Food vs. exercise - your approach

I follow the MFP plan and try to maintain my net calories. Honestly there are days, like today, when I simply can't eat it all back and fall short, but I do try and keep it as close as I can. For me at least, it seems to work.

The general idea when you exercise, is to be sure to still eat the calories back, so that your body doesn't go into starvation mode and try to save all the calories, which will make it preserve the fat, also. It is important to give the body nutrition, including calories and fat so that it can function properly. Not eating back those exercise calories that are needed will rebound.

Every calorie calculator I've ever seen suggests that if you are more active you need to eat more.
"Eating exercise calories" isn't a subversive MFP plot to keep the planet fat, it's just doing what every other calulator does but with a different approach.
OP. I'm sorry to rant at you but I see so many people get all upset about the idea of "eating exercise calories" - but with any other program they would be doing it anyway, they just don't see the calulations in front of their noses!

Right, now I"ll stop waffling and give you my standard answer:

I think it is smart to eat more to fuel your exercise. As long as you have a calorie deficit you will lose weight.

If you are using MFP to calculate your calorie goal you should eat extra when you exercise in order to reach the recommended amount to eat to stay healthy and lose weight.

It you are using another system to calculate your calories (ie. like fit2fatradio which lots of people suggest) then you don't need to eat any extra when you exercise because they have already included exercise in the recommended amount you need to eat to stay healthy and lose weight.

And in realily, it doesn't matter what system you use to work out the numbers, if you have the "must starve self to lose weight" mentality then you will probably under-eat anyway. I've done this lots of times in the past and I know other people have too. The problem I've had with this is that sticking to a low calorie amount isn't easy, so it's a common thing to give up and brand yourself a failure yet again. Without making behavioural changes that lead to eating better and eating less for the long term, nothing changes and the weight comes back.

I always try to eat to my calorie limit daily - including the increased calories for exercise. I actually was eating less for a month and the scale did not move at all. The second I started eating a little more, the weight started coming back off. So days I'm more active, I eat more - but a HEALTHY more.

After not having lost a pound in almost a month (well I did gain a pound, lose a pound, here and there) it seemed to me as though I was maintaining. I was eating 2,000 calories (including eating my exercise calories). I have now changed to using MFP's calculation and am not eating back my exercise (eating 1,270 per day) and I'm losing weight again. Maybe I just needed that kick? Who knows, but it is working for me right now, so that's what I'm doing.

I eat most of my exercise calories back on days that I weight train. I'm trying to maintain as much LBM as possible while I'm losing weight. If I do a light cardio day or just walk or something, I usually don't eat them all back unless I'm hungry. I'm losing about a pound per week which is exactly what I want to do at this point.

- keep the amount of calories you eat everyday the same regarless of exercising or not? (so that some days you may below and some days above your calorie allowance for weight loss)

This is how I've operated since about January. I currently eat at (well, a little above) the sedentary TDEE level to maintain my weight. It's about 20% above my BMR. For me that's around 2,000 calories a day. I still lose weight, though, because I exercise and do not eat more to compensate.

I don't know which is better overall, but this method is better for me. I don't starve on days I don't exercise. I don't consider the gym a way to "earn" more food - it's more an investment in my overall physical and mental health.

If you're eating 1270 a day and not eating back exercise cals then you aren't using MFP calculations. MFP calculations assume you will eat extra when you exercise.
But hey, if it's working for you and you can stick to it - go for it!

Hmm...maybe you are right, it is very confusing to me, but I am just eating what MFP calculated as my goal which is 1270. Maybe I should add my exercise calories as 1, I ignore them on my daily diary.

I eat roughly the same amount every day and exercise roughly the same amount every week. However, it is much easier to just follow the MFP calculations unless you exercise a lot. When you start burning 400+ cals in one session you suddenly need to eat a whole extra meal on that day. It is just uncomfortable for me to change how much I eat by a factor of 400+ calories from one day to the next.

If you're eating 1270 a day and not eating back exercise cals then you aren't using MFP calculations. MFP calculations assume you will eat extra when you exercise.
But hey, if it's working for you and you can stick to it - go for it!

Hmm...maybe you are right, it is very confusing to me, but I am just eating what MFP calculated as my goal which is 1270. Maybe I should add my exercise calories as 1, I ignore them on my daily diary.

before i started using MFP i was trying to eat 1200, and NOT eating back excercise calories. some days i may finish at 6-700 cals which made me feel like crap. i love that MFP logs my workout cals, and i can eat about 300 cals a day more. i usually try to leave 50-100 left er everyday, just because i feel better about that. i feel better, eat more, and don't feel like crap!!

I personally believe the best approach is not to over think this. I absolutely understand both sides of the discussion. That said, I believe the best approach is to listen to your body.

As for me, If I workout and am hungry, I eat more without guilt, reminding myself that I eat to lose and workout to be healthy. On the other hand, I'm never going to stuff myself if I'm not hungry just to make up calories that a website tells me I'm "supposed" to eat. I will trust that if I really need that extra energy, my body's going to tell me.

I personally believe the best approach is not to over think this. I absolutely understand both sides of the discussion. That said, I believe the best approach is to listen to your body.

As for me, If I workout and am hungry, I eat more without guilt, reminding myself that I eat to lose and workout to be healthy. On the other hand, I'm never going to stuff myself if I'm not hungry just to make up calories that a website tells me I'm "supposed" to eat. I will trust that if I really need that extra energy, my body's going to tell me.

I completely agree with not overthinking this - it can get very very confusing.

But, I'm not convinced that "listening to your body" works for everybody. I ate when I was hungry for a whole lot of years and ended up with a BMI in the obese range. Eating the amount that MFP suggested (inc. exercise cals) on a regular basis (whether I was really hungry or not) has me happier and healthier than I have been for more than 20 years.

I guess it's one of those things that works for some people, but not for others.

I completely agree with not overthinking this - it can get very very confusing.

But, I'm not convinced that "listening to your body" works for everybody. I ate when I was hungry for a whole lot of years and ended up with a BMI in the obese range. Eating the amount that MFP suggested (inc. exercise cals) on a regular basis (whether I was really hungry or not) has me happier and healthier than I have been for more than 20 years.

I guess it's one of those things that works for some people, but not for others.

Understood. We're all different, and that's a good thing. Personally, I never had a problem with my body telling me the wrong thing, I believe my issue was I wasn't listening! For me, learning to understand the signals my body is giving me is one of the keys to a sustainable weight management, and may be even more important than any other single thing I'm working on.

Best of luck!

I eat the same calories everyday, but workout 7 days a week.
Some days are more intense than others.
I also workout after dinner so to wait until then to have exercise calories to consume seems odd.

Here is what my nutritionist suggested for me and it works for me. I eat basically the same amount of calories every day (1500) and for each hour (over the first hour) I exercise, I add in an additional 100 calories. So, on Sun. I bicycled hard for 1.8 hours and I added in an extra 100 calories. I have trained for half marathon, and a couple of sprint tri s doing this while losing weight at a reasonable clip (about 1 lb. per week), and it works for me. I am older, 58, and I don't need as many calories as I used to. Also, I tend to eat 4 - 5 smaller meals a day, with no more 2x as many carbs as proteins, except when I do endurance exercise (e.g. climb (scramble up a mountain for 8 hours) and then I eat more carbs -- again with 100 calories for every hour of excercise over the first hour. I think we are all a bit different with our exercise metabolism, so it is important to see what works. I also have to be careful to drink enough water and take electrolytes when I exercise over 1 hour and perspire -- otherwise I feel weak.