I don't get it...WHY do I want to eat my exercise calories??
Replies
-
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
if your MFP is set for 25% and you are eating at 1200 calories, then yes you will go over as 25% of a small number is still a small number.
25% for someone eating 2000 calories it is a lot more.
I aim for 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass.0 -
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
Healthy weight with a high body fat % (small amount of muscle), it usually happens when people lose fast without strength training, as a large % of the loss would be lean muscle, not fat.0 -
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
people who have lost weight, but have mainly lost lean muscle, and held on to their fat and have a higher Body fat %.
They may look good with clothes on, but the ones who have held on to their muscles look better naked
0 -
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.
Your body will use your muscle as fuel if it isn't receiving enough food. Muscle is easily broken down to be used for fuel. Sure, logic would say our bodies should use the fat it has stored, but that isn't how it works. I don't know about you, but I'd like to keep the muscle I have (it burns calories all the time, makes you stronger, etc) and get rid of the fat. In order to do so, you have to give your body enough fuel. You have to feed it in order for it to be comfortable enough to burn the fat.0 -
What is Skinny Fat? :-S
When you are skinny, but have no muscle. When you have lost weight by diet alone (no exercise). you are skinny, but if someone pokes you're you're all squishy. then you are skinny fat.0 -
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
If I eat 2000 calories and I burn 500, I better eat back those 500. My body easily loses weight on 2100-2200 net calories a day and I can easily maintain on 2300-2500 net calories a day. So, if I were to eat 2000 and burn 500? I've created WAY too large of a deficit and I won't lose weight.
Just because someone eats a higher amount of calories does NOT mean they don't need to eat back their exercise calories. I know that for my body - I need eat back nearly all of them.0 -
And... exercise calories taste better and make you sexier.
You are so wise....0 -
gotta see if my ticker works. sorry good luck on your journey0
-
Simply put, you eat your calories so you can stick with it.
You stick with it because on hungry days you can eat more so long as you workout more ("I'm just going out to run me up some exercise calories").
You stick with it because you're not tired and drained.
You stick with it because you look great as your body isn't cannibalising your muscles and has enough nutrition to make your skin glow and your hair shiny.
You stick with it because you have the energy to workout harder and longer next time and get even more awesome results.0 -
I've never eaten my excercise calories and the pros can say what they want. I agree with the science behind eating the workout cals, however in my experience I've had WAY WAY WAY BIGGER success NOT eating those cals. As long as you dont take yourself into a huge defecit CONSISTANTLY then you will not trigger "starvation mode". In my opinion, based on experience and research, it takes quite a lot of being under your calories for a long time to even get close to that stage.
Keep on keeping on.0 -
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.0 -
Love!0 -
im confused :-S wish id never posted now lol
I dont burn that many calories a day anyway, i dont feel tired or mal nutrurished for not eating them back and im losing weight steadily (7pound since last March is VERY slow) lol
So im wrong to be doing this?
x0 -
I agree!! it's stupid and a bad idea to think that way in the weight loss game!!!0
-
Bump0
-
saved!0 -
This would explain why I'm not losing...I never eat my exercise calories. I'm burning 700-800 calories a day and not eating any back. Sometimes I don't reach my target calories without exercise. :sad:0
-
And... exercise calories taste better and make you sexier.
Love it!!!0 -
im confused :-S wish id never posted now lol
I dont burn that many calories a day anyway, i dont feel tired or mal nutrurished for not eating them back and im losing weight steadily (7pound since last March is VERY slow) lol
So im wrong to be doing this?
x
i mean November**0 -
Ha I Love it!0 -
im confused :-S wish id never posted now lol
I dont burn that many calories a day anyway, i dont feel tired or mal nutrurished for not eating them back and im losing weight steadily (7pound since last March is VERY slow) lol
So im wrong to be doing this?
x
If you're not burning that many and you're not at that big of a deficit it's probably not a big deal anyway. Where it gets to be a much bigger issue is when someone's eating 1200 and burning off 600.0 -
Does that mean i'm losing muscle when I don't eat my exercise calories?0
-
I say Just do what suits YOU ..to much info can be an overload , Like i said i dont eat mine im loosing it pretty nicely Getting great results and through the exercise everything is toning up getting leaner and tighter ...So all this skinny fat im sceptical unless youv'e had A GREAT deal too loose and your left with excess skin . If this is the case eating or not your exercise points wont change that0
-
I say Just do what suits YOU ..to much info can be an overload , Like i said i dont eat mine im loosing it pretty nicely Getting great results and through the exercise everything is toning up getting leaner and tighter ...So all this skinny fat im sceptical unless youv'e had A GREAT deal too loose and your left with excess skin . If this is the case eating or not your exercise points wont change that
Not necessarily. Last time I lost weight, I had about 20 pounds to go, but I didn't lose it wisely. Too large of a calorie deficit. As a result, I did eventually get to my goal weight of 130 pounds, but I still had a muffin top, back fat rolls, double chin, etc. I lost a great deal of lean muscle and I wore a size 8.
This time around, I started with 30 pounds to lose. I ate my exercise calories, typically eating between 1800-2000 calories total. I was in a size 4 by 135 pounds. At 130, I'm in a 2 or 4, and able to fit into jeans I wore in high school more than 20 years ago when I was about 110 pounds. Photos here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/494091-i-just-don-t-care-anymore
The best part? Since I didn't train my body to survive on minimal calories, now that I'm in maintenance, I can pretty much eat whatever I want. I recently increased my net calories to 1840 from 1700 (still plus all my exercise calories) because I was STILL losing weight. I don't want to lose any more because I'm already having a hard time finding jeans small enough.0 -
0
-
My Doctor and Dietician both say you don't eat back your calories you work off.
My Dr. said the same thing.0 -
Because if MFP gives you 1200 calories for a day - 400 calories burned during exercise = 800 NET calories. Net calories are the actual number of calories you're giving your body to function on and let me tell you that 800 is far too low (for most people). If you were to eat back another 400 calories, your net is now right where MFP told you to be - 1200. You've consumed 1600 TOTAL calories, but you burned off 400 of those calories, sooooo.. your NET would be 1200.
And let me tell you that nearly ALL people think a larger deficit = quicker weight loss when in reality too large of a deficit = stalled or stopped weight loss. You HAVE to eat enough in order for your body to lose weight. End of story.
Here's the numbers without the words:
1200-400=800+400=1200.
easiest explanation for me to understand lol thanks0 -
OMG! Who did this?! *bookmarks*0 -
There are 4 pages of replies....but here's how I explained it to a friend.
Think of your body like a car. Let's say your car (body) can go 100 miles on a full tank of gas. That 100 miles represents your daily life (without excercise).
Now let's say you had to drive an extra 50 miles that day for whatever reason, those 50 miles = excercise. Now your "car" is not going to make that same 100 mile distance because you just burned 50 miles worth of gas going out of your way.
So you need to add those 50 miles worth of gas back into the car to get to the end of your trip (day).
Hope that makes sense.0 -
And... exercise calories taste better and make you sexier.
Best advice ever!0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions