories, you essenstially are only eating a 1000 cal/day ... YIKES!! .... so, you are safe to eat 500 cal back.

Everybody is different, but for the most part, too little calories can equal a hault in oyur metabolism and energy usage. Our bodies were designed for famin, not excess. If the body detects starvation, it will do whatever it can to conserve calories .. ie slow metabolism.

Just so you know, I graduated from ASU with a Bachelors in Nutrition.

Best wishes

My Doctor and Dietician both say you don't eat back your calories you work off.

I found this post very informative.

Was it explained to the doctor and dietician that you were alreday eating to a deficit ?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/206951-asked-my-trainer-re-eating-back-calories

Somebody 'splain to me like I'm 6. I thought the point of exercise was to BURN the calories, why on earth would I want to cancel that out?

Long story short:

Your body burns 1,200 calories a day (different for each person) and that's if you lay in bed and someone feeds you through a straw. You need at least that.

When you exercise more, you burn more calories.

If you go into a deficit, like lets say you burn 500 calories, and you only eat 1,200 thats 700 calories.

Your body will hold onto your fat for dear life as it thinks that it's not getting enough food to fuel it.

So, by eating your 1,700 calories, your body will be like "well, I am getting enough food, no use to hang on to this fat anymore"

Ill probably get some back lash for this... i dont eat back all of my exercise calories, sometimes i will but most of the time i dont!

Do what feels right for you, but please do not starve yourself. :-)

Good Luck!

xx

I typically don't either. It seems to be counter productive if I were to do that. If I'm in maintenance mode that's a different thing but right now I'm not. It seems to be working for me as well as my husband.

The only time I eat back my calories is when I know I"m going to over indulge. I see it as a "reserve tank" on that day. LOL.

The less you have to lose, such as yourself, the more important it is to eat them back to ensure your deficit is not too large. A large deficit will lead to a large % of lean muscle loss along with the fat. With the amount you have to lose your goal should be 0.5lbs/week (250 cal/day deficit) and eat back all the cals from exercise, assuming they are accurate). This along with adequate protein and a strength training program will lead to the least amount of lean muscle loss as you lose weight, meaning it may take longer to get to your goal weight but you will be a lower BF%, look better, and be stronger at that weight.

Im not one for all these protein shakes and stuff, but when you say 'adequate protein' how much and what are we talkign here? Because ive noticed sometimes i can go over my protein? Thanks

I use it as a reserve tank too! especially if i know im going to have a bad day/weekend ahead, so sometimes times ill check my average net calroies for the whole week!

xx

I earn around 2000 extra calories a week through exercise and i choose not to use them ...Regardless of sensible explanations i too do not see the point ,

Im loving the plan and i think not eating them is helping me shift the weight quicker , Each to there own i say good luck

The MFP plan is to eat them, if you are not then you are not following the "plan".

I'm loving the "plan" although i choose to follow it how i like its my guide not my Master !

Well said!

When i signed up to the MFP their was no Do's and Dont's... thus we have these types of threads asking for advice not people dictating others.

x

We are not dictating we are informing of how MFP is set up and designed. If people want to do it there way fine, but be warned that if you don't eat enough you will end up most likely unhealthy and skinny fat.

I earn around 2000 extra calories a week through exercise and i choose not to use them ...Regardless of sensible explanations i too do not see the point ,

Im loving the plan and i think not eating them is helping me shift the weight quicker , Each to there own i say good luck

The MFP plan is to eat them, if you are not then you are not following the "plan".

I'm loving the "plan" although i choose to follow it how i like its my guide not my Master !

Well said!

When i signed up to the MFP their was no Do's and Dont's... thus we have these types of threads asking for advice not people dictating others.

x

We are not dictating we are informing of how MFP is set up and designed. If people want to do it there way fine, but be warned that if you don't eat enough you will end up most likely unhealthy and skinny fat.

What is Skinny Fat? :-S